I do a weekly sharing with my cousin and sister for Ramadan. It’s just a reflection of my personal journey during this holy month.

I am very fortunate to be able to perform terawikh every night and alhamdulillah in full. I have been facing a lot of emotions with my current life situation and with prayers especially this Ramadan, I have been feeling emotionally lighter. It almost feels like a burden being lifted.

I’m currently reading a book called a Thinking Person’s Guide to Islam. It talks about fundamentals of Islam and touches on prayer.

Prayer is the basis of religion. Prayer is meant to “detach a person from his or her ego and previous sins, and also to engage his or her conscience and direct it to God.” Being more consistent with daily prayers helps me to remember that sometimes when things feel so painful and heavy that God feels our pain. Prayer makes me sort of ‘surrender’ my emotional burdens to Him because with every difficulty, there is relief (Al-Inshirah). Relief is twice as powerful as difficulties. “Compared to Allah’s Mercy, all our troubles, difficulties, problems and challenges are minute and tiny. There is always a solution for any problem that we might face. All we need to do is keep the faith, and follow His Path with patience and righteousness.”

As a person who have tried multiple ways including meditation and mindfulness training, I have to say that nothing has brought me as much comfort as prayer has. It’s something I have learned as I grow older. I am not saying that when you sujud before God, all the bad magically goes away and the good suddenly comes rushing in. But it has helped me heal my emotional wounds more than I thought it would. It’s not a sole solution but a big step in helping myself. I feel His comfort and love with prayer. It gives me relief and hope that somehow I will get better. And that I will not turn to the darkest of ways to end my pain.

May prayers brings us all comfort when life gets overwhelming.