How To Master Your Salah (Even At School or At Work)

“Between a man and shirk and kufr there stands his neglect of the prayer.”
Narrated by Muslim in Kitaab al-Eemaan from Jaabir ibn ‘Abd-Allaah from the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)

I know how it feels. You are a busy student in school, you may not have many Muslim friends, and you really want to pray your Salah in school, but you don’t know how to. How do you keep your Wudhu? How do you make the time to pray? How do you get rid of the embarrassment of someone walking into your room when you pray? Worry not, because in this article, I will be sharing with you all the tips on how to pray even in school or at work, whether you are a Hijabi or a non Hijabi.

What is Salah?

Salah is one of the pillars of Islam. Muslims perform prayers and pray their 5 prayers throughout the day at set assigned times.

Before school/work:

Make Wudhu.

Hopefully, you are making Wudhu in the morning for Fajr anyways. You can choose to keep this Wudhu on for the rest of the day or even do Wudhu right before you leave the house. Regardless of when you do Wudhu, wear a pair of socks while you are in the state of Wudhu. Even if you do not plan to break your Wudhu, if it ends happening, you can just do Masah over Socks.

Take the essentials with you.

If you are a non Hijabi, always keep a headscarf with you, preferably the long home ones. You can just buy one only to wear outside and always keep it in your bag. Also have a pocket prayer mat. If you wear makeup, and you suspect you will need to wipe your make up off, have a cleanser and cotton pads to wipe them off. Keep a water bottle to use in the toilet, if you need to use the toilet. For me as a Hijabi, I just carry a pocket prayer mat with me everywhere. I also keep a moisturiser to moisturise my face after Wudhu.

It might seem like a lot, but trust me, it is not that much in the long run.

Check the prayer times and make a to do list around your prayers.

This is the best way to ensure your prayers are incorporated. You can also fit your tasks around your prayers. Another reason why you should do this is because then you also know when your free periods are to make Wudhu so you can get prepared for prayer.

During School/Work:

Do Wudhu.

So it may feel a little scary to do this in public. But please do not be ashamed of doing Wudhu in front of others. Muslims will usually know what you are doing and if you encounter non Muslims, tell them that you are getting ready for prayer. If they have questions, seek knowledge about Wudhu. Remember that you are not only spreading Dawah but you are also cleansing yourself and your sins are falling off before prayer. So make Wudhu with confidence.

You also don’t need to wash your feet if you did Masah over socks. If you want more information about this, check out this article.

Find a spot to pray.

You are incredibly lucky if you have a prayer room in your school/work place. I am absolutely blessed that my school does have a prayer room and I thank Allah for it. If you don’t have access to a prayer room, find a spare room to pray in. No one should ever restrict you from prayer unless you are interrupting anything. Have the app on your phone to find the Qibla and then place your pocket prayer mat on the ground and pray!

Bonus tip: consistency is key!

On those days where your Imaan is low, you may find it hard to pray. There will be days where you ask yourself what is the point, you may feel lazy or too sad. But remember that Allah sees your efforts. And indeed, Allah promises that:

Make friends who also pray if possible! You can keep each other accountable! You can then start to go to Islamic events and improve even more. But always keep your intentions pure.

So keep praying! It will pay off in this life or/and in the Hereafter In Sha Allah!

That is it! That is how you pray!

I hope you have enjoyed reading this article. If you enjoyed this article or found it beneficial, please check out my other articles too:

As always, Allah knows best. Thank you for reading, and have a lovely day!