#aaaaaah anon i loved this question ty so much for sending it!! 🧡🧡🧡

[usertoxicyaoi]

What do you feel when you're praying?

hiiii anon!! oooooh. this is a really lovely question.

so, as muslims, we have different types of praying, like supplication or remembering Allah and the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through specific phrases, or reciting the Qur'aan. the most common one is the compulsory salah (we have non compulsory forms of it too such as praying salah when you're in desperate times of need or when entering the masjid [mosque] etc). we pray the compulsory prayer 5 times a day, at different time points. each prayer has different lengths, that we measure as raka'ats (units), so they take different lengths of time to pray:

fajr - the just before sunrise prayer. (4 units long).

dhuhr - the afternoon prayer. (12 units long).

asr - the late afternoon prayer. (8 units long).

maghrib - the sunset prayer. (7 units long).

isha - the night prayer. (17 units long).

so, depending on what time of the day it is, i feel different things. my favourite prayer is fajr. and thats simply bc i feel the most amount of peace at that time, bc everyone else is asleep and everything around me is so still and quiet and dark, and i feel my absolute vulnerable then, bc i can cry all i want and no one else apart from Allah knows. and after i finish praying, my heart and my entire body just feels so light? and i can see the sun come up and the sky change colour and hear the birds and its just ... an absolutely spiritual, divine moment. i feel so so so connected with Allah in that moment.

with the rest of the salahs, they become a reprieve from the day for me. its time that i set aside to constantly go back to Allah, take a break, and thank Him for everything He has given me. i feel humbled when i do sujood (where i am literally prostrating on the floor in front of Him). i remember how my entire existence is dependent upon Him and His command.

but i also feel such a sense of unity too with my other muslim brothers and sisters, even tho im praying by myself. bc when muslims pray, we pray facing the qiblah, the direction of the Kabah. and so even when i pray alone, i know that someone somewhere out there in the world is also praying their salah too at the same time as me, regardless of timezones. theres a real sense of community and unity in that. also, when you pray salah alone, the prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said that angels are praying on your left and right and behind you. so you're never really praying alone. your surrounded by angels.

and i think the entire ritual and act is marked so sacredly, when you hear the Adhan (call to prayer). so you just stop whatever you're doing, make ablution and go and pray. it really helps to just break your day down, and to go and speak to Allah, and communicate with Him, with all your burdens and anxieties. whats beautiful is that in salah, you're praising Him and thanking Him with sacred words, you dont even need to voice out your burdens and anxieties, bc Allah already knows whats in your heart.

and i cry so easily in salah. i think its always helpful to understand the words you pray, and bc i learnt exactly what i pray, the impact is 10 times harder. bc i know i sin, and i know i'm not good and i know i'm imperfect, and yet i'm talking to my Creator and praising and thanking Him bc i'm not worthy, not one bit, and i have no shame in acknowledging that, and yet He accepts me and my imperfections and shortcomings, present even in my acts of worship to Him too, and He sees me try and He gives and gives and gives to me from His mercy and love and bounty and forgiveness. i feel so so seen, despite however small and worthless i feel, bc here He is giving me 5 whole opportunities to go and speak to Him, every single day, scattered throughout the day, so i never feel alone. and i come out of that conversation with so much restored hope and faith and calmness.

and then when i read or listen to the qur'aan being recited? thats just. theres nothing like it. it moves and grounds me. theres so much to learn from it, so many stories and so much history and so much about what has happened and what will happen and so much description and its like a medicine to heal the soul. and when you understand what you read via translation, though it can never do full justice to the arabic text and language, still, theres so much insight and wisdom. yesterday i found this amazing video about why the qur'aan is a linguistic miracle from Allah, and, the more you learn about it, the more deeper your understanding and appreciation becomes.

so yeah, praying just. it refreshes and rejuvenates. it recalibrates and reinvigorates. it grounds and steadies me. i feel humble and peaceful yet hopeful and light hearted. its just ... a very spiritual experience, bc each action that i do in salah means something, whether thats me on the floor prostrating in front of Allah, laying down my pride or ego, or raising my hands to say Allahuakbar and folding them on my chest as a symbol to show that i'm pushing the world away and ive entered my conversation with Allah, or whether thats turning my face to the right and then the left and saying asaalaamualaikum warahmatullah to show ive ended my salah and conversation with Allah and i'm saying "may peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah" to whoever or whichever creation of Allah is around me (including the angels!) and i'm engaging back with the world again. each action signifies something and means something within that communication i have with Allah through prayer.