Prayer is Remembrance of Allah

Question :

Some of the Sufis say that remembrance is better than the obligatory prayer and they cite as evidence the Words of Allah, the Most High:

And the praising of Allah is greater indeed.

So is remembrance of Allah better than prayer, as they say?

Answer:

Allah commanded us to mention His Name much; He says:
O you who believe! Remember Allah with much remembrance, and glorify His praises morning and afternoon.

Allah, the Most Glorified has made it clear that hearts are pacified through His remembrance, saying:

Verily, in the remembrance of Allah do hearts find rest.

It is reported from the Prophet that he said that whoever mentioned Allah in private and his eyes shed tears will be among the seven types of person whom Allah will protect with His Shade, on the Day when there will be no shade except His Shade. And he gave an example of one who remembers his Lord and one who does not remember his Lord, comparing them to a living person and a dead person. Remembrance of Allah enlivens the hearts and brings them tranquility, it purifies and cleanses the souls, and the virtue of it before Allah is great.

There is no doubt that prayer includes the best type of remembrance; Qur'anic recitation, Takbeer , Tahleel,Tasbeeh, Tamjeed, and that the superiority of Allah's Words over the words of His worshippers is like the superiority of Allah over mankind, and the best of sayings which the Messenger of Allah and the Prophets before him said is: "La ilaha illallah..." etc. Also the prayer consists of bowing and prostration, and the worshipper is closest to his Lord while prostrating.

Therefore favoring utterances of remembrance outside prayer over prayer is (in effect) favoring something over itself, if not the favoring of something over that which is better than it, which is not correct. The meaning of Allah's Words:
And offer prayers perfectly (Igamatus-Salat). Verily, prayer prevents Al-Fahsha' and Al-Munkar and the remembrance of Allah is greater indeed.

- is that the performance of the obligatory prayers at the correct time, in the way which Allah has prescribed and His Messenger has explained, interposes between him and all evil deeds; and through them, Allah restrains him from falling into disbelief, polytheism etc. and Allah's Remembrance (i.e. praise) of you is greater and superior in recompense and reward than your remembrance of Allah, as Allah says:

Therefore remember Me (by praying, glorifying etc.) and I will remember you.

This explanation was the preferred one of Ibn Jareer At-Tabari in his Tafsir and a number of other scholars of Tafsir agreed with him in this, based upon the narrations transmitted by many of the Companions and the Tabi'in.