Drawing Closer To Allah

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

The closest that someone to His Lord is not when he is thinking...but it's when he puts his mind onto the ground and he says, "Allah is greater than anything. I submit to You, O Allah, in my entirety."

Allah Almighty says,

كَلَّا لَا تُطِعْهُ وَٱسْجُدْ وَٱقْتَرِب ۩ ﴿١٩

No! Never obey him, but bow down in sajdah (prostration) and come close to Me. (19)

[Qur'an Al-'Alaq 96:19]

In a hadith Qudsi, Allah Almighty has said,

Whosoever shows enmity to a wali (friend) of Mine, then I have declared war against him. And My servant does not draw near to Me with anything more loved to Me than the religious duties I have obligated upon him. And My servant continues to draw near to me with nawafil (supererogatory) deeds until I love him. When I love him, I am his hearing with which he hears, and his sight with which he sees, and his hand with which he strikes, and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him; and were he to seek refuge with Me, I would surely grant him refuge.

[Bukhari]

If you want to acquire this high rank of being a friend of Allah, then learn what Allah has obligated upon us and practice what you know. There is no way to bypass this. The road to Allah is one road. It is the road of the obligatory. There is nothing else you can do that will take you closer to Allah more than this distance of doing what is obligatory. Everything that Allah makes obligatory on us are His favorite actions and those are what He wants us to do. It is not that Allah wants to make our life difficult but because Allah wants us to enter Paradise.

The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, said,

"Ask (anything)." Rabi'ah said: "I ask of you to be your companion in paradise." The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, said: “Anything else?" Rabi'ah said: "That is it." The Prophet sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, said to him: "Then help me by making many prostrations (i.e., supererogatory prayers)."

[Muslim]

Abu Hurayra, may Allah be pleased with him, reports that the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, said,

The best prayer after the obligatory prayers is the night prayer.

[Muslim]

Abu Umama al-Bahili, may Allah be pleased with him, reports that the Messenger of Allah sallAllahu alayhi wasallam, said,

Hold fast to night prayer, for it was the way of the righteous before you, a way of drawing closer to your Lord, an expiation for wrong deeds, and a shield from sin.

[Tirmidhi and others] In some narrations, there is an addition, “And it repels sickness from the body.”

May Allah bring us closer to Him. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.

Wassalaam