I Have Not Prayed for Several Weeks. What Can I Do?

Answered by Shaykh Farid Dingle

Question: Assalamu alaykum

I am 15 years old. I haven’t prayed for more than a month due to lack of islamic knowledge. But I wish to pray regularly. How to fix the past?

Answer: Assalamu alaykum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh,

May Allah reward you for your genuineness and concern and help you to worship Him as He deserves.

Regular connection with Allah

The first thing we need to know about the prayer is how essential it is to us in our daily life. Allah Most High has said, ‘And make the prayer regular [in your life] because it stops disgusting and forbidden acts.’ [29:45] The prayer actually helps you worship Allah in all other ways, and stops you falling into haram acts.

There is a good story that one of my teachers told me that illustrates this point. There were some teenager boys who were going out to spend the night on a little island to have a bonfire and get drunk. While walking down the road looking for a ride to the island, a man picked them up. Knowing that they were Muslims and knowing what they were up to, he told them that he’d take them there on one condition: that they’d pray Fajr on time. To this they agreed, but later grumbled to themselves that it was a little difficult to get as “smashed” as they’d liked if they were to keep their promise. So the prayer saved them from doing the haram.

Frequently missing the prayer is also a little suicidal: we need Allah for everything in our life, and we really need Him to forgive us our sins. If you don’t allow ourselves to be forgiven by not praying, we are basically shooting ourselves in the foot. Allah Most High has said, ‘Man has ever been an ultra-wronger and an ultra-ignoramus.’ [33:72] That is to say we actually wrong ourselves by sinning, and we are ignorant of our own worth by not working for something higher.

How to pray five times a day

The most important thing you can do is to genuinely ask Allah for forgiveness and then ask Him from the bottom of you heart to make it possible for you to pray five times a day every day.

After that you need to do two things. Firstly, look around for religious peers at school/home who do pray five times a day and hang with them. Allah Most High has said, ‘O you who have believed, fear Allah and with the true.’ [9:119] Someone who prays on-and-off is not being true to themselves or Allah. Good company is key. If you can’t find good company, you’ll have to go solo. When I was at school, there wasn’t anyone good to hang out with. The best thing that ever happened to me in those days was just to be by myself. The second thing is to take some practical steps:

1. Plan when you are going to pray. (You could as a teacher at school if you could use their room.)
2. Where khuffs to make making wudu easier.
3. Plan your day: When are you going to pray which prayers?
4. Go to bed as early as you can and set an alarm clock.
5. Make a lot of dua.

Enjoying it

Praying five times a day is actually quite fun. When I used to live in UK, I was always on an off buses and trains. I had to pray lots of odd places. I remember joking once with my brother that we should make a video about all the skateparks we prayed in.

You have to realise that when you are the only Muslim around, or the only one doing things right, you are the only one with their head on. You are walking around in Allah’s light, praying in His various and far-flung places of worship. Allah Most High has said, ‘And is he who is dead and We then give to and give him a light by which to walk among men like he who is in darkness, never to come out again? [6:122] In a very short time, you will really feel the difference.

What to do about the past?

Once you got yourself established, you make your missed prayers. You start with making up one day per day: Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Maghrib, Isha and witr. Once you’ve got that down, you can start to do more on the weekends or when you are free. That’s all.

I have more questions

If you are not sure about any of the technicalities of prayer, just try your best for now, submit another more detailed question, and sign up for a course right now on how.

Warmest salams,
[Shaykh] Farid Dingle