Ramadan Reflection - Serenity through Sajdah 
by Omer Mozaffar

So we know we need to perform the daily prayers. What if you’re that person who knows s/he is supposed to pray, but you can’t bring yourself to do it? Maybe you’re just too lazy. Maybe, at those moments, you’re just out of energy. You wish you could pray, but you just can’t bring yourself to do it. We know that the practices of the Ritual Prayer (Salat) and Sabr (perseverance) are hard, unless (a) we’re truly humble, (b) unless we have that conviction that we’re going to return to God, and (c) unless we know we’re going to meet Him.
    If you don’t have those three traits, it’s going to be harder than hard to get yourself to pray.
    So, what do you do?
    If you really are serious about this concern — I mean, really serious — then stop what you’re doing and prostrate. Right now.
    Go put your face on the ground. Right now.
    (Pause.)
    Now get up and try to pray. If you can bring yourself to prostrate right now, you’ll be able to immediately go and perform your prayer.
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Omer Mozaffar is a Ph.D. student at the University of Chicago, specializing in hadith studies.