Be A GOOD MUSLIM

Knowing Allah : The Soul's Greatest Need

Knowing Allah : The Soul's Greatest Need

We all want happiness. How we each define this and seek it, however, often differs. For some of us, happiness is wealth and material abundance. For others, it's fame and renown. For some, it is sensual pleasure and gratification. And for others, it is a breakthrough in their field of expertise.

Today, despite the unbounded pleasures and excess we are surrounded by, more of us than ever remain unfulfilled. We are unhappy. No matter how much we buy and consume, or how much we're validated and gratified, there still lurks within us a void, a lingering feeling of emptiness that we cannot remove. That reassuring satisfaction and contentment we hope will come, actually never does.

Why? It's because we've ignored and suppressed an inborn instinct to know and worship our Maker. Nourishing this instinct is man's path to happiness.

Knowing Allah and, as a natural outcome, fulfilling our obligations to Him is the true antidote to today's emptiness and despair.

Allah created us to worship Him. To worship Him, we need to know Him. Qiwām al-Sunnah al-Aṣbahānī (raḥimahullāh) writes, "The first command Allah obligated upon His creation is to know and recognise Him. Once they know Him, they will worship Him. Allah says, 'So, know that there is no god worthy of worship except Allah' (47:19). Thus, the Muslims should know the Names of Allah so they can venerate and glorify Him as He deserves to be venerated and glorified."

If we don't know about the beauty and kindness of Allah, we can't love Him. If we can't love Him, we can't worship Him. Similarly, without knowing about His greatness and majesty, we can't embody true servitude (ʿubūdiyyah) and humble ourselves to Him. Knowing Him is essential to forming a strong bond with Him.

"The key to the daʿwah of the Messengers and the essence of their Message, is knowing Allah through His Names, His Attributes, and His Actions. This is the foundation which the rest of the Message, from beginning to end, is based upon." - Ibn al-Qayyim (raḥimahullāh)

The Joy of Knowing Allah

Our souls' greatest need is to know and recognise our Creator and Originator. Knowing Allah brings joy to the heart, nourishes the soul, and is the ultimate source of bliss in this worldly life. We will never be truly happy until we know Allah and become deeply acquainted with Him.
The journey to becoming acquainted with Allah and enjoying His closeness is a long journey, but it is sweet. Only those who've traversed it can tell you of its pleasures and joy. It's what the scholars referred to as the 'paradise of the world'

"There is an 'early paradise' in the world. It is to know Allah, to love Him, find comfort in Him, long to meet Him, fear Him and obey Him. Beneficial knowledge leads one to attain this. Whoever's knowledge leads him to enter this 'early paradise', will enter Paradise in the next world. And whoever does not sniff the fragrance of the 'worldly paradise', will not sniff the fragrance of the Paradise of the hereafter." - Ibn Rajab (raḥimahullāh)

One of the predecessors said, "How misfortunate are the people of the world who left the world without having experienced its greatest delight!" When he was asked, "What is its greatest delight?", he replied, "Knowing Allah, loving Him, finding comfort in His closeness, and longing to meet Him."

Allah has chosen humans to be the noblest of creation and gifted them with the intellect to recognise and know Allah. Imām al-Ghazālī (raḥimahullāh) writes, "The honour and excellence of the human being, by which he surpasses all other creatures, is his ability for knowing Allah. Knowing Allah (ʿazza wa jall) is the human's beauty, perfection and glory in this world; and his provision for the hereafter." How sad it is then for a person to merely sleepwalk through life, ignorant of his Creator, solely concerned with satisfying his stomach and desires.