Deepening Our Salah: The Sahabah's Unwavering Focus in Prayer

Transforming Our Salah: Lessons from the Sahabah

When we look at every single one of us, no matter what age we may be, no matter what profession we're involved in, every single one of us, we have certain priorities in life, certain things that we view above other things, such that we see that these things, they begin to be the center of our focus. And everything else in our life begins to revolve around those things.

We see, for example, a student of knowledge who's studying the ilm of the deen — for him, everything revolves around that aspect. He's eating, he's sleeping. When he goes home, when he's walking home and goes to sleep, he's sleeping for the purpose so he can get up and do mutala'ah, so he can get up for tahajjud, and he can get up and study his books in the morning. He eats so that he can go back to studying. Sometimes he eats while studying. He prioritizes that. When it's time for exams, he sometimes skips meals. He cuts off hours of his sleep just for that one purpose.

And this is the case for anything a person holds dear to his heart, anything a person prioritizes over everything else — that the primary focus is towards that.

The Salah of the Sahabah

And when we look at the lives of the sahabah, what did they prioritize the most? What was that cornerstone action, what was their center focus in their life? They also had jobs, they also had families, they also had children. But what was the primary thing that the sahabah focused on? We see that their lives revolved around a'mal, their lives revolved around salah.

When we observe the salah of the sahabah, observe the salah of Rasulullah ﷺ, observe the salah of the tabi'oon and the scholars who came after them, we are mind-blown by the level of concentration, the level of khushu', the hay'ah of their salah, how they used to pray.

Abdullah ibn Zubayr and the Snake

Just for example, we know the story of Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله تعالى عنه — there is a famous story that comes in Siyar A'lam al-Nubala' that when he was praying his salah, he was praying nawafil at his house, and his infant child was sitting behind him. While he was praying, there was a small hole in the roof, and a snake slithered through the hole and came and coiled around his infant son. That caused pandemonium in the house — everyone was yelling, everyone was running around trying to free the snake from the child. And while all that chaos was going on in the back, Abdullah ibn Zubayr رضي الله تعالى عنه just continued praying his salah.

So when he finished, his family asked him, "Did you not realize what was happening to your son?" And he said, "I was not even aware of what was going on." He had such devotion, such concentration in his salah — his salah was at such a level that it's one thing to hear what's going on behind you and to ignore it. He didn't even realize what was happening. He said, "I was completely unaware of what was happening because I was so involved in my salah, I was so concentrated in my salah."

Abbad ibn Bishr and the Arrows

And this isn't some one-off incident. We hear the stories not just from Abdullah ibn Zubayr but from the sahabah as well. We know that when the Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahabah were coming back from the battle of Dhat al-Riqa', the Muslims stopped in an area and Rasulullah ﷺ asked, "Will anyone volunteer to watch the Muslim army during the night?" So one muhajir and one sahabi from the ansar raised their hands — Ammar ibn Yasir and Abbad ibn Bishr رضي الله تعالى عنهما.

It is reported in Sunan Abu Dawud that Abbad ibn Bishr رضي الله تعالى عنه said, "You sleep for the first half of the night, I'll guard for the first half, and then we'll switch." So Ammar went to sleep, and Abbad ibn Bishr رضي الله تعالى عنه stood up and started performing his tahajjud salah. While he was performing his tahajjud salah, an enemy crept up behind him and saw him praying. He took his bow, placed an arrow, and shot — and the arrow implanted itself in his body.

Imagine the excruciating pain that he was feeling. But to the enemy's surprise, he just continued praying. The extended narration in al-Mustadrak of al-Hakim says he simply pulled out the arrow and continued praying. So the enemy, confused, shot another arrow — and once again it hit him. Once again, he could not believe his eyes — he pulled out the arrow and just continued praying his salah. Then for a third time, the enemy took an arrow and shot it, and once again it struck him. Only then did he go into ruku' and then into sajdah, quickly finished his salah, and woke up Ammar ibn Yasir رضي الله عنه.

When Ammar ibn Yasir رضي الله عنه saw him — the blood coming out of his body, the pain he was going through — he looked at him in bewilderment and said, "Why didn't you wake me up earlier?" He said, "I was reciting a surah in my salah, and I had such love for that surah that I did not want to stop reciting until I finished it. So when he shot that first arrow, I wanted to finish it — I kept reciting. He shot the second arrow, I wanted to keep reciting. He shot that third arrow, and only then I went to ruku', because I remembered the command of Rasulullah ﷺ — that it is an amanah, it is a responsibility for me to wake up the Muslims if any danger is there. So I finished my salah. Otherwise, I would have given my life up. I would have given my life up just to finish that surah and that salah."

This was the state of the salah of the Sahabah رضي الله عنهم.

The Prophet ﷺ and Salah

And when we look at Nabi ﷺ himself — he would be sitting with his family, just talking, just sitting there, passing comments, sitting there normally. But when the adhan would be called, Nabi ﷺ would get up and walk from amongst them and leave, as if they were strangers. As if he did not know who they were. Just a second ago he was talking with them, smiling, laughing. But then he immediately just gets up and leaves, as if he's passing through a group of strangers. His entire kayfiyyah, his entire mentality just changes.

We know in the battle of Khandaq, where the battle was so intense that the Muslims were not able to pray Asr salah. The battle was so intense, they could not move away from the battle, and the time of Asr salah expired. And then Nabi ﷺ — we know he was sent as Rahmat ul-lil'alameen, the mercy to all the worlds. When people would abuse him physically or verbally, he would say nothing back to them. But at that moment, Rasulullah ﷺ said:

At that moment, Nabi ﷺ cursed the kuffar because they had delayed the Muslims from Salah. This was the mentality of the ulama, the tabi'un, the sahabah, and Nabi ﷺ himself towards Salah.

Why Our Salah Has Not Changed Us

And when we see the sahabah and their salah — how much concentration they had, how were they able to reach such a level that nothing distracted them — for me, if a fly lands on me in salah, I immediately forget what's going on, I forget the rak'ah, I forget which surah I'm reciting. It completely distracts me. And we have Abbad ibn Bishr رضي الله عنه with arrows lodged in his body, and he continues to pray.

We know the incident where someone brought up a case to Rasulullah ﷺ — there's a man who prays his salah, but then he steals afterwards. And Nabi ﷺ said:

"Eventually his salah will stop him."
(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 9763)

His salah has the ability to stop him from that wrong action. Where Allah says in the Qur'an:

"Indeed, salah prevents from immorality and wrongdoing."

Salah has the ability to stop a person from wrong deeds. But then, if I view my own life — those things I'm involved in, the sins I'm involved in, the habits I'm trying to leave — why is it so hard to leave? I've been praying salah for years. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 years. I've been praying salah for so many years. Why has it not changed the kayfiyyah of my life? Why has it not changed my actions, my entire life as a whole?

That's because the sahabah had a different outlook on salah from ours. The way they viewed salah as a priority — their entire life revolved around ibadah, their entire life revolved around salah. The actions they would do, the work they would do, the time they would spend — it was so that they could make time for salah. That was the center focus.

But for me, when I'm at work, when I'm doing other things, when I'm eating — it's, "When I have time to go to the masjid, I'll go to the masjid. If I have time to pray, I'll pray." It's a completely different outlook. From one point I'm praying and they were praying — but because of the mentality, the priority that's there, the focus that's there, it completely shifts the entire paradigm.

Ramadan as a Catalyst — Not a Spike

When we look at the month of Ramadan that has just passed — it's been about a week — we all recognize the heightened sense of spirituality that we felt in the month of Ramadan, the ruhaniyyah that we felt. Yes, aside from the rahmah of Allah that comes down that month, aside from the environment that's there, a big factor that allows that increase in ruhaniyyah, the increase in focus in salah, in du'a, in other a'mal, is because our priority shifts. In other months of the year, we use whatever time we have left for ibadah. But in the month of Ramadan, we're trying to get everything done quickly so that we can do ibadah. We're trying to get off work quickly, trying to leave our houses quickly, so that we can pray our tahajjud, so that we can rush for taraweeh, so that we can make the half-hour salah before Maghrib for du'a. When that priority shifts, then our entire focus goes towards that.

The attitude of Ramadan should not be that we see a chart that spikes up — the ibadah, the ruhaniyyah spikes up — and then after Ramadan finishes, it comes crashing down to the floor. Yes, there should be a level of increase in ibadah in Ramadan. We know what Aisha رضي الله عنها said about Rasulullah ﷺ:

But that does not mean that once Ramadan ends, the light switch turns off as well. We use Ramadan as a catalyst to form good habits. That same 20–30 minute du'a I was making — we may not be able to make that long of a du'a outside of Ramadan, but decrease it a little bit. Do not decrease it completely. We may not be able to pray 20 rakahs at night. But that doesn't mean we pray zero rakahs. That same kayfiyyah that we held in Ramadan can still be carried outside of Ramadan, even if in a smaller amount.

The Example of Thabit al-Bunani

If we want our salah to improve, if we want our salah to have that transformative effect on our lives, then it has to be a constant effort. It's not that in Ramadan we work on it and outside of Ramadan we don't. We have the example of Thabit al-Bunani رحمه الله in front of us. He has a famous statement:

Thabit al-Bunani رحمه الله said, "I worked on my salah for 20 years. I worked hard, I toiled, I tried to perfect my salah for 20 years — not just in Ramadan, not just for one year, but constantly for 20 years I worked on my salah, I tried to perfect my concentration in salah. And then after those 20 years, I enjoyed my salah."

And what does he mean by enjoyment? We know through another narration of his that Thabit al-Bunani رحمه الله said, "When I used to perform salah, it was as if I was standing on the bridge of Sirat. Jannah was on my right, Jahannam was on my left, and I was seeing Allah." After he worked on his salah for years and years, he reached such a state in salah — it sounds like the salah of the Sahabah, it sounds like the salah of the Prophet ﷺ. Where nothing else was in their mind. They were completely focused on Allah.

It is this type of salah that creates a transformative effect. It is this type of salah that makes all of their a'mal easy. It is this type of salah that makes it easy to leave all other bad deeds, to leave sayyiat, ma'asi, khataaya, whatever it may be.

The Closest We Can Be to Allah

So the first step that we need to take is to carry the same mentality we had throughout Ramadan throughout the rest of the year. That we prioritize our ibadah. We hold that same priority — let me go to the masjid as much as I can. It may not be to the same capacity as Ramadan. I may not be able to do dhikr or make du'a to the same capacity. But let me still hold on to those actions. Let me still make them a priority in my life.

And number two, when we're working on our salah, we try to change the kayfiyyah of our salah. Yes, when I'm praying now, sometimes I end up thinking about other things. I end up forgetting which rak'ah I'm on. I might be physically here but thinking about my house, my work, whatever it may be. But whenever those wasawis, whenever those whispers of shaytan, whenever those other thoughts come into my mind, I'll make an active effort to filter them out. It might take months to fix. My salah has been like this for years — it's not going to fix itself in a month, not in two months. But if I work on it month after month, year after year, eventually my salah shall, insha'Allah, get to the level of Thabit al-Bunani رحمه الله.

When we're praying our salah, we recognize that when I'm in sajdah before Allah — how can I be in sajdah and think about other things? When I'm putting my face, my head — the most honorable part of my body — in the place where people walk. I'm doing that for the sake of Allah. How can I put my head on the ground before Allah but be thinking about anything else?

In that closest of postures, how can we think about anything else? So the fundamental point is that we make a constant effort — we know our salah is naqis, we know our salah is deficient. But if I want to take my salah to that level where it has a transformative effect on my life, then I slowly work on it every single day. I make an active effort to take my mind away from anything other than Allah.

When I say الله أكبر, I imagine as if I'm throwing the dunya behind my back. I'm throwing all my worries behind my back. I'm throwing any other thoughts behind my back. When I fold my hands, I am thinking about nothing but Allah.

So I ask Allah to grant us the ability, to grant us the true haqiqah of salah, to grant us a salah like the sahabah, to grant us the true alamah of salah like Nabi ﷺ, and to accept our supplications. Alhamdulillahi Rabbil 'Alamin.

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