How do I become closer to Allah? What is the nicest deed in the eyes of Allah? How do I show my love to Allah? What does Allah want us to do? What I mean to ask is; what is our true calling as per Allah? It is said we should always thank Allah, can you tell me how? Thank you for answering my queries.
Answer
You can become close to God by always keeping Him in remembrance and by following His directives. A believer’s day should be spent as much as is possible in his Creator’s remembrance. This remembrance not only reinforces his relationship with God his Lord, but also provides him with the inner strength to ward off evil when it comes his way. It blesses him with inner peace and serenity and endows him with a life that is spent to serve and please the Almighty.
There are a number of forms of remembering God: Some of the important forms include saying the prayer, reading the Qur’an, making supplications, asking Allah’s forgiveness, expressing gratitude at His favours and blessings, remembering His attributes and established laws and practices, reciting certain phrases and sentences mentioned in the hadith. However, in order to reap the benefits of remembering God there is one primary requirement: one must pay special attention to what is said and recited. The more one concentrates on the words he utters, the more meaningful the whole exercise becomes.
You should also try to spend as much in charity as you can and try to help out others as much as you can. This is also a great virtue and will bring you closer to God and also to God’s family — something which greatly pleases Him.
Dr Shehzad Saleem (Urdu: شہزاد سلیم ), born in 1966, is an Islamic researcher. He has a Bachelors in Electrical Engineering from UET Lahore, Pakistan and holds a Ph.D. in the History of the Quran from the University of Wales, UK.
Dr Shehzad Saleem studied religion under the tutelage of Javed Ahmad Ghamidi. He remained Associate Fellow from 1992-2008 and Fellow from 2008 till date of Al-Mawrid, A Foundation for Islamic Research and Education, Lahore, Pakistan (www.al-mawrid.org).
Dr Shehzad Saleem has authored books on Islam, Quran, Hadith and Character Building. He has also translated some works of famous Islamic scholars and exegetes Amin Ahsan Islahi and Javed Ahmad Ghamidi into English.
