Salah

Salah - Its "the" pillar of our deen simply because its the only we got to do 5 times daily; simply because its the first thing we will be asked about by our Lord; simply because when the people of Jannah will ask people of jahannum what put you there - they will say we didn't pray. Allah has told us it prevents us from "fahsh" (immodest things) and to seek help from Salah. Allah has told us innumerable times to establish Salah. So its a biggie.
Seeing how important Salah is, its not unnatural that its a norm in today's society to label a person who prays 5 times a day as "religious". So here's the tricky part about salah, how many people do you know who pray regularly and have so for years, but nothing from their daily lives has changed, even one bit.  With the amount of people praying regularly, we shouldn't see as much "fahsh" in the society as we do, but we do. The problem is though we pray regularly, we dont understand its significance, we dont give its rightful rank, we dont believe it will change us.
People! as important as Salah is - it means nothing if you have not made a connection with Allah SWT in it. It is nothing, if you dont know what you are saying and who you are standing in front of. Its nothing if your day to day life is not changed from it. You cannot reap its many benefits unless you know what benefits to reap from it!
 If you pray, and i hope you do; but arent able to make the necessary changes in your life that you know you must - reassess the quality of your salah. Chances are there's something missing there. Dont ever think you pray "enough" or "well enough" - remember Iblees was elevated in ranks to that of angels and then became the accursed.
Our salah is in constant need of improvement, only and only then will we see an improvement in ourselves. Theres an old programming term GIGO - Garbage In Garbage Out. Apply that to your ibadah, the more ikhlas and effort that goes into the salah - the better the results. Consider why you rush your salah. What are the reasons you delay your salah or dont pay attention to tahara or the salah itself? eliminate those weeds, like your life depends on it - because it does!
The munafiq of Madina harbored a hate for Islam and Muslims, yet what was one act they diligently performed - Salah! Why? They knew if they didnt come to jama'a, people will know they are not true muslims. SubhanAllah! But what was wrong with their Salah? They were not sincere, as we arent now. Our salah can easily be compared to that of the munafiq because we drag ourselves to the prayer mat; but thats the extent our sincerity reaches.
Whether its hijab you are struggling with, gheebat, anger, tawakkul, discipline or even depression (not the medical kind) - all the solutions are in your Salah. Go back to the drawing board - no frills or fancy and take control of that next Salah that may be your last.
May Allah make me improve my Salah, may you benefit from my post. All good is from Allah and all evil and hurtful things are from my nafs.

Post Ramadan Planning

Ah! another month of mercy just passed and i am left wondering, did i work hard enough? May Allah accept from us our ibadah and istighfar! How can i ensure my next Ramadan will be better or if i actually did reap something from this one? That's where post-ramadan plan comes into play. If you had set some goals for yourself during ramadan, are you following through with them? If you hadnt set goals, get setting now. Think of one good habit you want to adopt (from the sunnah is a good point to start) and one bad habit you want to drop. Mind you, these need not be ambitions of mammoth proportions. It could be something as easy as ensuring you always read the dua for entering and exiting the washroom and using the correct foot for the same. Imagine, thats ibadah!! As for dropping a habit, you could think of something similar. We dont place value in these things but not only are they super-important, Allah rewards us for it AND they improve our quality of life without us even knowing it. Here are a few examples of goals you could set for the rest of the year:
Good Habits:
1) Ensuring you begin everything by Bismillah. i mean EVERYTHING
2) Saying salams everytime you enter the house or meet other muslims. Make sure you say it properly and not let your cultural twang distort the diction. Its suppose to be Assalam 'alaikum (wa rahmat ullahi wa barakatuhu)
3) Fasting 6 days in Shawwal
4) Fasting Mondays and/or Thursdays
5) Taking up using the miswak
6) Elongate your sujood and ruku' in Salah
7) Make niyyah for Hajj/Umrah

Bad Habits
1) Stop backbiting
2) Stop lying - all types even those we tell little kids!
3) Stop sleeping face down, on our bellies
4) Stop talking in the washroom
5) Stop judging people
6) Stop being disobedient to your parents/ disrespectful to your spouse
7) Stop all means of haraam income or consuming haraam food.

Some of these may seem menial but every little step counts and it helps you become a better mo'min Inshallah. In a summary of the Surat Taaha, verses about prophet Musa AS, i learned Allah expects Obedience, Courage and Tawakkul (faith) from His servant. I believe, each of these are inter-connected as in when we are obedient to Allah, He blesses us with courage and tawakkul; when we have tawakkul, we are definitely going to be obedient and courageous... you get the idea.
So, what are you taking up and what are you giving up?