Have you ever felt that your faith is weakening? Can you concentrate when you pray?

Have you ever felt that your faith is weakening?  Can't you concentrate when you pray?  There is no khush khuju in the prayer?  

You can't feel anything by reciting the Qur'an and praying? Are you reading the Qur'an without concentration?  Does this feeling really bother you and you are not sure what to do about it or how to get out of it?  And sometimes you feel your faith is stronger, you pray with Khushu Khuzur and you enjoy reading the Qur'an with attention and understanding, you do Zikr and you are very inspired and happy when you do any kind of worship !!  You are not alone !!!  We all go through these ups and downs.  There are many reasons for this, and knowing them will help us to stay in the highest level of faith most of the time.  When you think your faith is weak, make sure you do the following:

 1.  Go back to your past and think about what you have been doing in the last few days, weeks?  Lots of TV viewing, or backbiting and your prayers may be delayed or you don't wake up for Fajr prayers or you are not giving sadaqa etc. Every time you do something that Allah does not like, your heart is covered with a black curtain over time.  Becomes thick with it until it weakens your faith.

 2.  Sit in peace and remember the blessings of Allah upon you… ..your health, your children, education, your sustenance, you being a Muslim, you are better than millions, you are in a safe house instead of a street, you are living in a warm place instead of winter, you are sadaqa  Being able to realize, you do not need to ask others for sustenance and many more blessings that Allah has given you and is giving you every day.  Imagine life without your loved ones, imagine life without your vision, imagine life with a serious illness, and imagine the guidance of Islam and life without Islam.  It will help you to praise and say Allah and see the blessings of Allah on you which will help you to focus more and worship with praise.

 3.  Sit down and look at the picture of your death, lie on the floor with your eyes closed and imagine that they are arranging you, taking you from one side to the other to take a bath, you can do nothing.  You can't even cover your own eyebrows until they cover you. In that case you are completely helpless, the clothes you wore all your life were once yours but now you don't have them.  You used to wear those expensive shoes but now you don't have them.  And the beautiful handbag that you used to carry was yours but now it is gone ..... you have nothing left… your relatives will share it with you …… you have left all your belongings at home, your family is still with you  Yes, but until they leave you in the grave.  You will be alone with only your work, only your charity, your prayers, only your remembrance.  There will be no opportunity to do any more deeds on that day. The doors of all your deeds will be closed. You will wait for the Day of Judgment.

 4.  Just wake up at night for 40 minutes and perform tahajjud.  One hour before Fajr, Allah (SWT) came to Samaa Duniya (the first heaven) and called out: Whoever seeks forgiveness for what he has and I will forgive him, if anyone needs anything and I will give him.  Get up and pray and talk to Allah Almighty, tell him how you feel ... tell him O Allah my heart is getting so hard… ..my faith is getting weak.  Ask forgiveness at this time so that Allah protects you from those weak levels, you will be selected among those beloved servants of Allah who perform tahajjud at night. Get up 1 hour before you get up for Fajr prayer so that you can perform tahajjud.

 5) Search the net (YouTube is full of beautiful lectures by different sheikhs) or find a book and read about Islam or Iman or something that will help you remove those hard layers from the heart.  Don’t just sit back and get upset, try to improve yourself and Allah will always open a door for you.  Faith is like a Mizan (palla) it increases and decreases based on our daily work.  This is a regular battle but if you follow these strategies you will always be in-sha'Allah victorious.  Satan will whisper to you when he comes to you and say: You are bad, how can you ask Allah for anything, you have no right to do that ... !!!  He keeps you away from supplication and Allah.  He plays the game of guilt with you as if you stop talking to Allah (SWT) and you stay away because of the crime.  Don't give him a chance.  Go back to Allah and seek Tawfiq (success) from Allah.

  May Allah guide us and keep us on the path of faith till we die.  Amen