Oh Allah, we seek refuge with You from the snooze button

It’s 5:45 and your Fajr alarm has just begun ringing. You tried to be smart and set the alarm and your ringer as the same tone so you’d think that someone was calling you, because, of course, answering a call is much more exciting than trying to figure out how to snooze the alarm this early in the morning. But, you’re smarter than you thought, and caught on to the trick. The reverse psychology failed.
Well, the alarm’s been snoozed, and you begin dreaming that you actually got out of bed in time, made wudu with cold tap water for extra ajr, and prayed your salah, being sure to catch the two rak’aat Sunnah, because, as the Messenger of Allah, salAllahu alayhi wasSalam, said, they’re better than the entire world and everything in it.

Next time you look at the clock: 8:15 a.m.
Did I pray? Of course I did..I remember stumbling off of the bed and the really cold water in the tap.
And then you realize that you once more fell for the snooze button.
So what’s the solution? How do we prevent ourselves from falling for Shaytan’s tricks time and time again?
The snooze button often prevails in our lives, seeming to follow us around like the Staples truck with the big red “easy” button on the back. Except it’s only making things more difficult.

Now I’m not looking to provide a list of tips on how to wake up for Fajr. Although things like sleeping early and living a healthy lifestyle are important, I want to channel the frustration that is felt at 8:16 a.m. with the realization that another opportunity to please Al Wadud has been lost. Except this channel is a little different. It involves depth of mind, heart, and soul; the kinship of all major aspects related to human thought joining into one force that becomes the provocation to propel us into aspiring to understand the Magnificence and Ultimate Mercy of Our Creator. I like to call it tadabbur.

Allah created us as intelligent beings, with the ability to contemplate His signs and cultivate a closeness to the Source of Peace that none other can bring to the hearts. Contemplate over the Speech of Allah. Feel with every bit of flesh that He created within you the perfection of The Book, of His parables, of His Messengers. Salah is not an act of exercising the limbs, fasting is not the latest fad diet. Only when we see beyond the physical motions of deeds are we able to embody true enslavement to The Creator.

Allah says in the Qur’an time and time again, “afala ta’qilun“, will you not understand, and “afala yatadabbarun“, will you not ponder? He placed numerous signs in our surroundings for us to look at, ponder upon, and link back to the Grace and Perfection of Our Lord. Allah specifies several aspects of creation for us to look at:
Then contemplate (O man!) the memorials of Allah’s Mercy!- how He gives life to the earth after its death: verily the same will give life to the men who are dead: for He has power over all things. [30:50]

Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day, and the [great] ships which sail through the sea with that which benefits people, and what Allah has sent down from the heavens of rain, giving life thereby to the earth after its lifelessness and dispersing therein every [kind of] moving creature, and [His] directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the heaven and the earth are signs for a people who use reason. [2:164]
Do they not look at Allah’s creation, (even) among (inanimate) things,- How their (very) shadows turn round, from the right and the left, prostrating themselves to Allah, and that in the humblest manner? [16:48]

Part of tadabbur of the Qur’an is that we ourselves find this miraculous book to be a miracle. These are the words of Allah; no other can be more free from error or hold more conviction. Once we attain the ability to see the miraculous reality of this book ourselves, its recitation will strike our hearts as though Allah was reaching out to us from amidst darkness, making clear His light as a guide.

At the end of a trying day, when nothing but relaxation and tranquility is sought, make wudu, pray 2 rak’aat, and sit with the Qur’an. Let it be your companion, your guide to truth, faith, and Islam. Indeed, this is one sincere companion that will never forsake you, never judge you, and never harm you. Allow yourself to get lost in its flawless truth, and just think.

The love that matures in our hearts with this contemplation is unmatched; it becomes the fuel for every thought, every action, every belief. With this love, brothers and sisters, comes true refuge from the snooze button.