Khushoo(Attention and Submission of the heart) in Prayer

Ibn al-Jawzee (rh) said:

"Indeed Allaah Azzawajall has magnified the position of the prayer because it fulfills the servant's service (to Him) and devotion is what has been requested from the servant. This (devotion) is the combination of the submission of his body, the speech of his tongue and the presence of his heart. Allaah the Exalted made the form of worship of the angels between the the states of sujood, rukoo' and dhikr and all these matters have been brought together in the prayer".

He (rh) also said:

"Know that the purpose behind the prayer is to magnify the Diety and this cannot be achieved except with the presence of the heart in (one's) service (to Him). There used to be among the salaf one whose colour would change when the time for prayer approached and he would say: "Do you know in front of whom I wish to stand?"

O (Slave of Allah), when you pray and your heart is absent, then the prayer is non-existent. It is like the one who stands in Rome and whose heart is in Syria. O one whose heart is oblivious in the prayer and whose mind is present with his whims, (your) body is in the mihraab and (your) heart is in the towns of heedlesness, (fear Allah and have Khushoo in your prayers)."

Al-Qurtubee (rh) said:

"The place of khushoo' is the heart. When it has khushoo' all the limbs have khushoo'. The limbs follow the khushoo of the heart because it is their king (and leader). When a man from among the scholars stands for the prayer he stands in awe from ar-Rahmaan (the Most Merciful) and fears that he may direct his sight to something (other than the place of prostration) or that he may converse with his soul about a matter of the world".