Many people ask how they can achieve proper concentration during ibadat. The most common answers given by scholars are to fear Allah and to feel gratitude for His favors as this should make us want to worship, but there are specific and practical steps that can also be taken but are sometimes forgotten. Here are a few suggestions:
1) Make the best use of your ablution. It is a mistake to think of wudu as just the physical cleaning; it is also a spiritual and symbolic inner cleaning. Wudu is a means by which we purify and prepare for salat and other formal worship, and we can think of it as washing away our worries and worldly thoughts as well. Renew ablution frequently, and try to always renew it before any act of worship, even if you technically haven’t broken it. The time and effort it takes helps to slow down your mind and prepare you for what you are about to engage in.
2) Don’t stop making your ibadat. Sometimes we think that if we aren’t making salat or dhikr “perfectly” that it is better to not do it at all. This is not exactly true. As long as we continue to purify our intention, we can continue to make our worship even as we recognize its imperfections. The Prophet (salalahi alahi wa salaam) frequently sought forgiveness for his prayers. If the best of mankind worried that his prayers were lacking, it is safe for us to assume that ours are pretty deficient! That doesn’t mean we just give up and don’t bother, though. There is a saying “practice makes perfect”, and we can apply this to the matter of concentration. The more we strive towards the goal, the better and closer we will get to it, inshaAllah. We are told not to read Qur’an mindlessly, so if we are distracted we should set it aside, inshaAllah. But that doesn’t mean don’t pick it up again. There is value in reading it in small portions, with full concentration.
3) Frequently seek refuge in Allah from the whispers of Shaytan. Don’t just say the formula without thinking, out of habit. Say it with awareness: “I seek refuge in Allah, from the accursed Satan”. Often it is the whisperings of the Shaytan that are breaking our concentration. Seek refuge frequently. Make a habit of it. Seek refuge in between “parts” of your worship. For instance, we say it at the beginning of our salat. If we go into dhikr or du’a after salat, we should seek the refuge of Allah again before we begin that. Before reading Qur’an, seek refuge. Take a break part way through reading and seek refuge again, inshaAllah. Seek refuge throughout your day as well, to remain mindful and not allow those whisperings room in your head!
4) Take care of your more pressing needs before you go to worship. Don’t go to worship while hungry (unless you are fasting) or thirsty. Take care of that need first, even if only enough to curb the distraction. Use the restroom before you make wudu so that you don’t suddenly feel like you “have to go” part way through a marathon of Qur’an recitation or dhikr. If you’re concerned about getting the dishes done, or writing out your bills or some other mundane task, do it before you go to worship so that your mind is settled and you are no longer anxious over it. Be careful, however, lest you find that you have a whole “to do” list that you allow to overtake you and keep you from making your worship! We must balance this and prioritise our worship over everything.
5) Cut down on unnecessary distractions in your daily life and routine. Our modern society has set us up with short attention spans and less ability to concentrate on important matters. We feed ourselves on quick-paced television, movies and video games. We run quickly between work, errands, and extracurricular activities. It is very difficult to slow down for ibadat and to quiet our rushing minds properly when the rest of our life is so fast. If we try to slow down other areas of our lives, to live more simply, and to cut down or out the unnecessary aspects that feed our speed, it will help us to settle into routines and calmer patterns, inshaAllah.
Try these simple suggestions, inshaAllah. You will not automatically transform or never again lack concentration, but inshaAllah these ideas can help you to draw closer and begin to improve.
