how do you discipline yourself and get back on track when you see yourself slipping away from basic Islamic duties e.g., praying the 5 obligatory prayers. Being consistent in performing the 5 prayers has been the hardest for me. The diablo always gets the best of me.
What has worked for you? Please share your tips.
Just doing it! Start slow and build your way up, but stay consistent. Consistency is the key. No matter what other things you have going for you. You go out of your way to do it. Even if you hate it. That goes with ANYTHING, working out, praying, fasting, diet, studying, building a skill, no fap. As long as you aren't "addicted" to whatever that adds another layer of difficulty. Will power is like a muscle, it also needs to be exercised. If you don't exercise your will power and just let your nuffs control you it will just give you short term joy and weaken your will power. Thats why I think its ingenious for Allah to require fasting for us in our religion. It strengthens our will power and forces us to control our basic desires.
For prayer, usually people prioritize other things in their life...like for me, sometimes I get so into working out, or playing video games, or hanging out with friends that prayer falls by the way side cause those other things are more fun. But if you make a concerted effort for Allah and for your self you'll do it.
I got into a car accident yesterday. Both rear and front ended. I took it as a wake-up call that I need to get back on track with my ibadat and some other things. I had been doing fairly well and then I began getting careless the past week or so. But when I feel myself slipping, I try to self-talk myself out of it. I do eventually start feeling restless if I've strayed for too long and when that awareness kicks in, I try to make my way back. Listening to lectures, doing dhikr helps as well.
Jotting down the points so far:
It should be easier, since I do get to hear "hayya ala salah, hayya ala falah" 5 times a day. I need to auto-program myself to stop what i am doing and head to the masjid or prayer mat right away. Cos the more i delay it the more my brain keeps telling me "oh i have 5 more minutes, ill get up and do wuzoo and pray"
1- Asking Allah(swt) repeatedly to guide us and keep us on guidance. Asking Allah’s help in being consistent with prayer /dhikr etc.
2- I heard about the two rakat solution a few weeks ago on youtube. This is a link which explains it, though the video had another example. https://onepathnetwork.com/how-to-give-up-any-bad-habit/
I’ll post an excerpt :
There was more in the video I’d heard, it went on to tell how this man never missed fajr again.
The two rakat solution requires consistency. I’ve tried it and it has worked wonders alhumdulillah.
May Allah (swt) help us all in performing our religious obligations.
I have seen that "two rakaat" video and the solution shared by the sheikh :) Making that 100 rakaah commitment requires a million dollar will power in itself. I am not sure I can do this. I like your point # 1, asking Allah for guidance. There is in fact a Quranic dua from Surah Aaal Imran: Rabbana la tuzigh quloobana ba'da idh hadaytana wa hab lana milladunka rahmah innaka antal Wahhab (Our Lord! Let not our hearts deviate after you have guided us and grant us from yourself mercy. Indeed, you are the Bestower. (Al-'Imran:8))
With respect to the 5 times daily salat, the way I do it is to first know what are the timings for each salat. If I'm in a position to pray in jamat (free to go to a close by masjid) I will plan to be there for the jamat time and schedule my activities accordingly. If I happen to be attending a meeting or something, I will try to figure out where I could pray (i.e. is there a masjid close by? if not, what do I need to do to get to a nearby masjid, how long will it take). Otherwise, I'm very upfront about my duties to pray with my employer (they know from beforehand that I will need to take some amount of time off, and will have some idea about my available window). Any meetings I schedule will also have be worked around my salat times. When the time for any salat comes in, I will make concern for how to take out at least the minimal time I need to pray and try to find a place for it as well (a masjid if it is close by - using an app to find close by masajid, or a spare room or a corner that I could quickly use).
I have a prayer mat and a place in my home where it's my "prayer place". This really helps me get into prayer mode and helps me stay focused. When not at home it does get challenging but having a routine helps. Also prayer buddies or reminders from family and friends are always helpful. Alhamdulilah.
I remember in uni my friends and I had a group and you were paired with a friend. Everyday I had to call up one of my friends and remind her to pray tahajjud/fajr. This not only helped her but it helped me get up because if I didn't two people would be missing out on prayers!
Interesting practice!
[USER="116873"]Captain Obvious[/USER] and @Illuminate thanks for sharing your routines
[quote=““Sheeda Pistol””]
how do you discipline yourself and get back on track when you see yourself slipping away from basic Islamic duties e.g., praying the 5 obligatory prayers. Being consistent in performing the 5 prayers has been the hardest for me. The diablo always gets the best of me.
What has worked for you? Please share your tips.
[/quote]
Dua Al-ḥamdu lillāh الحَمْد لله always works for me, Al-ḥamdu lillāh الحَمْد لله if anything that i know going to make me busy i always make dua to Allah to give me strength to pray on time and may i never miss any of my salah, like the time lf shadi after shadi, during birth of my child prayer was the biggest concern also after the birth, i knew that new born makes you busy, have seen woman that they can?t stick to prayers because of this and that, so i made dua to Allah, and Al-ḥamdu lillāh الحَمْد لله His ehsan as always, may He accepts the salah and give me khushu khuzu in my prayer ameen
dua is the weapon of momin!
just make dua!
also read the tafseer of the ayat of surah al mao?n
Allazeena hum an salateehim sahoon
may Allah help you in performing prayer on time
what i would suggest you, just see the timings of prayer and don?t give a second thought and go straight to make wadu and start praying, If you know the hadith regarding fajar shaitan one! I will paste it here soon In ?āʾ Allāh (إن شاء الله,)
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said, "Satan puts three knots at the back of the head of any of you if he is asleep. On every knot he reads and exhales the following words, 'The night is long, so stay asleep.' When one wakes up and remembers Allah, one knot is undone; and when one performs ablution, the second knot is undone, and when one prays the third knot is undone and one gets up energetic with a good heart in the morning; otherwise one gets up lazy and with a mischievous heart."
حَدَّثَنَا عَبْدُ اللَّهِ بْنُ يُوسُفَ، قَالَ أَخْبَرَنَا مَالِكٌ، عَنْ أَبِي الزِّنَادِ، عَنِ الأَعْرَجِ، عَنْ أَبِي هُرَيْرَةَ ـ رضى الله عنه ـ أَنَّ رَسُولَ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم قَالَ " يَعْقِدُ الشَّيْطَانُ عَلَى قَافِيَةِ رَأْسِ أَحَدِكُمْ إِذَا هُوَ نَامَ ثَلاَثَ عُقَدٍ، يَضْرِبُ كُلَّ عُقْدَةٍ عَلَيْكَ لَيْلٌ طَوِيلٌ فَارْقُدْ، فَإِنِ اسْتَيْقَظَ فَذَكَرَ اللَّهَ انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ، فَإِنْ تَوَضَّأَ انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ، فَإِنْ صَلَّى انْحَلَّتْ عُقْدَةٌ فَأَصْبَحَ نَشِيطًا طَيِّبَ النَّفْسِ، وَإِلاَّ أَصْبَحَ خَبِيثَ النَّفْسِ كَسْلاَنَ ". [TABLE="cellpadding: 0, cellspacing: 0"]
Reference
: Sahih al-Bukhari 1142
In-book reference
: Book 19, Hadith 23
USC-MSA web (English) reference
: Vol. 2, Book 21, Hadith 243
(deprecated numbering scheme)
A combination of few different things. Sometimes, just rearranging or changing daily routine. Change timings or order of doing things. Like if I was doing more azkaar before and less Quran so then I'll switch to reading more Quran and less azkaar or vice versa. Sometimes, just skipping meal(s). Eating full meals make me lazy more likely to miss a prayer especially fjr or Isha. Skipping a meal or two detoxifies the system, refreshing, recharging your batteries. So you feel active & keen to get back on prayers. Sometimes, just counting your blessings fills you with enough gratitude to make you active with prayers to thank God. Sometimes, when I'm too low in iman then I just take a day off. I go & stay out all day not worrying about prayers & do 3 or 4 qazas all at once before sleeping or the next day. I know its wrong to purposely miss prayers but i guess its better than staying for days with the weaker/lower iman phase that blocks you from farz worship. So its okay if you take a break to reenergize yourself to strengthen your iman Or just do something out of the ordinary. Sometimes reading alot about important serious subjects effecting this world. Just the state of the current world is enough to knock you down with so much fear that you want to pray for protection of all associated or not associated with you from harm. And be thankful to God for caring enough to protect you from all the fitna (health wealth & emotion wise)