Question:
Is there a spiritual shortcut to accomplishing the 500 obligations and avoiding the 800 forbiddens?
Answer:
Keep your obligations and perform your daily awrad and avoid what is forbidden, with that intention, that is the shortcut. It does not mean you actually accomplish the 500 and avoid the 800, but by your intention you will be rewarded as one who did. And this is similar to one who sits after Fajr in congregation, reciting dhikr without any distraction of dunya until the time of ishraq, (after the sun rises about 20 minutes), then prays Salat al-Ishraq, will be rewarded as one who did hajj and `umrah.
من صلى الفجر في جماعة ثم قعد يذكر الله حتى تطلع الشمس ثم صلى ركعتين كانت له كأجر حجة و عمرة تامة تامة تامة
The Prophet (s) said, “He who performs Fajr with the congregation and remains seated in the same place while engaging in dhikr until after sunrise and thereafter performs two raka`ats nafl salat, (Ishraq), he will obtain the reward of one hajj and one `umrah, complete free from every defect and shortcoming,” and he repeated this 3 times (taama, taama, taama). (Tirmidhi, sahih)
And to clean the masjid is also something highly rewarded, as the first to enter Paradise are those who clean the masjid, before the imam and before the khatib.
w ‘Allahu `alam
Shaykh Muhammad Hisham Kabbani
