Khushu' in Salat part 2

Thursday Halaqa Notes

1-24-13

Sr. Dana Jarrar

MCA Santa Clara, CA

Khushu’ in Salat, part 2

• When anyone asks us how we are - we say we are busy. But is there anyone that is not busy? 
• Shaytan likes to steal from our prayers. How? By whispering things to us. Each person is different. If shaytan steals from your prayers, then you are rich! Rich with good things. If he doesn’t, then you are poor- shaytan won’t bother with you, you are lost already. 
• It’s a like bank without a guard. Our problem is we don’t put a guard on our prayers. When we stand to pray and we say Allahu Akbar, suddenly everything in the dunya comes rushing to you even the things you didn’t think about before or after salat. 
• We need to guard our prayers and not let shaytan come in. 
• There were two brothers, sahaba. The muhajir was sleeping, and the ansari was walking guarding, then he started praying. While he was praying he got hit with an arrow and started bleeding. He took it out and thew it. This happened 3 times. Then the muhajir woke up and told the Ansari ‘Why didn’t you wake me up?’ He said he was reading a surah that he didn’t want to stop in the middle of. Look at this high level. He was in such a deep khushu’.
• You have to know your priorities. If you put your kids to finish all your obligations and put kids to bed, then you pray, you will find a khushu’ in salat because you did all your obligations to your kids and husband.

What are the keys to your feelings?

• Salat starts at Athan - If you hear it but didn’t feel anything - you have to work on it with yourself. 
• The sahaba used to force crying until it became real crying. 
• Say to yourself: ‘I am present, I am concentrating, I understand what i’m saying, I like what i’m saying’. 
• The fruit of this effort is a tear that comes out of your eye. 
• Like when you are saying goodbye to your parents, you can’t help but cry. Here you felt a khushu’ of the situation. This understanding (that it might be the last time you see them) leads to feelings. 
• Feelings don’t come by themselves. So think about what are the keys to your feelings? 
• Is it attending a halaqa, listening to a lecture, reading Qur’an? 
• People as they age, they have more experiences, if you tie it to Allah, the relationship increases. 
• You don’t want to limit your relationship with Allah to just in Salat and Sawm. 

Gaining knowledge increases khushu’

• Your soul, Ruh, is a garden, you have to plant seeds in it -from eyes, ears, what you say with your mouth, what you’re doing with your hands, reading, watching, talking, writing - to grow the khushu’.  
• One seed to plant is learning tafseer. Tafseer Surat Al Fatiha is very important to know because you say it in every rak’ah. The person who knows tafseer Surat Al Fatiha prays differently than one who doesn’t.
• Another seed is to tie every act in the salat to something that will open your feelings. Let’s start with the first part of salat - the athaan.

Tie the Athan to the blowing of the trumpet on the Day of Judgement

• When you hear the athan you can think of- athan yawmul qiyamah -al nidaa - the calling of all the people on the Day of Judgement. 
• Like when a small child hears the beginning of the athan sometimes they start to cry. We will be like those small children on the Day of Judgement. Remember that the race started. 
• The Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alaihi wassalam) said when you hear athan you have to repeat after it. Repeating after the athan gives you tawadu’ and adab with Allah, increases khushu’. 
• How to repeat after the athan: repeat each line exactly the same. but at hayya ‘ala salat hayya ‘ala falah- you say la hawla wa la quwatta illa billah. The falah, success, is from the salat. 
• Going to pray needs strength and falah, success, and these are from Allah. These are blessings from Allah. 
• Your great ideas, your creativity is from Allah. Look for these skills, and try to do them, or at least just think about doing it. 
• Did you ever hear anyone ever say i’m not busy anymore? Are we busier than the sahaba? Don’t wait. Put goals. For example I want to pray with khushu’ to the point where tears come to my eyes. 
• I am busy but I steal from my time to teach my children. It doesn’t take a lot of time. 
• In the athaan there is Allahu Akbar Allah Akbar - God is the Greatest- we can remember here that whatever we are doing, Allah is bigger than that. We can leave it and go for prayer. because - La Ilaha illa Allah, there is no God but Allah.
• After the athan, we do salawat ‘ala Nabi, and du’a after the athan. 

Dua After Athan:

"اللَّهُمَّ رَبَّ هَذِهِ الدَّعْوَةِ التَّامَّةِ، وَالصَّلَاةِ الْقَائِمَةِ، آتِ مُحَمَّداً الْوَسِيلَةَ وَالْفَضِيلَةَ، وَابْعَثْهُ مَقَاماً مَحْمُوداً الَّذِي وَعَدْتَهُ، [إَنَّكَ لَا تُخْلِفُ الْمِيعَادَ].

O Allah , Lord of this perfect call and established prayer. Grant Muhammad the intercession and favor, and raise him to the honored station You have promised him, verily You do not neglect promises.

Bukhari

• The time between the athan and the iqamah is a special time for dua. Anas (RA) narrated that Allah’s Messenger (Salla Allahu ‘alaihi wassalam) said: 'A supplication made between the Adhan and Iqama is not rejected.' 

Wudu

• Now if you don’t have wudu, you need to make wudu.
• Our eyes, our ears, our feet, etc - the sins are putting up a shield between you and the khushu’. 
• When we make wudu, our sins get cleaned and we remove these barriers over your heart, hawajiz. 
• Wudu gives nur, light on the day of judgement. If you already have wudu, the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alaihi wassalam) said - nurun ‘ala nur, light upon light. Some people like to increase the area of the wudu because it gives you more nur in yawmul qiyama. 
• Wudu cleans you physically and cleans you spiritually. 
• Try to think of your sins while you make wudu, do a review, so you can clean your heart as well as your body. See the story of Bilal (RadiAllahu ‘anhu) - the Prophet (Salla Allahu ‘alaihi wassalam) had a dream that Bilal was racing him to the jannah - So he asked him ‘What do you do Bilal?’ He said he prays 2 rak’ah after each wudu.
• Then we say the dua after wudu - shahada & dua: 

اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْنِي مِنَ التَّوَّابِينَ وَاجْعَلْنِي مِنَ الْمُتَطَهِّرِينَ

Allahummaj 'alni minat-tawwabina waj'alni minal-mutatahhirin.

O Allah, make me among those who turn to You in repentance, and make me among those who are purified.

Getting ready for Salat

• Then get ready to pray. Allah loves most the prayer in it’s time. Get closer to Allah with the faraid, the obligations.
• Allah loves the prayer in it’s time more than you sitting with your children, etc. 
• Is Allah the # 1 priority in your life? 
• Now cover our ‘awrah - physically & in your heart. Put everything aside temporarily for 10 min, and put the pretty heart in place of the dirty heart.
• Wear your prayer clothes, and as you put them on, remember you have to cover ‘awrah in your heart too. 
• Now have to stand toward qibla. Remember your heart also has to stand toward qibla - need to position our heart. 
• When you say Allahu Akbar - remind yourself that Allah is greater than everything else. 
• We have to keep repeating this in Salat, because Allah knows how much the shaytan and your nafs is going to try to distract you. 
• Your Salat is like the foundation of your house - don’t let anything try to break this foundation. If someone wrote on the walls it’s ok that can be fixed, but the foundation can’t. 
• Then say du’a al istiftaah. There are several, print them all out. Put the paper in front of you in the sunnah prayers until you memorize it. Then use one of these in your fard Salat. 
• This is a talk between you and Allah, a relationship, and you are cleaning yourself to come out a stronger person. That’s why the Shaykh lengthens the first rak’ah, because there is a du’a. 
• There are several, but only use one. You can change which one each time to help yourself stay present in your prayer. 
• Asking Allah to baa’id bayni wa bayna khataya - put my sins far from me. So that when you start Surat Al Fatiha your heart will be ready.
• You see so many ads on TV for cleaning products and machines. Well, Allah gave us the best cleaner, for free - the 5 daily prayers. That’s why when you do qiyam at night you feel more khushu’ -because the heart is clean and ready after 5 prayers passed already. tat-heer al qalb - cleaning of the heart.
• Hadith - If a person had a river in front of their house and they washed in this river 5 times a day, would any smell come from him? The salat is the same. Salat is Nur, light. Salat is Shifaa, a cure.
• Don’t say ‘I want khushu’ I want khushu’. Just do it. Have khushu’ by thinking about what you’re saying. 

• Question: If you are praying with your kids and husband and have a hard time keeping your khushu3: say to yourself ‘thank you Allah for giving me this husband and these children, thanks for giving me a husband who prays.’ Don’t let shaytan fool you. Use this to be a role model for the children. And you are showing kids the love of praying jamaa3a. Teach them the prayer little by little.

Ibn Al-Qayyim has mentioned 5 levels of prayer:

The First: The level of the one who is negligent. His wudu is not correct, doesn’t pray on time, and his Salat is not correct - did not do all the arkan, pillars of Salat. 

The Second: Everything is done correctly but without khushu3, concentration. His wudu is correct, he prays on time, and his Salat is correct. However, his effort in doing these is wasted because of the whisperings in his prayer so he is taken away by thoughts and ideas.

The Third: Everything is done correctly, and he tries to have khushu3. He is busy struggling against his enemy (shaytaan) so that he does not steal from the prayer. On account of this he is engaged in prayer and jihaad.

The Fourth: Everything is done correctly, and he has complete khushu3 the whole time and nothing is wasted from the prayer. His whole concern is directed towards completing and perfecting the Salat, as it should be. His heart is immersed in the prayer and in enslavement to his Lord, the Exalted.

The Fifth: Does everything like the one above, but on top of this, he has taken and placed his heart in front of Allah, looking towards Him with love, as if he sees Allah. The whisperings, thoughts and ideas have vanished and the coverings which are between him and his Lord are raised. What is between this person and others with respect to the prayer, is superior and greater than what is between the heavens and the earth. This person is busy with his Lord, the Mighty and Majestic, delighted with Him.

The first type will be punished, the second type will be held to account, the third will have his sins and shortcomings expiated, the fourth will be rewarded and the fifth will be close to his Lord, because he will receive the portion of one who makes his prayer the delight and pleasure of his eye. 

• After the Salat, we say astaghfirAllah 3 times because our heart sometimes turns away from Allah during the Salat. 
• And then we should pray sunnah to make up for the shortcomings in our fard.