Getting to Know Allah – Is that on your bucket list?

Do you want to know Allah? Do you strive to obey Allah? Do you yearn to please Allah? Do you consider and ask yourself these questions daily? Do we reflect on who Almighty Allah is in our prayers? Do we understand the power of Allah when we stand before him?

Allah is more merciful than our own mother upon us. If it’s not Allah whom you desire to please, if it’s not Allah whom you turn to then where would you go to? Who would look after you and shelter you, aid you and protect you other than Allah? You were created in this world for a purpose, for a reason, and that is to know Allah. Do we not exist in this world except to know Allah SWT and to worship him? Allah in His glorious Quraan says, “And I did not create jinn and mankind except to worship me alone.”

In order to worship Allah you must strive to become closer to Him. You must ponder the attributes of Allah in order to try to know Him. In order to fear and love Allah SWT we are required to know Him. Part of our worship is to know Allah. Whenever anything other than Allah is in our hearts, whenever any other than Allah SWT is the one whom we love and submit to we invite corruption into our hearts and it leads to our destruction. Knowing that Allah is the cause of life for the individual is the second birth that every person who believes in Allah will experience.

Allah describes the life that was given to the person after he was dead. “And is one who was dead and We gave him life and made for him light by which to walk among the people like one who is in darkness, never to emerge therefrom? Thus it has been made pleasing to the disbelievers that which they were doing.” [Surah Al An’am, v 122]

There is no doubt that knowing Allah is the greatest and noblest of knowledge. It is the Ilm – the beneficial knowledge we are encouraged to seek. When you learn about Allah SWT, you are learning about the purpose of your existence. You are learning about living a life set on the right course.

The first article of faith, Imaan, is to believe in Allah. Imaan substitutes loneliness, sadness, depression, and confusion with happiness, peace of mind, the ability to sleep at night, a sense of purpose and direction, explains Ustad Ali Hammuda.

“I swear by Allah, the One who possesses your soul and mine, that these are values that cannot be attained without Imaan regardless of the smiles that people issue you in public. They cannot be attained without Imaan. Why? Because the human heart possesses voids. The human heart has compartments and in order for you to be a happy individual every one of these compartments need their fill. There is the compartment of food which needs its fill. There is the compartment of drink and marital relations which need their fill. Shelter, peace and security need their fill. There is another compartment and this is where the vast majority of humanity has failed in filling, this is the compartment that says, ‘I want to know Allah. I want to obey Allah. I want to please Allah.’ This is a compartment that needs its fill as well.”

While we strive to be the best dressed, the best athlete, the best employee, we should remember that the most profitable best to strive for is being the best Muslim we can be. This pleases Allah and Allah is Great. There is none other better to please. There is no other’s pleasure to strive for. And in pleasing our parents, spouses, children and friends in the correct way, we please Allah SWT also.

Ibn al Qayyim’s (rahimahullah) heart-softening words were, “Surely in the heart of every human being, there is a sense of scattering which cannot be brought back together except by turning to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is a sense of loneliness which cannot be put out except by being close to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is anxiety and there is a sense of fear and unease which cannot be removed except by fleeing to Allah. And in the heart of every human being there is a sense of guilt and regret which cannot be removed except by being pleased and content with Allah.”

To attain Allah’s love should be our primary goal. It is the most important thing absent on many a bucket list. We’ve become so consumed with the world and its acknowledgements and prizes we don’t know of the magnificent ways our Most Merciful Allah blesses us in this life.

Abu Huraira (radiallahu anhu) narrates that the Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said, “If Allah loves a person, He calls Jibraeel (alayhi salaam) saying, ’Allah loves so and so; O Jibraeel love him. And make an announcement amongst the inhabitants of the heaven, Allah loves so and so therefore you should love him also’, and so all the inhabitants of the heaven would love him, and then he is granted the pleasures of the people on the earth.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

It is also narrated by Abu Huraira (radiallahu anhu) that Allah’s Messenger (sallallahu alayhi wasallam) said that Allah said, “I will declare war against him who shows hostility to a pious worshipper of mine. And the most beloved things with which My slave comes nearer to Me, is what I have enjoined upon him; and My worshipper keeps on coming close to Me through performing Nawafil (praying or doing extra deeds besides what is obligatory) till I love him, then I become his sense of hearing with which he hears, and his sense of sight with which he sees, and his hands with which he grips, and his legs with which he walks; and if he asks Me, I will give him, and if he asks My protection (refuge), I will protect him.” [Al-Bukhari]

There is no better aid other than Allah SWT. There is no better love to covet other than Allah’s love for His slave. There is no better acknowledgement to seek other than Allah’s