Motivation to Perform the Acts of Worship

For all acts of worship, Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) associated causes that will help motivate the believer to perform them. For instance, the congregations for the five daily prayers, the day of jumu’ah, and the days of ‘Eid incite the believer to perform these acts.

Similarly, the nawafil and the Sunan before the obligatory salah form a prelude that helps us to condition ourselves (tune in) to do the salah.

Moreover, in Ramadan, fasting with others is much easier than fasting alone. Likewise, if someone prayed taraweeh by himself, he may see it as a burden and not complete it; however, it becomes easy in jama’at to the extent that one truly enjoys it. In addition, Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) has mentioned the merits of specific acts of worship such as walking to and returning from salah. All of these matters will help make the believer eager to perform these acts.

Moreover, Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) has issued warnings and threats for abandoning the acts of worship and what punishments that entails. These help the person attain good while reminding him that he should not become lax in striving for that which is beneficial for him in this life and in the Hereafter. 

Furthermore, through the legal excuses such as incapacitation, inability, the absence of certain criterion, or the presence of threats, Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) has created ways of helping us to attain that which is beneficial.

For instance, the traveler is allowed to shorten the prayer, combine them if needed, not fast, as well as wipe on the leather socks or boots for three days and nights; moreover, all of the things that the traveler or the ill used to do when they were in residence or were healthy will still be written for them.

There are many other rulings Allah (Glorified and Exalted be He) has made easy in general, including:

1. The pardoning regarding small amounts of najis (impure) blood. 

2. The sufficiency of istijmar (i.e. removal of the traces of what comes out of the two exits of urine and feces with stones) when water is not available for istinja’ (cleaning the two exits with water).

3. The ease that cats are not filthy as the Prophet (Peace be upon him) mentioned, since they go around and around us. 

4. The forgiveness regarding the mud in the streets since in origin it is taahir (pure) although we may expect it to be filthy. 

5. The sufficiency of sprinkling water on the urine of the young boy who still suckles milk. 

6. The pardoning concerning the vomiting of babies since vomit is not najis, as there is no evidence for its impurity. 

7. The sufficiency of washing only the area of a garment where najaasa (impurity) is suspected if one is not sure of the filth’s location.

8. The ease that if it is not possible to be sure when the salah commences, then the believer works by that which is most likely, but if he later discovers that his conjecture was incorrect, then most of the scholars ask that he repeats his salah. 

9. In Hajj, the one who makes tamattu’ and the qiran complete both Hajj and Umrah in one journey, instead of one travel for each. This is the reason why they are required to give hadee (a sacrifice) out of gratitude for this ni’mah (blessing).