Prayer Schedule

I stopped doing the 5 daily prayers quite awhile ago for various personal reasons. I started too much too fast and ended up burning out. I'm ready to try again and I think a prayer schedule may help. The first time around I tried to do everything at once, including making up prayers, and it became too much for me. This time around I'm going to go slowly and follow steps like those below. These steps may not work exactly for those that are already muslim as you are required to make up prayers. But it should help. My thought is praying and missing a couple is better than not praying at all.

If anyone has suggestions I'd love to hear them. I am posting this here in hopes that Insha'Allah it can help others struggling with their 5 prayers.

1). Start with a prayer in the morning and one in the evening. I suggest doing Fujr for the morning, its nice and short. Just do this when you normally wake up, don't try to do it on time just yet. For the evening do a set of four rakat sometime after you get home from work. Do this for a week or so until it becomes natural and comfortable.

NOTE: If you do not have them memorized simply use a typed out direction sheet. Email me at inkblotsblueabayas (at) gmail.com if you need one (it will be Shia directions though but you can edit to fit Sunni directions). It won't take long before they are memorized.

2) Add another set of 4 rakat along with the prayer in the morning and evening. If you want, you can do this in the afternoon however most of us are not able to do that. You have the option, if you are Shia, to combine these two prayers. If you are Sunni I would suggest doing them separately since you will need to get use to doing them that way. This may take a couple weeks for it to become comfortable.

3) Once 3 prayers are comfortable add the 3 rakat prayer. Now we are getting tricky especially when you can't do a prayer in the afternoon to split them up. This will definitely take a few weeks or more to get use to. Try to split them up evenly to prevent getting overwhelmed. Do not worry about making them up, it will only cause more stress. Just keep trying till you can successfully do all four prayers without any frustration. Wait until they become part of your routine and life till you move to the next step.

4) Add the last 4 rakat prayer to your schedule. Now you have all 5. Concentrate on getting all 5 done in a day. Do not worry about whether or not they are on time. Do not worry about making up prayers. Only worry about getting them all into one day. This will take a long time. could take a couple of months. Once they become part of your life and you are comfortable with them you may move to the next step.

5) Work on praying on time. I find Fujr to be the easiest to pray on time so I will start with fujr. Some may find one of the evening prayers to be the easiest. Choose a prayer and make a conscious effort to pray it on time. Once you have done so move to the next and the next until all are roughly on time. You can concern yourself later with them being exactly on time. For example: Asr is not technically considered late until Maghrib time starts but you should pray Asr at the exact time it starts if you are able. So providing you pray Asr before Maghrib starts Asr is still considered on time. Start with this concept and then work up to praying exactly on time.

6) Make up prayers. You can start to worry about make up prayers once you have things relatively on time. If you find your self horribly stressing out over making them up, take a step back. Hopefully, you will have few to make up since you have already learned how to fit all 5 into your life and have learned how to roughly do prayers on time.

7) Pray exactly on time. Work on praying exactly at the time of day prayer is suppose to start. This is hard because we all work and often cannot pray during the day. Try to choose one prayer to pray exactly on time and work from there. This will take a long time and lots of effort.

Additional Suggestions (taken from the comments on this post):

1) Concentration. Remind yourself that you are speaking to Allah. Try doing the ayahs in arabic and then pausing to reflect on their meanings. You can also try envisioning something that reminds you of Allah, like the Ka'ba, to hold your focus.

2) Saying the Adhan is highly recommended before prayer. However, its one more thing that may overwhelm you. Instead, try using a recording before each prayer so you can stand back, get settled, and get focused.

3) There are computer wigits that offer "prayer alarms" that will play the Adhan at the right time everyday according to your zipcode. There are also Qur'an wigits which great.

4) Do not forget what the prayers mean. I suggest, once a week, that you read the English (or whatever is your native language) translation to remind yourself what you are saying. Women: This is a great thing to do while Aunt Flo is visiting. I try to do so at least twice a day during that time. Otherwise, its too hard to start praying again once the week is over. Try to keep your prayer routine during this week, it helps a lot.

If anyone has suggestions let me know. I think this is what I am going to do in order to work the prayers into my life.

Looking for a Translation/Transliteration of the 5 Daily Prayers

Salaam,

Does anyone know a website where I might find the 5 daily prayers with english translation and transliteration of the Arabic? I would like to start learning the prayers, but I do not just want to choose a website. I would rather someone recommend one to me so that I know the information is correct.

I am having a lot of trouble learning to pray. The book I have is so confusing, and all the "prayer words" are in Arabic so I don't have any idea when you move from one position to another because I can't read the words. Help! I'm going to need one of the sisters at the school to teach me after all. Maybe Sister A or Sister F can help me.

Any suggestions are more than welcome. I'd like to at least learn the words in english so I can start saying the prayers much like one says Du'a. Then I can move into actually doing the 5 prayers. And I need to make a cheat sheet that tells me when to change position etc so I can practice when I'm at school.

Thanks in advance!

Supplication When Faced With A Worrisome Task

1	Title: His Supplication When Faced With A Worrisome Task, Or When Misfortune Descended, And At The Time of Distress Psalms of Islam - Imam Zayn ul-A'Bideen Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem  O He through whom the knots of detested things are untied!            O He through whom the cutting edge of hardships is blunted!            O He from whom is begged the outlet to the freshness of relief!
2	Intractable affairs yield to Thy power,            means are made ready by Thy gentleness,            the decree goes into effect through Thy power,            and all things proceed according to Thy desire.
3	By Thy desire they follow Thy command                      without Thy word            and by Thy will they obey Thy bans                      without Thy prohibition.
4	Thou art the supplicated in worries                      and the place of flight in misfortunes;            none of them is repelled unless Thou repellest,                      none is removed unless Thou removest.
5	Upon me has come down, My Lord,                      something whose weight burdens me            and upon me has fallen                      something whose carrying oppresses me.
6	Through Thy power                      Thou hast brought it down upon me            and through Thy authority                      Thou hast turned it toward me.
7	None can send away what Thou hast brought,            none can deflect what Thou hast turned,            none can open what Thou hast closed,            none can close what Thou hast opened,            none can make easy what Thou hast made difficult,            none can help him whom Thou hast abandoned.
8	So bless Muhammad and his Household,            open for me, my Lord, the door of relief through Thy graciousness,            break from me the authority of worry by Thy strength,            confer the beauty of Thy gaze upon my complaint,            let me taste the sweetness of benefaction in what I ask,            give me from Thyself mercy and wholesome relief,            and appoint for me from Thyself a quick way out!
9	Distract me not through worry            from observing Thy obligations            and acting in accordance with Thy prescriptions.
10	My capacity has been straitened, my Lord,                      by what has come down on me,            and I am filled with worry                      by carrying what has happened to me,            while Thou hast power to remove what has afflicted me                      and to repel that into which I have fallen.            So do that for me                      though I merit it not from Thee,                      O Possessor of the Mighty Throne!

The Whispered Prayer of the Thankful

	Bismillah Hir Rahman Nir Raheem 1  My God,           the uninterrupted flow of Thy graciousness              hast distracted me from thanking Thee!              The flood of Thy bounty has rendered me incapable              of counting Thy praises!              The succession of Thy kind acts has diverted me             from mentioning Thee in laudation!            The continuous rush of Thy benefits has thwarted me           from spreading the news of Thy gentle favours!           This is the station of him who            confesses to the lavishness of favours,            meets them with shortcomings,           and witnesses to his own disregard and negligence.           Thou art the Clement, the Compassionate,            the Good, the Generous,            who does not disappoint those who aim for Him,            nor cast out from His courtyard those who expect from Him!           In Thy yard are put down the saddlebags of the hopeful           and in Thy plain stand the hopes of the help-seekers!           So meet not our hopes by disappointing and disheartening            and clothe us not in the shirt of despair and despondency!
2	My God,           my thanksgiving is small            before Thy great boons,            and my praise and news-spreading shrink            beside Thy generosity toward me!           Thy favours have wrapped me            in the robes of the lights of faith,            and the gentlenesses of Thy goodness have let down over me           delicate curtains of might!           Thy kindnesses           have collared me with collars not to be moved           and adorned me with neck-rings not to be broken!           Thy boons are abundant -           my tongue is too weak to count them!           Thy favours are many -           my understanding falls short of grasping them,           not to speak of exhausting them!           So how can I achieve thanksgiving?           For my thanking Thee requires thanksgiving.           Whenever I say, 'To Thee belongs praise!',           it becomes thereby incumbent upon me to say,           'To Thee belongs praise'!
3	My God,           as Thou hast fed us through Thy gentleness           and nurtured us through Thy benefaction,           so also complete for us lavish favours,           repel from us detested acts of vengeance,           and of the shares of the two abodes,           give us their most elevated and their greatest,           both the immediate and the deferred!           To Thee belongs praise           for Thy good trial and the lavishness of Thy favours,           a praise           conforming to Thy good pleasure           and attracting Thy great goodness and magnanimity.           O All-mighty,           O All-generous!           By Thy mercy,          O Most Merciful of the merciful! Psalms of Islam (Al-Sahifah Al-Sajjadiyyah Al-Kamilah) by Imam Al-I Ibnul-Husayn Zaynul-AA'Bideen As-Sajjad

Istikhara: I think it works

As you all know I am on hiatus for a reason. I've been going through some rough things, even having trouble figuring out the small stuff. I am incredibly lost and confused, stuck in the never-ending religion limbo.

I needed some guidance on doing a particular thing to farther my journey into Islam. I remembered a prayer Tuttie liked, The Guidance Prayer or Istikhara, and thought it was time to give it a try. I was unable to do the ritual prayer that is suppose to go along with the supplication because I frankly don't know how. The supplication seems to have been enough. I really enjoy this prayer. It speaks my language and says exactly what I am trying to say. Before I said the prayer, I told God what it was that I was praying about. Then, in a quiet voice, I did the prayer.

So today, I am reading blogs as I do every morning and I come back across Sarah's post about feeling far away from God. And she talks about how it is possible that you need to make a commitment to move forward. That you just have to say "this is what I am going to do." And do it. One second guesses oneself out of fear. Fear keeps us from empowering ourselves. You have to step over fear to move forward.

So that is what I am going to do. Step over my fear of other muslims, of possibly being teased, of naseeha.

I'm going to the school. Mash'Allah.

Istikhara/Guidance Prayer