Some people feel peaceful when they pray, while some don’t. On the other hand, some people wouldn’t pray unless they feel relaxed. If you belong to the latter, I humbly request you to think about it. If you think logically, you will understand that Allah (SWT) doesn’t need our prayers; instead, we are the ones who need Him. If you have been putting off praying until you feel better or peaceful, it would be great if you could try praying from today. I assure you that you’ll feel the change.
Why Don’t Prayers Interest Some People?
We need to understand why some people don’t pray or why prayers don’t interest them. There are various reasons, and they could vary according to every individual. As Muslims, we shouldn’t be judgmental because ONLY Allah (SWT) has the power to judge us. So if you know someone who doesn’t pray, you shouldn’t torture or burden him/her with hurtful words. Instead, talk about it and make them realize what prayers could do. Tell them your experience and the wonders it did to your life.
However, some of the reasons that people don’t pray are:
- They find it a burden.
- They don’t get the time to pray.
- They think it’s time-consuming,
- They’ve lost hope.
I can understand that it’s common to face the above issues. In fact, I’ve associated people who claimed some of these reasons. But let me explain it to you. You are finding it a burden because you have not understood the fundamental importance or underlying concept of praying. If you don’t get time to pray, it’s because you don’t find it important enough to allocate time.
If you think it’s time-consuming, it’s your assumption because it doesn’t take more than 10 minutes to perform a 4-rakah prayer. For example, my sister has the habit of praying right on time, and I’ve seen her managing work super effectively. But that doesn’t mean everyone should perform prayers on time because some people might not find it possible to do so. You can pray before the time ends, although it’s preferred to pray on time. Lastly, losing hope. When you are making a dua, it’s answered in three forms; now, later, and never. Remember, He is the creator and knows what we know not. Thus, if your duas are not answered, do not worry or lose hope because Allah’s timing is perfect.
Moreover, if you have never prayed before, you wouldn’t realize the beauty of prayers. So if you can, try spending a few minutes to test how prayers feel like. Speaking through experience, it’s comforting and peaceful. Spending 5-10 minutes on the prayer mat gives you time to think about what we’ve been running after. We tend to realize that the rat race is short-lived, whereas akhirah (hereafter) is eternal.
It’s more like a few minutes, pulled out of your clock to help you breathe. For a person with a hectic schedule, prayers could be a blessing than a burden. They get a few minutes to relax and reconnect. Sometimes, certain dua that you asked for might not come true, but there could be other blessings coming your way. Remember, Allah (SWT) wants us to ask, and he shall provide.
But there are times when you lose interest or concentration in prayers. How can you overcome them? Let’s see!
Tips to Overcome Loss of Interest and Other Negative Emotions about Prayers
Before continuing, you must know that you are not alone. Many people have the same issue as you. People lose interest and develop negative attitudes but what’s important is how we overcome them. Realizing that we are losing interest or understanding that something must be done is the first step towards change. So if you are losing interest or if you want to increase concentration in prayers, you can consider the following tips:
Focus. Focus. Focus.
If you are typing out a blog or writing an important answer, what would you do? You’d focus because you don’t want anything to go wrong. You don’t want to redo, or you don’t like to get the blame. Similarly, when you are praying, you must focus and think that you shouldn’t perform anything incorrectly. Unlike the boss or the teacher, Allah (SWT) is ready to forgive. You must pray, at least, while making mistakes because, over time, you’ll master it.
You will not be able to focus if you don’t think and do. I’ve seen teenagers who pray just because they’ve been asked to, and their 4-rakah prayer lasts only a few seconds because they don’t focus. The main reason that they don’t do justice to the prayer is that they don’t understand its importance.
So if you want to focus, you need to know the importance of prayers. Once you understand the importance, eventually, you’ll focus. But the level of focus will not increase overnight. It will take time, don’t give up!
Know what you are reciting
Most of us have no idea what we are reciting while praying. Of course, we can’t learn the whole Quran in a day or two and apply it when praying. But certain supplications are easy to understand, so you have to make an effort to understand those. If you take surah al-Fathiha, it’s small and easy to understand. You don’t have to know the in-depth meaning or the context. You can instead make an effort to understand the basic meaning of it.
For example, Surah al-Fathiha’s verse 1:5 translates to “You ˹alone˺ we worship and You ˹alone˺ we ask for help.”
When we look at the meaning, it gives us a different kind of feeling. This feeling should be in our hearts when praying. Thus, it’s important to know what you are reciting. It is definitely not easy to know the meaning of every single surah, but knowing at least a few would help you gain focus in prayers.
Dress up for prayers
We hardly do this, and it’s not wrong. You should try this only when you feel like that your interest is draining. One of the important things is that when you dress up, your enthusiasm is stimulated, increasing your interest in performing the task.
For example, it positively affects your mood when you dress up, so you will feel like praying. As a freelancer, I have the liberty to work in my PJs, but I don’t always work in PJs. Some days, I have zero motivation to sit in front of the laptop, so I’d make sure to dress up to impact my mood to get into the zone on such days. You can actually try doing it to see the difference in how you enjoy praying.
Lastly,
“The first of man’s deeds for which he will be called to account on the Day of Resurrection will be Salat (prayer). If it is found to be perfect, he will be safe and successful; but if it is incomplete, he will be unfortunate and a loser. If any shortcoming is found in the obligatory Salat, the Glorious and Exalted Rubb will command to see whether His slave has offered any voluntary Salat so that the obligatory Salat may be made up by it. Then the rest of his actions will be treated in the same manner.” [At- Tirmidhi].
