Without a doubt, the religion of Islam is a religion of utmost consistency. The first thing that comes to mind when addressing this topic is the Muslim’s daily prayers and the regularity which accompanies them. It immediately strikes us that Islam guides one to an organized lifestyle, where all aspects of life balance smoothly and fall in harmony with each other. Islam is truly a way of life. A greater and more magnificent resemblance of this consistency is seen during the days of Hajj. Annually, people from all across the globe assemble in one sacred land to perform the obligation of the pilgrimage and it is just stunning to see their uniformity and structured demeanor whenever a pillar is to be fulfilled. This just proves that consistency is not impossible, not even when millions are crowded for the same particular reason.
“The most beloved of deeds to Allah are the most consistent of them, even if they are few” 1.
This hadith clearly indicates that it is the consistency of our deeds that counts more than anything else. Even if they are few, the fact that you are constantly performing them for the sake of Allah shows your commitment and devotion to your Creator hence proving your love for Him. It is this that causes Allah to be pleased with us; our dedication and determination to gain His love, mercy and countless bounties.
Nonetheless, a very crucial point that needs to be addressed is the misunderstood, hence, misuse of the word ‘consistency’. We have started to parallel this word with ‘repetitiveness’ which has negative connotations.
According to the Oxford dictionary, consistency is the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly in quality over time. In simpler words, it is performing a deed regularly but with the same quality, passion and enthusiasm.
When something is performed regularly, such as the daily prayers, a person starts to treat it as a repetitive act, thus, is performed with no passion or enthusiasm. Unfortunately, that is the state that our prayers have reached today, they are performed regularly but with no khushoo’ (calmness, serenity and tranquility). This is because, brothers and sisters, we have altered the definition of consistency through our daily practices. We no longer find comfort in our prayers because we do not practice it with sincerity; it has very sadly become a takleef rather than a tashreef to serve Allah, a burden rather than an honor, and for this who should we blame but ourselves?
To achieve consistent quality in our ibadah we have to renew our intentions every time we embark on a task, and always keep in mind that it is Allah who deserves our time and attention and not the distractions of this life.
“Verily Allah has prescribed ihsan (proficiency, perfection) in all things…” 2
“…What is Ihsan (perfection)?’ Allah’s Messenger replied, ‘To worship Allah as if you see Him, and if you cannot achieve this state of devotion then you must consider that He is looking at you….” 3
This means that the point is not just in performing a good deed regularly, but rather in performing it regularly with ihsan, which is the Arabic word for excellence. Let us strive to fulfill our obligations with pure intentions and consistent quality, because it is that which will pour upon us Allah’s mercy and love, and what better could we ask for?
To conclude, consistency is about performing to the best of our ability every time we have to do something. Through being consistent in our ibadah, we naturally gain the capability to be consistent and coherent in our lives such as when interacting with people and when accomplishing our daily, monthly and yearly goals. This can be achieved by purifying the intentions on a daily basis as well as keeping in mind that it is Allah , The King of all kings, whom we are serving hence, that should motivate us to continue to seek His pleasure and approval of our deeds. Furthermore, let us make it a habit to continually ask Allah for His support so that we may achieve consistency and quality in all aspects of our lives.
Golden tip:
Whenever one feels that they simply cannot improve the quality of their worship e.g. prayers, just imagine that it is your last prayer, wouldn’t that drive you to make it THE best one you have ever performed?
What are some of the easiest yet consistent deeds which we can perform on a daily basis? Please share them in the comments below. 🙂
35 replies on “Consistency in Islam”
alhamdulillah! it’s a beautiful reminder and is important to be kept in heart and minf.. in sha Allah.
Indeed, may Allah help us implement it!
JazakAllah khair for the feedback eliz 🙂
Just revise ur progess at every disgression and make it the leverage for the propulsion in the pursuit for persistence , consistency, .consistency is the art and easy for muslums under the umbrella of quran and hadith to master..
BarakAllahu feek for your input!
Absolutely amazing reminder for mankind. May Allah bless you and increase your knowledge.
Ameen ya Rabb wa iyyakum 🙂
JazakAllah khair for the feedback!
Good observation
May Allah allow us to implement it
JazakAllah khair for the feedback
Consistency of performance is not only devoting yourself to do it regularly but your eagerness and willingness to do it coz of your intention to please the concern party whom your performance ought to be. In serving Allah, one must be consistent even he has only few knowledge but his intention is pure and clean happy to serve to serve Allah
Absolutely true sister Yasmeen, we must strive for the pleasure of Allah no matter what!
JazakiAllah khair for your valuable input 🙂
Amazing reminder! I think one more consistent deed could be reading Quran after fajr, even if it is just a page, out of love for Allah, or memorizeone Ayah per day. You’ll eventually end up reading more than a page or more than one ayah 🙂
BarakAllahu feek for your input, amazing suggestions!
May Allah (SWT)make it easy for us to perform every single deed with sincerity.Jazakumullahu khairan!
Ameen!
JazakAllah khair for reading
Jajhakallah. May Allah please on your efforts and to benefit us with these precious words. Ameen.
Ameen!
May Allah grant us the mean of perfection
Ameen
Jazakallahu Khairan, may Allah (swa) continue to increase you in knowledge, good health and wisdom. MaShaAllah.
Ameen wa iyyakum
Má sha Allah… This is indeed a message to ponder on. May Allah accept our deeds and forgive us all of our misdeeds. Aameen.
Indeed, may Allah allow us to implement it
Ameen JazakAllah khair
Great read alhamdulillah. 🙂
One easy consistent deed that I try to perform every Friday is post a verse of the Qur’aan or hadith on social media or with friends. It takes no time to share a verse or hadith and it helps to spread the word of Islam as well.
Alhamdulillah
Ma sha Allah that is a great idea! JazakAllah khair for sharing
MashaAllah! May Allah increase us in knowledge and help us to act upon it Ameen
Ameen!
Jazakallahu Khairan.
One tip which i Liked to gain Khushoo is to process the meaning of each word you are uttering while Namaaz. This way your mind will not get any time to wander.
JazakAllah khair for the feedback, that is absolutely true!
Assalam Alikum brother………excellent article about consistency.In the beginning when I started to offer Salah,i must confess that it was ..takleef… but later in life as I consistently offered Salah it became…Tasreef.. My eman in Allah and in His mercy has increased with practice. Things started falling in places as I started to realize that in my 67 years of life in this world only Allah was the most consistent to me in His Blessing. May Allah Bless you brother
Wa alaykum alsalam wa rahmatullahi wa baraktuhu,
Alhamdulillah, it is great to hear of such a development, may Allah make us steadfast upon His path..
BarakAllau feek for your feedback
Nice reminder!
It is consistency in Amal of Prophet Mohammad due to which the concept of Sunnah came in Islam.
Most of the habits of Our Prophet were done with great consistency.
In addition to our duties, we should maintain consistency in adopting Sunnahs too.
Absolutely true!
JazakiAllah khair for your input Samira 🙂
[…] Consistency in Islam http://blog.islamiconlineuniversity.com/consistency-in-islam/ … […]
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is there any quranic verse on this? or that supports this? I need it for a project.
jzk, ty