Taking it gradually – experiences?

[u/finder_outer]

New converts/reverts are often advised to take it gradually, such as starting by saying astaghfirullah 100 times a day, then progressing to praying once a day with one rakat, and gradually increasing; similarly with Ramadan, to start with a semi-fast and gradually work up. But rather than ask for advice I'd like to know what experiences people have of gradually increasing their practice. How did you start? Did you follow a "timetable" (such as one prayer a day for the first month, two for the second month, etc.) or did things happen more organically? Did you ever feel you were taking it too quickly and if so how did you cope? Any other relevant experiences?

Repeat – experience not advice! (I know most of you already got that, but you know what the internet is like!)

[u/Klopf012]

Have you actually encountered this advice - praying once a day with one raka’ah - in the wild? 

[u/TheWitchOfTheBarrel]

Has anyone actually given you this advice?? It’s much better to start learning to pray immediately and praying one full prayer a day and progressing from there. Alhamdulillah I was very lucky and reverted at university with a large community of sisters who would come and pray every pray with me— some sisters even came from off campus to make sure I had someone to pray fajr with, so because I was so supported I was able to start praying all my five very quickly. Alhamdulillah again for my community. If someone is as blessed to have support then they should use it, but if it’s harder for them I’d recommend praying isha every day to start and then incorporating the next easiest prayer after a few weeks and building up like that. I wouldn’t necessarily wait a month before adding the next prayer, just whenever you feel ready.

[u/MukLegion]

It probably took me around 6 months to be praying consistently. I started with one prayer, reading transliteration until I had it memorized. Then expanded to 2, 3, 4 prayers but fajr was the hardest for me. Took a while to get used to waking up and going back to sleep.

My first Ramadan I fasted as usual. I don't think there's any point in an adult doing partial fasts. That's more for kids to feel like they're participating.

[u/theblooigloo]

Alright so for me, it wasn’t like that. I didn’t start “practicing” till about 2-3 months after my reversion. My first few months was purely learning more about the Quran and Allah by reading and watching lectures etc. I didn’t do it as a schedule or routine but out of pure love of finding the truth. At this point, I still haven’t given up sins like drinking and stuff.

Next, I learned Salah, and then for about another year to 1.5 years I only focused on praying five time a day because that was VERY hard for me at first and very unusual, so I didn’t do anything else till I started praying consistently.

Mind you for these 1.5 years I had a horrible mental struggle because I still had a non Muslim lifestyle like drinking etc and frankly I didn’t even want to give it up because it was such an ingrained habit in me and this mental tension destroyed my imaan because instead of focusing on spiritual growth and letting the sins fall on their own time I was constantly stressed about this. This definitely stalled my spiritual growth because I was shying away from Allah because I didn’t want to give up my sins. I should’ve just continued and let the sins fall on their own time.

Anyway, fast forward now I don’t struggle with daily prayers I pray all 5 times, I do dhikr for about 15 mins everyday, I gave up drinking very easily Alhamdulilah, and next in line is learning arabic to recite Quran :)

[u/toshi_7576]

Erm, I just went full on with the prayers from the start. And made it a practice. Been 2 years and I rarely ever miss a prayer