How Can I Maintain Focus in Prayer If My Surroundings Distract Me?
Hanafi Fiqh
Answered by Mawlana Ilyas Patel
Question
I am a person who experiences misgivings, particularly during prayer, even by the smallest things, such as a pillow, a bend in the prayer mat, or an iron that I see in the corner of my eye during prayer. My mind manages to correlate these simple items into something inappropriate in my mind and distract my prayer. There are times when I adjust the rooms I pray in so I see nothing, but in every room I pray in, I manage to find something wrong with it.
I want to get used to praying with these simple items around me and not worrying about readjusting the room. I aim to continue doing this until my mind learns not to focus on these thoughts while items are around me.
Am I allowed to do this, or should I simply rearrange the room for Allah?
Answer
In the Name of Allah, the Most Merciful and Compassionate.
I pray you are in good faith and health. Thank you for your question.
You can rearrange your room how you want to focus on your prayer. There is no problem. Another suggestion would be to switch off the light and darken the room or close your eyes if that can help and stop your misgivings. See the link below.
If one does not gain full attentiveness or is distracted in prayer if one’s eyes are open, then it would be permitted or, perhaps, even better to close one’s eyes. [Ibn ‘Abidin, Radd al-Muhtar]
I would like you to go through the valuable answers and links below. You will receive guidance and direction, in sha’ Allah.
Related:
- Closing One’s Eyes in Prayer: A Detailed Answer.
- Key Principles Relating to Certainty, Doubt, and Baseless Misgivings (Waswasa).
- A Reader on OCD and Waswasa (Baseless Misgivings).
- The Application of Islamic Psychotherapy for the Treatment of OCD. [Video]
- How to Handle Constant Waswasa in Acts of Purification and Worship
- How Does One Perform The Prayer Of Need (Salat al-Haja)?
I would like you to go through this 2-hour long podcast. It will be highly beneficial and guide you through— Being Balanced – Emotional and Mental Health – Shaykh Abdul-Rahim Reasat.
Why not begin your search for knowledge by signing up for a course on SeekersGuidance, like Satanic Tactics: Seven Tricks of the Devil?
May Allah Most High give you ease and relief from the illness.
I pray this helps with your question.
Wassalam,
[Mawlana] Ilyas Patel
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani
Mawlana Ilyas Patel is a traditionally trained scholar who has studied in the UK, India, Pakistan, Syria, Jordan, and Turkey. He started his early education in the UK. He went on to complete the hifz of the Quran in India, then enrolled in an Islamic seminary in the UK, where he studied the secular and ‘Aalimiyya sciences. He then traveled to Karachi, Pakistan. He has been an Imam in Rep of Ireland for several years. He has taught hifz of the Quran, Tajwid, Fiqh, and many other Islamic sciences to children and adults onsite and online extensively in the UK and Ireland. He taught at a local Islamic seminary for 12 years in the UK, where he was a librarian and a teacher of Islamic sciences. He currently resides in the UK with his wife. His interest is a love of books and gardening.
