In the West, Muslims live a schedule that isn’t ours. The commonly-known “9-to-5” was standardized by Henry Ford and labor unions, while the Prophet ﷺ granted this ummah a special gift: the morning hours. In a sound narration, he made du’a and said,

“O Allah, bless my nation in their early morning.” [Tirmidhī 1212]

However, the morning can be difficult to take advantage of. In the summer, the morning and night prayers are at their earliest and latest. Our societies often favor the evening, with several opportunities for leisure or even continued learning taking place hours after work. 

We often tell ourselves that working longer days means we’ll get more work done. But the key to crossing off our tasks isn’t more time. It’s barakah in our time. And one of the easiest ways to put barakah in your time is to take advantage of sacred times, like the morning hours. They are the keys to opening the doors to increased productivity, energy, and ultimately, spirituality. Here’s how we can begin to embrace them.

Understand that Muslims were morning people

In our current times, most Muslims are known for being night owls instead of early birds. We often joke that our “Ramadan sleep schedule” sticks with us for weeks and months after, while the practices we may have cultivated during those Ramadan nights don’t. This is not to say that every ritual we implemented at night should be permanent. Ramadan is another special time, and its nights are virtuous to spend in prayer and recitation of the Qur’an. However, the default is laid out by Allah in Surah Al-Naba:

“We made the night as a cover, and the day as a livelihood.” [Surah An-Nab; 78:10-11]

In many cases, even non-Muslims can be found during these blessed hours. You see joggers who chase the sun as it rises and tech leaders who awaken during tahajjud to tackle their to-do lists.

And to our credit, some of us may even try to use the night hours productively. If I stay up late and get this done, my day tomorrow will be easier, we think. Called “revenge bedtime procrastination,” we put off going to bed to get to something we didn’t have the opportunity to do in the day. This can be extra classes, trying to get ahead in our jobs, fun, and even social time with our loved ones.

Then it—literally and figuratively—dawns on us: the rest of our day is going to be very difficult with such a lack of sleep. We might be tempted to pray our fajr and tuck ourselves back in the covers. However, doing so robs us of precious hours not only with ourselves—be it spent in exercise, reading, or other forms of self-care—but with Allah . 

If we missed out on Hajj season this year, then we can act upon another hadith:

“Whoever offers Fajr in congregation and remains seated, engaging in the remembrance of Allah until the sun has risen, and then offers two rakʿahs, he will have a reward equal to that of performing ḥajj and ʿumrah.” He ﷺ also added that this reward was: “Complete, complete, complete” [Tirmidhī 586]

If we have the reward of ḥajj in the next life for staying in His remembrance until sunrise, imagine the kind of barakah we’ll have in this life.

Remember that your day starts at Maghrib

We operate by the lunar calendar. It’s why we seek out the crescent when starting the new month. Our night routines are critical for our day schedules.

“All men go out early in the morning and sell themselves, thereby setting themselves free or destroying themselves.” [Muslim 223]

PC: Mishaal Zahed (unsplash)

While the companions, may Allah ﷻ be pleased with them, would delay ‘isha until they went to bed, the summer months can make this task difficult. If you spend that hour between Maghrib and ‘Isha preparing for bed—showering, doing skincare, or reading—it’ll be much easier to pray ‘isha and fall asleep.

Don’t know where to start? Embrace the 3-2-1 technique. Three hours before bed, no food or water. Two hours before bed, no work. One hour before bed, no screen time. Take advantage of the screen time limits on your phone, and make it a joint rule within your home not to eat after the sun sets.

You can sunset your old schedule

It will take time. Grant yourself grace. Some days, you will be more tired than others. Drinking coffee or tea isn’t cheating. On difficult mornings, remind yourself of the reward with Allah and how much smoother your day will be, insha’Allah.

Begin your day with dhikr, Qur’an, and prayer, and end it in the same way. If you’re looking for a template to start with, why not the Prophet’s ﷺ? You can always put it in your calendar that the time between fajr and sunrise is private time. This will also encourage you to read adhkar instead of reading notifications.

There are other tools that you can take advantage of, such as screen time settings on your phone. Adjust the times that you want to be online. I recommend Sunrise to Maghrib. There are even advanced do-not-disturb options that allow the person who’s texting you to know that you’re unavailable.

Know that you’re embarking on a lifestyle change. It can be daunting, especially for sisters, to know that sleeping in won’t always be an option from now on. Strive to still make du’a at the prayer times for barakah, even when not performing salah.

One of the most helpful actions in this endeavor is the midday nap. Just because you’re waking up early in the morning doesn’t mean you have to spend the entire day awake.

Conclusion

When we reclaim our mornings, we reclaim our time. Always remember Surah al-’Asr:

“By the passage of time! Surely, humanity is in grave loss, except those who have faith, do good, and urge each other to the truth, and urge each other to perseverance.” [Surah Al-Asr: 103;1-3]

May Allah make us of those who do not lose the barakah in our time, or lose time at all.

Related:

– From The Chaplain’s Desk: The Value Of Time – MuslimMatters.org

– How to Optimize Your Free Time – MuslimMatters.org