How to recognize those who are close to Allah Almighty and Glorious is He?
It is like when you are walking through a shopping mall and you smell coffee. Or, if you see smoke you will think of fire. Or if you are searching for a friend in a crowd and you hear his voice and you know they are nearby. These people, their hears are so pure that the love is visible on their face.
And for them the feeling is like that of a mother who’s child is far away – overseas studying or something – and the child gets sick. The mother will feel a discomfort even though she is not in direct contact with the child. That feeling, subhannallah – that is what it is like.
Or consider the mobile phone. Now you can send messages or emails anywhere within a few seconds. This is man made. But how about what Allah (Almighty and Glorious is He) has made. The heart! But this is something that must be exprerienced in order to understand. Sometimes we pray with sincere feeling and we can say that we really feel our pray, our body trembles from the intensity. And sometimes we cannot. Then we feel distracted and we cannot be sure if we have prayed the correct number of cycles or not. At times like this reflect back on your day and attempt to correct whatever it is that is distracting you.
And for your supplication, when you pray for someone, anyone, in this world who is sick or in need of help. Or you ask someone going to Makka or Madinah to pray for so and so. Realize that you do not know how Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is going to answer this prayer. Just remember His promise in the Qur’an
إِنَّ مَعَ الْعُسْرِ يُسْرًا [٩٤:٦]
Verily, with every difficulty there is relief.
But how He will do that, only He knows. This is “kun fayakun” (‘Be! And it is!). For He is al Badeeya, Almighty and Glorious is He. Badeeya comes from the same base as ‘bida’. And note that bida’ is not always something that is bad. Bida’ is something that is new. As when someone discovers a new machine that will do a better job at something and people say: “this is bida’!” That is, someone has done something unique, something new, something useful that is good. This is a positive thing.
There are also negative aspects of bida’ such as if someone were to say: “We only pray three raka’a for maghrib – why not make it four?” This type of bida’a is forbidden. But something new is not always something bad. Sayiddinah Rasulullah (saw) called it ‘sunnah hasanah’.
One of the names of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, is Al Badeeya’ – the One Who Has Created Something and nobody knows how. And He (Almighty and Glorious is He) is the only one who can do that.
Consider one of the stories of Firaun for and example of the power of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He.
And on the positive side, the story of someone who knew about this power and was thankful.
And in the case of Rasulullah (saw) the most exhalted example for the entire ummah.
You see the difference in the understanding of the blessed (soliheen): there are those who say “There are mountains, and trees and rivers, the heavens with no visible support, there is a moon, the sun, the stars and that means there is a Creator who created all of this.”. They accept that there is a Creator because they can witness His creation. But the blessed will say “See Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, how He created all of these things. How great is He.”. For the blessed believes in Allah first, and them marvels at the wonders of His creation. For the blessed, Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He would be the Creator even if there were no creation.
When you start watching in your life for this, the meaning n your life will change. And this is a change that we want. We want to change our life for the better but we cannot do this alone. We find difficulties because we are too caught up in the attractions of this world.
And, there are those who Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, leads to such a change but the person rejects the change. May Allah protect us from such ignorance.
Sayiddinah Isa (as) has said:
Whoever serves me, you serve him. But whoever serves you, take him as your slave. These are called slaves to this life
And Sayiddinah Ali (ra) one day was talking to ahlu Kufa – in Iraq – and he told them: “Your religion is your money, and your Qibla is your women and not Kabbatullah. This world has become everything to you so that when you stand in prayer and say “Allah Akbar”, straight away so many things will come to your mind that you are not even aware of your prayer. You pray and finish but it means nothing.”
Do not attempt to interfere at all in Allah’s will. Who are you to interfere? Belief is a belief in Allah and your destiny, also called fate or taqdir. If you try to interfere and change this you cannot and you will only be frustrated. You know that Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, can change this but by yourself cannot. But, how to realize this. Sayiddah Uzair (as) in the Qur’an sees a tumbled down dwelling and questioned how anyone could ever revive such a desolate place. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, causes him to sleep for 100 years and wakes him to find everything changed. His donkey has died and decayed but his food is a fresh as the day he slept. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, revives the donkey as a lesson for Sayiddinah Uzair (as). And another example of the power of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He is in the story of the companions of the cave. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He is the Master of our destiny.
And another example of the power of Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, can be seen in the story of Al Mousqie in Cairo, Eqypt.
If you are the path to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, it is same as if you need to travel by night. If you travel alone, the distance will seem to be so long. And you will feel uncomfortable. But is someone is with you, you think that would be great. And if it someone you love, some you trust, that is the best. The journey, even if it is longer you will feel happier. When you arrive you will feel that you wish the journey had lasted longer becauswe you feel it passed too quickly subhanallah.
Some people go for Hajj and when the come back and people ask them how it was, they reply: “Oh! 20 days, it seemed so long! And our tour was a problem!”. And so on. But others who come back after 40 days and say: “By Allah it seems as though it was only 40 minutes. I have been to visit Allah in his Haram. He invited me. He asked me to come. To be his guest among all these billions.” Their understanding is different. As in the “Glass half full/Glass half empty” story. Some will view the glass and declare it to be half empty – something is missing. Others will view and say half full – an opportunity.
As-Subha can teach us so many things especially if they are amongh those who Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He has kept the names. We know these very well. As Sahabat – and Sahabat of whom? Rasulullah (saw) of course.
You see there are differences in the way a person will affect another. Influence him as it were. Or there are people who are affected by many, 3, 10, 100, 1000. Everyone in this life has a role model. “This person shows me this. That person shows me that.”
But there is one person who affected nations, the whole world. That is Rasulullah (saw). As an individual he changed the course of whole nations subhanallah. He entered Madinah and there were two tribes who not on friendly terms and within one second they became Al Ansar – a single group working for a common goal. And they forgot about their past differences. The emigres and the hosts (Al Muhajareen wal Al Ansar) forgot about their origins and became one ummah.
This teaches us that the path to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He needs a pure heart, good company and to be strong all of the time. So that you can reach to Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He with ritha. Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He will make for you the humbleness in His presence when you pray to Him, at the highest level, the most beautiful and the most delicious and sweetest time when you pray to Him in your Tahajud in your sujud to Him, Almighty and Glorious is He, not for to bow to anyone other than Him and to ask of Him anything and Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, will give. And he promised to Rasulullah (saw):
وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ [٩٣:٥]
But Rasulullah (saw) never asked for anything for this life. Only one thing. He said: “Ya Allah there is nothing I will ask you for except to be kind and merciful to my ummah.” And Allah, Almighty and Glorious is He, said to him: “Ya Muhammad I will give you the authority over their judgment come judgment day.” And Rasulullah (saw) replied: “No Allah, I won’t do that because I will be able to match or exceed Your mercy to them.”
