Salaah (Prayer) has become really hard.....

[Serinity]

Salaah has become really hard on me. Constant shirky thoughts, I hate it! It makes me feel Salaah as a burden.

Can anyone help? It is really frustrating!! I wish I could do salaah without any waswass.

I'd rather perish into nothingness than have to go through this waswass.

And Allah knows best.

[Little_Lion]

Focus on tawheed before your salaah. Did you look into any of the lectures or classes suggested previously?

[noraina]

Wa alaykum assalam,

Sometimes, waswas can hit really hard at a certain point in life. But, whatever you do, *never* abandon your salah, so many say it is the distinguishing line between faith or no faith at all. Salah is the most powerful means of communicating with your Rabb, it is a gift for this ummah, so even if at times you feel you are forcing yourself or it is so difficult, always pray.

Your having difficulty concerning shirk and tawheed, akhi this is nothing but the result of overthinking. The beauty of Islam is in its pure and uncompromising doctrine of tawheed - honestly I am yet to hear of a religion which has such a simple and direct doctrine on the onesness of Allah swt.

And yes, go and watch those lectures, inshaAllah they may help.

[Huzaifah ibn Adam]

Continue making Salaah as well as Du`aa to Allaah Ta`aalaa to rid you of those Wasaawis. Eventually they will disappear, In Shaa Allaah.

[Serinity]

I feel like it is an ultimatum:

Either I pray, get a ton of trials -- fail school.

Or I focus on school / no time for praying.. except on weekends...... Succeed in school.

[MazharShafiq]

assalamu alekum
I understand what you were feeling when you wrote this. As a matter of fact, I probably could've written it myself! Sometimes I think to myself, "if only I could keep consistent in salat, then I would have most everything all sewn up (spiritually speaking)".
...Then I started to realize that it was that very idea that revealed to me how it works with Allah and us and our ibadah, and how we really can do nothing on our own. If we could do all the things we know to do and should do, we probably wouldn't return to Allah again and again asking for His help, depending on His means to make a way for us to be obedient.
dear, there will be some days where you feel on top of your things come easily and consistently. But then there will be other days where it takes everything you have to do the bare minimum. I find myself thinking about all the days of my life...all the prayers I am "scheduled" to make before I die, and I get overwhelmed. I think of all the wudus and ghusls and fasts, and it all begins to seem utterly impossible.
I wish I could say that I have the perfect advice for you, the silver bullet to make salat more regular for you, but the truth is I (and many others I'm sure) are still trying to find that switch for ourselves. The best thing I've found to work so far is to treat each day like it is the only day I have to live, that each prayer is the only prayer I have to make for that day. If I miss a prayer, I try not to let it get me down (because thinking of all those missed prayers that must be made up can be very discouraging!). I try to move past it as if I did make it and worry only about the next ONE that needs to be made.
What encourages me is knowing each day is practice for making the next day better. What I didn't get right today, I will have a chance Insha'Allah to try again tomorrow. Some days we will fail, and some we will succeed, but it is our continual trying and not giving up that is going to make a lot of difference I believe, on judgment day.
Some days the best we can do is take heart in knowing how merciful Allah is, how He said if we were not a creation that sinned He would destroy us and make a new, imperfect creation that would ask for His forgiveness. I trust that He knows best of all our struggles, and as long as we continually turn to Him with our weaknesses, He will act justly with us.
I can say this with certainty, your heart is in the right place. As long as it remains sincere and yearning to submit to Allah, I believe Allah will Insha'Allah provide mercies for you when you need them regarding this issue.
may Allah Tala help us

[Umm Abed]

You should not let the thoughts frustrate you. They will pass eventually.

Try concentrating on each word as you read in salah. @Serinity .

[Serinity]

It is especially a problem when I worry about saying a word wrong.

When I say:

Audhu billahi mina shaytaani rajeem.

I always doubt whether I said: Audhu billahi mina shaytaani rajeem.

And in second Rakaah I stress too much over Bismillahi rahmani raheem. And when I say Shahadah I stress it too much..

I stress too much when I say: Allahumma salli ala Muhammad wa ala ali Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim.......... etc.

the ALA I don't know whether it is 2 LL or L, or whether it even makes a difference.

When I say it out loud, I can. But when I say it with my inner voice, I the LL sounds like D.. So I feel I say ADDA instead of ALLA...........

I hate these. It takes soo much energy out of me. Coupled with my overthinking about Tawheed.......... I have made myself have Hell on earth.. Not literally, but you get me.

it is hard to say: Ashadu alla ilaha illAllah the LL sounds....... Stress me. I fear I will mess it up. All baseless! But I fear kufr if I say it wrong.


And Allah knows best.

[Little_Lion]

Would you feel better about it if you took some lessons on Makhraj?