We all as believers know that missing a salah is out of question. But we all struggle to keep on track especially during our busy days. Studies say that it takes 21 days to create a habit, and 90 days to be part of your lifestyle.

Here are some common reasons of why we miss salah:

• Busy life and distractions: Sometimes we forget to pray on time due to our lives that are full of events and commitments.

• Not finding a place to pray: One of the most common reasons, especially for those who work full-time and spend most of their day outside their house.

• Oversleeping: It’s challenging to every time wake up early especially during fajr prayer.

5 practical tips to help you build your prayer habit:

• Mental preparation: Before anything, you need to know the purpose behind praying. Why do we pray? Here’s an article that’ll help you know why salah is a part of worshiping in Islam. “Why Does God Ask Us to Worship Him?”

• Adhan applications: lately, there are tons of Islamic applications, many of them include playing the adhan on the exact required time starting from fajr to ishaa. This will help you remember your praying times especially when you are in a place where you can’t hear the adhan. Also, solve the problem of oversleeping.

 Here are some applications you can use:
1) Athan: Prayer Times & Al Quran
2) Salatuk (Prayer time)
3) Prayer Times - Qibla and Azan
4) Muslim Pro: Quran Athan Prayer 

• Set a praying corner: prepare a corner in your house and get yourself a new prayer rug. Choose one that’s aesthetically pleasant, yet comfortable and practical. Also pick another praying mat that’s portable, and pocket size so you can take it wherever you go to overcome the problem of finding a suitable place to pray.

• Set a schedule: Add your 5 prayers in your daily to do list. According to each salah, set your schedule around it. For example, if your to do list includes going to the gym at 12 pm, remember to add salat Al-duhr above this point. Also, you can create a check list to track your performance during your habit development.

• Don’t give up on missed salah: Always remember, that you were given the option to perform your salah even after you unintentionally missed it due to legitimate excuse. It’s called qadaa. So, even if you failed to perform your prayer on its required time, at least the first thing to do once your back home is to perform ambulation (wudu) and set up your praying rug and pray what you’ve missed.

At the end, we have to know that we are very blessed to be allowed to meet Allah five times per day. We are blessed to be given a duty that’s guaranteed will make our lives better and more peaceful.