A BEGINNER'S GUIDE TO PRACTICING RELIGION - PART 3

STEP 1: ESTABLISH YOUR OWN BASELINE 

The first step towards starting to practice Deen is to establish one's own baseline, focusing on Fard and Wajib first. This is the bare minimum we commit to ourselves to do every day. One can do more when one feels like it, but should at least do this bare minimum even when one is tired or busy.

I remember once I told my religious mentor that I found praying all the Raka'at of all the 5 Salah every day quite a daunting task. It was then he told me about different levels of compulsoriness of the Ibadah (acts of worship) and the importance of committing to do a bare minimum. He gave an example that in Isha  prayer people generally think it is 17 Raka'at. However, there are 9 which are really important, the 4 Fard, the 2 Sunnah, and the 3 Witr (which is Wajib). He then said that some day if you are really tired, try to pray at least the Fard and the Witr. If you are really, really tired, try to pray at least the Fard. Doing at least some Ibadah regularly daily is much better than doing a lot for a few days, and then doing nothing when the initial excitement has fizzled out.

I feel embarrassed to say that there was a phase in my life when I just managed to pray only the Fajr Salah regularly every day. Then I would get busy with studies/ training/ work etc, and would be very irregular with the rest of the Salah. Many times I got thoughts like what was the point of praying just one Salah every day when I didn't pray the other 4. But I still persevered because in those days it was my only link to God.

So, the first step is to ask yourself what bare minimum Ibadah you can commit to do for the rest of your life. 

to be continued...

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