hijab important as salah

I had a conversation about hijab with an insta-friend.

She said hijab is just as important as salah because it is a command from Allah. I explained to her there are hundreds of commands in the Quran.

By her logic, all of these commands are just as important as the five pillars then. And for someone who didn't have an early start (even those who grew up religious), it is literally impossible to follow every command simultaneously.

This is why Islam is a journey. Many of us WANT to do everything right, but know we HAVE to take it one step or maybe just a few steps at a time. To take a few steps means there has to be a hierarchy... a list per se.

We work on establishing one habit or getting rid of a bad one. Once that's happening organically, we work on the next (one or few)... on and on.

So now how do we decide on the priorities of this list? Which command is more important than the other?

Controlling anger and being more forgiving, eating only pure and halal, building modesty and chastity (which is relevant even for hijabis), etc etc etc?

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What are the priorities? ⠀

Establishing each of these takes mental investment until they become organic to us. So for every moment I am 'working on' one of these, I'm taking away time I could be working on the other. So the point is there is no set standard of priorities; we set them ourselves. Because of this, we have no right to question each others' priorities. What matters is that we have a list and we are working through it.To me, the five pillars hold higher priorities. There is a reason why they are our foundation; we need them to better understand the other commands.

There is always something to work on for us as Muslims. It takes a lot of consistent effort to keep our iman up, our heart and intentions pure, our thoughts with Allah, our character straight, our body and mind healthy, our practice deep (understanding in addition to doing), our recitation technique sharp, our children educated, etc. So as much a we want to do it all and do it all right... it takes time and a list. If you have sourced knowledge on priority, please share. 🌷Umeda