Her Imaan Rises & Falls
The Context
A sister posted to our sub about feeling low and becoming mired in periods of low imaan. She mentioned that she didn’t used to feel this way before.
The Advice
Burn out is real, yes. There is no need to overwhelm ourselves with too much or force ourselves to do more than we’re able. At the same time, we should not become lazy or negligent—especially with regards to the obligatory actions (fardh salah, fasting during Ramadan, etc.). Islam is about balance.
I’ve broken my comment out into my general advice to you, and then followed it with what’s worked well for me in the past. Hope this helps!
Obligatory Deeds
My advice to you, is that if your fardh are not strong and you sometimes don’t perform the obligatory actions, drop everything and focus 100% on making those second nature. None of the Sunnah acts matter if you’re not even completing your fardh properly. As far as Salah, note that only the fardh are, well, fardh. These are:
- 2 rakat Fajr
- 4 rakat Dhuhr
- 4 rakat Asr
- 3 rakat Maghrib
- 4 rakat Isha
Everything outside of that is extra. So first make sure you do those. Make sure you perform wudu properly, prior to Salah. Try to make time to recite Qur’an everyday or at least regularly.
General Advice Regarding Sunnah Acts
If all of the obligatory deeds are in place and good, alhamdulillah, now you should move on to incorporating Sunnah acts slowly, and at a pace comfortable to you. Remember the words of the hadith:
Abu Huraira reported: The Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said, “Take up good deeds only as much as you are able, for the best deeds are those done regularly even if they are few."
I’ve even heard students of knowledge say that the great scholars of the past used to not memorize a verse of the Qur’an until they implemented it in their lives.
So for example, let’s say you want to start fasting on Mondays and Thursdays, alhamdulillah that is good. Give it your best effort. But don’t beat yourself up if you miss some days. And if you’re feeling low energy, you can reduce some of the lectures you’re watching those days. Or take a nap. Whatever.
As for watching beneficial content on YouTube, switch it up. Some things require a very academic kind of attention, such as when a Shaykh is going through scholarly books, and you’re probably taking notes on your end.
But there are other types of content which is more freeform, and gives you more casual knowledge. Things like:
- Q&A’s
- Chai with my Bhai
- Diaries of an Exorcist
- On The Road
- Signs of the Hour
- Learn What Deviant Sects Are Upon
- The Muslim Family (Amazing)
These are still conferring beneficial Islamic knowledge while being in a more relaxed environment/presentation, or topic. Thus they don’t strain the mind as much. On low imaan days, maybe use these, or pepper them throughout your learning.
Also, and this is a major one: make du’a that Allah keeps you steadfast upon the Deen and seeking knowledge.
Surround yourself with good company, as the friends we have and people around us have a huge affect on our imaan. Good people will get you excited about doing good, and others will only incline you towards evil and straying away from Allah.
From Experience
Du’a has really been transformative, for me. Truly, it is the weapon of the believer, so I always advise people with it. It’s been extremely beneficial in helping me attain my religious goals for myself.
Another thing I like to do is gain a lot of passive Islamic knowledge (watching lectures and episodes without taking notes or straining myself too much, just watching for information) and then if there’s a topic or a statement I find particularly intriguing I may do further research on it and dive deeper into that particular thing.
Another important note is that many great lectures can be a bit lengthy—you don’t have to watch them all in one sitting. Make use of the pause button, and watch when you have the full focus to give it and benefit properly from the more scholarly videos. If you find you’re struggling, pause and do something else. Take a bit of a stroll, stretch your legs, try again. Still not there? No worries, try again tomorrow, in sha’ Allah.
There are some lectures that it took me weeks to get through because I paused them for a week before returning to them. There’s no harm in it and this is one of the benefits of recorded lectures. Eventually, your attention span should improve such that you may find yourself pausing less and less, even.
Another thing I’ve found helpful is to set my daily routine around Salah. So I know that there are certain things I do before or after certain Salah and that helps keep my day focused and centered around the remembrance of Allah. If you’re able to do this, I highly, highly recommend it.