What Do You Prefer Over Your Lord?

14/07/2011| IslamWeb

If you are distracted and fidgety while approaching Allah The Almighty, then, is it any wonder if Allah The Almighty does not draw close to you? If you approach Him lazily and listlessly, desirous of hastily finishing your acts of worship to return to the world, let me ask you: what could be better than staying in front of Him? What do you prefer to standing before your Lord? Do you prefer the world, property, children, desires and pictures? Is that what you prefer and give precedence to, over standing before Allah, The Almighty, the Lord of the worlds?

For many years, you may have gone late to Qiyaam (voluntary night prayers) and stood listlessly before Allah The Almighty (in prayer), waiting for the time to come out of His presence, feeling tired and exhausted rather than delighted and pleased!

The same is true of fasting. A person may fast wearily, waiting for the day to end and counting the hours remaining till the time of the Maghrib (sunset) Prayer. Towards evening, he is pleased that his day that will soon come to an end and he is impatient with acts of worship and obedience and likes to come out of it immediately.

This is not the sign that characterizes the grateful believers. The sign of the grateful ones lies in their love for worship and obedience, their grief at coming out from the presence of Allah The Almighty, and their sorrow for their failure to obtain the greatest and the biggest share of blessings from their Lord, knowing that this is the true bliss of this world, and if they do not obtain it now, they will never obtain the bliss of the Hereafter.

They spend their whole night standing (in prayer) as mentioned in the verse (which means): {They arise from [their] beds; they supplicate their Lord in fear and aspiration.} [Quran 32:16] They are {those who seek forgiveness before dawn.} [Quran 3:17]

They continue to pray until a short while before dawn, when they sit to seek the forgiveness of Allah The Almighty. After their long night that they spend in prayer, and arise from their beds, they sit to seek the forgiveness of Allah The Almighty, as if they have committed sins and misdeeds. At the same time, they grieve for the end of that day and night. Nothing grieves them other than the rise of the dawn. They wish the night to be long, in order to stand before Allah The Almighty longer and more frequently, in view of their knowledge of their bliss, love, supplication and praise of Allah The Almighty, and that Allah The Almighty smiles at them, loves them and brings them near Him.

The same is true of such acts of worship as fasting, giving in charity, and all other righteous deeds. You should be interested in them all, and should grieve lest you should miss them, lest you should come out of them. You should care about them, perform them perfectly, hope to obtain the mercy and forgiveness of Allah The Almighty and emancipation from Hell, wish to compensate what you missed and raise your position with what is prepared for you by Allah The Almighty in this noble month, which ends as soon as it begins. For this reason, the decisive person who abides by the pledge that he has taken upon himself and starts to fulfill it in those days, is always careful from the first day, because if his efforts fall apart from the beginning, the whole month of Ramadan will be lost.

The believer should concern himself with developing an attitude of gratitude, decisiveness and persistence in realizing the utmost degree of obedience thereby attaining forgiveness. This attitude should be clearly reflected in their approach to, love for, haste and response to their Lord. At the same time, the opposite of that should not exist in their hearts, i.e. weariness of worship, fasting and standing (in prayer), withholding property and time from Allah The Almighty to spend them in anything else without feeling bored or becoming distracted, but feeling that way when spending them for their beloved Lord, the grantor of life.