How Do I Get The Feeling Of "wanting To Pray Salah

[Ali-F]

Salam alaykum wb.

 

 

 When I set up for salah, I usually don't have the feeling of "wanting to pray" - you know that feeling where you really like to pray salah, and enjoy it...

 

 

how can I get this feeling?

[TheIslamHistory]

Salam alaykum wb.

 

 

 When I set up for salah, I usually don't have the feeling of "wanting to pray" - you know that feeling where you really like to pray salah, and enjoy it...

 

 

how can I get this feeling?

 

 

(salam)

This is a very common issue. In my opinion, If one is aware that he is being watch, and aware that you are about to face the creator, you will have the "want" to pray. I read a narration where an Angle that exceeds the size of the earth watchs what you do, when its time for Salat....

____________________________

(wasalam)

[I.A.M]

I have the same issue but I found it very helpful to always do wudhu even when it is not prayer time. So when prayer time comes you feel clean and ready to face the creator and also you want to pray before losing wudhu. So always do wudhu even when it is not prayer time.

[amirhosein_88]

Salam alaykum wb.

 

 

 When I set up for salah, I usually don't have the feeling of "wanting to pray" - you know that feeling where you really like to pray salah, and enjoy it...

 

 

how can I get this feeling?

Salamun alaykum.

 

A solution mentioned by our scholars is to think of this prayer as your last opportunity to talk to Allah. After all, you are not sure if you will be alive to say another prayer!

Edited August 8, 2014 by amirhosein_88

[sayedamir2000]

You get it brother when you start to understanding, loving Allah (S.W.T.) and learning about Him deeply. Then you will witness that feeling. You need to spend time alone to ponder, whenever you go out, speak silently to Allah (S.W.T.) unless nobody is near you. For what I have witnessed is speaking to Allah (S.W.T.) in private is sweeter than honey, praising Him in the way Ahlul-Bayt (as) have taught melts the heart with deep love. Try it and you will understand what I mean. It will take time but it is more than worth of it.

 

I'm currently in phase where I have finally understood on how to bring sincerity in prayer. I thought to write about it here in shiachat, but I don't know yet how I should write it. 

Edited August 8, 2014 by sayedamir2000

[Abdul Zahra]

(bismillah)

(salam)

Pray for it, read munajat al muhibeen

"I ask from Thee love for Thee, love for those who love Thee, love for every work which will join me to Thy nearness , and that Thou makest Thyself more beloved to me than anything other than Thee and makest my love for Thee lead to Thy good pleasure, and my yearning for Thee protect against disobeying Thee!"

[Ethics]

Get to understand your lord. Understand yourself, your position, your purpose in life. Remember that prayer begins when it ends....

[Ibn Al-Shahid]

Adding onto what most members have said there are a few more points:

 

• Read Asrar Al-Salat. There are parts of it that will push you towards wanting to pray. If I remember correctly (it might be from another book والله اعلم) there was a part where it says that when a 'Abd goes to pray Allah tells the angels "Do you not see my servant?!" and He (s.w.t) says it a few times. (اما ترون عبدي؟). I have handwritten this phrase and pinned it on my notice board so whenever it is time to pray I look at it and remember that Allah (s.w.t) is happy when you pray to Him (s.w.t)
• Pray the nawafil. With anything, you need to "warm up" first. The nawafil will act as a pushing element in the sense that when you're done with them you are in the correct mood to pray. Pray 2 Rakaas before Maghreb (since the nawfilat al-maghreb is after Salat Al-maghreb).
• Read hadiths about it. And keep them written somewhere so whenever you get the feeling that you're too lazy you can read them and regain your enthusiasm.
• Move around more. The main reason why we don't have the feeling of wanting to pray is because we got used to the easy life. Go out, go for a walk, do some work, help around the house. Just whatever you do, stay occupied.
• 5-10 minutes before Salat get up and do your Wuduu' and read a few pages of the Holy and Noble Quraan, or anything else (Munajat, like sister Solitude has mentioned).

ودمتم في رعاية الله

[ImamAliLover]

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم

السلام عليكم

In addition to what was mentioned (esp knowing your Lord better and looking at your relationship to Him), plan your day around the salat so you look forward to it.

Don't plan salat around your day, rather plan your day around your salat so that salat is the focus of your day.

 

And dua is the key to doors and success comes from AllahÓÈÍÇäå æÊÚÇáì

 

Also stay away from too much arguing esp in religious matters-it hardens the heart.  And do dhikr and istighfaar

 

^Notice how he mostly ignores those people around him, and just bursts ahead when they start kissing him.  His focus is on connecting with his Lord(awj), his focus is AllahÓÈÍÇäå æÊÚÇáì

 

and Allah(swt) knows best

Edited August 9, 2014 by ImamAliLover

[blu115]

I've had this deep feeling too. it felt like clean water flowing in the heart. quite difficult to put in words.

It was happy and I actually looked forward to salah

but then i gave in to my temptations and laziness and then it was gone and i have not felt it since. i felt like i lost something priceless that i'll never get back.

[jean_valjean]

I myself have this problem , i always offer salat when the time is near its end and even that just because it's an obligation , there is hardly a feeling for it.sometimes when i am offering namaz my lips keep murmuring the dua's while my mind is roaming elsewhere.I can't concentrate on salah. But this is happening since i have moved to a place where there is no mosques nearby and i have to offer namaz at my home with all those commotions going on.

 

In my opinion , in order to get his concentration in salat and to get the inner will to do it, one should first of all find a place and environment ideal for namaz i.e clean , nice smell, less or no noise....etc 

secondly we (non arabs) often dont understand what we speak during namaz we just speak it for the sake of speaking.so we cant connect ourselves with our namaz and then it just becomes more of a 5 times yoga.So try to understand the meaning of what you are speaking and keep the meaning in mind when you speak it.

try to realise the fact that how small and worthless you are against the God you are praying to and just imagine that you are praying as if he his right there in front of you....it will send shivers through your body and make you feel for it.

while i post this i am already late for fajar namaz ....well this is me.

Edited August 10, 2014 by jean_valjean

[Ali-F]

I'll bump this again. Inshallah more people can contribute. 

[Saintly_Jinn23]

I think everyone who isn't ma'sum has this problem at some point. Two things which I think may help you out:

 

1. Remember that salah isn't something you take a break from to do ordinary, mundane things. By this I mean that the right mindset should be that what you do between salah is filler. Your attitude shouldn't be one of "let me cram as much as I can before I have to make formal prayer." Thinking like this tends to lead to people seeing prayer as some kind of burden they've been saddled with. This may be fine for the people who simply submit to God as a taskmaster who will punish them if they don't obey his law, but it's not fit for those who want an honest, sincere loving relationship with the Creator as a friend and guardian. Think of all your (halal) actions between prayers as steps leading up to prayer and to some extent an extension of your prayers themselves rather than as a break from prayer.

 

2. To this end, you could try reciting dhikr every hour or other hour before salah. This might help you out to the extent that it encourages you to better harmonize your actions since obviously if you have any self-respect, you won't want to perform a sin and a lesser form of prayer such as dhikr or dua in the same hour. Sometimes, we think of the time between prayers as some kind of grace period where we are more free to perform sins, or we think less of our sins' ramifications since we think of prayer as something so far away. Sometimes I've noticed my conscience kicks in when I know that a time for worship is more imminent. Basically, I think people often go about in this manner either consciously or unconsciously: It's a worse thing to willfully sin an hour before prayer than it is to sin two hours before prayer. Performing simple acts of ritual piety in shorter intervals may help to keep this kind of thinking in check since one is giving themselves less free time to spend sinning between acts of devotion with a clearer conscience. Then as the time for salah approaches, the mind and heart are in a state where they are more eager to do it in the same way that a pot of water may be quicker to get to a boil if the water has already been sitting on the stove above a low flame for an hour then if it was sitting there cold before you even bothered to turn the darn thing on.

Edited December 17, 2014 by Saintly_Jinn23

[khamosh21]

simplest way is to purify your nafs and heart and remember Allah at all times... all the advices given here and ultimately directing you towards this

[realizm]

Salam,

Maybe you should try to get inspired... Watch videos of people praying salah in congregation, videos of beautiful masajids.

Also going to the masjid regularly, for jumu`a or thursday night maintains the love for prayer. Try to go as much as possible, even if it's a sunni mosque.

[Ali Yaqub]

i had exactly the same thoughts in my mind and sometimes i just would go through my prayer very fast and sins were common for me then. i realized that only god may guide whoever he pleases and if he did not guide, then knock on the door of guidance. after every  prayer i did 100 times salawat and asked god to have mercy on me guide to me to the right path and keep shaytan away from me at all times and now i have the true love of the prophets and ahluylbayt and Allah, and sometimes i cry on death days of the prophets and ahluylbayt easily . i always have the mood to prayer, i always like to be obedient to my lord so i thank him for guiding me and may he guide you all for my sake!

[Purged]

AOA

I have heard that if you wish to befriend the angel of death, establish salat on time. it is said that the angel of death makes a note of those who show up on time and makes the time of death nice and easy for the believer.

secondly my dear brother, I personally think that in order to awaken the desire for salat, you must FORCE and PUSH yourself for salat. especially on time. it starts off as a drag but after repetition, and of course w the Mercy of Allah SWT you will begin to ENJOY it. which ultimately will result in you looking forward to salat.

I personally have come to this, you can call it a bitter sweet realization, that no matter how much theory you read into. its useless until unless you put it into ACTION. harkat barkat hijrat. all the best.

WS

[Purged]

also if I may add: frequent Nahjul Balagha. one of the most talked about topics by Ameer ul Momineen (as) is death. remember it in abundance. it helps put things in perspective. never fails. all the best.

[eThErEaL]

Salam alaykum wb.

When I set up for salah, I usually don't have the feeling of "wanting to pray" - you know that feeling where you really like to pray salah, and enjoy it...

how can I get this feeling?

(Bismillah)

(Salam)

Saintly jinn already said a lot of very important things that all of us can find very helpful inshallah.

When one prays they are participating in Prophet Muhammad's (S) Nur (in his light, which is the first of creation and also the closest to God). It is not accidental that the Muslim prayer (Salat) was introduced to Muslims as soon as the Prophet (S) descended from Heaven. In other words the prayer is intrinsically connected to the transcendent reality of the Prophet (S) who was the distance of two bow lengths to God or even closer. This is why there is a saying by the Prophet (S) that the prayer is a believer's "miraj" (i.e. heavenly ascension). One is bathing in the Prophet's (S) Nur when he prays and his soul is being transformed by that Nur the more he sincerely participates and concentrates in the prayer and it's Arabic formulae. The prayer is literally a kind of door towards Ultimate Reality (God). We can talk a lot about God, but many a times (especially for someone like myself) He is as if He were no more than a fine idea or an interesting concept. Prayers (Salat) with all of its sacred formulae is the opportunity one gets (through the blessing of the Prophet's (S) Light) to make what is most of the time conceptual into something concrete and real. The Prophet is the perfected Salat and, as such, he (S) becomes that door towards the Eternal and the Real (where not even Gabriel could approach). Think of how intense reality is every time we touch it with words when we utter such sacred expressions such as "Allahu Akber", "Subhanallah, "Alhamdulillah", or the "Ikhlas" and the "Fatiha" in our prayer. The prayer becomes so intensely real that the world (outside of prayer) that we thought was real now becomes fake.

Ethereal

WaLahu Alim

Edited January 14, 2015 by eThErEaL

[.InshAllah.]

Sheikh Bahmanpour has said that the quality of our prayer depends on how we live in between prayers.  If we live sincerely and try to be God conscious throughout our day then our prayer will be greater.

[Martyrdom]

Keep away from things that harden and contaminate the heart than your heart will naturally fall in love with prayer. Their is no shortcut or easy way. Sometimes the long way is the shorter way.

[shiamehdi14]

Try to incorporate longer surahs. There is no doubt that the shorter surahs carries as much importance as the longer ones. However, memorizing longer surahs like surah fajr and reading it in salat al fajr or maghrib or isha gives a "better" feeling. Change up the surahs. For instance recite surah kauthar in fajr then surah lahab in zhuhr then surah asr in asr and so on. Finally, have your pronunciation on point. If you think you sound good, you will feel better.

[UmmEbrahim]

Salam everyone,

 

A very beautiful post here, pretty much what I have been experiencing of late but InshaAllah, I'll find all the replies beneficial just like the OP :)

[race]

walaikum us salaam

 

You have to be persistant and make sure not to make it late. Try to sleep early around 10 or 11 so you can wake up early. If you sleep so late that you end up waking around 2 or 3 in the afternoon, this is not good for ones spirituality. 

Edited January 20, 2015 by race

[The Light]

(salam)

 

I'm not sure if anyone agrees, but FEAR can also help. I know you might say that according to a hadith of imam Ali (as), which he  (as) states that one who worships Allah (SWT) because of fear of the hell fire, is a good muslim, but not as virtuous as someone who worships God, because of how God deserves to be worshipped. 

 

What I was trying to say, is that sometimes, especially me, when I accidently touch boiling hot water or when I keep my hand close to fire, I automatically think that if I can't handle the fire or the level of heat which exists in this world, then how am I gonna be able to handle the heat of hell fire which is said to be 70 times hotter than the fire of earth, if God forbid, I end up going there. 

 

Just to think that the fire of hell is 70 times hotter, is mind boggling. Well, you could try to remember that, if all else doesn't work all the time.

[Insi751]

I think you should take it from the point of view that God is your everything.. don't treat Salaah as a chore, rather enjoy it.

You should try to share everything with Allah(SWT) well thats what I do.

And i love it! I can't even wait sometimes to wake up not only for Fajr but for Salat Ul Layl..

The thing is Shaitaan is the one who makes us feel lazy and not wanting to pray..

But you can start your day with trying to not obey Shaitaan.

thats the part where you win in the start of your day,

Insha'Allah, may Allah give you the strength to be a good Momin.

[heliwave]

Excellent thread ma sha Allah,

Also it helps to know that

 

Prayer is an opportunity to purify one's soul from all the little sins we acquired during our daily interaction with our environment (people, animals, plants, ... jinns, angels).

 

Please read "Soul and Spirit: Do we have a choice?" at heliwave.com

 

It is a very short booklet but in sha Allah with useful topics like:

 

1.      Soul and Spirit

2.      No Power but that of God

3.      Dreams and Visions

4.      Death versus Returning to God

5.      Freewill and Predestination

 

Within a few pages you shall be empowered with new knowledge that will change the way you look at world around you, forever. Suddenly, all random thoughts you may have accumulated over the years will fit into a coherent knowledge that will cleanse your soul and give your prayers a real feeling that you are communicating with your Creator, Allah Almighty.

 

Get ready to ride the wave of spiritual awakening.

 

God >