🌅 Practicing slowing down in the early hours

Assalamu'alaikum,

I'm sitting in the masjid post-fajr prayer, and I have an important decision to make: Do I sit in the masjid till past sunrise and get the reward of Hajj and Umrah as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) promised, or do I hurry home and start my day?

I had nothing important to do in the morning, so I stayed.

Yet after 10 minutes, I started to fret about the 101 things I could be doing if I went home instead.

I tried to reach for my phone and remembered that I intentionally left it at home because I knew I'd be tempted to play with it instead of doing my athkar (morning remembrance) or reciting the Quran.

Twenty minutes pass, and I'm battling whispers of Shaytaan to quit my decision and postpone it to another day - after all, don't I have that important project to submit today?

My nafs acts like a little child who can't stand the idea of sitting still for a long time and cries, "This is taking too long!"

I look at the clock, and it's only been 25 minutes since Fajr, and I still have another 20 minutes to go till sunrise, plus an additional 15 minutes to get to the official time for Duha.

Time slows...and then something shifts. My nafs gives up whining, the whispers of Shaytaan start to disappear, and I find myself enjoying the precious quiet moments remembering Allah SWT.

Before I know it, it's time to pray Duha, and I get up grateful that Allah gave me permission to win this battle at the start of my day and win the reward for Hajj!

I learned a few things about my experience:

1. In our fast-paced world, we want to rush through everything and cannot simply sit and be - even though the pleasure of life is derived by being present in whatever we do. As Oliver Burkemanin says in "Four Thousand Weeks,": "In a world geared for hurry, the capacity to resist the urge to hurry - to allow things to take the time they take - is a way...to derive satisfaction from the doing itself."

2. We value getting things done for our dunya and feel it's a productive use of our time than doing things for the akhira (hereafter), which feels like a 'waste of time' unless you put your spiritual goggles on and recognize the actual value of this dunya compared to the akhira

3. Sometimes you need to get uncomfortable before you can get comfortable - those first 20-25 mins post fajr felt uncomfortable because I was battling my nafs/Shaytaan to stay vs. get up and leave, but once you stick to your intention, the whining and whispers retreat. You make it through the battlefield of your soul, triumphant with Allah's mercy.

Last Monday, I shared that we need to slow down for the sake of Allah, and come back to our purpose and role of life. One way to develop the muscle of slowing down is to commit yourself to voluntary acts of worship that 'force you' to slow down, like sitting after Fajr till sunrise, going to the mosque early and waiting for the prayer to start, reciting the Quran slowly for a good 30-45 minutes, or fasting a voluntary fast.

If you do plan to sit from Fajr till duha time, here's a quick checklist to make your experience a bit smoother:

1. Set the intention the night before or before praying Fajr that you'll remain seated till past sunrise.

2. Leave your phone at home or somewhere far away so you don't squander those precious moments of worship checking your phone.

3. Have a pen and a small notebook, and every time you remember something that you need to get done, instead of getting up and doing it, write it down and say you'll do it after you complete this act of worship.

4. Have a mini plan of how you'll spend your time between athkar (remembrance), recitation of the Quran, and dua (supplication). 

5. Embrace the discomfort and know that it will pass :)

Try to repeat this routine 2-3 times per week so you build the muscle for it.

I hope this helps and that you found this helpful.

May Allah SWT enable us to slow down to worship Him better instead of rushing through life and forgetting our true purpose. Ameen!

Sincerely,