Assalamu’alaikum,

A discussion began on the ProductiveMuslim facebook with a simple question: “What’s the Islamic cure for laziness/sloth?”

I started writing a reply but found the answer suitable for it to be published on the site for the benefit of all.

So, we all know the feeling? Sitting in front of the TV/Internet, flicking channels/websites, feeling so heavy and slow, you can’t be bothered to do anything. You sleep for hours, wake up completely disorientated, pray the prayers outside their time (half-heartedly). And although it’s so comfy, yet you hate yourself, so you waste more hours not to think of your present situation, and the vicious cycle continues. The question is: How do you snap out of it?!

The first step is to actually SNAP out of your state! Realize that you’re been a slug, that you’re lazy, and tell yourself, THIS IS NOT ME! Let your physiology control your emotions: stand up straight! smile! go for a run, hold a pen & paper and go crazy writing, just get out of your state! Jump on a trampoline (if you have one) or skip rope!

Next step: find a crazy temporary passion! Find something you really wanted to do, you’d love to do, or something you always wanted to know about, it could be something trivial like “Oh I wonder if there’s a bungee jumping club next week in my area” OR “man, if I had money, which car would I buy today?”

Now I know all of you by know are raising your eye-brows, thinking: “Umm, ProductiveMuslim? checking out bungee jumping sites doesn’t sound productivemuslimy to me?” Yup, good point, but the purpose of doing the above is to SNAP out of the sluggish state you’re in and give yourself that spark you need to grow the Productivity fire!

Once you’ve snapped out of the vicisous cycle, next thing is to set yourself an action plan so NOT to get into that state again. In this stage, you try to do anything to avoid such a situation. Here’s some ideas:

1) Sit down with a calendar and plan your WEEK out: Schedule Family time, Friends time, Internet time, Prayer time, Sports..etc. When you have a “busy” schedule, it gives you a sense of purpose and time becomes precious, instead of being one continuous passage of time.

2) Plan one exciting thing or interesting thing you want to do in that week - which will keep you buzzed for a week! It could be a trip somewhere, a meeting with an old friend, anything that will keep you going.

3) Schedule some sports time - I’ve noticed with myself, if I don’t do sports for a long time, I become such a couch potato, but the moment I go to the gym and come back, feel like I can work 10 hours straight! So definitely, incorporate sports in your life.

4) Make your life interesting - we humans love variety & hate routine! Think along those lines, find some variety to add to your life and watch yourself be on productivity buzz all the time! Add so much variety, so that you barely get done with one activity before you jump to the other!

5) Find a Passion! - I’m sure you’ve heard this many many times, but you need to find your passion. What makes you tick? What makes you work tirelessly for hours without a drop of caffeine! Answer that question and ask Allah to open a door for you in your area of passion then you’ll start living!

And now for the ProductiveMuslim twist ;)...

Laziness and slouchiness is a disease and like all diseases they are a warning that something is not right. Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) used to seek refuge in Allah from laziness, and the famous dua is there to remind us that this is a disease of the heart that needs to be cured. One of it’s main origins, believe it or not, is sins. Our sins have an effect on us being lazy and grouchy, and our temporary solution of distracting ourselves with TV/Internet/X-box..etc won’t cure us, it’ll only make us feel worse at the end of the day.

Snap out of your lazy state with a true repentance to Allah, and remember his favours upon you, and ask for his forgiveness. Ask Him to show you your passion, and to utilize your self, and your skills, for the purpose of serving His Deen, because that’s a passion well-spent.

Remember, Allah & His Messenger does not expect us to work all the time, and relaxing is permissible in Islam, yet moderation is needed and this moderation is what’s missing today.

I ask Allah (swt) to bless us all with the ability not to fall prey for laziness or wasting times, because there’ll come a time when we’ll regret every moment we wasted and every second we sat idle.