He is assailed by doubts because he no longer focuses on his prayer

Praise be to
Allah

It is clear to
us from your question that you are suffering from whispers of exaggeration,
for you do not only exaggerate about problems and make them seem complex,
rather you have reached the point where you think that this will be the
cause of your collapse, as you put it, and the point of a real psychological
crisis that would prevent you from striving, and that has brought you down
to a state of utter despair.

But, by Allah’s
grace, the matter is much easier than that.

You are a
Muslim, first and last, praise be to Allah. You believe in the six articles
of faith; you believe in Allah, His angels, His Books, His Messengers, the
Last Day, and the divine decree, both good and bad. You are striving to
adhere to the five pillars of Islam, the first of which is the twin
testimony of faith, and you are carrying out your religious duties, such as
prayer, giving zakaah, fasting and Hajj.

All of that
should help you to attain a high status before Allah, may He be glorified,
for we all believe in His Oneness and the messages that He sent down, and we
testify to the Prophethood of our Prophet Muhammad (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him); we declare our commitment to following him and adhering
to his path. So why do you not think of all these achievements and certain
truths that are of the greatest significance before Allah, may He be
glorified?

Are we not the
ummah of Muhammad (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him)? And he
promised us that everyone who says Laa ilaaha ill-Allah (there is no god but
Allah) sincerely from the heart will enter Paradise. Have we not heard the
hadith narrated by Abu Dharr (may Allah be pleased with him) from the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), that he said: “That was
Jibreel who appeared to me beside the harrah and said: ‘Give the glad
tidings to your ummah that whoever dies without having associated anything
with Allah will enter Paradise.’ I said: ‘O Jibreel, even if he committed
theft or zina?’ He said: ‘Yes.’ I said: ‘Even if he committed theft or
zina?’ He said: ‘Yes, and even if he drank alcohol.’” Narrated by
al-Bukhaari (6443).

You – praise be
to Allah – are regular with your prayer and worship, but you feel that you
are falling short in your performance, as you are not able to humble
yourself and focus, and to perform the prayer properly. This is something
that happens to most Muslims. What is required of them is to persist in
striving hard, so as to reach the point of finding joy in worship, which all
the righteous strive to attain. They should follow the example of Thaabit
al-Banaani (may Allah have mercy on him) who said: I pushed myself to stand
up and pray for twenty years, then I found joy in it for twenty years.
Narrated by Abu Nu‘aym in Hilyat al-Awliya’ (2/320).

Striving and
persisting in worship, and trying one’s utmost to do it properly and attain
sincerity and focus of mind therein, is the main concern of the righteous
and pious. No one claims to have attained perfection in that regard, but at
the same time, no one who is concerned about this matter should despair, for
Allah, may He be glorified and exalted, does not like those who despair of
His grace and mercy.

“And
who despairs of the mercy of his Lord except for those astray?”

[al-Hijr 15:56].

And He loves His
slaves who hope for His mercy and grace. By the vastness of His kindness, He
forgives bad deeds, pardons mistakes, and overlooks shortcomings. Indeed,
He, may He be glorified and exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

“Except for
those who repent, believe and do righteous work. For them Allah will replace
their evil deeds with good. And ever is Allah Forgiving and Merciful.

And he who
repents and does righteousness does indeed turn to Allah with [accepted]
repentance”

[al-Furqaan
25:70-71].

Ibn Qayyim al-Jawziyyah
(may Allah have mercy on him) said: Being calm when doing acts of worship
helps one to have focus of mind and to humble oneself before one’s Lord, as
does lowering one’s gaze and focusing with all one’s heart on Allah, may He
be exalted, so that one will be able to do this act of worship
wholeheartedly and mindfully. Being able to focus and feel humble when
praying is the result of this calmness, and physical stillness is the
outcome of focus of the heart. The Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be
upon him) saw a man fidgeting with his beard whilst praying, and he said:
“If his heart was focused, then his body would be still.”

If you were to
say: How could one achieve that?

I say: The way
to achieve it is by constantly thinking of your Lord, may He be glorified
and exalted, until it is as if you can see Him. That will make you develop a
sense of haya’ (shyness, modesty), which will make you feel shy lest you
commit a sin, as well as tranquillity, love, submission, humility, and fear
and hope, that cannot be attained otherwise. Thinking of Allah constantly
watching is the basis for all good deeds of the heart (that is, emotions,
feelings, thoughts, intentions, etc.), and is the foundation on the basis of
which acts of worship become sound. The Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) summed up all the deeds of the heart, both major and
minor, in one phrase, when he said, defining ihsaan: “It is to worship Allah
as if you see Him.” So think of every religious duty or righteous deed that
a person does in the proper manner, and every good deed of the heart (such
as positive feelings and emotions), and you will find that this phrase is
the basis thereof.

The point is
that the individual needs to develop tranquillity and calmness when faced
with negative ideas and whispers concerning the basis of faith, so that he
may remain steadfast and not deviate, and when faced with thoughts and
whispers that could undermine the fundamentals of faith, lest they grow
stronger and cause distress and grief, or they become strong and cause him
to start thinking of drifting away, which could nullify his faith.

He also needs
tranquillity when there are reasons for fear and worry of various kinds, so
that his heart may remain steadfast and avoid panic.

And he needs
tranquillity when there is cause for joy, lest he overstep the mark that
should not be overstepped, which could cause his joy to turn to grief and
sorrow.

End quote from
I‘laam al-Muwaqqi‘een (4/155-156).

As you are
keeping up with prayers on time, trying hard to develop focus, and striving
to humble yourself before Allah in prayer and venerate Him, you should know
that by doing so, you are doing the best and most beloved to Allah of deeds,
even if the movement of your tongue and your physical actions are lacking in
focus and even if you are not able to feel a connection with Allah, may He
be glorified. Perhaps Allah, Who is aware of what you are going through of
worry and how sincerely you are striving to attain the level of calmness and
tranquillity in worship that you seek, will bless you with it and will
decree it for you, as a reward for your striving and for your pain and
hopes.

Al-Ghazaali (may
Allah have mercy on him) said:

Seeking
forgiveness verbally (without focus of mind) is still a good deed, because
moving the tongue to say these words, even without focus, is better than
moving the tongue at that moment in backbiting a Muslim or engaging in idle
talk. Indeed, it is better than not saying anything. The virtue of uttering
istighfaar (prayer for forgiveness), even without focus, when compared to
not saying anything, is better, but it still falls short of the proper way
of saying it, which is with focus of mind.

Hence one of
them said to his shaykh, Abu ‘Uthmaan al-Maghribi: Sometimes my tongue moves
with recitation of dhikr or Qur’an, but my heart is not focused on what I am
saying.

He said: Give
thanks to Allah, for He is causing you to use one of your faculties for
something good and making it become accustomed to dhikr, and He has not
caused you to use it for some evil purpose or let it get used to idle talk.

What he
mentioned is true, for if the physical faculties get used to doing good
until it becomes second nature, that will ward off many sins from you. If a
person’s tongue gets used to speaking words of istighfaar, when he hears
someone else speaking a lie, his tongue will utter what it is used to
saying, so he will say: Astahfir-Allah (I seek Allah’s forgiveness),
whereas the one who is used to engaging in idle talk, his tongue will utter
words such as: How foolish you are, or what a liar you are.

This is referred
to in the verses in which Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of
the meaning):

“indeed, Allah
does not allow to be lost the reward of those who do good”

[Hood 11:115]

“while if there
is a good deed, He multiplies it and gives from Himself a great reward”

[an-Nisa’ 4:40].

See how Allah
multiplies it and brings about many benefits, as He has made istighfaar
recited habitually, without focus, a means of warding off the sins of
backbiting, cursing and idle talk.

This is bringing
about many benefits in this world for the smallest act of obedience; the
benefits and reward in the hereafter would be much greater, if only they
knew.

Beware of
becoming obsessed with your shortcomings when doing any act of worship, lest
that make you lose interest in doing acts of worship altogether, for this is
a trick of the Shaytaan that he uses to deceive people and make them think
that they are people of deep insight who are able to notice subtleties and
examine what is in the heart, and to say, What good is there in saying words
of dhikr with the tongue when our hearts are not focused?

With regard to
this devilish trick, people fall into three categories: those who wronged
themselves, those who are moderate, and those who are foremost in good
deeds.

The one who is
foremost in good deeds says: You are right, O cursed one! But it is a
correct statement intended for a wrong purpose, and I shall certainly punish
you twice and annoy you on two counts: in addition to moving my tongue, I
shall start focusing in my heart too. Thus he is like one who wants to treat
the wound of the Shaytaan by rubbing salt in it.

As for the one
who wronged himself and is deceived, he feels proud of himself for noticing
this subtle matter, but he is unable to perfect his deeds, so he gives up
the habit of reciting dhikr altogether. Thus he goes along with the Shaytaan
and accepts his deceiving argument, and there is complete harmony between
them.

As for the one
who is moderate, he is not able to annoy the Shaytaan by  making himself
focus on what he is doing of uttering words of dhikr and doing acts of
worship, and he is also aware of his shortcomings, for he was uttering words
of dhikr and doing acts of worship without being focused. Yet at the same
time he was aware of the fact that uttering words of dhikr (even without
being focused) is better than remaining silent or engaging in idle talk, so
he persisted in it and asked Allah, may He be exalted, to help him so that
he would be able to focus every time he uttered words of dhikr or did acts
of worship.

So the foremost
in doing good is like the weaver who was criticised for being a weaver, so
he gave it up and became a scribe [which was regarded as a superior
profession].

The one who
wronged himself and falls behind is like the one who gave up weaving
altogether, and became a sweeper.

The one who is
moderate is like the one who is unable to be a scribe, and said: I
understand that the profession of a weaver is not good; the weaver in
comparison to the scribe is not good, but in comparison to the sweeper he is
good, so even if I am unable to be a scribe, I shall not give up being a
weaver.

This is how you
should understand criticism and praise, for these matters are to be judged
in comparison with other things and should not be judged in isolation. You
should not regard the smallest acts of worship or sins as being
insignificant.

End quote from
Ihyaa’ ‘Uloom ad-Deen (4/48).

A wise man said:
there is no hope without effort.

What we mean is
that nothing will bring you out of the state of despair into which the
Shaytaan has caused you to fall except bearing in mind what is mentioned
above of hoping for Allah’s mercy and following the example of the
righteous, starting by adhering to prayer on time, doing wudoo’ properly
beforehand, being deliberate in recitation in the prayer, and trying to
focus when reciting the adhkaar after the prayer. Do not forget to recite
the supplication following every prayer: “Allahumma a‘inni ‘ala dhikrika
wa shukrika wa husni ‘ibaadatika (O Allah, help me to remember You, give
thanks to You, and worship You properly).”

On this website
you will find previous answers that speak of losing interest in worship, and
the causes and remedy thereof. Please see questions no.
47565 and 70314.

There are also
answers that speak of doubts and whispers: 39684 and
21052.

And Allah knows
best.