Are habits a bad thing?
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I want to ask, to members of this forum, what you think about habits, like the prayer or the quran reading?
Do you believe that prayer (on specific times) with specific words (or not) is motivational or does it look more like forcing yourself?
Any answers are welcome...
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peace
every generation goes back to the same.Isaiah 2913-15 13 Therefore the Lord said ?Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths, And honor Me with their lips, But have removed their hearts far from Me, And their fear toward Me is no more than a commandment of men,
14 Therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work Among this people, A marvelous work and a wonder;
For the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, And the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.?
15 Woe to those who seek deep to hide their counsel far from the Lord, And their works are in the dark;
They say, ?Who sees us?? and, ?Who knows us??
Isaiah 4221-25
21 The Lord is well pleased for His righteousness? sake; He will exalt the law and make it honorable.
22 But this is a people robbed and plundered; All of them are snared in holes, And they are hidden in prison houses;
They are for prey, and no one delivers; For plunder, and no one says, ?Restore!?
23 Who among you will give ear to this? Who will listen and hear for the time to come?
24 Who gave Jacob (the Muslims) for plunder, and Israel (the Muslims) to the robbers?
Was it not the Lord, He against whom we have sinned? For they would not walk in His ways, Nor were they obedient to His law.
25 Therefore He has poured on him the fury of His anger And the strength of battle; It has set him on fire all around, Yet he did not know; And it burned him, Yet he did not take it to heart.
Isaiah 591-10
59 Behold, the Lord?s hand is not shortened, That it cannot save; Nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear.
2 But your iniquities have separated you from your God; And your sins have hidden His face from you, So that He will not hear.
3 For your hands are defiled with blood, And your fingers with iniquity; Your lips have spoken lies,Your tongue has muttered perversity.
4 No one calls for justice, Nor does any plead for truth. They trust in empty words and speak lies; They conceive evil and bring forth iniquity. 5 They hatch vipers? eggs and weave the spider?s web; He who eats of their eggs dies, And from that which is crushed a viper breaks out. 6 Their webs will not become garments, Nor will they cover themselves with their works; Their works are works of iniquity, And the act of violence is in their hands. 7 Their feet run to evil, And they make haste to shed innocent blood; Their thoughts are thoughts of iniquity; Wasting and destruction are in their paths. 8 The way of peace they have not known, And there is no justice in their ways; They have made themselves crooked paths; Whoever takes that way shall not know peace. 9 Therefore justice is far from us, Nor does righteousness overtake us; We look for light, but there is darkness! For brightness, but we walk in blackness! 10 We grope for the wall like the blind, And we grope as if we had no eyes;
We stumble at noonday as at twilight; We are as dead men in desolate places. -
Peace,
I pray daily, at dawn and before bedtime, at noon and afternoon, and at nightfall. And sometimes I pray in the morning. They are habits for me and I believe we should contact God (this is my understanding of the word salat anyway) regularly throughout the day. But the timing is not holy for me. For example, if I go to work at 4 I pray before that even if traditional timing is at 5.
The prayers themselves are not identical, I usually say something different in my prayer and open connection to God. But I make sure I have the intention to seek His Nearness and Guidance as well as protection from the evil one and his followers. I implore God about my needs in life and that He will guide me straight and I thank Him for what good He does for me and that He will make known to me my errors I do so I can become better.
I do not think habits are bad as long as we are conscious about them and not just let them be there because they seem compulsory. If one only rambles a series of monotonous words to God in their prayers they may turn dull and I am sure this is not the intention with them. However, we need to stay steadfast and patient with our prayers because they may only seem like a monolog no one listens to but there is the One who hears all of them, even if it feels useless to try to contact the Lord.
Do not be afraid of speaking freely to God, this is part of the reason we pray, to get help in our everyday life. Have some short stereotypical wordings to read for God, for example, the first chapter of Quran or the Jesus prayer (see the Gospel 7 verses), they seem perfect to me, but apart from that make variations to to adapt to the needs of your present situation.
I think habits were prescribed so we do not forget about God, but if as long as we are always mindful of God it is okay. The habits do not mean forever condemned if broken as long as we frequently commemorate God. Total loss of remembrance of God is however the great sin.
God bless you