Distractions during Salah

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zakahmed

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I was just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how to prevent myself from becoming distracted during salah as I find my mind often wonders off? Another issue I have is that by trade I'm an inventor and my job is to come up with different ideas for gadgets and mechanical devices, sometimes during salah an idea often pops into my head and between the Farz and Sunnah I quicly write it down on some paper - is that acceptable? I know I should be fully focued on my prayer but I find this often happens.
 
Salam Alaikkum
Brother, I know that i what called khushoo in prayer, Brother Nouman Ali Khan explains it well and how to obtain it
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zh12NhDGv48

I have additional question however, for brothers and sisters,,,,,,I hate scary movies, you can say I vomit blood twice (i mean not fully watch these movies), the other day my movie addict husband tried to watch and I thought it was light, i dont like to remember the title, its about jinns visiting the child and the child while asleep travels with the jinns, its a black & red jinn, now I always remember it, i dont know how to overcome, I remember it even in SALAH,,, really bad imsadimsadimsad
 
zakahmed said:
I was just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on how to prevent myself from becoming distracted during salah as I find my mind often wonders off? Another issue I have is that by trade I'm an inventor and my job is to come up with different ideas for gadgets and mechanical devices, sometimes during salah an idea often pops into my head and between the Farz and Sunnah I quicly write it down on some paper - is that acceptable? I know I should be fully focued on my prayer but I find this often happens.
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Asalaamu Alaikum, Please go through this thread:

Why can't I concentrate in my Salaah?

http://www.islamicboard.com/manners...4300101-why-cant-i-concentrate-my-salaah.html

If you need anymore help or advice then please do not hestiate to ask.
 
Riana17 said:
I have additional question however, for brothers and sisters,,,,,,I hate scary movies, you can say I vomit blood twice (i mean not fully watch these movies), the other day my movie addict husband tried to watch and I thought it was light, i dont like to remember the title, its about jinns visiting the child and the child while asleep travels with the jinns, its a black & red jinn, now I always remember it, i dont know how to overcome, I remember it even in SALAH,,, really bad imsadimsadimsad
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Asalaamu Alaikum, watching such movies can have a bad affect on a person especially because we believe in Jinn. All i can say to you is that you have now learnt from this so do not watch such movies again. Even if your husband is watching it you must not do so as you know what neghative affects it has on you. In time the fear will go just make sincere dua to Allah to take the fear out of your heart and put your trust and faith in him.

Read the four Quls morning and evening and ayatul Kursi. Always be in a state of wudu if you can and try not to be in state of junub for long. Always remember NOTHING can hurt or affect you without the will of Allah so it is Allah we should fear not his creations.
 
Hamza Asadullah said:
Asalaamu Alaikum, watching such movies can have a bad affect on a person especially because we believe in Jinn. All i can say to you is that you have now learnt from this so do not watch such movies again. Even if your husband is watching it you must not do so as you know what neghative affects it has on you. In time the fear will go just make sincere dua to Allah to take the fear out of your heart and put your trust and faith in him.

Read the four Quls morning and evening and ayatul Kursi. Always be in a state of wudu if you can and try not to be in state of junub for long. Always remember NOTHING can hurt or affect you without the will of Allah so it is Allah we should fear not his creations.
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Salam alaikkum,

thanks alot brother, he told me about it, he want to overcome my fears, he said its all in the mind :(
In the MINDDD ?:(
oh... why my mind is like that? Maybe because I'm a woman?

I will take your advise and inshallah I will try to move on... salam
 
Jazak Allah for sharing those links they were very informative, concentration during salah seems to come down to understanding what one is reciting so this is definately something I will inshallah work on.
 
zakahmed said:
Jazak Allah for sharing those links they were very informative, concentration during salah seems to come down to understanding what one is reciting so this is definately something I will inshallah work on.
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Salam alaikkum, that's right, that's why I am studying Arabic, my mind was closed earlier as I am lazy but I know I need to know the meaning of my prayer, otherwise as Brother Nouman said, I will not be able to focus. Also I am trying to remember the response of Allah, inshallah I will be better in Salah
 
i remember our imam telling us a story of a young man who was doing very well at business and had a lot of debtors - but wouldn't write them down,
his mother asked him: son, you have so many people owing you money, yet you never right it down.
he replied: don't worry mother - as soon as i start praying - it all comes back!!!;D

obviously that's not something good - rather it is Satan choosing the best method of ruining his prayer.

it happens to everyone, even the Prophet (pbuh) is reported to have said that satan steals a certain portion of the prayer.

i find that since i learned a bit of Arabic by listening to Imam Sudais while reading at exactly the same time, verse for verse, i would pause and rewind if i fell behind one verse. i was able to match most of the words and almost all of the sentences without the translation in front of me - so now when i read, i busy myself with translating the verses in my head, that helps me focus and also serves as a great way to remember the teachings in the Quran.
 
I agree, learning arabic or even just the meaning of what you are reading would be of great benifit, the quranic audio site have a lot of the surahs with translation so thats another easy way to learn.
 
Please forgive me for the double post, it seems that as I'm new I cant edit my posts. I was just wondering if my mind does slip and I remember something I'm supposed to do am I allowed to write it down once I finishing praying - like between my finishing my farz and starting my sunnah?
 
zakahmed said:
Please forgive me for the double post, it seems that as I'm new I cant edit my posts. I was just wondering if my mind does slip and I remember something I'm supposed to do am I allowed to write it down once I finishing praying - like between my finishing my farz and starting my sunnah?
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I don't see why you can't. If writing it down after shalah means you can concentrate in your next shalah, then you must do it.
There was a hadith (cant remember the detail) about whether we should eat first or pray shalah, and Rasulullah (SAW) to eat first when we are hungry and the food is ready, because otherwise you are praying while you're hungry and keep thinking about the food and therefore ruining your concentration in shalah.
 
Thanks Brother you post actually has a double benefit for me as I have also been unsure about what to do when in that particular scenario you happned to mention :)
 
btw - your main prayer is the fard prayer, so it doesn't matter if you write an essay after it, but i would recommend you try not to allow the ideas to build up during the prayer just because you're going to write it down,
i sometimes do the same thing, i repair computers and sometimes made custom build designs out of laptop motherboards, and the best ideas seem to appear during prayer - i guess the devil has centuries of experience in I.T :hiding:, if i dwell on it- it continues to build up into a near full design until i sometimes forget how many units i've prayed!

bear in mind that the "sunnah" prayers are "nafl" prayers which the Prophet (pbuh) did consistently, and they are aside from the actual prayer which we call "fard". which you've completed.
sunnah means "tradition" so it wouldn't have been anyone's sunnah that the Prophet (pbuh) was practising - it is we who practice his tradition - which is why it is called "sunnah" -
they were just 2 rakahs (units) prayer at such and such time- or 4 rakahs prayer at such and such time, and he'd pray an extra such and such units before or after.
eg. it is fard to pray 4 rakahs prayer at dhuhr time, 3 rakahs at maghrib time, maghrib means "west" ie when the sun is in the west - the prayer itself doesn't have a name - the time gives it the name - which is why we call it "qadah parayer" when we are late.

i argued with one guy for ages who told me not to go to east london mosque because the imam said in response to a question that jumu'ah was only two rakahs.
which it is, but these guys recorded the speech and spread it everywhere trying to attack the imam's integrity saying jumu'ah consisted of 10 rakahs, 4 qabl -al Jumu'ah, 2 Wajib, and 4 Ba'd -al Jumu'ah.
if only they understood arabic - they would have realised that "Qabl" means -before - and "Ba'd" means -after
so if 4 are "before jumu'ah", and 4 are "after Jumu'ah", then whatever is in between must be Jumu'ah - which is two - lol.
(that's probably why so many workers at the local shops give it a miss due to fear of getting back to work late).
 
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Thanks very much for that briliant reponse brother, my situation seems very similar to yours and I'll certainly do my best to follow your advice.
 
I have a question thats similar to this so I'll post it here... what about if the phone is ringing(and you know it's a very important call) or someone calls for you from the other room...etc This has happened twice and I actually stopped prayer to see who called or what was needed, then I went back and re-did the prayer from the beginning.

Thoughts about this?
 
i think that you should not be stopping prayer,,for a phone call or someone calling
you should stop only in urgent situations,,,,
 
crimsontide06 said:
I have a question thats similar to this so I'll post it here... what about if the phone is ringing(and you know it's a very important call) or someone calls for you from the other room...etc This has happened twice and I actually stopped prayer to see who called or what was needed, then I went back and re-did the prayer from the beginning.

Thoughts about this?
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I think common sense should be used. If the phone can wait then let them leave a message or something. You are standing before Allah, is the duniya calling you that much important that you are going to put Allah on hold so you can answer the phone?

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If the worshipper is in the position that you describe and the phone starts ringing, it is permissible for him to lift the receiver, even if he has to move a little way forward or back, or to the right or left, on the condition that he keeps facing the qiblah and he says ‘Subhaan Allaah’ so that the person who is calling will know (that he is praying). It was narrated in al-Saheehayn that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) used to pray whilst carrying his granddaughter Umaamah. When he did rukoo’, he would put her down, and when he stood up he would pick her up again. According to a report in Muslim, this was when he was leading the people in prayer in the mosque. (Narrated by Maalik, 1/170; al-Bukhaari, 1/487, in Sutrat al-Musalli, Baab idha hamala jaariyatan sagheeratan ‘ala ‘unuqihi; Muslim, 543, in al-Masaajid, Baab jawaaz Hamal al-Subyaan; Abu Dawood, no. 917-920; al-Nasaa’i, 2/45).

Al-Bukhaari and Muslim narrated that the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) said: “Whoever notices something alarming whilst praying, then men should say ‘Subhaan Allaah’ and women should clap their hands.”

islamqa Q#8647
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If a Muslim is offering an obligatory prayer, he should not interrupt it in order to answer the call of his father or mother. But he can alert the one who is calling him to let him know that he is busy with the prayer, either by saying tasbeeh (“Subhaan Allah”) or by raising his voice in recitation and the like.
And it is prescribed for him to make the prayer brief, then when he has finished he can answer the call.

If it is a naafil prayer, if he knows that his father or mother will not object to him completing the prayer, he may complete it and then answer them once he is free. But if he knows that they will object to him completing the prayer he may interrupt his prayer and answer them, and there will be no blame on him for that. Then he can go back and start praying again.

islamqa Q#151653
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Narrated Abu Huraira (Radi-Allahu 'anhu):
The Prophet (SAW) offered a prayer, and (after finishing) he said, "Satan came in front of me trying persistently to divert my attention from the prayer, but Allah gave me the strength to over-power him."
Bukhari Vol. 4 : No. 504
 
ya Allah, give us all the power to over come the shaytan while in prayer.
Ameen
 

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