The idea that God could be so unjust as to hold myself and everyone else responsible for the sins of others who had died thousands of years before me just seemed so unjust.
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3 Obstacles in Seeking Nearness to Allah (Video)

Theresa Corbin
13 March, 2016

Part 1

In my last video, I spoke about seeking nearness to Allah (al-waseelah) and inshallah you can find the link below. In this video, I’d like to discuss some of the obstacles to achieving it. Some of the pitfalls we often find ourselves in when we’re coming near or seeking nearness to Allah.

As we learn about waseelah, there is none on behalf to Allah; Allah, through His Prophets (peace be upon them), teaches us how He would like us come closer to Him.

But there are so many obstacles that we find in our daily lives to achieving this in our purpose in life.

Surround Yourself with Good People

One among those obstacles is surrounding ourselves with people who don’t remind us of Allah, especially if you’re a westerner living in a western society and you’re surrounded at your work and even maybe your family is non Muslim, you find yourself forgetting about Islam, you’re forgetting about holding from the holy rope of Allah.

So to reach that is not to break off these ties that are very important, especially your family ties and treating non Muslims well and showing them the good manners of Islam.

But the answer to this obstacle is also to surround yourself finding people and surrounding yourself with people who do speak of Allah to you and remind you of Islam and your purpose in this life.

There is anonymous quote that tells: “A true friend is one who mentions Allah to you in your presence and mentions you to Allah in your absence.” and this is so very true that if you surround yourself of good people and good Muslims who remind you of Allah, they’re truly your friends and then when you leave them they won’t backbite you inshallah but they will make to offer you that you stay on the path of seeking nearness to your creator.

Allah Forgives All Sins

Another obstacle that I’ve often heard from people in life and email, Facebook… everywhere, everywhere I go is that thinking that you have too many sins to seek nearness to Allah.

But some most like saying to you “you’re too dirty to take a shower” there is no such thing. No matter how many sins you’ve done, Allah’s mercy is so much greater from that.

To quote the great and very fictional Star Wars character Admiral Ackbar, “It’s a trap”. This kind of thinking that you have too many sins to seek nearness to Allah is absolutely a trap, it’s a trick of the Satan to make you feel like there is no path for you any more, to cut you off from waseelah, to cut you off from that nearness to Allah of that every soul craves.

This is a trick of Satan to keep you away from Allah and keep you on the bad path.

So no matter how many sins you have, seeking nearness to Allah, starting small doesn’t matter, seek repentance.

Understand Allah’s Greatness

Another obstacle to come near to Allah is not understanding Allah’s greatness. Sometimes we find ourselves distracted by the creation, we love our spouses so much, we love our children so much, we love money so much… and there is nothing wrong in that, we can love our spouse, and children, money… but we can’t let it distract us from coming near to Allah.

But simply reminding ourselves that these things are the created things and Allah is the creator so much more, so much great than that, it will be almost like worshiping a painting of Monet’s but having Monet sitting right next to you and just completely ignoring him. You love his painting so much, you love the created object of his but you don’t pay any attention to him, it almost sound absurd, but in our daily lives that’s kind of like what we do, and I’m guilty of it too, focusing so much on the creation and not reminding myself of the Creator.

So, one way to wave this obstacle will be to study the 99 Names of Allah and understand His immense capability, His limitless capacity…and Inshallah, that will bring us near to Him. Just in understanding Him, we’ll be better.

So these are the three things that are often the biggest obstacles to coming near to Allah.

Surrounding ourselves by people who couldn’t remind us of Allah, thinking that we have too many sins to be nearer to Allah, and not understanding Allah’s greatness.

So, Inshallah, I’m going to take this advice and try to apply it more on my own life and I hope it will help you in the future.

This is Theresa Corbin for AboutIslam.net.

Assalamu Alaykum.

Read Part 3.

Islam Mercy Allah sins friends obstacles greatness nearness forgiving names
About Theresa Corbin
Theresa Corbin is the author of The Islamic, Adult Coloring Book and co-author of The New Muslim’s Field Guide. Corbin is a French-creole American and Muslimah who converted in 2001. She holds a BA in English Lit and is a writer, editor, and graphic artist who focuses on themes of conversion to Islam, Islamophobia, women's issues, and bridging gaps between peoples of different faiths and cultures. She is a regular contributor for AboutIslam.net and Al Jumuah magazine. Her work has also been featured on CNN and Washington Post, among other publications. Visit her blog, islamwich, where she discusses the intersection of culture and religion.