For years I was reading salah without khusho. I didn`t know that for the salah to be accepted by Allah khusho is important. Now I know and alhamdolillah am getting better at it. Here I will share a few tips on how I improve my Khusho in salah.
- Soften your heart with repentence
Throughout the day we do so many bad deeds. Some we know are wrong, and some we don`t even know are wrong. Those bad deeds make our heart hard. When we have a hard heart we can`t have khusho. So soften your heart with reading some dhikr and astagfar like the third kalima: “Subhan Allahi wal hamdo lillahi va lailaha illallaho vallaho akbar. Valla havla walla kuvata illa billa hilaliyil azeem”. You can say it about 100 times before you read the salah, when you have time. It really helps to keep khusho in the salah. Read this article of how to ask for forgiveness if and when we have many sins.
Some points of how to gain khusho in salah
- Do properly wudhu before every salah. It helps you to calm down before you pray. Read about the benefits of wudhu here.
- Try to listen to the adhaan 5 times daily. When Satan hears the call to prayer, he runs away to a distance like that of a distance of thirty-six miles from Medina. Abu Hurayra reported the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) as saying: When Satan hears the call to prayer, he turns back and breaks the wind so as not to bear the call being made, but when the call is finished he turns round and distracts (the minds of those who pray), and when he bears the Iqama he again runs away so as not to hear its voice and when it subsides, he comes back and distracts (the minds of those who stand for prayer).
- The room of prayer should be simple and without anything that can and will distract you. Keep it simple.
- The Prophet (pbuh) said: “When one of you prays, let him pray facing a sutrah, and let him draw close to it.”
- Do dhikr or meditate before the salah or a lot throughout the day. When you are at work or anything else just do some dhikr while you are busy doing your work, it will keep you close to Allah, in sha Allah. The more we remember Allah outside the prayer the more we are able to have khusho while we are praying.
- Remember death and the difficulties of the grave.
- Know the meaning/interpretation of what you are reading in the salah. Try to memorize sentence by sentence what the arabic in the salah means. When you know what you are reading you will also feel the awe in standing before your Lord.
- Know Allah. Know how Magnificent and Great He is. Learn more about his attributes and you will experience an awe when you are reading the salah.
- Don`t be hasty. Read slowly in a slow pace without rushing through. Stop after every sentence and have a little pause. That is the sunnah way of reading it too.
- Read the Quran daily, so you feel a connection with the book and its message, that will also keep your khusho on top.
- Bounce back fast. When your thought slips away, simply bounce back, and think of the meaning. Don`t let one or two slips ruin your khusho because you get to angry that you are thinking of something else.
- Read the ayah over and over again. When my khusho is low it helps for me to read one ayah repeatedly, and then the khusho comes back. Our sahabi used to read one ayah the whole night because he found many benefits from it. So reading the sentences over and over again will help you in maintaining your khusho.
- Read different surah`s in the rakat`s. That will increase the concentration, and you will have to concentrate on what you say. It won`t get boring and you will keep you khusho.
- Keep the light turned low. I sence that my khusho is better in a room where the light is low than in a bright room.
- If it is Ramadan, don`t over-eat before you pray the salah. If the stomach is too full the khusho will be on a low level.
When you have khusho in salah, you can feel that your fingers or the whole hand gets numbed. You feel as there is a warm energy of light above you that is watching you and very close. You feel nearness to Allah, as He is with you. “The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said: ‘When a son of Adam recites a Sajdah* and prostrates, satan withdraws weeping, saying: ‘Woe is me! The son of Adam was commanded to prostrate and he prostrated, and Paradise will be his; I was commanded to prostrate and I refused, so I am doomed to Hell.’” Therefore be thankful that you are one of those whom does pray. May Allah grant us all to become khashieen and help us in becoming better and better at worshipping Him and may Allah accept our good deeds and give us ajr azeem for them, ameen summa ameen.
Roshnii179 