Lesson 4 of 6 · Set the floor, not the ceiling

How small is small enough

Here is the test. Picture the worst day you have had in the last two months. The one where you got four hours of sleep and everything went wrong.

Could you have done it on that day, without heroics? If yes, that is your floor. If you had to imagine yourself being slightly better than you actually are, it is still a target and it will break.

Almost everybody sets it too high on the first attempt. If you find yourself thinking that it is too small to be worth anything, that is usually the sign that you have got it about right.

If a floor still feels like a compromise, look at where the Qur'an sets one. Be mindful of God as much as you can. And in the surah of the night prayer a regimen is explicitly reduced, twice in a single verse, on the stated grounds that people will not be able to keep it, with sickness, travel and work given as the reasons. That is not a concession being wrung out of the text. It is the text setting the floor itself.

Qur’an and Sunnah

Where the Qur'an sets a floor of its own. Be mindful of God as much as you can, and no more than that.

فَٱتَّقُواْ ٱللَّهَ مَا ٱسۡتَطَعۡتُمۡ وَٱسۡمَعُواْ وَأَطِيعُواْ وَأَنفِقُواْ خَيۡرࣰ ا لِّأَنفُسِكُمۡۗ وَمَن يُوقَ شُحَّ نَفۡسِهِۦ فَأُوْلَٰٓئِكَ هُمُ ٱلۡمُفۡلِحُونَ

be mindful of God as much as you can; hear and obey; be charitable- it is for your own good. Those who are saved from their own meanness will be the prosperous ones

Qur’an 64:16

A night prayer regimen is reduced twice inside this single verse, on the stated grounds that people will not be able to keep it, with sickness, travel and work given as the reasons. The text sets the floor itself.

۞إِنَّ رَبَّكَ يَعۡلَمُ أَنَّكَ تَقُومُ أَدۡنَىٰ مِن ثُلُثَيِ ٱلَّيۡلِ وَنِصۡفَهُۥ وَثُلُثَهُۥ وَطَآئِفَةࣱ مِّنَ ٱلَّذِينَ مَعَكَۚ وَٱللَّهُ يُقَدِّرُ ٱلَّيۡلَ وَٱلنَّهَارَۚ عَلِمَ أَن لَّن تُحۡصُوهُ فَتَابَ عَلَيۡكُمۡۖ فَٱقۡرَءُواْ مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنَ ٱلۡقُرۡءَانِۚ عَلِمَ أَن سَيَكُونُ مِنكُم مَّرۡضَىٰ وَءَاخَرُونَ يَضۡرِبُونَ فِي ٱلۡأَرۡضِ يَبۡتَغُونَ مِن فَضۡلِ ٱللَّهِ وَءَاخَرُونَ يُقَٰتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ ٱللَّهِۖ فَٱقۡرَءُواْ مَا تَيَسَّرَ مِنۡهُۚ وَأَقِيمُواْ ٱلصَّلَوٰةَ وَءَاتُواْ ٱلزَّكَوٰةَ وَأَقۡرِضُواْ ٱللَّهَ قَرۡضًا حَسَنࣰ اۚ وَمَا تُقَدِّمُواْ لِأَنفُسِكُم مِّنۡ خَيۡرࣲ تَجِدُوهُ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ هُوَ خَيۡرࣰ ا وَأَعۡظَمَ أَجۡرࣰ اۚ وَٱسۡتَغۡفِرُواْ ٱللَّهَۖ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ غَفُورࣱ رَّحِيمُۢ

[Prophet], your Lord is well aware that you sometimes spend nearly two-thirds of the night at prayer––sometimes half, sometimes a third––as do some of your followers. God determines the division of night and day. He knows that you will not be able to keep a measure of it and He has relented towards all of you, so recite as much of the Quran as is easy for you. He knows that some of you will be sick, some of you travelling through the land seeking God’s bounty, some of you fighting in God’s way: recite as much as is easy for you, keep up the prayer, pay the prescribed alms, and make God a good loan. Whatever good you store up for yourselves will be improved and increased for you. Ask God for His forgiveness, He is most forgiving, most merciful

Qur’an 73:20

Translation: M.A.S. Abdel Haleem, The Qur'an, Oxford University Press, 2004.