March 22, 2024

I was thinking about Allah and my increasing yearning for closeness to Him. One thought led to another and I found myself thinking about the ways in which Allah had pulled me closer. What were the moments in my life that drew me closer to Him? Were there any at all? And I realized that in my asking of Allah for Allah, He had presented Himself to me in many occasions and in many forms; the ones I recognized and the ones I lost sight of. But one thing that was certain was that there were no other times when I had called upon Him with His Beautiful Names more than in those moments.

One of the books I’ve been reading (very typical of me to be reading multiple books at the same time) is titled “The Name & the Named” by Shaykh Tosun Bayrak al-Jerrahi al-Halveti. In his book the shaykh says:

“The life of a human being is also from Him and for Him, and our return is to Him. To see, to hear, to speak; power, will generosity, compassion, love, ability to forgive all: these are not just words, but divine qualities given to humanity out of God’s own attributes. In identifying with these names, we can know ourselves and know our Lord, for these attributes are common to both.”

And it had me thinking perhaps in my yearning for intimacy with Allah, I need to know Him, to truly know Him through His Names and Attributes, and to live as a servant of each Name and Attribute through embodying traces of each one in myself. That in order to for me to cultivate that intimacy, I first need to know who my Lord is. How else would I love who or what I don’t know? Another book I’ve been reading, Imam Al-Ghazali in his book “Love, Longing, Intimacy and Contentment” writes:

“What may be mentioned, however, is the nearness of man to his Lord in those attributes which he has been commanded to imitate and in the assumption of divine moral norms as his own; as it is written, “Mould your character to God’s virtues.” This consists in the acquisition of laudable qualities from among such divine attributes as knowledge, righteousness, benevolence, kindness, dispensing goodness and mercy upon creatures, giving them counsel and guiding them to the truth while keeping them far from what is false these, together with all other virtues held praiseworthy in the Law. All of this brings one close to God, not in the sense of physical nearness but rather in closeness to God's attributes.”

Essentially, to grow near to Allah, I need to know Him through His attributes, to mould my character to His virtues. In this is where my longing will be quenched, where intimacy with Allah lies. That to love Him is to know Him and to know Him is to love Him. So In sha Allah my task is to learn more of Allah’s Names and Attributes, to keep my tongue moist and call upon Him more often with them. I pray may Allah help me know Him. May He reveal Himself to me in my learning of His Beautiful Names and Attributes and may He allow me to call on Him with them. Ya Allah Ya Rahman, Ya Rauf, help me remember You, to be grateful to You, to know You, to love You and to worship You in an excellent and sincere manner.

With Love, Ibtisam