Create A System That Will Force You

Create A System That Will Force You

You create a WhatsApp group. It's called the Qiyamul Layl crew, the A team, the Muzzammil team, whatever you want — be creative. What's the deal of this group? All of us are gonna choose one night in the week to pray Qiyamul Layl, the night prayer. And if we all succeed in doing so, there's a reward — a group reward. We will each pay 20 pounds into this pot every month and we will get a reward for all of us. Or we'll go out for a meal or we'll have some celebration or something.

But we have one goal, one goal only. We want to be the people — when everybody is asleep, we are standing. When everybody is laughing, we are crying. That we have this depth of connection to Allah. We are the people of the night prayer.

You create this group. You create this accountability. Everybody is asking the other. You make pairs. You say, "Look, Ahmed — at 3 a.m., you have to ring me, and if I don't wake up, there is a consequence. I have to give a hundred pounds in charity the next day." Ahmed rings you, you'll be awake like there's no business.

The Fajr vs. Work Example

This is the reason why — and let me give you a real-life example — this is the reason why many people will not wake up for Fajr. One hour later, they'll be up at 8 a.m. for work. Why? What's the difference? Allah and your boss.

Why would we wake up for our boss, but we're not waking up for Allah? Because there's accountability. We don't wake up at 8 for our boss — we lose the paycheck, we lose our career, we lose our job. We're seen as unprofessional. Maybe they'll strike us off, maybe they'll give us a slap on the wrist. So scared of the consequence — everybody is up at 8 a.m.

Look at the rush hour traffic at 8 a.m. Look at the rush hour traffic at Fajr time — there's no rush hour. Because there's no accountability in this world.

Build a System That Forces You

Create some self-accountability. If you do not have the fear of Allah, the love of Allah — that engine to move you to pray at night — then create a system that will force you. A friend, a partner, a teacher, a group, something that will force you to worship Allah.