By Shaykh Syed Anisul Haque
13 June 2025

﷽

My dear brothers and sisters, I want to relate to you from the heart something every single one of us is familiar with but so few of us truly experience. And that is Khushoo – humility and focus in our Salah.

We must not treat Salah as a daily ritual. The five daily prayers are the very heartbeat of our faith. It is the first measure of our success in the Hereafter, the very first matter we’ll be asked about on the Day of Judgement, as the Prophet ﷺ told us:

The first action for which a servant of Allah will be held accountable on the Day of Resurrection will be his prayers. If they are in order, he will have prospered and succeeded. If they are lacking, he will have failed and lost.

And yet, how many of us are standing in Salah with our bodies, while our minds are a thousand miles away?

There is a well-known hadith where a companion prayed in front of the Prophet ﷺ and after finishing, the Prophet said: “Go back and pray, for you have not prayed.” This happened three times until the man said, “Teach me, O Messenger of Allah.” The Prophet ﷺ then taught him how to perform Salah with calmness, with stillness and with presence of heart and mind.

That is Khushoo. It is not enough to simply go through the motions of prayer. We must nurture our hearts to stand before Allah with sincere humility, mindful presence, and an awareness that our every word and movement is in conversation with our Creator.

Allah says:

As this verse powerfully shows, the first trait of those promised success is Khushoo: not knowledge, not charity, but humility in Salah.

Our Prophet ﷺ said:

The first thing to be lifted from this Ummah will be Khushoo, until you no longer see anyone practicing it.

When we look around today, we see this. As soon as we say Allahu Akbar, the mind starts racing – family, work, worries, dunya. Everything pulls us away from prayer, from our moment to connect with Allah.

How can we reclaim Khushoo?

Firstly, it starts before Salah. With proper wudu. Not rushed, but done with presence and being mindful of the act we are about to carry out for the pleasure of Allah. The Prophet ﷺ said:

Whoever performs Wudu and does so with excellence, his sins will leave his body even from beneath his nails.

Come early to the prayer. Use that time to centre yourself and focus your mind. Remember who you are about to stand in front of.

Secondly, remove distractions. Imam Nawawi (d. 676 AH / 1277 CE) said it is disliked to pray while food you crave is present, or when you need the bathroom. Today, add mobile phones and noisy environments to that list. Ibn Qudamah (d. 620 AH / 1223 CE) said: “One should not begin prayer while something distracts him from Khushoo and presence of heart.”

Thirdly, and perhaps most importantly: understand what you are saying.

How can we stand before Allah, reciting His words, and not understand a word? That’s like having a conversation without knowing what the other is saying. Every “Alhamdulillah” should fill our hearts with gratitude. Every “Allahu Akbar” should remind us of His greatness.

Examples to Inspire Our Hearts

Imam Al-Ghazali (d. 505 AH / 1111 CE) said that when ‘Ali رضي الله عنه stood for prayer, his colour would change and he would tremble. When asked why, he replied, “The time has come for the trust which Allah offered to the heavens, the earth and the mountains, but they declined to bear it, and I have undertaken it.”

This was their mindset. This is how the companions of the Prophet ﷺ approached Salah.

Imam Bukhari (d. 256 AH / 870 CE) was stung by a wasp 17 times during prayer, and he didn’t move. When asked why, he said, “I was in the middle of a Surah, and I wanted to complete it.” This was his level of Khushoo in prayer.

It’s reported that Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله عنه was so still during the prayer that birds landed on his back, thinking he was a statue. This is the kind of connection we can strive towards.

How can we begin to make change?

Brothers and sisters, we will not all become like the Sahabah overnight. But we can take a step forwards today. Start with your next prayer. Make Wudu with presence. Remove distractions. Learn the meanings. Take your time.

And when you say Allahu Akbar, remind yourself: I am now standing before the King of Kings, Allah The Most High.

May Allah grant us Khushoo in our prayers. May He make our Salah the coolness of our eyes, as it was for the Prophet ﷺ who said:

The delight of my eyes was made in prayer.

Ameen.

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