Life Can Get Busy
The Muslim prayer is an obligatory duty upon every Muslim, the minimum of which is five times daily – at specifically designated times and following specifically designated rules on how to prepare and perform it.
One of the unique features of the Muslim prayer is that it forms a direct lifeline between the worshipper and the Creator.
No intercessor needed – dead or alive. No saints. No priests. No intercessors at all. The Muslim has a direct line to the Creator at any time of the day or night, from anywhere on this earth.
Many Muslims sincerely want to remain consistent with prayer, yet life often feels scattered. Responsibilities grow, schedules shift, energy fluctuates, and what once felt easy becomes harder to maintain.
Missing a prayer can quickly turn into discouragement, and discouragement sometimes leads us further away from the routine we hoped to protect.
But consistency in prayer does not come from perfection. It grows slowly through small habits, gentle structure, and the willingness to return again and again.
If you’ve ever felt discouraged about maintaining regular prayer, you are not alone. The good news is that consistency can be rebuilt — even during busy seasons of life.
The Importance of Prayer in Islam
Islam was established or built upon five pillars – the declaration of faith (the shahadah), the prayer (five times daily), zakat, or almsgiving to those in need, fasting (the required month of Ramadan), and hajj (pilgrimage to Makkah once in the lifetime).
Each of these pillars are inclusive of their respective pre-requisites, conditions and even exceptions to the rule (or concessions) – a topic that is covered in other articles.
The place of prayer as second in this list of five pillars is no mistake and no coincidence. It is second only to the declaration of faith – without which one would not even be a Muslim.
The deeper meaning and central role of prayer in Islam is explored further in our article, “The Importance of Prayer in Islam | Why Salah Is the Foundation of Faith.”
Why Consistency in Prayer Matters
What is all the “fuss” about consistency in prayer? To begin with, it is a commandment from Allah(ﷻ), as it is stated in the Qur’an:
إِنَّ الصَّلَوةَ كَانَتْ عَلَى الْمُؤْمِنِينَ كِتَـباً مَّوْقُوتاً
“Verily, the salah is kitaban (prescribed) on the believers at fixed hours.”
S. An-Nisa, 4:103
Secondly, we are instructed from the Qur’an as well as from the Prophet Mohammed to follow him, and follow his example:
إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ
“If you love Allah, then follow me, so Allah will love you and forgive your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful”
S. Al-Imran, 3:31
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) taught how to pray through the narration, "Pray as you have seen me praying" (Sahih al-Bukhari).
The hadith reference goes on to describe in essence the various actions and procession of the prayer itself. The essence of this is that Allah (ﷻ) has commanded us to observe and setup consistency in prayers daily at specified times. He has also given us numerous verses in the Qur’an directing us to follow the example of the Prophet (ﷺ).
And Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) has advised us that we (Muslims) are to pray as he prayed, and then the hadith itself goes on to describe that prayer – and how we should copy his example.
Why Staying Consistent With Prayer Can Feel Difficult
New Muslims, regardless of their reason or intention when they accept Islam, often find the ritual of the five daily scheduled prayers rather new. Their intentions may be firm to tend to the prayers consistently and in proper format, but they often find difficulty in establishing a routine of consistent observance of the prayers at the designated times.
This difficulty in establishing consistency in prayers does not occur only with new Muslims, but even Muslims who were born into the religion, or who have been Muslim for a long time may also find the difficulty in remaining consistent with the prayers.
Living in a land where the call to prayer (adhaan) is pronounced five time daily is a true blessing for those living in such a region – as the prayer call itself is a vivid vocal reminder that the prayer time has come. But not all Muslims are so fortunate to live in such an area, and therefore the daily activities and demands of life are the biggest distraction to keep one from establishing consistency in the prayer observance.
Even for those who are blessed to live in a region where the call to prayer is pronounced five times daily, still the activities of daily life often tend to interfere and are a major distraction for anyone.
When living in a generally non-Muslim society many Muslims find it difficult if even possible to make clear to their management at work or school their need to attend to their prayers when the time comes during the work/school hours.
This was in fact my own experience as a new Muslim. I did not know how to approach my office manager about the need to step away during the workday to pray — sometimes twice, for the dhuhr and later the asr prayer, depending on the length of my workday and the time of year when those prayers occurred. As a result, I often postponed those prayers until I returned home, and many days maghreb would be approaching quickly while I still had not prayed dhuhr or asr.
Simple Habits That Help You Stay Consistent With Prayer
Consistency rarely appears overnight.
It grows through small habits that gently structure our day. Remember the Prophet’s ﷺ saying: "the most beloved of deeds to Allah are those that are consistent, even if they are small". (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
The following practices can help make prayer a natural and regular part of daily life.
Practical Ways to Stay Consistent With Prayer
The 7 Simple Habits
These 7 simple habits can help you nurture your own practices to develop and grow into true consistency in your prayers.
1. Anchor Prayer to Daily Routines
When you anchor your prayers to your daily routines that are already established, it becomes easier to establish true consistency.
The first prayer of the day (fajr) should be observed slightly before sunrise. Most of us aren’t at work or school yet, so for this prayer it will be of essence to set an alarm for it.
But setting the alarm is truly necessary - as it is highly important to ensure that it is tended to at its designated time, and not after sunrise.
For the other prayers – the dhuhr prayer comes at noontime or shortly thereafter, and its timing is rather easy to remember due to its timing in regards to the point of the sun on the horizon. The Asr prayer comes later in the afternoon – after the sun has passed its zenith – which means that the heat of the day begins to fade a bit by that time. The maghreb prayer, similar to the fajr prayer, is related to the time of the sunset (rather than the sunrise or before the sunrise for the fajr), and is rather easy to remember. For most of us, depending on our work schedules, we are already awake at that time, hence it should not be too difficult to remember and become consistent in this prayer. The Isha prayer comes a bit later, but long before midnight. And hence figuring its timing and setting a clock alarm for it might be preferable.
When you understand what the designated times of the prayers are, and you can match that to your schedule, or match your schedule to adhere to the prayer times, it becomes a bit easier to become consistent in your prayer performance.
2. Prepare your Prayer Space
Preparing your prayer space is an essential part not only of gaining some sense of consistency in prayer observance but also helps to ensure concentration and sincerity.
Ensure that your spot is clean, free of debris and distractions, including no outside noise or speakers of sorts. In addition, try to ensure that your prayer space is free from distractions such as pictures or videos of any sort, as these also distract from your attention span.
When you have a designated spot of your prayer that you will pass by it daily at least once, such as a designated corner in your bedroom with your prayer mat (and the traditional prayer shawl or covering for the ladies), and your eye catches it frequently, it is hard if even truly possible to “forget” or “ignore” the prayer.
The visual presence of the prayer mat and accompanying prayer shawl is a vivid reminder that prayer is calling, five times daily.
3. Start with Small Commitments
The Prophet ﷺ taught that "the most beloved of deeds to Allah are those that are consistent, even if they are small". (Sahih al-Bukhari and Sahih Muslim).
The key of gaining any benefit from this philosophy is that when you do good deeds regularly, it is a manner of insurance that they are sustainable and not too burdensome.
Remember that Islam was revealed to the Prophet ﷺ and his companions in stages. It was not dropped on them in one large bulk sum. They received the message, comprehended its meanings, learned its significance, and then began to implement the teachings – all in stages. Therefore it is the same for us – to take things in stages by our manner of learning and understanding and ultimately implementing it. This goes for the prayer as well.
We learn to pray and we learn the designated times. We either set our alarm clocks to wake for the prayer when we would normally have been sleeping, or we somehow learn how to “fit” the prayer schedule into our daily routine, somehow connecting the prayers with some specific action or deed throughout the day. This helps us to establish true consistency in the observance and performance of our prayers.
The first step to implement this is to set your alarm for the fajr prayer. That is the beginning of the day, and the beginning of the daily routine of the scheduled prayers. Once you are able to achieve this, the other prayers seem to fall into place more easily.
4. Use Reminders and Prepared Prayer Schedules
We live in an age where there are multiple channels of assistance and reliable sources for determining the prayer times in whatever region of the world we may be in at any given moment.
Since the prayer timings are related to the position of the sun throughout the day, it is fairly easy to calculate the times of the prayers. Today we have the advantage that others who are highly qualified and have studied both Islamic teachings as well as astronomy and understand the proper method of calculating the times of prayers and apply it to the various regions of the world have already established and published schedules of the prayers.
These schedules can be accessed easily online by inserting a search into your search tab, something to the effect of “Muslim prayer schedules”. When I did this, the automatic first result was islamicfinder.org – and it automatically picked up my GPS location, and gives me a window that shows the times of the prayers for today for my location from which I am searching, and even gives a countdown to the time of the next scheduled prayer of the day. This action took me a matter of seconds to request and receive the automated response.
But maybe you don’t want to do even that? Or perhaps you don’t have consistent internet connection to avail of this method? Then when you do have internet connection, download on to your smartphone or other device one of the multitudes of Islamic applications that have the inbred option of prayer times, based upon the settings you set with your location and prayer time designation method (i.e. Umm al-Qura or others).
With most of these apps, once you have registered your account and set your location, will give you an updated reference of the prayer times daily, once you log onto the app throughout the day. In addition, many of these apps have an option connected to each individual prayer time, that you can set an alarm for any of the prayer times you desire or need a reminder. That alarm may be a simple bell or other similar alarm, or for some of these apps it may be a full pronounced adhan (Islamic/Arabic vocal prayer call).
5. Make Du'a (Supplications) for Consistency
I cannot overemphasize the importance of supplicating for guidance and protection in the matter of establishing the prayers, and at their designated times.
I have been consulted many times by many of my friends and acquaintances on this or that issue in their lives. And my consistent answer to them is “take it to Allah in your prayer and supplication”. I repeat this advice often, seeming that I am speaking as a broken record.
It is not that I don’t want to or can’t advise them with any other solid advice. But it is my own realization from my own connection with Allah and my understanding of Islam, as well as my own personal experience in life – that nothing can be accomplished without Allah’s mercy and permission. And this extends even to the establishment of attention and consistency in prayer. None of us are exempt from this.
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) frequently made sincere supplications for himself, seeking Allah’s guidance, forgiveness, protection from sins, and steadfastness in faith. This was out of dual reasoning – despite his guaranteed status of the promise of his forgiveness.
He eminated the epitomy of humility by asking for protection from disbelief, poverty and the punishment of the grave. He eminated his own conviction of his absolute dependence on Allah, and by this he was able to truly teach his followers, to this day, to do the same and to maintain steadfastness. He was indeed the best example to follow, as the Qur’an tells us in S. Al-Ahzab, 33:21, that “Indeed in the Messenger of Allah you have a good example to follow, for him who hopes in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah much”.
6. Reflect on the Meaning of Salah
The Arabic word “salah” in general refers to worship, but it refers particularly to the established, prescribed, timely prayers that Muslims are endowed to perform daily.
Its position in Islam is second only to the initial declaration of faith (shahadah) – and it is the first thing that a believer will be asked about after his death (again - second only to the declaration of faith).
It is an obligatory act of formal worship, by which one demonstrates submission, and also trains his own body, mind and spirit in discipline.
It is a means of purification, seeking guidance and expressing gratitude. And for many, it is an escape from the trials and tribulations of this worldly life and the pain that often comes with it.
Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) passed through a time in his life which was later referred to as the “year of sadness”. At that time, as much of the population was illiterate, the dates and numbers of the years were not often recorded. The passage of a year was often referred to by a specific event particular to that year. And that particular year for Prophet Muhammad (ﷺ) was a sad time, as he had been rejected by his own people in Makkah, he had gone to Ta’if and was rejected there, and his first wife, Khadihaj, died in that year. It was a terribly trying time for him, and so that year was reflected upon as “the year of sadness”.
He was known to have said to Bilal, who was one of the earliest Muslims and the first mu’adhdhin (the one who pronounces the call to prayer) the following:
أرِحْنا بها يا بلالُ، يعني: الصَّلاةَ
“Get up, o Bilal! Call us to prayer! Refresh us with prayer!”
Musnad ibn Hanbil
It is interesting to note the important word used here in the Arabic: (أرِحنا) which actually means to give relief or some sense of security and relaxation – essentially relief. Not actually refreshment as is the common translation of this phrase, which could be translated to Arabic as (جددنا) – “jad-dadna”. He (the Prophet(ﷺ)) used the term (أرِحنا) “arih-na”, which means “give us relief”. In other words, he (ﷺ) gave the order to Bilal to pronounce the prayer as a means of mercy, that he may find relief in the prayer and a possible escape from the weight of the sadness that afflicted his heart at that time.
I myself have found from my own experience in times of dire despair and sadness, that the prayer is actually a means to dig my way up and out of it. The memories of the sad moments never fade. The hurt that has been afflicted never really heals. But at least with the prayer, and dependence on Allah to lighten the load and give us merciful guidance, the path is more clear and we are enabled to carry on with the strength that Allah provides us.
7. Track your Progress - Gently
Tracking your prayers is one means of instilling discipline and developing consistency and regularity in the performance and observance of prayers. It is also a method to review and reflect later, giving you some insight into your own performance and progress.
This should not be introduced as a sort of test or anything that you need to report to anyone. It is something for you to do on your own, for your own benefit, in your own way and time.
When I first became a Muslim, I found it hard to keep up with the prayers at their time daily. And I know there were days when I forgot to pray one prayer or another, but maybe I didn’t even realize it at that time – and so the prayer time passed, and I didn’t pray that prayer. And I seek Allah’s forgiveness for things (those prayers that I perhaps missed among other things) that have slipped my mind. (see Qur’an, S. al-Baqarah, 2:286: “Our Lord! Punish us not if we forget or fall into error.”
When I started keeping track of the daily prayers, by doing a simple checklist, I was able to view a physical record of my performance that day, and I could realize before I slept at night whether or not I had attended each prayer throughout the day. I was then able to perform any missed prayers – albeit a bit late, but I noted which prayers needed to be tended to and at which time.
It was with this simple checklist that I was able to regulate my days and my daily schedule to ensure that I did pray the prayers on time, and I could rest at night assured that I had prayed that day – all five prayers.
Consistency Grows Gradually
Anything new is always a bit rough and difficult to smooth out. But with practice, intentional attention, and consistent perseverance, you can become consistent in your prayers.
Take it one day at a time. One prayer at a time. Pay attention to the regulated and designated times. Set your wall clock or your phone clock to the designated times to ring an alarm of any sort daily at those times. Make a checklist and post it on your bedroom door or beside the front door to your home.
Whatever extra tools you may need, do it. It will be worth it in the end. You will find consistency – as long as you put in the concentrated effort to do so, and of course pray to Allah for the guidance, strength and perseverance to succeed. `
A Personal Note
Have you ever struggled with maintaining your prayers or finding consistency in salah? You are not alone. Many Muslims quietly face the same challenge while trying to balance daily responsibilities with their spiritual commitments. I myself have faced it in the past, and sometimes even struggle with it today. It is an ongoing struggle for all Muslims.
If you would like to share your experience, reflections, or questions, you are welcome to leave a comment below. Your story may encourage others who are walking the same path.
If you prefer to share privately, you are also welcome to contact me directly at: founder@visioncrewdesign.com.
I read these messages personally and sincerely appreciate hearing from readers who are striving to strengthen their relationship with Allah.
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