Salam, all.
My post here is just a sharing of my insights that I perceive as blessings and guidance from Allah. I am nobody special to receive such blessings, so I was wary about sharing the insights. However, as time pass by, these points have been supported by what I've heard from the Ustaz and Ustazahs. The understandings are further complemented through the insights gained during my teaching of the subject Cognitive Psychology. As I learned (yes, I was learning too) about the concepts and findings from research, I tried to incorporate them into my understanding of how to achieve khusyuk in my prayers. Alhamdulillah, all praises to Allah, I am able to be more present during my prayers, and because of that, I feel the need to share with all of you, particularly the community of the Department.
I have been finding ways to achieve khusyuk in salat. Read about many tips, but all appeared so simplistic and couldn't meet the objective. Two verses had guided my search:
وَاسْتَعِينُوا بِالصَّبْرِ وَالصَّلَاةِ ۚ وَإِنَّهَا لَكَبِيرَةٌ إِلَّا عَلَى الْخَاشِعِينَ - 2:45 ( the second part)
and الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَتَطْمَئِنُّ قُلُوبُهُم بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ ۗ أَلَا بِذِكْرِ اللَّهِ تَطْمَئِنُّ الْقُلُوبُ - 13:28
I was intrigued by the verses mostly because I found that I didn't experience that way. Having khusyuk during salat was difficult, and I wasn't at peace during zikr. However, since the verses were from the Qur'an, I know the verses were the truth; I just had to find a way to realize this truth.
So here, I'm sharing how I embrace the greatest surah, al-Fatihah. To me, the al-Fatihah is such a very beautiful surah, and I now understand why it is obligatory in our prayer. I'm presenting an ideal situation, meaning that it's achieved once in a while but should be what to strive for. Take note that the method I'm sharing here can be applied for other recitations but this writing will dwell only on the recitation of al-Fatihah.
There are two main tasks in embracing al-Fatihah during the prayer, but the first task must be performed outside the prayer. Why? Because it has to be executed with calmness and full attention, which I feel is a struggle to achieve during the salat.
The first task is to assign the meaning of the surah, every verse of the surah. The verses have their respective translations, but I use the meaning that would be relevant to me. How can I check for this relevance? The meaning has to be able to invoke a certain emotion in me. As we as Muslims are advised to turn to Allah in raja' and khauf, these two emotions are the ones to be invoked. So, until I feel the emotion, I know that I'm not getting the correct meaning. Another advice is to have the meaning in the mother tongue. Why? Because it's the language that I can relate with the most ease. In my case, the Malay language.
From my learning so far, the surah contains four aims: praising Allah, professing submission to Allah, professing that you turn to Allah for help and asking guidance from Allah to the right path. All these are presented in the seven verses of al-Fatihah.
The surah starts with بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ.. The important meaning to relate to is that Allah is Most loving, Most Merciful or in my mother tongue, Maha Pemurah, Maha Penyayang. If I'm able to get to this meaning, a certain sense of feeling envelopes me, so much that if I dwell on it, it could lead me to tears. Just short of this indescribable feeling is a feeling of pressure. You can try it.
The second verse is الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ. This verse, if I recite it mindfully, I realize that I am actually saying a praise for Allah and admitting that He governs the universe. I am awestruck.
The third verse is الرَّحْمَٰنِ الرَّحِيمِ. Here is the expression of a praise whereby I profess again that Allah is Most Loving, Most Merciful. I try to say the praises with sincerity. Actually, saying the praise sincerely is not difficult because it is the truth.
The fourth verse is مَالِكِ يَوْمِ الدِّينِ - 1:4. The verse is translated as Sovereign of the Day of Recompense. This verse relates to the Qiyamah, the End day. And so, I think of a small prayer, 'let me have a good ending in akhirah', following the recitation of the verse.
The fifth verse, إِيَّاكَ نَعْبُدُ وَإِيَّاكَ نَسْتَعِينُ - 1:5. To me, this is a very important verse to pay attention to. So, while I recite the verse, I pay attention to the 'ka' in the verse, which indicates that I'm saying the words directly to Allah. I also perceive the meaning to be 'Allah made me a Muslim' and 'I can turn to Allah for help'. I learn that this verse can be followed with a prayer (du'a) when recited during salat. So, I try to insert a short du'a. I use a standard du'a. You may ask, why can't it be any du'a? Basically, because I would still be in the salat mode and I cannot allow myself to search for a suitable du'a during the salat. Because once I let my mind wander to search for the meaning, the mind may trigger other irrelevant meanings, as claimed by the spreading activation model (Reed, 2013, p. 218-222).
Next, the sixth verse, اهْدِنَا الصِّرَاطَ الْمُسْتَقِيمَ - 1:6. Here is where I explicitly ask for guidance from Allah. But while saying this verse, I remember the guidance that I've been receiving, and so I follow with a thanks to Allah for the guidance.
The last verse, صِرَاطَ الَّذِينَ أَنْعَمْتَ عَلَيْهِمْ غَيْرِ الْمَغْضُوبِ عَلَيْهِمْ وَلَا الضَّالِّينَ - 1:7, is a long verse and I usually break it up in two parts with each part, I attach a certain meaning. Basically, the verse states what is the right path, which is the path of the blessed ones and not the path of the unblessed ones. For the former, I perceive as the path taken by the Prophet (PBUH), while for the latter, I perceive as the path taken by the Jews, Nasranis, and Syaitan, and the likes. This verse usually follows with Ameen, which I relate to having that wish granted, and so must be followed with a thanks in advance.
So that's the preparation task.
The second task is performed during the salat itself. Basically, what I need to do is to listen to my recitation of the verses and perceive the meaning that I have decided on in the first task, or the preparation task. Relating to the concepts of attention such as Broadbent’s filter model (Reed, 2013, p. 46-47), I know that we have the tendency to attend to physical characteristics of the stimulus, in this case, the whispers of the verse. I guess this is why we cannot just recite the verse in the heart. We need to listen to the verse to attend to it. Filter model explains why we pay attention to louder sound compared to our whisper, hence the need to pray in a quiet place.
Another important concept to relate to is that the working memory is limited and so I must be mindful of what I put in the working memory. I need resources to pay attention, and the working memory provides these resources. According to the load theory of attention (Goldstein, 2015, p. 92-94), the resources need to be utilised fully else they will be occupied by other things, a.k.a. distractor. Reciting the verse is an automatic process (now) and as such occupies a small part of the processing capacity, thus leaving some amount of resource available. If I'm not careful, this resource will be used by other automatic process or the distractors. This is what I want to avoid. So, the thing to do is to use up the resources of the working memory by reciting the verse, retrieve the meaning of the verse and feel the hope/love/fear. And only when all these are executed, I move on to the next verse. I continue the process with each verse until the end.
That's how I manage to embrace al-Fatihah. Again, please bear in mind that knowing the how does not guarantee it happens. I realize it takes a lot of effort, but the reward is so great that it's worth the effort. Having a niyyah to embrace al-Fatihah would also help, as we know that action follows the niyyah. From the cognitive psychology perspective, the niyyah can act as the goal for the central executive.
So, all the best! May Allah bless all our effort. Ameen.
References
Goldstein, E. B (2015). Cognitive Psychology: Connecting Mind, Research, and Everyday Experience. (4th. ed.). Belmont, CA: Cengage Learning.
Reed, S. K. (2012). Cognition: Theories and Applications. (9th ed.). USA: Wadsworth, CENGAGE learning.
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About the Author:
Intan Aidura Alias is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychology at the International Islamic University Malaysia. Her full profile can be found at
Note: This article gives the views of the Authors, and not the position of the Department of Psychology IIUM Blog, nor of the Department of Psychology IIUM.