Are You Easily Distracted too?

I’m talking about salaat. When you’re praying, do you suddenly get a million thoughts crossing your mind, stuff that you weren’t even thinking about just before? The answer is probably yes—everybody gets distracted by their thoughts during salaat. Sometimes, you remember important things, things that you need to do, people you need to call, sometimes you even remember where you’d put that certain thing that you’d been looking for all morning. Someone I knew remembered that she had left her USB with all her coursework on it in the common room at Uni, and rushed off straight after she’d prayed Asr to retrieve it. She said she was so grateful that Allah had reminded her about it whilst she was praying, or else she would have been in trouble, but then my friend told us this story after:

There was a young man whose family had been saving money in a pot for generations. Finally, his mother handed it to him and told him to use it for his own needs. However, when put in possession of such a great amount of money, the man felt nervous because he knew that it could easily be stolen. He decided to bury it somewhere deep in the desert until he actually needed it, in a spot that he could remember. So, he picked a landmark of particular prominence and buried it there. However, many years went by before the man needed the money, but when he went back he realised that he couldn’t remember where he had buried it. He searched and searched and tried desperately to remember, but had no luck. Every night he we get up and pray to Allah in a hope that by offering salaat, Allah would accept his du’a and help him find it. After many nights of praying, during his salaat, the man suddenly remembered where he’d buried it. He was so excited that he rushed the rest of his prayer and hurried out to retrieve his treasure.

Later on, the man related this story to a pious and learned man. ‘Because I prayed every night, Allah helped me remember where I’d buried the money,’ he told him. The pious man shook his head and informed him that it was actually Satan who had caused him to remember. Satan was so frustrated that the man was getting up every night to offer prayer that eventually he caused him to remember where he’d buried the money in a hope that it would distract him from his salaat, which it did!

A USB is certainly not as valuable as a pot of gold, but the message is still the same. Shaytan hates it when you pray and will distract you in any way, even by reminding you of something important. So be on your guard next time you’re about to pray and refuse your mind access to distractions!