THE 0 5 →

PRAYER GUIDE
Discover the art of consistent prayer with this guide tailor-made for
Muslims. Crafted by @daanish.medic, it's your key to mastering the five
daily prayers. Unveil simplicity through interactive exercises suitable for all
ages. Elevate your connection with Allah, one prayer at a time.

BY DAANISH MAHMOOD
 Introduction
WHAT IS THIS GUIDE?

Assalamu Alaikum,

This guide is designed with a heartfelt intention to assist fellow Muslims, just like
you and me, in achieving an essential obligation of our faith—Salah. As an
ordinary Muslim who has embarked on a journey of studying and practicing
habit-building, I have witnessed the transformative power of prayer in my own
life. It has brought about positive changes, increased my connection with Allah,
and enhanced my relationship with others. Now, it is my utmost pleasure to
share the knowledge and experiences I have gained with all of you.
I hope that everyone reading finds something useful in this guide. May Allah
bless this endeavour and make it a means of benefit for us all.
 Introduction
WHY IS THIS IMPORTANT?

In my personal journey, I have discovered that practising Islam diligently and

focusing on its foundational principles brings immense ease and blessings into
our lives. It is during times when I dedicatedly observed my prayers and strived
to improve myself that I witnessed remarkable achievements and contentment.
Islam has undoubtedly enriched my life, and it is my heartfelt desire to share this
profound goodness with all of you.

Through "The 0 →5 Prayer Guide", I aim to help you experience the same peace
and prosperity by focusing on the essential 5 daily prayers. The goal is to be
consistent. To improve the quality of our Salah and to do so effortlessly amidst
the chaos of life.
 Introduction
WHO IS THIS FOR?

This guide is tailor-made for fellow Muslims who are already familiar with the
basics of Islam, including prayer and memorization of parts of the Quran, but
find it challenging to maintain consistency in their Salah.

If you have the knowledge but struggle to balance your spiritual commitments
with your studies or working life, "The 0 →5 Prayer Guide” is here to support you.
While it won't teach you how to complete your obligations from scratch, it will
offer valuable guidance on how to perform them with ease and steadfast
consistency. With practical tips and interactive tools, this guide is designed to
help you seamlessly integrate the 5 daily Salah into your daily routine, with a
healthy balance between faith and life's responsibilities.
 Introduction
WHY THIS GUIDE?

Simplicity is key, and I firmly believe in avoiding unnecessary complexities. I

have meticulously crafted this guide to be as straightforward as possible,
ensuring that you can easily integrate these practices into your daily routines.
To help you stay committed and accountable, I have included interactive
exercises and areas for reflection throughout the guide, allowing you to track
your progress over time. Nothing serves as a greater motivator than witnessing
tangible progress in our lives. By following this guide, you can achieve
consistency in fulfilling your obligations as a Muslim, experience the joy of
spiritual growth, and witness the profound impact it brings to your life.

May this guide serve as a source of inspiration, guidance, and transformation

on your journey towards becoming a better Muslim, seeking Allah's pleasure and
His abundant blessings.
 Introduction
HOW TO USE IT?

How to use this guide:

This guide comes as a PDF and a Notion template. You can follow along
digitally using Notion or a tablet/iPad to complete the exercises. Alternatively,
you can print out the PDF and use pen and paper.

This is not an overnight fix. This will take time. Please don't rush the process.
You are building a habit to last for life. Be patient and go easy on yourself.

You are likely to experience challenges along the way, everyone does. Be kind
to yourself and remember, if you're using this guide you are on the right path.

Keep going.
 REFLECTION 1
Spend some time reflecting on your relationship with your Salah at this point in time.
Take as long as you need. Here are some questions to help you get started:

Are you praying 5 times a day, consistently? Why not?

Which of the 5 prayers do you struggle with most? Why do you think that is? Is there
anything that is stopping you from praying? Have you always struggled with prayer?
 CHALLENGES
The most common difficulties with praying are:

Consistency → Praying 5 times a day, every day.

Balance → Balancing prayer with university, work and life.

In this section, I have provided a simple table to help you track your daily
prayers. I highly recommend using a physical copy and placing it in a spot within
your bedroom that you'll encounter daily. (Note: Reuse the tracker every 15 days)

I personally use a similar prayer tracker whenever I encounter challenges with my

Salah, and it has never failed to keep me on track. By monitoring your progress
through this practical tool, you can stay focused and committed to fulfilling your
daily prayers consistently. Let this tracker be your companion in strengthening
your connection with Allah, guiding you towards a more steadfast and fulfilling
prayer practice.
Key:
✓
PRAYER TRACKER
Prayed on time
✗ Missed Prayer
L Prayed Late

Date Fajr Dhuhr Asr Maghreb Isha

 WHY THIS WORKS

😬Guilt
Putting a ✗ or an L doesn’t feel good. The guilt of writing these will make you want
to put a ✓ for the next prayer.
📝 Accountability
Filling in this sheet every day holds you accountable. Your prayers are visible on a
piece of paper and you are reminded of them every day.

😄 Motivation
Ticking off a prayer that you read on time feels amazing. It releases dopamine and
is perceived as an accomplishment in your brain. You’re more likely to do something
if it makes you feel good. This creates a positive feedback loop.
Pray → Tick it off ✓→ Feel good → Repeat ↻
📈 Improvement
Over time you can literally see your improvements day by day. This is very
motivating.

🔎 Identifying problems
If you use this chart for 1 month, it will be evident where your weakness is. Maybe
you struggle with Fajr. Maybe you struggle with Dhuhr and Asr due to work and
studies. Maybe it’s Isha because of laziness in the evening. Simply use the chart and
you learn a lot about your prayer habits. Then you can target your weakness directly.
Save or print out this table and start using it today.
 ACTION STEPS

Resistance is the barrier between you and getting things done.

When you’re trying to build habits you want to reduce resistance and make it as easy
as possible to get the habit done. With Salah there are many ways to reduce
resistance listed below. Try to do as many as possible and praying will seem a lot
easier.

1 Stay in a state of wudhu at all times

If you go to the bathroom, make wudhu straight away so you’re always in
the state to pray. I like to leave a post-it note in my bathroom that says
‘Stay in wudhu’ as a reminder. I suggest you do too. This removes the step
of making wudhu before praying so it’s much easier to complete.

2 Set reminders for Salah

If Dhuhr is around 1pm, set a daily reminder at 12:30pm on your phone to
get ready for dhuhr. That means make wudhu if you need to and mentally
prepare yourself. If you’re studying or doing work, it’s a reminder to finish
up what you’re doing ahead of time so you’re ready to pray. This was a
game changer for me at university as I’d often get lost in studying at the
time of prayer.
 ACTION STEPS

3 Leave a prayer mat in position

I constantly have a prayer mat in my bedroom laid out in position (This is
permissible in Islam, just make sure your prayer mat remains clean). Every
time you walk past it, you will be reminded of prayer. When you need to
pray, it’s set up and ready for you to begin. This was the most effective tip
for me at university and I still do this today!

4 Travel prayer kit

Wear clothes that are suitable for prayer at all times, or carry a travel
prayer mat, a skirt or abaya and a thobe (depending on your gender) with
you in your car or bag so even if you are not at home, you have the
necessary clothing to pray anywhere.

I would advise you to start these tips one at a time. If you try to do all 4 at once you
may feel overwhelmed. Pick one that you can easily implement into your life right now
with ease. Keep it up for a week before considering doing more.

Complete the reflective exercises on the next page before making changes. The
reflective parts can feel tedious, but when you write something out it signifies
importance in your brain. Reflecting and writing your thoughts down is an effective
method to set intentions that you actually stick to.

If you want to, feel free to write the reflections up in a journal instead.
 REFLECTION 2

Write a list below of the changes you are going to make to improve your salah. Use
this as a checklist of things you will do to improve your consistency with salah.

Which of the tips do you think will help you best? How will you implement them?
 REFLECTION 3
This is for you to come back to every 2 weeks. Reflect on how your prayer habits have
changed, note if there has been an improvement with your consistency and how you
managed to get there.

What's going well? How can you keep that up?

What's not going so well? Why? How can you change that? (See previous pages)
 notes
Use this space for any extra notes you would like to make.
About
THE AUTHOR

I made this guide because prayer is something I

struggled with in early life. I have tried all of the
methods in this guide and found them to be
useful. All of my success in life has come at a
time where I have prioritised my prayer, so I
made this in hopes that others can experience
the same, for free.

If you find this useful, I would greatly appreciate any feedback. You can find me
via my social media links below.

All the best, Daanish

DID YOU FIND THIS

USEFUL? @daanish.medic on all platforms
LET ME KNOW → www.danish.co.uk