Prayer in America

Here in America, life is centered around Christianity and does not cater to the muslimah. Unlike in many Islamic countries, there are no azaans being heard or businesses closing for prayer. There is no constant reminder of Islam around us so we have to remind ourselves. Some muslimahs may find it difficult to continue their every day work, school and/or house duties and still be able to make all five prayers with the focus and diligence that is necessary for it to actually be accepted by Allah (swt). Some of us may also feel ashamed or frightened to be seen making salat because if the stigmas that America has on Muslim women. Here are at Muslimah2Muslimah, we feel as though we must take a stand on how we are viewed in today's society. Prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam and it plays a very important role in our lives as Muslim women.

When your are at work or school it may be hard to make your prayer on time with so much going on. Try to make sure that your every day dress is what you can pray in and that will make it easier for you. If you are a non hijabi, we encourage to you to cover, however if you are not there yet keep a scarf or a prayer garment on you. Sometimes it can also be hard to find a suitable place to offer your prayer. Some schools have set up prayer rooms but most likely your school or place of work does not have a space set aside for that. Allah is merciful and we have options available to us, you can find a secluded space or even offer your salat while you are seated. So whether you are in your car or in chair at work you can still try to locate the directions of the Kiblah, make your intentions and offer prayer.



Praying towards the Kiblah is an important practice when making salat. One method is to see where the sun comes from and goes down. This is sometimes quite difficult to find direction where there is a thick cloud cover or sun is at its zenith. Even if one finds out where sun comes out, it still poses some difficulty because the sun does not come out from east in all locations.Another idea is to find out the time at which your shadow points to Kiblah. There is a time in the day during which facing to sun or your shadow can get the exact direction of Kiblah. However, I am not an expert of this method or how to use it, so I am unable to give you any advice on it. The most practical, and fashionable way for a "Hijabi Recessionista" to do this is to purchase a key chain compass. These can be found at almadinatrader for just $5.00! http://almadinatrader.com/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=3



The Messenger of Allah (saw) has said:

“Prayer is the pillar of your religion and one who intentionally forsakes his prayer has destroyed his religion. And one who does not guard the times of the prayers, shall be made to enter ‘Wayl’, which is a valley in Hell, as Allah, the Exalted, has said: “So woe to the praying ones, who are unmindful of their prayers.” - Sahih Al-Bukhari

Just this quote from our beloved Prophet (saw) shows the extreme importance that prayer has on us all. Insha'allah Allah (swt) knows our intentions and if we make a sincere effort in this regard and pray for his forgiveness when we fall astray then we will be safe from his wrath. Ameen! Now, speaking from a personal experience of my own, as of last year I have begun to be steadfast in making all five of my prayers on time. Once I started this habit, I have been so much more in peace within myself and I find myself making better decisions. Insha'Allah, we are all striving for the Jannah and we all make mistakes unintententionally. Once we undersand how, as women, our actions reflect on all of Islamic society because we are the ones raising the children. If we become better role models for our children and younger brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and peers by showing them the ways of Islam, Insha'Allah this will help to build our Ummah. Now I'm getting off of the subject... we can delve deeper into this on another post, insha'Allah.



These are the opinions of M2M, but we would love your feedback! Let us know your struggles and how you deal with being diligent with your salat.



As-Salaamu-alaikum!

Najwa&Nadira