IN Leo Babauta's great new eBook entitled “Focus”, there is a chapter that reminds one of Salah. The chapter talks about the importance of developing a ‘Focus Ritual' to help a person fight daily distractions and focus on their most important tasks for the day. Think about Salah for a moment, and the power it has to fight distractions when performed properly and with full concentration. When the Adhan goes off, we physically get up, leave everything we do, cleanse ourselves with a purifying ritual called Wudhu, walk to the nearest mosque, perform a set of pre-defined actions with full concentration and thought, then head back home feeling completely refreshed. This happens five times a day at a minimum. Have you ever thought about the effect this action has in our day to day focus and for our spiritual productivity? Leo provides an interesting insight in the following passage: “Mindfully observing a ritual is important, especially when it comes to focus, because often we get distracted without realizing it. The distractions work because we're not paying attention. So when we pay attention to a ritual, it's much more conducive to focus, and then to creativity.” Islam emphasizes the importance of one's focus on their Salah. In fact focus and concentration are linked to success in this life and the Hereafter. Allah reminds us in the Qur'an that, “Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Salah (prayers) with all solemnity and full submissiveness.” (Qur'an, 23:1-2) Ibn Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “You will gain nothing from your prayer except what you focus on.” (Madarij As-Salikeen) Since Islam teaches us to develop complete focus on our submission and relationship with Allah, this focus is not only meant for our daily prayers, but should stretch to every aspect of our life. Living a distracted life might be ‘fun' but it's not productive, and to be honest, a distracted life is one of the tricks of Shaitan to keep our focus away from what is truly important in our lives. Let's think practically about this now. How can we harness the power of Salah to induce focus in our lives and fight off distractions? Here are simple steps: 1. Never ever miss Fajr prayer This beautiful and uplifting Fajr prayer is perhaps your most powerful focus ritual and act of worship for the whole day. When you start your day with Fajr prayer, you allow your mind to rest and focus on the most important aspect of your life first and that is the worship of Allah. Other elements of your life come after that. So, never ever miss this beautiful prayer. 2. Refocus with Salah If during the day, you feel completely overwhelmed with all sorts of distractions and can't seem to get moving on important tasks and to-do items here's how you can refocus: get up, make Wudhu, and pray two Rak'ah Nafl prayer with full concentration asking Allah for help and support. This simple technique is not only rewarding, but also extremely powerful for us as Muslims. It's almost like pressing the ‘reset' button in your brain when you are mentally overwhelmed. 3. Night prayer At the end of each day, spend at least 30 minutes disconnected from the rest of the world. There's no better way to spend it disconnected, than spending it in the night prayer and Witr. After praying the night prayer, spend 5-10 minutes thinking about the deeds you did during the day and focus on what you will do tomorrow. Conversely, you can get up in the middle of the night to pray Tahajjud prayer and get an extra early (and productive) start to your day. These tips have been mentioned assuming that you have no problem focusing in your Salah. However, if you're distracted during Salah, read the book ‘33 Ways of Developing Khushoo in Salah‘ by Sheikh Muhammad Salih Al-Munajjid to help put you on the path to full concentration (Khushoo) Insha Allah.
