[Safiyyah]

"Why must I pray when I don't get much out of it?"

"Is there anything I could do to make me love the prayers and stay attentive?"

"Why does Salah feel like such a chore?"

These are a few questions that often trouble our thoughts and minds. What follows are 30 practical ways we can improve and enjoy our prayers as they are meant to be!

Today we have indeed come to treat the prayer (Salah) as something insignificant in our lives. Very often we hear out elders say, "I will start praying when the time comes." Others, especially the younger Muslims, do not find much comfort, and joy in their prayers. Due to our treatment of prayer as a burden, our love and passion for the prayer has vanished. Our hearts have become hardened, and we have become depressed and defeated people. As a result, many are searching for 'cures and remedies' to the distress in our lives, through any means available, but are unable to find any because they have ignored the greatest medicine- Salah!

If we look deep into our daily lives and diagnose the causes of our spiritual, social and psychological illnesses, we realise that probably something as uplifting, revolutionary and empowering as Salah is missing. If we, the youth, realise the potential role of prayer in changing our lives and as constant source of hope, we would regret missing even a single Salah.


Tip #1

The Role of Salah in Changing our Lives

The whole purpose of Salah is to be ever conscious of Allah, the Creator and Sustainer of all things. Salah is indeed, one of the most comprehensive forms of Dhikr (Rememberance). No wonder, Allah states in the hadith qudsi: "Out of all the ways through which My servant gets closer to Me, Salah is the dearest to Me." (Bukhari) It is unfortunate that we do not always take full advantage of this gift.

We may compare the obligatory Salah to bathing five times a day. If after such a frequent bathing, your body still remains dirty, then we may question the usefulness and efficiency of such bathing. Similarly, if after regular observance of prayer your heart remains unmoved and your morals remain corrupt, we may question the usefulness of your prayer. If you enter into Salah and come out of it the same person, then you have missed something great.

How can you improve the quality of your Salah? Remember, first and foremost, that as soon as you commence your Salah, Shaytan makes it his duty to fill your mind and anything and everything but thoughts of Allah. He tries ceaselessly to disengage your mind and heart from such rememberance. It is this state of absentmindness that destroys the quality of your prayer. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) once said: [Al-Ghazali in Ihya-Uloom ad-Deen]."God does not accept the prayers of an individual until his heart achieves in it what his body has achieved."

The ability to concentrate in prayer may be improved by undertaking adequate psychological, mental and physical preparation before the prayer and by utilising certain techniques during the prayer.

Compiled from "In the Early Hours" by Khurran Murad

More tomorrow!

This post has been edited by Ryan: Sep 12 2004, 07:42 AM

[Safiyyah]

Psychological and Mental Preparation before the Prayer

Tip #2 The planning of your daily activities should revolve around the five daily Salah. Do not plan everything else and then try to fit prayer into your busy schedule. Allah deserves a greater place in our lives than that!

Tip #3 Ensure that you are conservant with all the rules and regulations governing your prayer. Research in depth the Quranic verses and a hadith relating to the virtues of Salah. Uncertainty in how to perform one's prayer perfectly is a major cause of distraction.

Tip #4 Be punctual with your prayer. Get into the habit of praying at the earliest hour. Do not procrastinate. The Prophet said, "The deed most loved by Allah is prayer performed on time." (Muslim) and "only the hypocrites intentionally delay their prayers!"

Tip #5 Pray as much of your obligatory Salah in congregation as is possible. This is not 'just a good thing' but an obligation on every Muslim male. According to teh Prophet, if we knew the good in praying in jama'ah we would not miss it even if we had to crawl to the masjid!

Tip #6 Avoid praying in a state in which you are mentally and physically fatigued.

Tip #7 Keep your mind free of worldly worries, evil thoughts and ideas.

Tip #8 Plan what verses/duas you are going to recite.

Tip #9 If you do not understand Arabic, learn the meaning of what you recite in your prayer.

Tip #10 Remind yourself that engaging in prayer offers you an opportunity to release yourself from the tensions of this world. The Prophet has said that in prayer was placed the comfort of his eyes. Therefore, cherish the opportunity to remove the burdens of this world from your shoulders.

Tip #11 Use your prayer to remain focused on you mission in life, which is to bring your entire being to serve only Allah.

Tip #12 Use your prayer as a source of strenght, inspiration and enthusiasm for your life and activities.

Compiled from "In The Early Hours" by Khurram Murad

This post has been edited by Safiyyah: Jun 17 2004, 06:53 AM

[Safiyyah]

Physical Preparation

Tip #13 Fulfill all your personal need before you commence your prayer, for example, thirst, hunger and calls of nature.

Tip #14 Pray in a pure physical state. Perform your wudu with care and perfection.

Tip #15 Although the whole earth is a masjid or a place of worship, choose a place that is clean.

Tip #16 Pray in an environment free of noice and one where there is no distraction.

Tip #17 Adorn yourself with clean and respectable clothes.

Performing Your Prayer

Tip #18 Assess your mental readiness for prayer before its commencement, during the various postures, after each raka and ultimately at the end.

Tip #19 Pray with humility both in yoru mental state and in your physical manner. Pray with hope and awe.

Tip #20 Remind yourself continually that you are talking to the most important 'One' in you life- your Creator and Sustainer. He is in front of you. You are facing Him and you are involved in a dialogue with Him.

Tip #21 Commence your prayer by seeking Allah's help and protection from the influences of the Shaytan.

Tip #22 Lower your gaze while praying adn do not allow the physical environment to distract you. Anas related that the Prophet said: "My dear son, be sure to avoid being distracted during prayer, for, to become distracted while praying is a disaster." (Tabarani)Remember that Allah will look at you as long as you keep your eyes on the ground.

Tip #23 Use a variety of Quranic verses and duas in your prayer to achievegreater concentration and awareness.

Tip #24 Adopt a whispering technique in you recitation in order to remain focused on what you are saying, and not distract others.

Tip #25 As you recite the Quran, translate it into your own language so that your attention is held. As you ponder upon the meaning and implications of the words, inshallah, all worldly thoughts will disappear.

Tip #26 On each occasion that you recite the Sifat or attributes of Allah in ruku and sajda, consider how indebted you are and how grateful you should be to Allah and express your true emotions.

Tip #27 Utilize the occasion of sajda to make additional dua to Allah. The Prophet said: "A servant is nearest to his Lord when he is in sajda, so increase your supplication when in sajda." (Muslim)

Tip #28 Make your prayer of moderate duration so that you do not become physically and mentally tired but be aware that while in prayer you must take you time praying.

Tip #29 Give due regard to the proper performance of all the physical postures. Do not 'peck like a crow' when doing rukus and sajdas as every posture in Salah, even the rests, are important.

Tip #30 Pray as if it is your last prayer. The Messenger of God said: "When you stand up to pray, perform your prayer as if it were you last..." (Ahmad)

Performing your prayer in a satisfactory manner should lead to a radical change in the way you lead your daily life. Salah must be as the Quran states: Surely, Salah prevents indecency and evil [al-Ankabut 29:45.] Your improved and more disciplined life will in turn help the quality of your prayer to increase even more. The two should continuously reinforce each other.

Remember, Salah is an obligation. Whether your heart is attentive or not, it must be performed. You cannot give up prayer because to you it appears useless. There is punishment for a prayer not performed satisfactorily. It will be a witness against you rather than a witness for you on the Day of Judgement. Don't give up the obligation but try to infuse it with the purpose it seeks to serve- remembrance of Allah. It is important to remember the saying of the Prophet : "If a man performs two rakas of Salah without the distraction of any worldly thought, all his previous sins will be forgiven." (Bukhari.)

Compiled from "In The Early Hours" by Khurram Murad.

This post has been edited by Safiyyah: May 6 2004, 06:29 AM

[Ryan]

Alhamdulillah, its good to be reminded about the importance of prayer, in particular our thoughts and attitudes when we submit ourselves to Allah in worship.

Nice work sister Safiyyah!

[This thread is now pinned!]

[Alive...]

nice post sis
one thing... recently i've heard different oppinions on where we should turn while performing salah????
i hope u can help me coz i really hate when i get different opinions and than don'ty kno who to trust who's right who's not

[taSneem]

You should turn towards Kiblah (Kabah in Mekka) when perforimg salah. From Australia that is North-West direction.

Which difference of opinion are you refering to?

[Mahmoud]

I thought that the prayer angle is 15degrees north of west??

[Fatima]

Assalamu Alaikum,

Thankyou for those fantastic tips, Safiyyah.

(I am soooo loving this site !)

I just have something to share, or more like ask on the topic of prayer ... just hope its NOT off the topic ...

Ummm ... Its just that I am guilty of not fulfilling this tip:

Tip #2 The planning of your daily activities should revolve around the five daily Salah. Do not plan everything else and then try to fit prayer into your busy schedule. Allah deserves a greater place in our lives than that!

& it makes me , , - all at the same time because you know its wrong - & so then you feel

So moving along, I guess I need advice from those who can ... I work Mon-Fri, 9-5pm ... So I can pray Fajr, but when I get home I have to pray Duhr, Asr, Maghrib, & Isha all at once. It doesn't feel like a chore or anything BUT I can't help but feel like it shouldn't be that way, u know?

Ummm ... yeah ... thats my situation.
Hope someone can share their thoughts with me on this - & I'm sure I am not alone - or am I?

Btw, I have asked respected people on this, & they have said that I have no choice but to pray when I get home from work.

(SORRY FOR THE LONG POST ... you may notice that I cant seem to keep things short ... oops!)


Assalamu Alaikum,
Fatima

[haroon_muslim]

I thought that the prayer angle is 15degrees north of west??

You should turn towards Kiblah (Kabah in Mekka) when perforimg salah. From Australia that is North-West direction.

Which difference of opinion are you refering to?

You can get a compass at Marion Masjid to find the direction everytime.

[Yasja786]

slmz guys, i only just read this, i know it was posted ages ago, but i think it would be great for new members of even old ones to read. ways of improving the way we pray and things that give us motivation to pray is always a great thing to find.

[Mikhael]

good diggin up of old dead threads yasja, a really really REALLY important one i feel, i needed this its too long for me to complete now and insha Allah in the next day or so i want to read it insha Allah it can give me a spark to help me become a better more practising muslim

mushallah thanks yasja for briniging this out of limbo
salams...........

[Chosen]

guys firstly slms to all... i have just joined YE and ummmm about the Qiblah... the simpilist thing that i have noticed is that from aus whereever the sun sits dats the Qiblah.. u guys can check it out...
slmss

[Mei---s2]

thnx heaps sr.safiyyah

[*Slightly Deranged*]

It is important to remember the saying of the Prophet : "If a man performs two rakas of Salah without the distraction of any worldly thought, all his previous sins will be forgiven." (Bukhari.)

Is this akin to the sins forgiven for when you perform Hajj properly, or is it more like.. when you spend Lailatul Qadr in Ibaadah? It'd be interesting to know

Haha yesterday Sakina suddenly ran to go do her Wudhu (a shock to me, I assure you, because she hardly EVER gets up from that laptop), saying, 'The hypocrite purposefully delays prayer.' It was so funny! There was like 1.5 hours before Maghrib, and I laughed and asked, where'd you get that from? And she goes, I was reading past threads on Isn't this great?

[Chosen]

i tink de hadith is referring to all the minor sins... for the major sins we have to make taubah...
The Hajj one is specific...and refers to both type of sins been forgiven and that u come bak like a new born baby...

[Mei---s2]

yeh, i really liked this thread, but JIE!!! that was so uncalled for!

[Chosen]

yea y did u have to say dat SD..hehe
havent u heard of the hadith that if u hide others secrets and faults then ALLAH swt will hide ur secrets and faults from the people in this world and also on the Day of Ressurection...
hope uve learnt ur lisen...lol

This post has been edited by Chosen: Feb 10 2006, 11:16 PM

[Mei---s2]

dont u just love that hadith

[Alive...]

@ skinz hahahah
too sweet!

guys firstly slms to all... i have just joined YE and ummmm about the Qiblah... the simpilist thing that i have noticed is that from aus whereever the sun sits dats the Qiblah.. u guys can check it out...
slmss

hmm i dont think so Chosen!
i learned that from Adelaide it's 13 degrees from where the sun sets/west!

[Shadow_of_White]

I just have something to share, or more like ask on the topic of prayer ... just hope its NOT off the topic ...

Ummm ... Its just that I am guilty of not fulfilling this tip:
& it makes me , , - all at the same time because you know its wrong - & so then you feel

So moving along, I guess I need advice from those who can ... I work Mon-Fri, 9-5pm ... So I can pray Fajr, but when I get home I have to pray Duhr, Asr, Maghrib, & Isha all at once. It doesn't feel like a chore or anything BUT I can't help but feel like it shouldn't be that way, u know?

yeah i know how you feel..if you want to make your salah not seem like a chore, especially if you pray all at once, then maybe you should do personal prayer before you start praying, asking Allah to help you not feel tht way....and also if you feel disconnected or "like its a chore" when you pray, you just remind yourself WHY you are doing it, and remember Jannah...

hehe...thats wat i do.......i hope it helps..