Prayer.

Salaam aleykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatu,

One of the most well-known traits of Muslims is prayer. The bowing and prostrating is quite distinctive to Islam, and oftentimes the fact that the required prayers are five times a day is mind-boggling to those who do not know much about Islam. One things that many Muslims strive to do is to get all five prayers on time every day in order to get maximum reward for their efforts, inshAllah. One of the first things that reverts really need to do is learn how to pray salah.

Zahra:

I learned how to pray well before I took Shahadah. After a solid semester of going to Juma'a, it was easy to know the motions of prayer. I only knew the English translations of prayer and knowing the translation made it quite easy. The translation was so beautiful, the praise of Allah and sendings blessings to Muhammad pbuh was not necessarily a new concept to me, but it was different than how I had prayed before.

I only learned two suras besides al-Fatiha, so memorizing salah in Arabic was not that hard, al7amdullilah. I was fortunate enough to find a series of YouTube videos that I used over and over again in order to memorize everything. However, I am not a creature of habit. It is really hard to get in the habit of getting myself up off the couch five times a day to pray. I still struggle with it, but I know there is great reward for me, inshAllah. Some days are harder than others, but once the prayer is finished, I feel so much better.

The transition to becoming a more adherent Muslim has been a challenge. Nursing school has made it so hard to connect with fellow Muslims in person. Granted, I have a large Twitter following that supports me in everything I do, and that helps make up for it. They have made it so easy for me to learn how to be a better Muslim and they drive me to want to be better. I also definitely do not want to disappoint Allah swt, and everything I do these days is for the sake of Allah.

Nikita:

I learned to pray before taking my shahada, and was in the habit of praying, albeit not 5 times a day, before saying those binding words as well. I had learned how to pray in Arabic and thus making the transition into praying a little easier. I learned the translation at the beginning as well so that I could complete my prayers whole heartedly.

Praying 5 times a day can be difficult, and like Zahra said, some days are easier than others. After I took my shahada was the most difficult, but one day something just happened and I knew I HAD to pray. Since that day, alhamdulillah, my namaz has been more consistent. I have been blessed to have friends that are born Muslims and have helped me learn the proper pronunciation and names for things in Arabic. (Most of these friends are south Asian, as am I, which explains my use of the words "namaz" and "azaan" instead of "salat" and "adthan")

Once you get in the pattern of making your 5 daily prayers, you get in the habit, and it is harder to break. Unfortunately this is also the case if you forgo prayer, it is harder to get back into the swing of things.

The best thing to do is to make dua, give to others, do things to raise your imam and surely prayer becomes easier each day. Insha'Allah.

Until next time,

N&Z