Thoughts wander in prayer.
Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,
As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh.
(May Allah's Peace, Mercy and Blessings be upon all of you)
One of our brothers/sisters has asked
this question:
Dear
Brother,
Salat is very important in Islam and it is to be offered perfectly. But what
should one do if they can never offer the whole prayer with full concentration.
I.e. their mind is always distracted with things they would never think about
when not praying. Is that prayer still valid as the intention when doing wudhu
and then praying is to stand in front of Allah to please him and to be praise
him and to obey him. Also, Is there a dua that one can make often (as suggested
by the Rasul (Peace and blessings be upon him) to help one keep their mind
clear of idle thoughts...especially whilst praying?
(There may be some grammatical and spelling
errors in the above statement. The forum does not change anything from
questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation in
confidentiality.)
Answer:
Thoughts wander in
prayer
In the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His
help and ask for His forgiveness. Whoever Allah guides none can misguide,
and whoever He allows to fall astray, none can guide them aright. We bear
witness that there is none worthy of worship but Allah Alone, and we bear
witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant and the seal of His
Messengers.
Respected sister in Islam, no matter how pious and God-fearing a
believer is, very very few amongst the
believers can control their flow of thoughts in their prayers, for our avowed enemy, the Shaitaan, always
tries to put thoughts into our minds when we offer our prayers.
There are a few basic things one
can do to minimize these thoughts:
- Seek the refuge in Allah Subhanah from the
accursed Shaitaan, before starting the prayer.
- Understand the simple and basic meaning of the
prayers, so that one may try to concentrate on the meanings of what one is
beseeching his Merciful Lord when in prayer.
- Remember that when one is in prayer, he is
actually in audience of the Lord of the Worlds; and try to bring himself to a state as
if he is reciting his prayers in the Presence of his Lord.
- If one cannot bring himself to that state
while in prayer, he should at least
try to remember and know for sure,
that his Lord is watching over him; for indeed, Allah Subhanah is
All-Seeing, All Knowing.
Sahih Al-Bukhari
Hadith 6.300 Narrated by Abu
Huraira
Hadrat Jibrael
(a.s.) (who came in the form of a human being)
asked the Messenger of Allah (saws) : , "O Messenger of Allah, what is Ihsan (i.e. perfection or
benevolence)?" The Prophet (saws)
said, "Ihsan is to worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you do not achieve this state of
devotion, then (take it for granted that) Allah sees you."
Respected sister, this feeling and pain of yours, and your
ardent desire to remove the worldly thoughts when you are in state of
prayer, is in itself a sign of your
‘emaan’ and your love for Allah Subhanah and His devotion! And it is your this ‘emaan’ and love for
Allah Subhanah, that the evil Shaitaan is trying to negate, for the cursed
Shaitaan hates nothing more than when he sees a believer worshipping his Lord
with humility and devotion! The
Shaitaan is the avowed enemy of the believer,
and if he cannot hold back the believer from his prayers, he will try to put thoughts into the believer
when he prays, and tries to despair the
believer of Allah’s Worship!
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 114 Surah An-Naas verses 4-5:
4 (Say, I seek refuge in Allah) from the mischief of the
Whisperer (of Evil), who withdraws
(after his whisper)
5 (The same) who whispers into the hearts of
mankind.
Allah Says in the Holy
Quran Chapter 7 Surah Aaraaf verses 16-17:
16 He (Shaitaan) said:
"because Thou (Allah) hast thrown
me out of the way; Lo! I will lie in wait for them (the believers)
on Thy Straight Way.
17 "Then will I
assault them; from before them, and behind them, from their right, and their left: nor wilt Thou find in most of
them gratitude (for Thy mercies)
Abu Hurairah
reports that the Prophet (saws) said: "When the call to prayer is made,
the Satan takes to his heels... and when it is finished, he returns. He flees again when the iqamah is made, and when it is finished, he returns until he comes between the man and
his thoughts, saying: 'Remember this and remember that,' which he had not
recalled, until the person does not know how much he has prayed, [i.e.,] three
or four rak'at.”
(Related by
al-Bukhari and Muslim.)
Thus, my respected
sister in Islam, don’t let the thoughts
bother you, and as soon as you realize
that this is a ploy and tactic of the Shaitaan to take you away from your
prayers, try your best to concentrate on your prayers and continue your
supplications to the Merciful Lord in humility and in sincere devotion; it is
expected that your Lord Most Merciful will accept your prayers.
Such thoughts also came into the hearts of some of the
most noblest of companions of the Messenger of Allah (saws), and he (saws) advised
them thus:
Sahih Muslim Hadith
5463 Narrated by Uthman ibn Abul'As
Uthman came to
Allah's Messenger (saws) and said:
“OAllah's Messenger (saws), the Satan intervenes between me and my
prayer, and my reciting of the Qur'an
and he confounds me.” Thereupon Allah's Messenger (saws) said: “That is (the doing of the Satan) who is
known as Khinzab, and when you perceive
its effect, seek refuge with Allah from it,
and spit three times to your left.”
I did that and Allah dispelled that from me.
Sahih Muslim Hadith
6623 Narrated by Hanzalah Usayyidi,
I met AbuBakr. He said: “Who are you?” I (Hanzalah) said: “Hanzalah has turned out
to be a hypocrite.” He (AbuBakr) said: “Hallowed be Allah, what are you
saying?” Thereupon I said: “I say that
when we are in the company of Allah's Messenger (saws), we ponder over Hell-Fire and
Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only
due to Allah’s Assistance and Guidance, and whatever of error is of me
alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is
the Only Source of Strength.
Your brother and
well wisher in Islam,
Burhan
Wister