The Beauty of Divine Closeness | Hidden Treasures Episode 25 | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

The Beauty of Divine Closeness

Most would argue that the purpose of being able to get close to someone is so that you have access to them. And that access brings great benefit. It allows you to have whatever the other person has.

As they say, it's not about what you know, it's about who you know. Gaining nearness to Allah — which is essentially the entire purpose of fasting in the month of Ramadan — therefore Allah brings the verse of:

That when my slave asks of me, then tell him or her that I am very close and I'm right there. That verse comes sandwiched between the verses that speak about fasting in the month of Ramadan. Essentially telling us this is the purpose of our fast, which is to gain nearness to Allah.

Nearness Gives Us Access

Now what happens when we gain nearness to Allah? Like it does in every other aspect of life, that nearness now gives us access.

أُجِيبُ دَعْوَةَ الدَّاعِ إِذَا دَعَانِ — That I respond to the call of everyone, not delayed. إِذَا دَعَانِ — The moment they call, I'm responding.

Like how in the hadith the Prophet ﷺ mentions that when a slave of mine says الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ, Allah responds by saying حَمِدَنِي عَبْدِي — "My slave has indeed praised me."

(Sahih Muslim, Book 4, Hadith 395)

There's a response coming. And therefore in the month of Ramadan there is a unique opportunity, as you all already know, of asking from Allah — because now we're close to Allah. Let us not lose the opportunity of having such nearness and closeness to the King of the world and not correctly being able to take from it and benefit from it. That's the point of access that we can take from it.

The Example of Ali ibn Abi Talib

Dirar ibn Dhumrah, one of the students of Ali ibn Abi Talib, was asked: "Tell me something that you saw in the life of Ali ibn Abi Talib that truly amazed you. Something that you were just touched by and you were shook by."

He says, "Well, his entire life was of such a nature." They said, "Tell us one thing specifically — a hidden thing." He said, "Well, one day I woke up and I heard someone crying in the masjid. And I saw a man, his hands on his ears, crying to Allah, talking to Allah, expressing his vulnerability to Allah, talking to himself, speaking to himself like, 'Oh Ali, let's make sure we can get through this dunya.' And he would talk to himself by saying that I have given a divorce to this dunya. I have removed myself from here in the sense that I can't let it get into my heart. And he would just call upon Allah and make du'a when no one else was there."

The more hidden our du'a is, the higher chance of Allah exposing it — not only in this world but in the hereafter as well.

Never Be Ashamed to Ask

So my dear friends, one of the most important elements of having nearness is to be able to get something from it in dunya. So whilst we're close to Allah in these days and nights of Ramadan, let us feel comfortable raising our hands and crying in front of Him. And if we can't raise our hands, it's in our heart. Allah knows that which is hidden in our hearts.

So we ask of Him in every moment as much as we can. Never feel ashamed or afraid of asking of the One who is waiting for us to turn to Him. We're just waiting. Where are you going? I'm right here. Ask of me.

The only condition of a du'a being accepted is that we ask Allah knowing that when we stand up from this prayer mat — before our head raises from the prayer mat or our hand drops from our face and the tears are still moist — the only condition is to remember that Allah will accept this du'a.