Assalamalaikum wa Rehmatullahi was Barakatuh, Brothers and Sisters!
How many of us have missed Fajr prayer? Once? Twice? A whole week of it? Some Muslims may never even have prayed Fajr in their lives!
And what are the most common excuses or reasons?
-Going to sleep super late because I was watching a movie
-Sleep
-Tired
-Sleep
-My alarm didn't ring
-My alarm rang but I didn't hear it
-My alarm rang but Shaitan got the best of me and I turned it off
-sleeeeeppppp
-It's too hard to wake up
-It's cold??
Yeah, these are some the most common excuses and sleep or failure to wake up is the most dominant excuse. But brothers and sisters, sleep is not a valid reason to miss Fajr.
>"Abu Hurayra reported that the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said,"And if they only knew what was in the prayers of 'Isha' and Subh [fajr], they would come to them even if they had to crawl.""
>It is narrated on the authority of Abu Zubair that he heard Jabir b. 'Abdullah saying, 'I heard the Messenger of Allah (may peace and blessings be upon him) observing this,' "Between man and polytheism and unbelief is the abandonment of salat." [Muslim]
As you can see from the Hadiths above, prayer is not a joke to be taken lightly. Islam is based on five pillars of which the second pillar is Salah or Prayer five times a day but how many of us actually fulfill this commandment? How many of us actually set aside just 30-45 minutes from our whole day to worship Allah? Allah has blessed us with everything from the eyes that we see to the air that we breathe to the ears through which we hear and countless more blessings but what do we as his creation do to thank him and remember him?
The Fajr prayer and the Isha prayer are the two most difficult prayer for the hypocrites, so let's come together and strive to not be one of the hypocrites and rise in the morning and rise in the night to worship our creator as he has ordained! Personally, I had one of the hardest times waking up for Fajr for the longest time until I came upon a sleep routine on ProductiveMuslim.com and some other Islamic pages but to me, its not just a routine that helps me sleep better, it is one that has helped be wake for Fajr ever since I utilized and why? Because it involves remembrance of Allah.
Before introducing the routine, you must remember that only with the help and aid of Allah can anything be done. You must be sincere in your intentions and you must sincerely pray to Allah to help you in waking up for Fajr. Also watch this short video as an extra mental reminder of the importance of Fajr:
Now, what this routine we're talking about?
It is a three part breakdown of 90 minutes of your time before you sleep:
1. One third for your lord
2. One third for yourself
3. One third for sleep
THE THIRD FOR YOUR LORD
-This is the first 30 minutes of the 90 minute preparation in which you get cleaned up, make Wudu, and mentally prepare to stand before Allah for the Tahajjud, or the night prayer, and Witr.
"Abu Hurayra (Allah be pleased with him) reports that the Messenger of Allah (blessings and peace be upon him, his family, and companions) said, “The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.” [Muslim]
Tahajjud prayer can consist from a minimum of 2 rak'ahs to the optimal 8 rak'ah, made in 2 rak'ah increments. The Witr prayer is to be an odd number of rak'ahs. "It was related that Ibn Umar said: "Someone asked the Messenger of God about the night prayer. The messenger of God replied: "The night prayer is offered as two rak'ah followed by two Rak'ah and so on, and if you sense the approach of dawn you should pray one rak'ah and this will serve as Witr for all the previous rak'ah you have prayed'."
This is the part of the routine where you recite verses from the Quran and supplicate your lord, asking for forgiveness and making dua. Also, sincerely ask Allah to help wake you up for Fajr. Without Allah's help, nothing can be accomplished! Once you develop into the routine of doing this, this will become an indescribably peaceful experience.
THE THIRD FOR YOURSELF
-This is the second third of the routine. In this half hour you could maybe finish up some last minute homework or get ready for sleep. I also like to spend this time watching Islamic lectures or reading tafeer of the Quran and such.
Some awesome websites for Islamic lectures include:
-www.thedeenshow.com
-www.ummahfilms.com (Baba Ali, enough said!!)
-www.halaltube.com (Wisam Sharief, Abdul Rahman Murphy, Nouman Ali Khan and tons more)
-http://bayyinah.com/podcast/ (this website is an awesome link that has podcasts of Tafseer of various surahs. Super informative and great use of your time!)
THE THIRD FOR SLEEP
-This is the last third of the routine. It is more so a preparation for sleep through dhikr and recitation of the Quran according to the Sunnah of Prophet Muhammad. In this half hour, recite Surah Sajdah, the 32nd surah of the Quran and Surah Mulk, the 67th surah of the Quran. Once you get into this habit, you won't want to go to bed without reciting them! A website that has an awesome recitation of both these surahs and the Quran in general is Quran.com. You can access this website and recite the Quran even if you are away from your hard copy of the Quran. Another part of this half hour is to make the dhikr before going to bed. You can find the remembrances made before sleeping at www.makedua.com.
And there it is! inshAllah you can wake up for Fajr without a problem and we would love to get some feedback on how this is going for everyone.
Additional tips for waking up for fajr are:
-The 1.5 rule of sleep: We complete a cycle of sleep every 1.5 hours so set your alarm to wake up for fajr by calculating that in. For example, you're going to bed at 2:00 and fajr time starts at 6:30, you will have completed 4.5 hours of sleep and it'll be easier for you to wake up since a sleep cycle will be finished. If you're going to bed at 1 and Fajr time is at 5:00, you'll have to set your alarm at 4:30 so that you wake up when a cycle is finishing.
-Multiple Alarms: If you can't wake up to your alarm, then set a ton of alarms so you're guarenteed to wake up. I personally have I think 5 alarms to wake up for Fajr lol and then another 4 to wake up for class....yeah, I'm pretty sure my roommate wants to kill me at times but hey, whatever it takes to get me up! Setting alarms in different areas of the room will also be beneficial because you'll get annoyed and eventually get up to turn it off.
Finally, if you're still having trouble, we can arrange some sort of Buddy System. You can inform us through an e-mail at rrazz92@gmail.com and we will arrange a Fajr wake up call or text.
InshAllah, these tips and routines benefit you and me and all of us! Once again, we would love to get some feedback on how it is going for you guys! May Allah help us all to arise from our beds and supplicate to our Lord as he has commanded us to do so! Ameen!
Jazakallahkhair!
-Razz :)
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