well said brother.

Salaam Muslimah,

I was sad to see that your comment made no mention of the wonderful article above. I wanted to inform you that the definition of the verb ‘to read’ includes reading a subject. This is not an incorrect use of the word. Please feel free to look this up in any dictionary.

What makes Muslims look bad is that we always think we are right and everyone else is wrong and we forget to do our research.

I hope your comment does not spark a debate over the phrase ‘reading law’, instead of sparking intellectual discussion about the article itself.

Salaam Sr Afeefa.

I am so so so happy to hear from you! No need to apologise at all for your story- it is so beautiful and brought tears to my eyes. You have been given a wonderful gift- and that is trusting in Allah (swt). May Allah continue to bring you closer to Him and give you every success in this world and the Hereafter! Ameen

All the best,
Ayesha

Salaam Ghousia,
Ameen. Thank you for your kind words!

Very true
May Allah give us the strength to follow these great people In Sha Allah

Salaam Lynnie!

First of all, I am very sorry for the very very late reply! I’m so happy you enjoyed the article and inshAllah I hope you benefit from it. I am also happy to know, as a non-Muslim that you have enjoyed the article.

Ayesha

Salaam Naas and sorry for the very very late reply! I’m so happy you enjoyed the article and inshAllah I hope you benefit from it.
Ayesha

Great suggestion from Sr Ayesha. When I work late into the night for a few times in row, I personally use the two strategies that you mentioned – drinking water and 2 alarms ;)

Sr Afeefa, first of all I think it’s amazing what you’ve accomplished so far. Working full-time while taking care of a young family is not an easy task. Kudos to you. In terms of you quitting your job, if the only thing making you doubt your decision is the fact that your work now is interfering with your spiritual/family/personal life, I don’t think you should second guess yourself. IMHO, I think it’s a matter of setting up some clear boundaries and sticking to a number of key decisions as to what’s acceptable to you and what’s not.

Here, if I may share some of my thoughts and strategies. I hope they help you in getting back to your old productive self, iA.

* Preplan your workload and have a ‘go to sleep’ alarm that tells you to go to sleep by such and such time.

* When you work from home, it’s important that you have a clear boundary between professional/business and personal/family life. If one doesn’t have a clear boundary, mediocrity creeps in because there’s no focused commitment to giving it their best. There’s always the guilt of “should have’s” and “could have’s” and that drains energy and is not healthy.

* And getting clear on your priorities – what comes first?

* It could be as simple as making a decision to stop doing something at a certain time and making Fajr a must. Most of the time, we are not clear on whether we’ve made a decision or not. So, getting clear on the consequences of missing Fajr and getting clear on the benefits of waking up for Fajr, and then associate them to your life, look at it from the perspective of your future self (or from the grave).

* Ask, ‘if I keep going the way I’m going, where will I end up?’, ‘What kind of example am I setting for my children?’

* If you decide to sleep late and get some work done, then you might as well take that opportunity to pray your Tahajjud before going to sleep.

* Use the ‘Sleep cycle’ to preplan your wake up time so that it’s the easiest for you to wake up and get up.
– More resource here regarding understanding and utilising your sleep cycle and sleep routines by Br Abu Productive
https://productivemuslim.com/productivemuslim-sleep-routine/
https://productivemuslim.com/ramadan-series-master-your-sleep-this-ramadan-part-1/
https://productivemuslim.com/ramadan-series-master-your-sleep-this-ramadan-part-2/

* Lastly, please be patient with the process of rebuilding your habit of Tahajjud and Fajr. It becomes easy after the first week of sticking to your commitment with consistent action, iA.

Apologises for the long comment. :)

Also- I am so sorry for the very late reply!