How to Increase Your Dedication

This post will give you some ideas to help you appreciate the blessings of God, and give you motivation to increase your devotion. These are some of the key useful ideas that I find may give you powerful motivation to avoid sin and do good.

These are the four principles:

Principle #1: Gratitude for Allah’s blessings

Principle #2: Fear of Allah

Principle #3: Avoiding sin

Principle #4: Doing good deeds 

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Principle #1: Gratitude for Allah's blessings

Every single breath you take is a gift from God. There are so many blessings that we take for granted. Consider all the different things that people suffer from and this will remind you you of the extent of God's blessings.

• Physical health
• Every joint in your body that is not broken or injured
• Broken arm
• Broken leg
• Teeth
• Eyes
• Spine
• Illnesses that you don't have
• Cancer
• Diabetes
• Ebola
• Fever
• Virus
• Stomach pain
• Vomiting
• Smallpox
• Black death
• Mental health
• Severe anxiety
• OCD
• Various mental disorders
• Schizophrenia
• etc.
• General well being
• Did you suffer from
• Poverty
• Malnutrition
• Displacement from your home country and all the trauma that comes with it
• Kidnapping (when you were a child)
• Trafficking
• Sexual exploitation
• War
• etc.

Think carefully about all the blessings of God upon you. Does this not call for thanking God?

Allah says in the Qur'an:

وَإِن تَعُدُّوا نِعْمَةَ اللَّهِ لَا تُحْصُوهَا ۗ إِنَّ اللَّهَ لَغَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

"If you tried to count Allah’s blessings, you would never be able to number them. Surely Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful."

(Qur'an 16:18, Dr. Khattab Translation)

Principle #2: Fear of Allah

Imagine having to answer to God about the sins you did.

وَاتَّقُوا يَوْمًا تُرْجَعُونَ فِيهِ إِلَى اللَّهِ ۖ ثُمَّ تُوَفَّىٰ كُلُّ نَفْسٍ مَّا كَسَبَتْ وَهُمْ لَا يُظْلَمُونَ

"And fear a Day when you will be returned to Allah . Then every soul will be compensated for what it earned, and they will not be treated unjustly."

(Qur'an 2:281)

Principle #3: Avoiding sin

Even though we all do sins, the door to repentance is always open:

The conditions of repentance (tawba) are:

1-You should give up the sin 

2-You should regret having done it 

3-You should resolve never to go back to it.

Also: if it has to do with someone else's rights, clear yourself of the obligation you owe them

For more information see the link.

Principle #4: Doing good deeds

Simple things:

• Dhikr
• Dhikr means remembrance of God. There are many phrases that can be said and bring rewards from God, such as:
• Subhan Allah 
• Alhamdulilah
• La ilaha illa Allah
• Allahu Akbar
• Astaghfirullaha wa atubu ilayh
• Subhan Allahi wa bihamdihi, subhan Allahil'azheem

• Reading/listening to Qur'an
• You can listen to a recitation of Qur'an
• www.quran.com is a good website for reading Qur'an (with meaning translations in multiple languages)

Here is a recitation of one surah (chapter) of the Qur'an:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LSKA6wWHIg

• Prayers
• Prayers are an important part of your relationship with Allah
• The most important thing is to get down the 5 daily prayers: Fajr, Dhuhr, Asr, Magrib, and Isha
• These prayers are obligatory

• Charity donations
• Consider donating to a charity you trust
• Other
• There are many other good deeds, of course. These are only a few.

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*I am not a certified psychologist or religious authority, I am simply presenting data which I found from other sources and otherwise, and if something is incorrect in any manner I do not claim it to be correct.

*Disclaimer: The author does not claim to be perfect, and the advice listed on The Muslim Blog or on The Muslim Talk facebook/instagram pages is advice to the author as much as it is to anyone else :)

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