How to Maintain Presence of Heart in Prayer

Bismillahir Rahmanir Rahim

The ritual prayer of Islam is an integral part of any Muslim’s daily ‘ibadah (worship). Its importance cannot be stressed enough. The Qur’an and books of hadiths are bursting with references to prayer and its impressive value. Like most aspects of worship, ritual prayer has both an outer reality (movements) and an inner reality (connection with Allah).

The importance of this inner reality, or maintaining presence of one’s heart, in prayer is worth noting. The Prophet Muhammad salallahu alayhi wassalam once said, ‘Only that of which the believer is conscious during prayer is credited to him.’ In other words, one could even go so far as to say letting one’s mind wander while in prayer is like not praying in the first place. From a legal standpoint, the person is praying, but from a spiritual standpoint, all they are doing is reciting some Arabic and making some movements.

Also, al-Hasan al-Basri, may Allah be pleased with him, said, ‘Every prayer in which the heart is not attentive is nearer to punishment than it is to reward.’ In his treatise entitled ‘The Book of Assistance,’ Imam ‘Abdallah ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad adds to this statement: ‘Shaytan, may Allah curse him, is intent on distracting the believer during his prayer, so that the moment he rises to pray he opens for him many doors into worldly affairs and reminds him of things which were not at all on his mind before. The repudiate’s aim is to distract him from concentrating on Allah and approaching Him, for if a person misses these he will also miss Allah’s approach to him, and may even come out of his prayer burdened with sin.’

So how can one improve presence of their heart in their prayer? Well, there are many different techniques a brother or sister can implement to better their presence. However, like any treatment regiment, some techniques will work for someone while some will not. There are techniques that might work well for one person that will not work at all for another. It is all a matter of experimenting and refining, striving to find the mixture that shows the best results for you personally.

Prior to the prayer:

1. Five to ten minutes before performing the prayer, engage in an activity related to Islam. Rather than jamming out to some tunes or checking out the latest cricket scores, sit down and read the Qur’an, make dhikr, or even listen to a nasheed. More than likely the mind of a brother or sister will be on what they were doing just before entering prayer rather than the prayer itself. It is far easier to concentrate on Allah and their prayer if they were remembering Allah immediately beforehand.

2. If ablution is necessary ahead of praying, try to maintain a presence of heart while performing wudu’ (or ghusl). This could take the form of du’a, dhikr, or anything that keeps the thought of Allah in one’s heart. The early Muslims had a du’a formula that they would recite (or so I’ve been told), which helped them concentrate but also kept in their minds the reason behind ablution.

3. Right before beginning the prayer, one could make du’a asking Allah to assist them in maintaining presence of heart. A Muslim should always go to Allah if they need help, for anything. Why should prayer be any different?

4. Recite Surah al-Nas immediately before rising to pray (just before the intention). Scholars say reciting this surah serves to protect the one about to enter his prayer from the wiles of Shaytan,, may Allah curse him. As mentioned before, Imam al-Haddad wrote in his treatise that the reason the mind of a Muslim wanders during prayer is because of Shaytan.

During the prayer:

1. When reciting the spoken parts of the prayer (al-Fatiha, accompanying surahs, tashahhud, etc.), say them slowly and reflect upon the meaning. This leads one to focus on the prayer and not simply speak a chain of words. Not only can one derive the benefit of increased presence from this technique, it also could potentially lead to a deeper understanding of what one recites in the prayer. What we say is not random words mixed together; they have meaning, a meaning that we should understand.

2. If necessary, pray with your eyes closed. Now, some scholars say praying with one’s eyes closed is actually disliked (this is the Hanafi perspective…I do not know about other schools). However, this is because it might be easier for some to become distracted if they close their eyes. On the other hand, there are those can concentrate better if they do. Then there are those for which it depends on the situation. If a person finds they concentrate better with their eyes closed, it’s fine to do so.

Of course this is only a short list of techniques that I have come across or tried myself. There are potentially many other choices out there for brother and sisters hoping to increase the presence of their heart in their prayer. It is something that each individual must discover for themselves what exactly works best.

As a final note, one must keep in mind that improving presence of the heart in prayer does not happen overnight. It does not happen in a week nor does it happen in a month. Many Muslims struggle with a lack of presence for a long time. Ultimately it takes practice, effort, and patience to improve.

And Allah knows best!