How to Feel God’s Kindness Towards Us
God is kind to us in ways that we cannot even imagine.
His kindness is manifested to us from before we are born into our infancy and adulthood, in every aspect of our lives.
It is from God’s kindness that He creates the fetus in its mother’s womb, and that the womb does not reject it even though it is a foreign body.
God makes the womb ready to welcome it. He thus enfolds the fetus in three protective coverings, that of the placenta, that of the womb, and that of the mother’s body where it develops in safety and receives nourishment from its mother.
It is from God’s kindness that the newborn knows to take his mother’s breast and knows to cry whenever he is hungry or needs something so that his needs can be tended to.
God’s Kindness and Mercy
It is from God’s kindness that He blesses us with patience and fortitude in the face of pain and hardship. When we bear patiently what befalls us reconcile ourselves to His will, it is good for us.
We see this in the story of Joseph (peace be upon him). First, he suffered at the hands of his brothers who abandoned him at the bottom of a well. Then he suffered years of imprisonment in Egypt as a result of sexual allegations he was innocent of.
Finally, God blessed him to enjoy power and influence in Egypt. After everything that happened, Joseph declared:
Lo! My Lord is Most Kind to whom He pleases. (12: 100)
Most people grumble about the tribulations that they face as individuals and as communities, because they do not see anything in them but their obviously negative aspects.
With time, they come to see the situation’s many dimensions and outcomes, and they realize that it manifests God’s kindness in many profound ways.
It is from God’s kindness that He made the religion easy. He says:
And in truth We have made the Quran easy to understand, so will anyone take heed? (54: 17)
Facilitation and flexibility are among the overarching principles of Islamic law. Whenever Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was faced with a choice between two options, he would always choose the easier of the two, as long as no sin was involved.
God is Kind in what He provides for us and in what He withholds from us. This is why He says:
Allah is Most Kind to His servants; He gives sustenance to whom He pleases. (42: 19)
It is from God’s kindness that He gives His servants of His bounties what is best for them and withholds from them when receiving those bounties is not in their best interests. God gives to us and withholds from us according to the dictates of His wisdom, mercy, and justice.
If we ponder God’s kindness towards us, we will feel more devoted to Him and we will glorify His praises all the more. Whenever we are in difficulty or distress, we should remember that God is the Most Kind, and beseech Him, saying:
“O You who are the Most Kind, show kindness to me and save me from that which I dread.”
Why Can’t We Always Be Close to Allah?
“I perceive Your glimpses at times, but why not always?
Why do clouds keep coming to my mind’s sky and prevent me from finding You?”
Why can’t we always be close to Allah?
Try to recall that feeling to your mind. We experience it when we first get interested in learning and practicing Islam. But it doesn’t end there. Allah keeps sending life events our way that shake our hearts awake.
It might be a terrible accident, or an extremely painful loss. It might be finding your soul mate, or visiting the House of Allah for Hajj.
It’s not the momentary high you find once in a while during the Friday sermon that makes you cry with the congregation, and then forget all about it by the time you’re home and having lunch and criticizing your wife’s cooking.
How to Love Allah
I’m talking about the more permanent kind of feeling, the days on end of bliss. When you feel all day long that peace in your heart that seldom leaves you even in turbulent hours of the day when things go wrong.
When you feel like thanking Allah every so often. When watching a dog pick up some crumbs you threw away after lunch brings tears of gratitude to your eyes. And when you feel a slight ache in your heart that you’re semiconscious of all day.
It’s similar to what one feels when in love. Like you’d be flying up among the clouds if only you’d got wings. Like every little thing reminds you of the object of your love. Like how the awareness that he’s watching you brings a sweet smile to your lips.
It’s like falling in love. But it’s a thousand times better.
You just have to open any book of poetry. People throughout time, Muslim and non-Muslim, young and old, of every place and era, have attempted to put the feeling into words, and have succeeded to some extent. That’s what makes poetry so beautiful after all. The first two lines I quoted, for example, were by Rabindranath Tagore (translated by me).
Ibn al-Qayyim said:
Yearning for Allah and meeting Him is like a gentle breeze blowing upon the heart, blowing away the blazing desire for this world. (Hardness of Heart)
And this is Rumi’s way of expressing it:
That which God said to the rose, and caused it to laugh in full-blown beauty, He said to my heart, and made it a hundred times more beautiful. (Goodreads)
Why Do We Keep Losing it?
How much do we really love Allah?
If we do love Allah, why don’t we feel this love in our hearts all the time? Why do we keep losing this incredible feeling?
It’s because the world is full of distractions – and it is full of distraction for this very reason.
Indeed, We have made that which is on the earth adornment for it that We may test them [as to] which of them is best in deed. (Quran 18:7)
Allah says about the disbelievers on the Day of Judgment:
… Who took their religion as distraction and amusement and whom the worldly life deluded.’ So today We will forget them just as they forgot the meeting of this Day of theirs and for having rejected Our verses. (7:51)
We lose that incredible feeling when we get distracted by things – earning money, spending money, eating food, cooking food, selecting what to eat from a hundred different menus, games, relationships, clothes, shoes… all kinds of stuff.
And once we lose the feeling, we don’t remember what it felt like anymore, and don’t feel the urge to get it back either. We’d rather settle for less fulfilling pleasures. We’d rather opt for a temporary pacification of our desires than true, lasting peace of mind.
We’d rather stop being the moonlight and settle for being the pool of water that’s reflecting it, as Paulo Coelho says. “Tomorrow, the water will evaporate in the sun*”, as will our temporary pleasures.
The Key to Finding it
What’s the key to remaining connected to Allah? Allah gave it to us already – salah. The five daily obligatory sessions are to establish and maintain our direct connection with Allah, not just in these sessions, but throughout the day.
How do we establish prayer? By praying like the person who had the closest connection to Allah – Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
Pray as you have seen me praying. (Bukhari 6008)
What was his prayer like? Of course, it is necessary to follow the rules of doing the ritual correctly, such as praying within the specified times, praying the correct number of units, saying the supplications in the correct order, etc.
But those are just like the bricks with which you build the prayer. The actual essence of the prayer lies, not in the physical movements, but in the heart of the worshiper.
The Prophet described the prayer as the “coolness of my eyes”. That exactly describes the feeling you get when you’re at an imaan-high. And that’s what we want to achieve.
Many great people much more learned and experienced than us have written on this topic, on how to find khushu’ and imaan in salah. I share the following advice with you in my humble effort to add to it a personal element.
How to Achieve Khushu
The first thing that helps is bringing a sense of timelessness in your salah, to feel as if the rest of your time on earth is dedicated to praying this prayer only, and that nothing else comes after it.
The Prophet put it this way:
When you stand to pray, pray like a man bidding farewell. (Ibn Majah 4171)
This can seem incredibly difficult to achieve given our hectic lifestyles. And it might take a lot of willpower and mental energy. But even if you achieve one moment of it at a time, it’s worth all that effort. And it gets better insha’Allah.
Finding this sense of timelessness is made easy if you know what you’re saying in salah. So learn the basic Arabic you need to do that. Concentrate on the meanings of what you’re saying, trying to make it personal.
For example, when you say “Allahu Akbar” (Allah is Greater), think of the topmost worry in your mind right now, such as an assignment or your spouse’s illness, and assert in your heart that Allah is greater than all that.
Make Personal Dua
Another way of making the prayer personal is by adding in personal supplications in the steps of prayer where supplications are recommended, such as during sujood (prostration).
The purpose of supplication is not to inform Allah of your thoughts and feelings, because Allah already knows all about those. It is to express to Allah our love for Him, our helplessness and neediness, our submission to Him.
The quotes given above show us some of the more successful human attempts at expressing our feelings for our Creator. If you want to give full expression to your feelings, there’s an easier and more effective way. Memorize duas from the Quran. These duas are actually Allah teaching us how to speak to Him in the best way.
I’ll leave you with an example of the best form of expression of our feelings for Allah:
Say, ‘O Allah, Owner of Sovereignty, You give sovereignty to whom You will and You take sovereignty away from whom You will. You honor whom You will and You humble whom You will. In Your hand is [all] good. Indeed, You are over all things competent. You cause the night to enter the day, and You cause the day to enter the night; and You bring the living out of the dead, and You bring the dead out of the living. And You give provision to whom You will without account.’ (Quran, 3:26-27)
(From Discovering Islam’s archive.)
Can There Be Happiness in Hardship?
Often when we are facing tough times, we focus on the time of ease that comes after: a good grade after studying, good health after exercise, a paycheck after work, comfort after a trial.
This is the pattern of life. We work hard: then we rest. We suffer: then we experience relief. Without the thought of rest and relief, many of us would find the tests and vicissitudes of life very difficult indeed.
Allah Almighty tells us that this is how life works:
{Allah will bring about, after hardship, ease.} (Quran 65:7)
Ease Comes after, but also with, Hardship
But ease does not only come after hardship. This is something we often forget. Ease and indeed happiness also comes with, during, in the midst of hardship. So, it’s not that we have to endure and wait until the (often) unspecified time hardship ends to enjoy ease. The Most Merciful allows us to enjoy ease, to be happy in the midst of the struggle.
Allah says:
{For indeed, with hardship [will be] ease. Indeed, with hardship [will be] ease.} (Quran 94:5-6)
Allah Almighty, The Most Perfect, The Creator of language, the human tongue, and intellect–does not stutter. He does not say something twice without a purpose. Allah’s promise of ease is repeated for emphasis because it is emphatically true.
Even when we are studying hard, we can be happy knowing that we will have breaks to enjoy. Even when we are exercising, we feel a release of endorphins, making us happy during the workout. And even when we are going through trials, we certainly have bright spots of joy.
Hardship Increases our Appreciation
When I look back on my life, I can see how utterly true this is. Whether it was the time when being able to wear clean clothes felt like an extreme luxury amid poverty I was experiencing. Or the cooling touch that made a mountain of difference when I had a high fever. Or the times after my parents passed away that my siblings and I found comfort in each other amid the pain of loss. I have known happiness in the middle of hardship.
We all have these stories. If we look back at our lives and think of the moments of pure joy, they often lay in a field of suffering– laughter amid tears even before the healing begins; a cooling rain shower in the long, hot summer even before autumn arrives; a good meal and company at the masjid iftar even before Eid al-Fitr comes.
The sweetness of these small spots of joy during hardship come, perhaps, because Allah is showing us how amazing the things we take for granted at times of ease really are.
We never appreciate the ease of access to food until we fast or are deprived by need. We don’t consider how, if we live in a rainy climate, the rain is a blessing. We don’t realize how good it feels to laugh when we see nothing wrong in our lives.
We are made to appreciate the seemingly smallest of things with an elevated sense of gratitude and understanding during hardships, where as any other time the blessings of life are often taken for granted or overlooked.
But in that contrast of bitter hardship and sweet happiness is so much beauty. Perhaps our hardships come just so that we can see the blessings for what they truly are. Perhaps we are guided toward gratitude through suffering because Allah wants to give us the reward for being grateful and increase us in His favor.
Allah says:
{If you are grateful, I will surely increase you [in favor]} (Quran 14:7)
I Could’t Sleep
I was reminded of all of this in a small way very recently. I boarded a flight that was to last more than half a day. I counted on the fact that I would sleep for a good portion of that time. But as I sat in my tiny economy seat, crammed between two large people, sleep would not come.
I began to watch a show on the in-flight “entertainment” and noticed how many scenes they had where people had pillows and blankets or were sleeping in their comfortable beds. I became more acutely aware of how much I wanted to sleep, how little I thought of this joy before, how much comfort even being able to lie down brings.
I was exhausted, but could not get comfortable enough to sleep. The passengers around me fell asleep. But I was stuck watching a show with tons of pillows and sleeping.
I was miserable. This is perhaps something most people have been through. And it’s not that big of deal, but it taught me something about happiness happening even in amidst hardship.
Finally, I slept, lightly and intermittently. There was ease with the hardship. And I was so thankful for it. Then once we landed (and took another flight and landed again), I could have a pillow, lie down, and rest even more. There was ease after the hardship. And I was so happy to have it.
But during my small struggle to get comfortable and get some rest, I realized how amazing a blessing sleep is. Something I take for granted daily. Allah Almighty reminded me of how great a blessing it is to have a comfortable place to lie down. Something I previously considered to be my right.
Allah does everything for a reason. Even the smallest of hard times can be a lesson, a great source of blessings, and even—as paradoxically as it may seem—happiness. So, we can relax knowing that we don’t need to just grit our teeth and try to pull through hard times because there is always ease.
How to Feel God’s Peace in This Life?
He is Allah, besides whom there is no God, the King, the Holy One, Peace, the Giver of Security… (Quran 59: 23)
God is the bringer of peace who spreads peace throughout creation. Since life was first created, it has been predominated by long stretches of peacefulness, security, tranquility, and contentment. God is Peace and from Him emanates all peace. It is as Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said:
O Allah! You are Peace and from You is peace. Blessed be You, possessor of glory and honor. (Muslim)
It is astonishing that some people who invoke God by this noble name live their lives in contention and hostility towards the world. Every aspect of their lives is full of strife, from within themselves, to their outward behavior, in their thinking, and with their families. How can such a person find peace with the Lord?
Al-Salam as “Soundness”
The name Al-Salam also connotes “soundness”, the idea of being free from blemish. It conveys that meaning that God is free from every shortcoming and deficiency, like fatigue, sleep, sickness, or death. God’s existence is one of absolute perfection.
Allah, there is no God but He, the Living and Self-Subsisting. Neither slumber nor sleep overtake Him. (2: 255)
God is free from anything that would contradict with his absolute self-sufficiency.
Nothing can fatigue Him or elude Him. Nothing is beyond His reach. The People of the Scripture attribute such a deficiency to Him when they claim that He rested on the seventh day, after creating the heavens and the Earth. This is why God says:
Indeed We created the heavens and Earth and everything between them in six days, and We were not touched by any fatigue. (50: 38)
If Allah wills anything to happen, He just says “Be!” and it is. (36: 82)
This same connotation of the name al-Salam applies to God’s knowledge. God is free from ignorance, doubt, and indecision. Nothing is hidden from His knowledge.
His knowledge is not acquired through learning. It is absolute, complete, and wholly accurate, comprehending everything in the past, present, and future without exception.
Likewise, His Speech is free from all falsehood and injustice. God says:
Perfected is the Word of your Lord in truth and justice. (6: 115)
God’s pronouncements are true and His decrees are just. His Law and every expression of His will are perfect. God’s Law is full of wisdom and knowledge, as is the Qur’an which He revealed to His Prophet (peace be upon him). The Qur’an is rich in meaning, multilayered, guiding humanity in every way to what assures them welfare in this world and the next.
It is unfortunate that so many people who read the Qur’an are content to neglect this richness and blindly follow traditions and rote knowledge. They have become incapable of creative thinking and renewal, and as a consequence wallow in the backwardness, ignorance, and cultural decline that we witness today.
God is free from having any contender, rival, or partner in His dominion. He alone holds sovereignty over Creation, both in this world and the next. His decree and His command are free from tyranny and injustice. The Prophet (peace be upon him) relates to us that God says in a sacred hadith:
O My servants! I have forbidden Myself to act unjustly and have made it forbidden for you among yourselves, so do not oppress one another. (Muslim)
From the perfection of God’s justice, He forbids Himself to ever act unjustly and makes it forbidden for us to oppress one another. He says:
And your Lord is not in the least unjust to His servants. (41: 46)
God commands us to cultivate this quality within ourselves and never act unjustly towards one another. By acting justly, we are engaged in an act of devotion to our Lord, since God is not only just, but He loves justice and those who act justly.
In the same way, He is All-knowing, and He loves knowledge and those who possess knowledge. He is beautiful. He loves beauty and those who cultivate beauty within themselves. He is generous, and He loves generosity and charitable people.
These are all among the attributes of our Lord. This connotation of soundness, this freedom from blemish, extends to His actions: to what He gives and to what He withholds.
When Allah keeps something from us, it is not due to stinginess or scarcity.
Glory be to Allah above that! It is from His infinite wisdom that He withholds what He withholds from his servants. Some people are better off wealthy while others are better off poor.
Allah enlarges the livelihood of whom He will, and straitens (it for whom He will); and they rejoice in the life of the world, whereas the life of the world is but brief comfort as compared with the Hereafter. (13: 26)
Likewise, some people benefit more by being healthy while others benefit more from experiencing illness. God knows what each of us needs and what is ultimately in our best interests.
All of God’s attributes share in this perfection, this freedom from deficiency. God’s attributes do not resemble to created things. He is incomparable.
It is from God’s wisdom that we, as created beings, are subject to the limitations and shortcomings inherent to our nature and to the tribulations of living in the world.
God on the other hand is Al-Salam, the one who is free from all shortcomings. God’s name Al-Salam is truly great in its meaning in that it articulates the perfection that all of God’s names possess – that each and every one of God’s attributes is free from shortcomings.
When we greet each other with peace by saying: “Al-Salam `alaykum”, we are invoking this name of God, and in doing so, we are communicating this connotation of God’s perfection as well as the idea of peace. And indeed God has made “peace” the salutation of the believers:
Their salutation on the Day they meet Him will be ‘Peace!’ (33: 44)
He has commanded us to use this salutation:
So when you enter houses, greet yourselves with a salutation from Allah. (24: 61)
Therefore, a believer invokes peace upon himself and upon others with this salutation.
God is the Bestower of Peace
Indeed, God greets His creatures in this world with the salutation of peace:
Peace be upon the Messengers. (181)
Say: Praise be to Allah, and peace be upon the servants He has chosen. (27: 59)
Peace be upon those who follow guidance. (20: 47)
God’s salutation upon His servants is His decree that they will be safeguarded in this world and the next. Though they are subject to the trials and tribulations that others experience in the world, God bestows upon their hearts contentment and certainty of faith which transforms their difficulties into a boon and a rewarding experience. Theirs are contented hearts, at peace with whatever God decrees for them.
The eminent Companion Sa’d ibn Abi Waqqas was blessed in that his prayers were always answered. When he became blind, people would ask him:
“Why don’t you beseech Allah to restore your sight?”
He would reply:
“By Allah! My being content with Allah’s decree is dearer to me than what else I desire.” O Allah! You are Peace and from You is peace. Blessed be You, possessor of glory and honor.”
