Lacking Khushoo' in Salaat

I rushed into the room and, checked the time, only 5minutes left for my break. I guess I should just pray the fardh salah and get out of there in time. Allaahu Akbar …hey this carpet design looks awkward! Allaahu Akbar...oh man, should’ve tied my belt lower, it’s too tight! Allaahu Akbar…When is the deadline for my project? What was I supposed to do before work? I wonder if my friends are waiting for me at the mall…better call them right after salah. Oh, wait which rakah am I at? Hmm is that three or four. Probably four. May Allah forgive me, I can’t remember! Salamu alaykum wa rahmatullaah. Did I have wudoo?!! Oh man, I’m already late! I got up and wore my shoes and jolted out of the room.

Sounds familiar?

Great, plenty of time to get ready. What should I wear? Oh yes, I like this suit; looks nice and it’s comfortable as well. I even feel nice in these! Ok, what else. My portfolio, check. My watch, check. Matching shoes, check. Ok let me review some of the notes now to get their early. Thirty minutes early! No problem, just sit here patiently till they call me in. Oh, wow time almost flew, it’s my turn! Ok, just be cool, and remember to concentrate on details! Better be careful, he might be my boss. Give him all the answers to get this job…''Yes sir, I’ll learn this as well. Yes sir, I have studied these concepts as well as applied them already''.…Hmm this isn’t bad, I actually know these things! Good thing I reviewed in advance!

Wow, that interview was long! He asked me so many questions. I think I did well. I hope I get the job! I better jot down the things I wasn’t able to understand. It will help significantly towards my next interview.

Sounds familiar?

Is it any surprise that most Muslims lack khushoo in salah? As described by the above two scenarios, where does salah lie in terms of our priorities? We strive to understand and implement everything that might benefit us in this dunya, yet how meagre the effort we put in for the required duties towards our Creator! No doubt, the salah we perform in such lack of concentration and effort is doomed for rejection! How much do we benefit from our salah? Or has salah in itself has become difficult to establish? Do we even know how to come closer to Allaah? We can come close to Allaah, by following his commands, and amongst the very first command following tawheed is to establish salah.

“Successful indeed are the believers, those who offer their salah (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness.” [al-Mu’minoon 23:1-2]

How can we attain Khushoo’?

In order to attain khushoo’ we must have knowledge of the main obstacles in our path. Shaytan’s number one project is diverting us from salah, as the prophet (sal Allaahu alayhi wa sallam) mentioned, the first thing that our religion loses will be khushoo’.

Khushoo’ means calmness, serenity, tranquility, dignity and humility. It comes from fearing Allah in a calm manner; the heart stands before the Lord in humility and submission. Salah is extremely difficult, except for the people who have khushoo.

“And seek assistance through patience and prayer, and most surely it is a hard thing except for the humble ones.” [al-Baqarah 2:45]

Every time the slave wants to turn his thoughts towards Allaah, thoughts of other matters come sneaking into his mind. The Shaytaan is like a bandit lying in wait to launch an ambush: every time the slave wants to travel towards Allaah, the Shaytaan wants to cut off his route.

When the slave stands up to pray, the Shaytaan feels jealous of him, because he is standing in the greatest position, one that is closest [to Allaah] and most annoying and grievous to the Shaytaan. So he tries to stop him from establishing prayer in the first place, then he continues trying to entice him and make him forget, and making assaults on him with his cavalry and infantry, until he thinks of prayer as less important, so he starts to neglect it, and eventually gives it up altogether.

If the Shaytaan fails to achieve this, and the person ignores him and starts to pray, the enemy of Allaah will come and try to distract him, by reminding him of things that he did not remember or think of before he started praying. A person may have forgotten about something altogether, but the Shaytaan will remind him of it when he starts praying, so as to distract him from his prayers and take him away from Allaah, so that his heart will no longer be in his prayers, and he will lose out on the honour and reward of Allaah turning toward him, which is only attained by the one whose heart is really in his prayer. Thus he will finish his prayer no better off than when he started, with his burden of sins not reduced at all by his salaah, because prayer only expiates for sins when it is done properly, with perfect khushoo, and the person stands before Allaah in body and soul. (Al-Waabil al-Sayib, p. 36).


How the Salaf used to Pray

When Saeed al-Tanookhi prayed, there would be tears rolling down his cheeks onto his beard. We heard that one of the Taabieen, when he stood up to pray, his colour would change, and he would say, Do you know before Whom I am going to stand and with Whom I am going to talk?

Who amongst us has fear and respect like this?

Abu Bakr al-Subghi said: I lived through the time of two imaams (leaders) although I was not fortunate enough to hear them in person: Abu Haatim al-Raazi and Muhammad ibn Nasr al-Marwazi. As for Ibn Nasr, I do not know of any prayer better than his. I heard that a hornet stung him on his forehead and blood started flowing down his face, but he did not move. Muhammad ibn Yaqoob al-Akhram said: I have never seen any prayer better than that of Muhammad ibn Nasr. Flies used to land on his ears, and he did not shoo them away. We used to marvel at how good his prayer and khushoo were. His fear [of Allaah] in prayer was so great that he would put his chin on his chest as if he were a piece of wood standing up. (Tazeem Qadr al-Salaah, 1/58).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allaah have mercy on him), when he started to pray, used to tremble so much that he would lean right and left.

Compare this with what some of us do nowadays, looking at our watches, adjusting our clothes, fiddling with our noses, thinking of deals and counting our money whilst praying, or tracing the patterns of decorations on carpets and ceilings, or trying to see who is beside us. Think of how anyone would behave before some great leader of this world, would he dare to behave in such a manner then?!

Many methods exist to help improve your khushoo'—gain knowledge about all that benefits your salah and strive harder towards it inshaAllaah!

Lastly, the following is a reflection of what we all must strive to achieve while realising that we will always require more knowledge and practice in improving our salah and ourselves. May Allaah (subhaanahu wa ta’aala) help us perform our salah with proper khushoo’ and accept them from us. (Ameen!)

We have been studying here for hours, I can’t wait to relieve myself with salah! Is it time yet? Maaan, still half an hour! All this work makes me really realize that meaning of that hadith, seek comfort in salah.

Perfect, it’s time! “Hey guys, please excuse me. I have an obligatory prayer soon. I’ll be back shortly, please do not do my section of the assignment, I’ll come and take of that myself.” They all look up from behind their books, “Sure, Fatima.” The rest nodded.

Finally! Ok, do I have enough time? Yes. Let me do wudoo’ first before the rush begins. Bismillaah. Alhamdulilaah, the water feels great! I feel fresh again. SubhanAllaah. Ok, they haven’t yet started the salah. I guess I can read my mushaf till then. “Verily with every hardship there is ease.” Alhamdulilaah. That was so relevant to me! It’s like Allaah is talking directly to me through this Qur’an! Alhamdulilaah. They are giving the aqamah, finally.

And I prayed, how soon the salah ended. Let me pray two more rakats before I go back. Wow, I actually spent 15 minutes! Alhamdulillaah that felt so great. I have to return to studies. Allaah, I know I didn’t pray enough, for You deserve much more worship then what I offered. I wonder if You will accept it from me. Astaghfirullaaah, ya Rabb. Forgive me in my shortcomings. (Ameen)

Even though I felt sad for not having more time to finish nafl salah, I feel much better then before. The Qur’an reading and salah totally opened my mind and motivated me to try harder for finishing up my work. I left to join the study session.

Ok let’s get this done. Hmm hey you know what? I know how to solve this….before we knew it, we were done! The non-muslims asked, “Fatima, what exactly did you do in your prayer? You left so tired and you returned completed hyped up! Did they drug you?” And I smiled, before giving them my answer…