A Light Heart After Making Up Missed Prayers (A Convert’s Journey)

As a former Hindu who embraced Islam and has been practicing quietly for a while, I plan to write a longer post later about what drew me to the faith. It was a gradual shift. With all the negativity and misunderstandings surrounding Islam, and the typical views of those familiar with it, I had to study deeply-tafseer, fiqh, and the religion as a whole-to separate ignorance and falsehood from truth. Slowly, I dived in and truly understood. It’ll take time to organize everything because I want to compile all the reasons I accepted Islam, including ayahs, seerah events, and more. It’s a massive topic. I even read the Torah and will read the Gospels to compare them with what Christians and Jews believe, and my own reflections. To this day, I compare these faiths and talk with my Hindu friends to clear their doubts about how Islam connects the whole story and answers questions others couldn’t. My own life experiences are woven into this, so it’s a long journey. I’d love to sit down, write it all, review the Quran, Torah, and Gospels, and better understand Jewish and Christian views to deepen my iman. I also learned Arabic. I already knew the alphabet since I picked up Urdu out of curiosity when I was young. Many Hindi speakers online learn the Arabic script for niche communities, and I spent time on the Pakistani side of the web, so reading and writing came naturally. Later, I studied basic Arabic, including Modern Standard Arabic from Dr. V. Abdur Rahim’s three-volume set, plus tajweed. Now, alhamdulillah, my recitation is decent. I memorized important surahs and started praying steadily, thanks to a Pakistani friend who encouraged me, told me not to be afraid, and reminded me to trust Allah. Since then, I’ve been consistent with salah, alhamdulillah. If I miss one, it’s usually because I genuinely couldn’t pray at that time. I’m striving to improve my situation. InshaAllah, once things ease, I’ll join a local masjid, pray Jummah and Fajr there, and commit more to Islam, like memorizing more Quran. I’ve learned a few verses of Al-Baqarah besides the last surahs, but life is hectic now. Still, I do my best to follow Islam and be part of a community where people know I’m here. I know this post wandered off, but I wanted to introduce myself since I’ll be around often, discussing, joining in, and trying to grow. Lately, I’ve been missing quite a few prayers, but I always make them up at night after Isha before sleeping, or during Fajr. I try hard not to pile up a big debt of qada. Out of twenty missed due to circumstances, maybe one was somewhat by choice, like I could’ve prayed but let it slide. I should know better. Today, I couldn’t pray on time, but after making up all the missed ones, the tightness in my chest lifted, leaving me happy and at ease. I know focusing too much on Allah’s mercy can trick someone into excusing their mistakes, but things do improve. If you slip, just keep turning back to Allah, and slowly, by His will, it’ll get better. Sometimes I sin and fear Allah might abandon me or things will go wrong, but it always works out. I suppose Allah knows I’m a growing Muslim who, alhamdulillah, is giving his best. One of my first duas during my very first Fajr was to never stop praying. It’s been a while since then, and I think Allah heard it. 💖💖💖💖 Let’s see what life brings next. I’ll share my reflections here bit by bit. This is my first time, so please be welcoming. I’m just a sincere person looking for a safe space to talk and learn.