5 Tips to Make Your Prayer More Effective in Busy Hours
Due to today’s occupied life, we get distracted in our prayers. No doubt, we are all striving to achieve the perfect and focused Salah. It has become difficult for us to gain mental peace and hence have a focused and concentrated prayer.
Our fast-paced life affects our worship to a great extent. Therefore, the little time that we spent in worship must be utilized in the right way. In other words, we should pray in a way that pleases Allah. As a result, it will benefit us not only spiritually but also in our worldly matters.
We are all continuously battling with distracted prayers. However, there are a few tips that I would like to share with you so we can regain our focus in our prayer even when we are busy. Consequently, it shall help us stay focused on our prayer. A few of these tips have been mentioned below.
1. Focus on Your Salah (Prayer)
We must focus on the positions of Salah, for example, the way our feet are positioned. Also, the way we stand in Salah. In short, we should try to follow the Salah the way it has been recommended. By focusing on our actions during Salah, we shall be able to focus on our prayer indirectly.
Most importantly, we should make it a habit to slow down the process of Salah. We must not make haste in prayer as it has not been recommended by our Prophet (peace be upon him). As a result, we will slow down the recitation of our prayer as well.
Likewise, staying in the Sajdah (prostration) position for some time is a very effective way to draw focus and attention towards Salah. Also, it helps us understand the meaning of Salah as it is the position when we are closest to Allah. As a result, we will feel relaxed as it provides peace to hearts.
Hence, do not pray quickly, just for the purpose of fulfilling your duty, no matter how busy you are.
2. Understand What You Recite
Non-native Arabic speakers understand the Quran through its translation. Similarly, we need to understand prayer along with its meaning. We need to make the effort to understand what we recite during Salah. By understanding what we say, we can get closer to Allah. Hence, it shall help us make our Salah more effective and meaningful.
3. Beware of Shaitan (Satan)
Allah has given us the gift of Salah. We are blessed that we are able to connect with Allah through Salah. But there is a big enemy; Shaitan, that is aimed at deviating us from prayer, by distracting us in Salah.
Shaitan distracts us by whispering worldly thoughts in our minds during Salah. Be aware that the thoughts that distract us during Salah are from Shaitan. When such thoughts strike our minds, we must overcome and wipe out all worldly thoughts.
Uthman b. Abu al’-As narrated that he came to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said,
“Allah’s Messenger, the Satan intervenes between me and my prayer and my reciting of the Qur’an and he confounds me. Thereupon Allah’s Messenger (PBUH) said: That is (the doing of a) Satan (devil) who is known as Khinzab, and when you perceive its effect, seek refuge with Allah from it and spit three times to your left. I did that and Allah dispelled that from me.” (Sahih Muslim)
4. Know what works best for you while Praying
When we generally do something important in life, we try to keep away all such factors that might distract us. These factors might include noise or commotion. Some of us might be able to focus on our work in silence or in isolation. We should treat Salah in the same way. We should focus on the surrounding factors that can create hindrances for us.
There must be something that helps you focus on Salah and make your mind peaceful. Try to think of such factors and help focus on your Salah by using these factors.
That is to say, these factors shall help us forget about the world and its matters. Hence, they shall enable us to make our prayer constructive and beneficial.
5. Think of your Prayer as the Last One
If you are busy, think of your current Salah as the last one. This shall enable you to leave whatever has kept you busy. Hence, you shall prioritize Salah this way. If we think of our each Salah as the last one, we shall be able to increase our concentration in Salah and pray more effectively.
Further, we should try to evaluate ourselves after each Salah as to how we performed, were we focused while praying and how can we further improve our Salah.
Conclusion
I hope these tips will surely help you in making your prayer more effective even when life has kept you busy and occupied. If we have the inclination to please Allah and built a strong connection with Him, we must make Him our priority no matter how occupied our worldly matters have kept us. Without Allah’s blessings and approval, we can never gain success in this world as well as the hereafter.
Many of us are struggling with Salah, but we can become regular and punctual in prayer by directing ourselves towards the right path. Imam Ghazali in his book Invocations and Supplications very beautifully narrates,
“Verily the soul becomes accustomed to what you accustom it to!”(imam ghazali)
Hence, the soul shall follow the path which we will make it familiar with. In other words, if we start educating our children from the beginning, to follow Allah’s path and understand His true spirit and nature, then their souls will be automatically functioning in the way that pleases Allah. Allah has created our souls to praise and love Allah. It is just for us to understand it and delve deep into how our soul functions. QuraOnline helps you to improve your praying steps with its Salah Course which includes the prayer method, translation, supplications etc.