And in the words of a distinguished American psychologist:
‘All historians declare that the amazing success of Islam in dominating the world lay in the astounding coherence or sense of unity in the group, but they do not explain how this miracle was worked. There can be little doubt that one of the most effective means was the prayer. The five daily prayers, when all the faithful wherever they were, alone in the grim solitude of the desert or in vast assemblies in the crowded city, knelt and prostrated themselves towards Mecca, uttering the same words of adoration for the one true God and of loyalty to His Prophet, produce an overwhelming effect upon the spectator, and the psychological effect of thus fusing minds of the worshippers in a common adoration and expression of loyalty is certainly stupendous’ (Denison, Emotion as the basis of Civilization, pp 274-275).
