format_quote Originally Posted by
EesaSalam262
It's been 2 months since I reverted back to Islam. I missed the last 2 fajrs and I am starting to stray. HELP ME please get back on the path before I am astray again. It's not because I don't want to pray, it's just so difficult...I don't want to revert back to kufar ways, I doesn't work. Some Qur'an verses, maybe a hadith or few will break the seal forming onto my heart, inshallah. I'm sincerely trying but I am at a lost. PLEASE HELP!
Asalaamu Alaikum brother. Hope this helps:
What is the purpose of my life?
We need to realise is that Shaythan is always wanting to divert our attention and focus away from our real purpose in life. Therefore we have to continuously remind ourselves as to why we are here and what is our REAL purpose is on this earth. Have we been created to study, work, get married, have kids and then die? Well you could say that this is part of what we have to do in our lives on this earth but Almighty Allah tells us the sole purpose of our creation:
"I have created the jinn and humankind only for My worship"
The Holy Qur'an, Chapter 51, Verse 56
What is the greatest form of worship to Allah? The answer is:
Salaah!
Salaah is the second pillar of Islam and is the most important act of worship after the Shahada (decleration of faith).
It is the first question we will be asked as Muslims in the hereafter as to whether or not we fulfilled our Salaah or not. Therefore it is the most important act of worship that has been ordained to mankind.
So until our very last breath we should know what our priorities are and focus on fulfilling all of our Salaah as it is the very purpose of our creation.
Shaythan is very well aware that Salaah is our biggest obligation and so therefore is forever trying to divert mans attention away from fulfilling this obligation to Allah.
He whispers every excuse possible into our eyes and unfrotunatley a lot of the times we fall victim to his whispers.
Unfortunatley a lot of us are
"Eid Muslims" as in we pray every Eid but what we don't realise is that Eid is only Waajib(compulsory) and not even Fard(obligatory) even though waajib is close to Fard but do yuo see the point? We are Muslims twice a year and the rest of the year just Muslims by name.
The there are the
"Ramadan Muslims" who are just Muslims in Ramadan. They will make the effort to pray in Ramadan and even make the effort to pray Tarawee but the day Eid comes then Eid Salaah is the last Salaah they will read until next Ramadan.
There are also MANY of us who are
"Jummah Muslims" who are only Muslims for Friday prayers and the rest of the week are only Muslims by name. We chase this world as if we will be here forever but what we don't realise is that NOTHING that we chase in this world will be of any good to us in the hereafter. So are we chasing after the wrong thing? Should we not be chasing after the hereafter?
I'm not saying don't do anything for this world because obviously we have been created to earn our sustanaince with our own hands but where should we put most of our efforts into? Where do investors make their investments? In long term or short term gains? Obviously long term gains. So using this analogy let us think where we should most of our investment into. If we compare where we will spend more time then is it in this world or hereafter? Obviously the hereafter because the hereafter is forever whereas this world can end for us ANY moment.
Therefore we MUST put most of our efforts into investing good deeds into the hereafter for that is what will truly benefit us FOREVER and the gains of this world will only benefit us for a very short while because we will not be able to take our wealth with us. We will leave EVERYTHING we have invested into this world here. So we can work SO hard all of our lives but then we can die the next day and all that would have gone to waste.
Many of us have also become
"Convenience Muslims" as in we only pray when it suits us best or "
when we have time". We must leave this concept of only being Muslims for Eid, or in Ramadan, Jummah or convenience whenever it suits us best.
There is NO such thing as being a part time Muslim. We CANNOT be Muslims when we want to be now and again. We CANNOT be Muslims only by name and not action. Therefore let us be proper Muslims and be proud of the fact that we are Muslims and that we have been given imaan but if we neglect our imaan then we may risk losing it and destroying ourselves.
Allah tells us In the Qur'an to enter fully into our deen and not partly:
O believers enter into Islam completely and do not follow the footsteps of Shaitan, surely he is your clear-cut enemy. If you falter after receiving the clear-cut message, then keep in mind that Allah is Mighty, Wise. Are they waiting for Allah to come down to them in the shadow of clouds, along with the angels, and make His decision known? Ultimately all matters will be presented to Allah for decision.
(Surah Al-Baqara, Ayah 208-210)
Allah does not expect us to be perfect angels but he will judge us on what efforts we made throughout our lives. When you hear a person say
"I try to read Salaah or i try to do what i can". Do you think they are really trying? Or are they just saying they are and decieving themselves? If we really tried we can do anything.
We can decieve ourselves but we cannot decieve Allah. Allah knows us better than we know ourselves and he knows what we are capable of and praying 5 times a day is not impossible for any of us.
If we calculate how long it would take to pray 5 times a day then you could sum it upto around 40 minutes a day. Now there are 1440 minutes in a day and 40 minutes out of 1440 of our day is ONLY 3% of a day and we still can't manage that? Many of us spend that much time eating, excreting or in front of a mirror and we can't even spend it praying and fulfilling the very purpose of our creation? We spend hours on end in front of the television or listening to Music or playing our playing the latest play station games or seeing who's poked us on facebook but we can't spend a few minutes praying to the one who has given us EVERYTHING we can possible imagine and far more? We are truly at loss!
Many of us work full time jobs having to work almost everyday of the year having to get up at early hours in order to do so. If we can do this then can't we pray Salaah 5 times a day for a few short minutes that it takes to pray them? If we really did try then we would not fail in praying our 5 prayers but we decieve ourselves and we end up wasting our lives decieving ourselves and then regret it later on when it is too late! Let us not be of those who will regret it forever!
So let us internalise these changes in our heads and immerse ourselves into our beautiful way of life and not let ourselves stop practising as soon as Ramadan is over for the best way to know if our Ramadan has been accepted or not is if we actually make changes to our lives after Ramadan is over. If we go back to how we were before Ramadan started then how can we except for our Ramadan to be accepted.
I'm not saying that we should become saints overnight but what i am saying is that we should at least fulfill our obligations to Allah and that is to establish our 5 times prayers and to keep away from that which Allah has forbidden. If we can't pray the Sunnah and Nafil then we MUST at least pray the Fard as a minimum.
Rather than moulding our life around our Salaah we mould our Salaah around our life so whenever we are sitting around at home then we decide to pray.
We must remember that it is an act of kufr(disbelief) to neglect the Salaah beyond its correct time and this is for missing one Salaah but how many Salaah do we continuously miss day in and day out? Some scholars even say missing Salaah intentionally takes one out of the fold of Islam. This is how serious missing Salaah really is!
Rasulallah (Pbuh) said: "What lies between a man and disbelief is the abandonment of prayer."
(Muslim)
It is a major sin to miss even one prayer and leaving even one Salaah without a valid excuse is said to cause one to spend tens of thousands of years in Jahannam and on top of that every Salaah missed is VAST rewards missed out which we will never be able to gain back.
Therefore it is incumbant on us that we fulfil ALL of our Salaah and not make excuses as to why we cannot fulfill it because Islam has been made easy for us but it is us who makes it hard upon ourselves and because of the amount of sins that we committ we find it hard to do even simple acts of worship.
Allah has made it so easy for us so let us not make it hard for ourselves and let us not listen to the lame excuses that shaythan and our desires gives us.
Let us not waste a second more for death can approach us at ANY moment and believe me death does not wait for ANYONE! It comes not a second ahead or before its appointed time and if our Salaah is not right then surely we are doomed to destruction.
So let us fulfill our very purpose in this life which is to worship Allah. We need to keep reminding ourselves of death and the hereafter and also the greatness of Allah. We need to always remember our time is too short and can go at any second. So let us never leave another Salah and when we pray then let us imagine we can see Allah and he is watching us pray so it is best to learn the meanings of what we are praying in our Salaah.
In regards to waking up for Fajr Salaah then you must take the following steps:
1. Try to sleep as early as possible if you do not need to do anything imortant after Isha Salaah because the earlier you sleep the easier it will be to wake up for Fajr
2. Try not to have any heavy meals in the evening as this will make it harder for you to wake up for Fajr
3. Try to encourage your family to also wake up for Fajr and tell them of the importance of Salaah as well as the fact that it is the purpose of our creation. If your family wakes up for Fajr then it will also be easier for you as they would also wake you up. If one or two of your family members do wake up for Fajr then tell them to also wake you up.
4. Make firm intention in your heart that you will wake up for Fajr no matter what and ask of Allah in your dua to make it easy for you to wake up for Fajr prayer.
5. Put on two or even three alarms and put them on 5 minutes apart and put them in places in your room where you know it will be a struggle getting to them. This way you will have to be wide awake to get to the alarms. As there will be three of them this will prevent you going back to bed again.
6. Most importantly when you awaken for Fajr then do NOT say to yourself i'll lay for a bit and then get up. This is the biggest trick of shaythan to make us fall asleep and miss Fajr prayer. As soon as the eyes are open then go straight to the bathroom.
These articles wil help you to maximise the amount of good deeds you do everyday inshallah:
10 Steps to Increasing our Iman(Faith)
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...man-faith.html
How much we will regret the precious seconds we wasted in this world!
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...ted-world.html
How we can get through hardships and trials in our lives
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...our-lives.html
30 ways the youth should spend everyday of their lives!
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...eir-lives.html
Easy Dhikr which is light on the tongue but heavy on the scales!
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...vy-scales.html
My Daily Ibadah (worship) check!
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...hip-check.html
10 steps to getting closer to Allah
http://www.islamicboard.com/manners-...ser-allah.html
Forty Very Easy, Quick & Rewarding Good Deeds for all of us to do Everyday!
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html
VERY Rewarding Nafl Salaahs we can Pray Everyday!
http://www.islamicboard.com/worship-...-everyday.html
Here are some very beneficial lectures which you should listen to, to increase your imaan and fear of Allah:
Remembrance: ask Allah for his forgiveness
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z-EK9r3rMzQ
Angel of Death!!! - Sheikh Ahmed Ali
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUzRJXlB2uA
HARD HITTING Lecture on HELLFIRE & the Day of JUDGEMENT! يوم القيامة والجحيم
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O6L_fBk7VM
Sheikh Ahmad Ali - Hellfire Talk Part 1/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DWTehIeCOUU
Sheikh Ahmad Ali - Hellfire Talk Part 2/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yXTtk7rWx_U
Sheikh Ahmad Ali - Hellfire Talk Part 3/3
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wmiD86w9fBc
Islam - Punishment of the Grave by Sheikh Riyadh ul Haq
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWb-hYIm2WE
Death and the Grave by Murtaza Khan
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7r2nzJVecqo
How can we not appreciate what we have after watching this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkEBUC0APMg
AMAZING short speech -"The Goodly Life"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fugf1DcNyc
If you need help, advice or anything at all then please do not hesitate to ask. Please remember me in your duas.
and Allah knows best in all matters