Saif Morad – How To Improve Khushoo Concentration In Salah
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AI: Transcript ©
My dear brothers and sisters.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala bless us with
the best in this world and the next.
In today's video, we're gonna look at how
we can improve our
in our salah.
In order for us to improve our focus
in salah,
we need to remind ourselves
of what is salah exactly.
Salah is the second pillar of Islam. It
is a connection between us and Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala. We are standing in front of
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and calling him.
It is the foundational
pillar of our religion.
How can a building stand if its foundation
is faulty?
If the pillars are weak to begin with.
Just like that, how can a person's religion
stand?
Be upright,
if this pillar of their religion which is
salah
has defects in it.
Sometimes even non existent.
Umar bin Khattab radiAllahu anhu,
he wrote letters
and he sent them to the different regions
of the Muslim world.
In it, he said,
the most important thing of your affairs is
salah.
Whoever protects it, protects his religion,
and whoever neglects it
will be even more neglectful to the other
matters of their religion.
And a person who abandons the prayer
has no share in Islam.
After the shahada, after the testimony of faith,
a person's salah is the most important pillar.
After all, it is gonna be the first
thing that we're gonna be asked about on
yumul qiyama. As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam said,
the first matter that the slave will be
brought to account for on the day of
judgment is the prayer.
If it is sound, then the rest of
his deeds will be sound. And if it
is bad, then the rest of his deeds
will be bad.
Before anything happens, we're gonna be taken into
account for our salah.
And if we pass that, then everything else
will be easy,
and salah is the key to Jannah.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
the key to Jannah is salah,
and the key to the prayer is wudu.
When we pray to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
we humble ourselves in front of him.
Look at the position of the sujood, the
prostration.
If somebody was looking at a person who's
performing sujood,
it's as if the person is begging.
But to the believer this is the most
honorable position.
As the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
said that the closest
a person is to their lord is when
they are in sujood.
So make a lot of du'a during sujood.
Allah
bless us with the gift of salah,
and the person who accepts this gift
and honors it and establishes it
and performs it in the way that it
was meant to be performed,
then their salah prevents them from evil and
wrongdoing.
As Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us in
the Quran.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and the rest of
us that recite that which was revealed to
you, the Quran. Recite the Quran
and establish the prayer
because indeed the prayer, the salah prevents a
person from immorality and wrongdoing,
and the remembrance of Allah subhanahu ta'ala is
even greater, and Allah subhanahu ta'ala knows everything
that you do.
Allah subhanahu ta'ala told us to establish the
prayer, not to perform the prayer, and there's
a big difference between the one who performs
the actions of the prayer.
They perform the actions of the prayer,
but they don't actually establish the prayer.
And this person, their salah will not prevent
them from evil and wrongdoing.
Because all they're doing is that they're performing
the actions of the prayer.
But the one whose heart is present, they
know they're standing in front of Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala, the lord of the heavens and
the earth.
They pay attention to what they're reciting from
the Quran. What is the Quran telling them?
What is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala telling them
to do?
They are the ones who benefit from their
salah. The salah is constantly
reminding them
about what is important.
People use affirmations
to remain positive.
They tell themselves
I am positive.
I am confident. I am a wealthy person.
I am successful.
They repeat these things to get them in
the state of mind to accept that that's
who
they are. But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gave
us prayer 5 times a day. We stand
in front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. We
wanna be confident as Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for it. We wanna be wealthy, ask Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala for it. We wanna be
happy? Let's ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
it. Whatever we want, let's ask Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala for it.
He is the lord of the heavens and
the earth. Everything belongs to him. Anything that
he wants, he says couldn't and will happen.
Be and it will be.
If we have Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala,
we ask him directly.
We complain to him. We speak to him.
We cry in front of him. We submit
ourselves to him. We complain about our weaknesses
and we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala for
any and everything that we want. And Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala told us that call upon
him and he will answer us, and Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala is true in speech.
But we need to be the ones to
ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
for any and everything that we want for
both the this world and the hereafter.
And the one who understands
this
understands the importance of salah.
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala told us in
the Quran
That indeed the believers will be successful,
And then Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala goes on
to describe the qualities of these believers.
And the first thing that he mentions is
Those individuals
who have Khushu, who are present, who are
mindful, who are
focused during their salah.
So how can we improve our focus in
our salah?
The first thing
is dua.
Salah was the coolness of the eyes of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
and everyone's dream is to be able to
perform salah in that manner.
To be fully present as if we are
conversing with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
So if we want such a beautiful thing,
we have to ask for it.
If we don't ask for it, do we
think we're gonna get it? If it's important
to us, then we must ask for it,
and we must
consistently ask Allah
for
it. Number 2,
that before
we start our prayer, we take a few
minutes
to get into the right mindset.
Don't just go for one activity and go
to salah,
but take some time per your sunnah. Remember
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Clear your mind, remind
yourselves
that we are gonna be standing in front
of the King of Kings.
We're gonna be standing in front of our
creator.
Get into the right mindset, into the right
state of mind before we say Allahu Akbar.
Number 3,
pray as if this is your last prayer.
The prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam said,
when you stand for your prayer, pray as
if you are saying farewell.
Imagine this was our last salah,
the last opportunity we had to stand in
front of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and pray.
How would our prayer be?
And it could very well be our last
prayer. We don't know when we're gonna leave
this world.
Number 4,
to understand
what we are saying during our prayer.
How do we expect to have that concentration
when we don't know what we're saying?
From Takbir, from saying Allahu Akbar Allah is
the greatest till we finish our prayer, and
even the remembrance that we say after the
prayer, we need to learn the meanings of
these words.
We need to understand Fata and what it's
saying. These surahs that we've memorized we should
try and understand the meanings. So that when
we stand in front of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala and we recite these verses and these
supplications,
we know what we're saying to Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
And lastly, we gotta practice. We gotta be
consistent and we gotta keep on trying.
Nobody said it was gonna be easy. After
all, there's a specific shaitan called Khindzab that's
appointed to distract us from Allah,
but a person who is sincere to Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, they want to reach that
level.
They wanna feel as if they are talking
directly to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala and not
be distracted in their salah and they're consistent.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala will
make them get to that level
and their salah will become something that serves
as a constant reminder to them, keeps them
away from wrongdoing
because they establish that connection with Allah subhanahu
wa ta'ala.
So to recap,
before anything we need to understand
the importance of salah.
So we make du'a to Allah Subhanahu Wa
Ta'ala that he makes us amongst those who
have Khushu in their salah, and we keep
at it.
That before
we start our prayer, we take a few
minutes
to get into the right mindset.
We pray as if it is our last
prayer.
We try our best to understand what we're
saying.
We take out time to learn the meanings
of the Quran.
And lastly, we are persistent.
Just because we're not tasting the sweetness at
this moment doesn't mean we give up, but
we keep trying. We keep learning. We keep
asking Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. Today's exercise is,
number 1, to rate your salah on a
scale from 1 to 10.
What score would you give your salah?
And after you have rated yourself,
to ask yourselves, are you happy with that
score?
And most of us,
myself included,
we would not be happy with our score.
So number 3,
make a commitment to Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
to improve
your salah.
May Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala make our salah
the coolness of our eyes. May we find
comfort in salah. May he forgive our sins.
May Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala rectify our affairs
and the affairs of the world. Until next
time.