I find it amazing how the times for prayer alter so much throughout the year. It’s something we barely think about. But it occurred to me today when I struggled to pray my Salaah on time just how quickly the days passes into night in December. From season to season the prayer times expand and contract so that we find ourselves praying Isha at ten o’clock in the summer and five thirty in the winter. Today I seemed to have awoken in summer mode, I had a busy day planned ahead, beginning with a trip to town at twelve o’clock. As a late riser, twelve o’clock to me still sounds like morning, it didn’t occur to me that it was actually time to pray Dhur until I finally caught the 12.18pm bus at 12.40pm and then realised that I had less than an hour until Asr.
So, when I reached town I ran off the bus and headed for the nearest clothes shop (H&M) to pray Dhur Dawud Wharnsby style in a changing room! But the most amazing sale in H&M had just begun, and the changing rooms were packed. Never mind, I thought, I’ll just have a rummage through the sale stuff until one of the rooms become free. But I, in true girly fashion, got completely caught up in an ‘I want everything on the £10 rack!’ moment and ages had passed until I checked the time again and realised that it was 1.30 pm. Unfortunately the first thought that passed through my head was not ‘oh my gosh I have to pray!’ but ‘oh my gosh, I have to be back home by three and I haven’t even started my shopping!’ So, completely forgetting my Dhur prayer, I dashed to the perfume shop, card shop and River Island, and once I was I was satisfied that I had everything on my list, my tummy started to rumble. My head followed my body clock’s instincts and led me straight to the Coffee Cup. It wasn’t until I had filled myself up with the tastiest soup and sandwich a £5 note can buy that I looked at the clock again and was so frustrated I wanted to kick myself. It was Asr time, and quarter to three. I needed to be home, and hadn’t even prayed Dhur! Well, I had no choice but to make Dhur up, but if I rushed back I could still make it in time for Asr. Or so I thought.
It was one of those days when both the time and the weather were out to get you. It had begun to snow heavily outside. The usual journey from town to home by bus takes fifteen minutes, but this time it took half an hour. Then walking from the bus stop was another journey in itself—downhill, uphill and downhill again before I reached my house—and you can imagine how easy that was in the snow!
So I came home with half an hour until Magrib and prayed my Asr and Dhur straight away. Then when I’d finally managed to put the kettle on, time had sifted through my fingers once again and the adhaan for Magrib had begun.
Pheww!
Today may have been exhausting, but the fundamental lesson I learnt from it is that it is so easy to get caught up in materiality and insignificant details of the day that we forget to do the most essential things like performing Salaah. Prioritising and timing are two big issues I need to improve on, and I’m sure I’m not alone with this. Salaah is a mercy to us not just because it provides us with a medium for communicating with Allah swt, but also because it puts a structure to our day. How much less aware of time would we be if we didn’t have five strict Salaah times to follow? How much more time would we waste and fritter away on the Dunya if we did not turn to remember Allah five times a day? Salaah is a blessing in so many ways, and sometimes it takes a day like mine to realise it fully!
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