Practical Tips to Connect to Allah [Part I]

I admit it. I procrastinated for a very long of time to write this article and I know, a few people might just open this page in another browser/tab and leave it for days/weeks to read.

“Uff, there is so less time and I have so much to do, there’s no time to read this topic. Let me keep it for later. I am not a bad person. Let’s read it when I am in “realization” mode”.

Why do we delay connecting with someone?

We judge the limit of delaying things by the consequences we might end up in. On earth, life and money are the two most important things in our lives. Spiritual procrastination which involves loss of afterlife, involves delay in performing our salah, giving zakah, performing hajj, reading Qur’an, or even visiting a sick person. They don’t immediately make you a (worldly) looser, but the benefits these deeds can fetch you in the afterlife is tremendous.

Lack of taqwa (God consciousness or God fearing) is probably one of the main reasons to delay our spiritual obligations. It’s not because you have no time, its not because you have other ‘important work” to attend to, its fundamentally because of lack of taqwa.

Just thinking “Its a heartless world, and a heartless job, I never knew when my worship became a ritual, the prayers are there, but swift; the charity goes, but without love; and seeing the Quran in the masjid everyday, I walk away. What do I read in it? I know nothing of what I read” is of no use. We have to realize something is missing in all these acts? That something is “Connection”.

Allah has also given us the free will to strive in establishing a connection with Him. With all our shortcomings, let us focus on overcoming the guilt and fear of our lives in the light of Quran and Sunnah.

Here are some practical tips to help you connect to our Creator :

1. Confession saves from hiding out of guilt. For any relationship to sustain, the most important thing is transparency. Transparency with our Creator (The All Knower) is inevitable. One way to set things right at the earliest is to accept our bad deeds, confess our weaknesses and utter frustration of our inabilities and ask for pardon, help and good life.

Some verses make it easier to cross the guilt-barrier and connect to Allah .

“But whoever repents after his wrongdoing and reforms, indeed, Allah will turn to him in forgiveness. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful. (al-Ma’idah,5:39)

“Have you not considered that Allah knows what is in the heavens and what is on the earth? There is in no private conversation three but that He is the fourth of them, nor are there five but that He is the sixth of them – and no less than that and no more except that He is with them [in knowledge] wherever they are. Then He will inform them of what they did, on the Day of Resurrection. Indeed Allah is, of all things, Knowing.” (Mujadilah 58:7)

How Do I Confess?

There is no better approach to confess, other than in our salah and supplications.

i) Why salah? Because Allah   says:

“And seek help through patience and prayer, and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allah ]” (al-Bakharah, 2:45)

“Indeed, prayer prohibits immorality and wrongdoing, and the remembrance of Allah is greater. And Allah knows that which you do.” (al-’Ankabut, 29:45)

When Abu Bakr asked Prophet to teach him a supplication to invoke Allah in his salah, Prophet said:

“Say: ‘O Allah, I have wronged myself much, and none forgives sins except You. So forgive me with forgiveness from You, and have mercy upon me, indeed, You are the Forgiving, the Merciful” (Saheeh Al-Bukharee)

Brothers and sisters, prayer is one of the foundations of our religion, and only through it, we can purify ourselves. Even the most sinful and shameless is expected to pray. And opening up in our dua is crucial because shaytaan wants to keep us away from Allah . Wandering around with guilt will not make us hide from Allah . We might not be very open with our closest friend or sibling, but we have to be open with Allah , the All-Hearer, because our beloved Prophet encouraged us to depend upon Him for even the smallest of things:

“Let one of you ask his Lord for his every need, until he asks Him for salt, and asks Him for the strap of his sandal when it breaks.” (Hasan, Jami` at-Tirmidhee)

ii) Supplications:

Indeed, there are many beautiful supplications to memorize and there are times when supplications are never rejected. Knowing them has a great advantage. Click here to learn more.

2. Know Allah to give Him His Right. We humans tend to make friendship for two reasons: common interests and benefits. With Allah , it’s unique and different. Our relation with Him is of a Master and slave; and only He can make any of us Waliullah (Friend of Allah). Knowing Him is our duty. It’s a part of our conscience to have the knowledge of our Creator. This is one of the initial steps a Muslim should take when he is curious about his purpose of existence.

How can we know our Creator without being able to see Him?

It is only by His word, Quran. In many verses of Quran, Allah revealed many of His attributes, in terms of: where He is, how He sees, how He Plans, how He creates,  whom He Loves, who He does not love, who pleases Him, who angers Him, what He wants from us and like wise. A complete surah (al ikhlas) is dedicated to His attributes.

One advantage of knowing the meaning of Allah’s names in depth is to strengthen our aqeedah. The more we know about Allah , the better we understand His Might and Power, and easier it will be for us to submit and become a better slave, in sha Allah. He also encourages us to do good by giving us glimpses of paradise. This eventually creates a balance of hope and fear which we can utilize whenever necessary.

In fact, the realization of being disconnected from Allah is also a blessing from Him. He  puts that depressing feeling of being disconnected in your heart, so you could get back to Him  and not go astray. We shouldn’t forget that it is Allah who is allowing us to know Him; so we should keep asking Allah to bless us with knowledge of all kind and supplicate as the messenger of Allah taught us to say:

“O Allah! Grant me benefit in what you have taught me, and teach me useful knowledge and provide me with knowledge that will benefit me.” (Hasan, an-Nasa’ee, al-Hakim)

3. Realize the Good Qualities  Allah has given you in order to get closer to Him . Thank Allah for the good in you. We might have a few good qualities which we can never compromise upon, whether we are God conscious or not. Few people don’t perform their five daily salah, but will never lie; few cannot be unjust; these are nothing but blessings from Allah . Thus, thanking Allah for the good qualities is crucial. Attributing the goodness inside us to Allah and using it to connect to Him is wise.

Allah commands us to acquire few good qualities in order to be close to Him. Allah says in the Glorious Qur’an:

“…Be just; that is nearer to righteousness…” (al-Ma’idah, 5:8)

Once Allah’s Messenger said to Ashaj Abdul-Qais : “You possess two qualities that Allah loves. These are clemency and tolerance.” (Saheeh Muslim)

A man asked the Messenger of Allah : “What quality of Islam is best?” He said: “To feed (the poor) and to say the Salam to whomever one knows and whomever one does not know.” (Saheeh, Sunan an-Nasa’ee)

To be continued…

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