There will come upon the people a time when holding onto the religion will be like holding onto hot coal. (Prophet Muhammad)

The momentum and energy you felt as you prepared to take your Shahadah, or Declaration of Faith, most likely carried you for your first few weeks or even months as a new Muslim. But just like all things, even your faith can ebb and flow from time to time.

It happens to everyone, regardless of whether you’re a new Muslim or a lifelong Muslim. As Allah Almighty says in the Noble Quran:

It is He who sent down tranquility into the hearts of the believers that they would increase in faith along with their [present] faith. And to Allah belong the soldiers of the heavens and the earth; and ever is Allah Knowing and Wise. (Quran 48:4)

There are a variety of faith ‘drainers’ that can sap your faith and pull you away from the Straight Path. It’s essential to identify those factors in your life that have an effect on your faith; and find solutions to eliminate their impact.

When it comes to your faith, anything that degrades it in any way must be eradicated for the sake of your Islam.

A Busy Lifestyle

We’re all busy. That’s just part of the fast-paced world that we live, as we try to educate ourselves and earn an income to support our families. However, our main purpose in life is to worship Allah and that is our true calling. As Allah Almighty says in the Noble Quran:

And I did not create the jinn and mankind except to worship Me.  (Quran 51:56)

Many of us exert so much energy trying to fit the five daily prayers, for example, into our busy lifestyles. But, the reality is that we should be trying to fit our busy lifestyles around the five daily prayers since worship takes precedence over everything else.

Being busy or “tied-up” with other tasks is never an acceptable excuse to miss your daily prayers, or not fulfill other acts of worship.

Whenever you put this fleeting world first, you’ll always come up short and you’ll find your faith waning. Instead, downsize your life and let go of all the things that are keeping you too busy to give it your all as a Muslim.

That might mean you have to skip the gym membership in favor of working out at home, for instance; or find a job closer to where you live to shorten your commute and free up extra time for worship. Never let being busy drain your faith!

Negative Influences Abound

Open your eyes to the world around you and you’ll be surprised by all of the negative influences that abound. Forbidden, or haram, things are easy to spot. Things like drug abuse, alcohol abuse, and promiscuity are common enough unfortunately.

But it’s the smaller scale negative influences that can have a lasting impact. They’re less easy to detect and they can become “normal” the more you’re exposed to them.

For example, a close friend of yours decides to start dressing more provocatively and encourages you to do the same to look more youthful. If she is Muslim, she might even remove her hijab for the sake of her appearance.

This is a negative influence that plays out ad infinitum all over the world. And if you buy into, it’ll drain your faith fast! You must remain vigilant in identifying negative influences and prevent them from harming your faith in any way.

Ignoring Even the Smallest of Blessings

You’ve been making dua for a week, a month or even a year and you don’t just feel like it’s being answered. Always remember that Allah knows best. Just because you think you know better or know what you need doesn’t mean that it is good for you.

Quite the contrary! Many things that you might be supplicating for could cause you great harm in the short or even the long run.

Don’t despair if your duas aren’t always answered when you think they should be. Being a Muslim means that you submit your will to the Will of Allah without question and zero strings attached.  Put your trust in Allah first and last.

You woke up this morning with the ability to breathe, open your eyes and even stand on your own two feet. What may seem like small blessings to you are actually huge blessings; just ask someone who has severe asthma, is blind or is confined to a wheelchair what they think about the blessings that Allah Almighty has bestowed you with. So, count your all of blessings to avoid this faith drainer!

When it comes to your faith, put a plug in all faith drainers that seek to drain your faith and lead you away from the One who loves you the most – Allah Almighty.