Why Do We Pray Repeatedly?
We become what we do daily.
Assalamu'alaikum wr wb my dear friend!
Here are 2 Ideas, A Verse to Reflect Upon & One Question for you 👇
Two Ideas from me
The Power of Repetition - Sometimes, the five daily prayers might seem repetitive. I learnt how great repetition is when my grandmother had dementia. She would forget what she asked a minute ago, and she even forget my name at one point. But yet she was still consistent in all her obligatory and voluntary prayers. In fact, dementia deepened her connection with Allah. She forgot that she had prayed zuhr, so she would pray again. Five daily prayers became ten daily prayers. She prayed tahajjud twice or thrice a night. She forgot if she read Quran, so she opened her Quran and continued reading. She realises she forgets, so she remembers Allah, The One who Never Forgets. The more she forgot, the more she remembered Allah. Subhanallah. Even when I told her she has prayed, she insisted on praying again. I didn’t understand then. Only after her passing, I realised, how repetition is not just repeating an act, it strengthens our connection with Allah, grounds our hearts, minds & souls with Islam, bringing tranquility amidst life’s chaos.
Each time we pray, we affirm our reliance on Allah, and we can ask ourselves - were the past few hours for the sake of Allah and His Messenger ﷺ?
We don’t say, if we already ate or breathed, why do we still eat or breathe. We know that breathing facilitates our life and eating nourishes our body. Likewise, prayer is for the soul, the heart and the mind. Allah blessed us by calling for us muslims to come back to Him 5 times a day, do we see that as His Love for us?
Back to The Basics - Sometimes, we think a miraculous event needs to happen for life to change, for our faith (iman) to strengthen. But remember, life is not only about what happens to us but how we make the best of every situation we are placed in. And one powerful thing we can do is to go back to the basics of our daily prayers - how much do we prioritise our prayers? do we understand the words we say in prayer? are we rushing or letting other random thoughts fill our minds while praying? Besides the prayers, we can also look at other basics:
How is our speech to parents and the elderly?
How are we grateful towards Allah and how do we realise the magnitude of His Favour and Blessing for us?
How often do we read Quran, or attempt to learn how to read?
A Verse to Reflect Upon
Remember your Lord inwardly with humility and reverence and in a moderate tone of voice, both morning and evening. And do not be one of the heedless.
Surah Al-A’raf 7:205
Make it a point to have a special moment with Allah, in the morning and in the evening. There are many recommended readings of Qur’an and the simpler ones would be to make dhikr, istighfar and du’a (supplication).
One Question for you
What basics of the religion do you need to revisit to improve your sincerity in your daily worship towards Allah?
p.s: Don’t just scroll away, take a few minutes to write an action plan on this :)
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