Welcome to part three of the mental and spiritual well-being series. Today's blog probably holds the answer to the most important question. Everyone around my age is always looking for ways to be "successful". What most people (especially Muslims) don't realize is that the answer to this question has already been given to us. In fact, it is given to us five times a day. Do you see where I am headed with this?
Salah صلاح. The most overlooked ways to achieve success in life. A lot of Muslims complain about their lives and say how things are getting delayed in their life. What they fail to realize is that their priorities are not straight in life. They keep missing the most important meeting in their everyday life yet they expect success to walk up to them. When you constantly miss your most important meetings during the day, do you expect your manager to praise you for this behavior? Then how do you expect this from your creator?
What is Salah?
Salah, also known as prayer or salat, is one of the five pillars of Islam and is an essential part of Muslim worship. It is a prescribed form of worship that involves reciting certain verses from the Quran, performing physical movements, and offering supplications to Allah.
Salah is a means of connecting with Allah and seeking His guidance, blessings, and forgiveness. It is a way of demonstrating submission and devotion to Allah and is an essential part of a Muslim's spiritual journey.
What are the benefits of Salah?
There are so many benefits of Salah but to start, it strengthens the connection with Allah, it's a way to spiritual purification, discipline, and self-control, elevating physical and mental health, improving social life, and a constant reminder of the Hereafter.
Salah in Islam
Have you ever heard the daily five-time call to prayer aka Azaan carefully? This is what it says:
حي على الصلاة حي على الفلاح Come to pray Come to Success
Quite literally, we are reminded five times a day to get our lives straight by praying on time and getting our duas answered. What is beautiful about Salah is that Allah has spread them throughout the day at a perfect time.
When we first start our day, we are reminded to start our day peacefully by praying Fajr and meditating.
Then during the afternoon, when we are stuck at our jobs, feeling hopeless and stuck, Allah prescribed Zuhr so we can take a moment to vent to Allah about our lives and pray for the best of outcomes.
In the evening, normally after work, we pray Asr thanking Allah for helping us make it through another day at work.
Now you get caught up in post-work activities which include cooking, working out, going out, family time, and potentially studying. But as the sun is about to set for the day, Allah is calling you to connect with him to release the tensions of the day or break your fast.
Once you have had your dinner and you're getting ready for bed, you are reminded to connect with your creator one last time for the day to debrief him about your day and plan for tomorrow. After praying Isha, you sleep like a baby under the protection of Angels throughout the night.
One of the best things about Salah is that it refreshes our sin counter. Any sins committed during the time from Fajr till Zuhr, get reset after praying Zuhr, any sins committed during the time from Zuhr and Asr get taken care of at Asr, and so on.
Additionally, prayer is a means of developing a sense of discipline, self-control, and self-awareness. It helps us to focus our thoughts and actions towards a higher purpose and live a more purposeful life. Any problems or difficulties we are facing in this life are all temporary obstacles.
Understand that in Islam, success is not limited to material wealth or worldly achievements, but it includes spiritual success and fulfillment. By performing prayers regularly, we can achieve both material and spiritual success by seeking Allah's blessings and guidance in all aspects of life.
In Conclusion
Not too long ago, I didn't have my priorities right. I overlooked Salah but I also overlooked spirituality as a subject itself. Especially growing up, I was taught the strict version of Islam where punishments are prioritized over forgiveness and generosity. In my journey of rediscovery and reteaching Islam to myself, I quickly realized that Allah loves us way more than we can imagine. This is when I realized that I have to schedule my day around my prayers and not the other way around to be successful in life. Just like we barely miss eating or drinking, prayer should be prioritized the same way. And in case, you miss your prayers, make it up at your next prayer.
I saw this beautiful post on TikTok which went something like this:
How can you trust someone who doesn't pray? If they can abandon their creator, what makes you think they won't abandon you?
Mashallah! I went from not praying to somewhat judging people now who don't pray because again, it gives me a sense that this person is too much caught up in this fake world pleasures. Just start with one prayer at a time, and add another as you go. Inshallah, you will soon find yourself fulfilling all your five prayers.
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Until next time, Peace 🤲🏼
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