Fatwa.. Neglecting Religious Duties Out of Laziness

Egypt's Dar al-Iftaa answers readers' questions in various fatwas. We at "SEE" publish these.

Question

I am too lazy to observe acts of worship and feel bad about it. What should I do?

Answer

Laziness can be the outcome of many bad habits you follow in your daily life. The first thing you must do to overcome this problem is to develop and cultivate taqwa (mindfulness of God Almighty). The more you distance yourself from committing sins out of taqwa, the more God will draw you nearer to Him and make it easy for you to perform acts of worship. The Almighty says, "And whoever fears God - He will make his matter easy for him."

The second important step is to stop procrastinating because procrastination is from Satan. Therefore, if you want to overcome laziness, you must immediately act upon the above advice. We also recommend that you recite the following du’a (prayer) regularly:

Anas Ibn Malik (may God be pleased with him) narrated that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) used to say, “Allahumma inni a'udhu bika minal-'ajzi, wal-kasali, wal-jubni, wal-hirami, wa a'udhu bika min 'adhabil-qabr wa a'udhu bika min fitnat al-mahya wal-mamat” (Bukhari). The du’a translates as, “O God! I seek refuge with You from incapacity and laziness, from cowardice and old age, I seek refuge with You from the punishment of the grave, and I seek refuge with You from the afflictions of life and death.”

And God Almighty knows best.