Ammar Alshukry – How to Focus in Salah

			How would your life be different? If your Salah became different, the stakes are really really high
because the prophets Allah lie to us and him said, a person can pray and only have a 10th of their
prayer rewarded. A person can pray only have a ninth of their prayer rewarded an eighth of their
prayer a seventh until he went to half and he said you will only have of your Salah rewarded what
you are present in, we exit out of the Salah and if someone were to even ask us what did you just
recite, we'd be like, I don't even remember. And so when I'm in Salah, I'm not going to assume that
I'm going to have another Salah Assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh Welcome to the map to
		

			mindful Salah series. Amara Shoukry here, Charlotte Allah in this series of videos, you're going to
learn how to take your Salah to the next level with immediate effects in sha Allah to Allah. And in
this first video, what we're going to do is we're going to designate the levels of Salah, based on
the categorization of one of the greatest scholars of Islam in sha Allah so we can figure out which
level we're actually at and then inshallah to add to how we can get to the next level and we're not
only going to do that but inshallah to Allah we're going to have some quick tips so that inshallah
your next prayer the next prayer that you pray or the next prayer that you pray Inshallah, that
		

			after watching this video, you will be able to immediately sense a better Salah that's the goal,
Inshallah, to Allah Allah subhana wa Tada says bufflehead more
		

			successful are the believers. And in that chapter, which is called the chapter of meaning, Allah
subhanaw taala begins it by listing a number of qualities that those believers have who will be
successful and the first quality that he mentioned, of course, is going to be a Latina, houfy Salah
team has your own, those who have who sure mindfulness presence, humble submissiveness, in their
salah, those who have for sure and their salah, but that immediately introduces for us a huge, huge
problem. It is a problem that we all face, specially myself. That's the reason why I researched this
topic to be able to present these solutions at sha Allah. And that is the problem is is that we've
		

			all experienced not just one prayer, but many prayers where we stood in front of Allah Subhana Allah
to Allah, and we were distracted. We stood in front of Allah and we try to pay attention, we try to
be present in the Salah, and we lose, we exit out of the Salah, and if someone were to even ask us,
What did you just recite? We'd be like, I don't even remember. Right? Allah Subhana Allah demands
for sure presence, mindfulness, and at the same time, we find that were more distracted insula than
anywhere else. Why is that? Why is that the case? Well, firstly, before why, what are the stakes,
the stakes are really, really high because the prophets, Allah Leida sent him said, a person can
		

			pray and only have a 10th of their prayer rewarded. A person can pray only have a ninth of their
prayers awarded an eighth of their prayer a seventh until he went to half. And he said, you will
only have have your Salah rewarded what you are present in. And so I need to increase my focus, I
need to increase my presence. I need to increase my mindfulness I need to be present when I'm
talking to the King of kings. So why does this happen? I shall have the line as the profits level
minus and she asked him about distraction and prayer. And that shows us I showed her the line Ha,
the Quranic Arabic not just Arabic but Quranic Arabic was her first language. This is what she spoke
		

			at home. This is what she's understanding the Quran perfectly, but at the same time she and the
companions and the province of Allah Islam is household and we're not talking about low Iman or
anything like that. She's one of the greatest companions. She's one of the greatest women ever. And
she also experiences this, the Prophet sallallahu sallam was asked by Aisha about distraction in
prayer. And he said, that is a theft, that Shavon steals from the pair of any one of you. Meaning
that Shavon realizes that this salah is the most important function that you and I use to come close
to Allah subhanaw taala on any given day, it is the most important act of worship that we offer. And
		

			so he realizes that this is the thing that benefits us the most. So this is the thing that he tries
to steal from us the most. And that's why you and I can enter into salah. And all of a sudden we get
reminded about where we parked our car, and tasks that we forgot about that we need to do we
remember them all of a sudden insula. So, number one,
		

			what are the levels of Salah? What are the levels for us to even designate where we're at so we can
figure out where we need to be ignorant came in a little bit of sleep, even on am he has this five
level categorization of prayer. And he said the first level is a person who and what I want you to
do is I want you to figure out which level you're at. He says the first level is a person who does
not fulfill the pillars of Zulu or the pillars of the Salah, and they don't pray on time. So this is
a guy who comes and the elbow still isn't washed and the ankle isn't washed properly. And they're
praying load and sort of time or maybe they're coming in they're praying fed, you're late and
		

			they're praying Aisha late and they're just it's a mess and you
		

			He said, This person is punished. First Person is punished because they're not. They're not
establishing the prayer like it's supposed to be prayer. And then he said, the second person is a
person who does pray the prayer. As far as that the outside, they make what their will do properly.
They're praying on time. And this person is a person who they pray their prayer, but they lose
completely the battle against Shavon. They come into the Salah, and they're just rattling off
different things. And yeah, they're going into court and the other going into sujood. And they're
doing all of that properly, but the heart is not present at all. He said, This person is morass up,
		

			this person is held into this person is accountable, they're going to be accounted by Allah Subhana
Allah on the Day of Judgment. Number three, the third person is a person who's better than that they
they make their will do properly. They're fulfilling their rights. And they're, they're not
completely zoned out when they're in Sabah. They're zoning in and out, they're fighting, they're
trying, they're struggling with a thought they're trying to focus, they're coming back, they're
bringing it back. He said, this person, this person is this person is forgiven, because they're
struggling, this person is in a state of struggle. And so if you're in zone out mode, level two, you
		

			want to come to level three, where you are forgiven for your shortcomings in the Salah. And then he
said number four, the fourth level, is a person who they enter into the Salah, and they're not,
they're not struggling with shaytaan anymore, they're present in the salon, they're listening,
they're enjoying, they're engaging with the salon, and he said this person is rewarded. This person
now of the salon for them is a great reward. And then the fifth level, he said, This person is a
person who when they enter into the salon, when they enter into the salon, everything else
dissolves. And it's like they've taken their heart and they've placed it in front of Allah subhanaw
		

			that there's nothing else. And he said, This person is brought near to Allah subhana wa, tada. This
person is brought near. And I don't want you to think this is stuff that's like from a book. I've
had a convert come up to me after a session on mindfulness in the prayer. And he came up to me and
he said, What's wrong with you? What's wrong with my prayer? What's going on? And I said, What do
you mean? He said, Is there something wrong with my prayer? I said, What do you mean, he said, all
of this stuff that you're talking about distraction and how to overcome his I don't feel any of
that. I don't experience any of that. He said, When I stand in front of Allah, everything
		

			disappears. And it's just me and him. In fact, he said, I feel most alive when I'm in Salah.
Everything else. When I'm outside of Slava, he says, I actually feel less alive. And my body
responds to the time of Salah. He's like, I don't even need an event app or anything like that. He
said, I get goosebumps. I know it's time for Salah. She's like, what's wrong with my salah? I was
like, Dude, there's nothing wrong with yourself. There's nothing wrong with your Zilla. It's us.
We've got the it's ours, the law that needs work. That's where we're at level twos and level threes.
We're trying to get to level four and you're already at level five. Mashallah. Okay. But the idea
		

			here is how do we get from one level to the next and inshallah Tada, I want to share with you a few
tips right from this video. Number one,
		

			is to come to a truce with time, come to a truce with time.
		

			One of the problems of level one, that person who's rushing through the prayer team says they don't
give any of its rights. They go into court and they bounce right back up. They don't even they don't
even they go into sujood and they bounced right back up the picket the ground like the province of
the lightest and limb described is that they feel like they're in a rush. Well, why are you in a
rush? What's the difference between a prayer that's prayed properly, and a prayer that's rushed? At
the end of the day? It's maybe one or two minutes. That's it. And so you are robbing yourself of the
prayer just because of one of one or two minutes. And then what are you going to do, you're going to
		

			get back on your phone and waste five minutes or you're going to jump into your car and sit in
traffic for five minutes. Like Allah subhanaw taala is the controller of time. And so say this to
yourself when you feel like you're rushing because you need time. Say to yourself, Allah is the
controller of time. Allah Subhana Allah, Allah can make the next five minutes of mine the most
blessed it for me to make sudo to Allah Subhana Allah and say, Oh Allah, allow traffic to be
facilitated for me so that I don't rush through this the law so that I can get to where I'm going is
better for me and is real Allah Chapin that is the one who controls all of this. And so save
		

			yourself. Allah is the controller of time and he's the one who told me not to rush to my salah. So
let me take my time. You can pray a beautiful prayer, a perfect prayer and just for five minutes, so
don't rob myself of that because of one or two minutes. Number one, say to yourself, Allah is the
controller of time, anytime you feel like you're rushing through the Salah. So number one is make a
truce with time. Number two, seek stillness in every station. Stillness in every station, the
province the lightest
		

			There's a famous Hadith of the man who prayed badly. And he prayed one time and the Prophet told
them he said, Go back and pray because you didn't pray. Can you imagine that a person being told by
the prophesy said that prayer that you just offered to Allah subhanaw taala is not acceptable. It's
not acceptable. So you have to pray again. How many of our prayers if we had the fortune of the
Prophet sallallaahu, Selim watching us and supervising us? How many times would he have told us go
back and pray you didn't pray. And so the man went and prayed again, now he knows the province level
of light as Adam is watching him. And what happens the Prophet sallallaahu said, I'm still says to
		

			him, go back and pray because you didn't pray a third time he goes, now he's definitely going to
pray better, right? The promise, the light is 11. The third time tells them and he says, go back and
pray because you didn't pray. The man finally says, Yeah, I don't, I don't know what prayer better
than this. This is all I got. And so the province of the light is said and then tells him and he
says, a number of things that became understood to be pillars of the prayer. He says, when you when
you stand, then make thick beard and then recite what's easy of you of the Quran. And then he says,
bow, here's the point here, he says, bow until you are tranquil. It's not tranquil in your bowing.
		

			And then he says, stand until you are completely erect. A lot of people when they stand, they hit
the 45. And then they go back down, then they don't even they don't even stand up straight. The
problem is the lightest have said, No, stand up straight, until you're completely erect, and then go
into good until you are tranquil in your suit. Tranquility means that for that moment, it does have
to be a long moment, before that moment, you are completely still seek stillness in every state
should stillness, come back up, stillness, go back into stillness. In every station, you seek
stillness. Again, that doesn't add a lot of time to the prayer, but it perfects your prayer. So
		

			that's number two. Number three, is practice bringing yourself back. Practice bringing yourself
back, that you know what, at the heart of all of these things, is when we allow ourselves to be
distracted in our conversations. And it's not just in the salon. But even with people. There's this
notion of, of taking it for granted that I'm going to have another conversation with this person,
I'm not paying attention to my mom, right now, I'm going to have another conversation with her in
the future, that's going to be more meaningful. But if you realize that, you know, what, I'm not
going to take this conversation for granted, I don't know when my last conversation with my mom is
		

			going to be or my last conversation with my dad is going to be or my last conversation with my
spouse is going to be my children is going to be so let me be present in every conversation that I
have. And so when I'm in Salah, I'm not going to assume that I'm going to have another salah, I'm
going to pray like it's my last Allah, and I'm going to be present. And I'm going to bring myself
back when I get distracted. I noticed when I get distracted, so I bring myself back, I noticed that
I'm distracted again, and I bring myself back. And that'll bring us immediately to level three, that
level that of a person who's struggling, which is a good place to be, it's a good place to be,
		

			especially if you're in level two or level one, you want to continue to get better. And so this
technique will help us not only in this law, but outside of the site every time you're talking to
your family member or talking to anybody a friend. And you notice that your mind is wandering, bring
yourself back, practicing being present, don't let yourself get distracted. And so bringing yourself
back all the time. And number four, the last one is very, very simple. It's to introduce variety
into your Salah. So this is number four. So we've talked about truce with time seeking stillness in
every station. Number three is bring yourself back. And number four is introduced variety into your
		

			Salah. What does that mean? It means that when you put your Salah on autopilot, it's easy to get
distracted when you're driving home, from your work or from your school or from any place the
message any place that you're really, really familiar with, you know the route, you can talk to
someone on the phone and you don't pay attention to the roads or the lights or anything because you
know exactly where you're going and how to get there. But when there's a detour on the street, or
your exit is normally blocked off, your normal exit is blocked off. What do you say to that person
on the phone? You say to them, let me call you back. Why? Because I need to focus on where I'm
		

			going. I don't know this street. I don't know that I'm in a different neighborhood. Now. You are
saying this route is unfamiliar. And so I need to increase my focus. I have to take myself off of
autopilot and that's what we do in Salah Allah, we go into the same Salah every single time we're
reciting the same chapters of the Quran, we're saying the same day in our sujood no break off from
the routine. Come off of autopilot. Introduce chapters that you don't normally recite. We all have
chapters that are familiar to us, but they're not familiar because they're not our regular insula.
So dust them off and recite those chapters. Learn new chapters. It's okay investing in the salon is
		

			beautiful. It's one of the it's a greatest investment that we can make. Introduce new to us in your
Salah. So these four things that Charlotte Allah will have an incredible effect on your Salah in the
next video inshallah to Allah. We're going to go over a number of tips that we can do inside
		

			Out of the Salah and sha Allah to Allah that will increase our presence. And I want you to just
imagine, I have two questions for you. What would your life be like? How would your life be
different? If your Salah became different? You know, I had one student of mine, he attended a
mindfulness course with me. And he said that his relationship with his parents became better. And I
asked him, I said, what changed? He said, My relationship with my parents is better than it's ever
been in my entire life. He's 20 years old now. I said, what changed? He said, My Salon changed.
		

			What would be different in your life, if your sulla changed, if your Salah became better, that's
number one. Number two out of these tips so far, which one I want you to go and implement it. And
then I want you to come back at Charlottetown and I want you to comment which one of them is the one
that benefited you the most? And if you have another tip, that is solid data benefits you with
regards to Zillow I want you to comment with that too so that we can all benefit and Charlotte data
from your experience as well. Zack can look at and I'll see you in the next video inshallah.