Recognizing the Educational Significance of Prayer in Imam Khomeini's View

Imam Khomeini has come up with valuable mystical, moral, theological, educational, philosophical and legal ideas and guidelines. He has set overall aims and a specific policy for education. Imam defines Islam as the best educational school and considers prayer as the pillar of religion and "the head of Islam", relying on Islamic thought. Furthermore, he believes that prayer has a particular status and he considers it as a sacred composition" and "comprehensive prescription" for man. The present paper re-examines the educational significance of prayer in Imam Khomeini's view in the light of his book "Serr Al Salat (the mystery of prayer). A descriptive method and content analysis is used in this research. The main educational proofs based on inquiry and speculation in this research are organized and presented in a framework of foundations, principles and methods of Islamic education. The research findings show that Imam Khomeini considers prayer to have several forms of the different aspects of educational process (foundations, principles, aims and method), which can actualize and crystallize the journey along the right path, the various steps of the four journeys of mysticism, and states of wayfarer in every rakat of his/her prayer.