ALLAH CALLS US TO HIM

ALLAH CALLS US TO HIM

• How did Allah call us to Him?
• Why did Allah call us to Him?
• What is this call about?

How did Allah call us to Him?

Allah has created us and specified the purpose of creating us when He said, ﴾I have only created Jinns and men, that they may serve Me.﴿1 And it was interpreted that they may know. In the Divine Hadith, “I was a concealed treasure and I wanted to be known, so I created every creature so that I could be known…”

We, to Allah who created us, are dispensable. He does not need to create us. He is generous without limits. He grants what we desire and what is within His Hand. Knowing Allah is amongst the greatest graces granted to us. Allah has created us for this great grace and purpose. As a consequence, and due to His love to us, he has given us this grace: ﴾When My servants ask thee concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them) …﴿2

Allah is close but his servants are far… You do not veil Yourself from Your creatures unless their own misdeeds would block them from You.3

Allah even calls us to Him to know him and calls us to love him. He calls us to come close to Him morally and to increase our knowledge in Him and to enjoy such knowledge.

Allah has never left anything without leaving evidence in it that tells about His ability, wisdom, knowledge and generosity. Let us listen to Imam Zein Al Abidin (peace be upon him) when he says, “With You I know Thee. You showed and led me to Thee and called me to Thee. If were not for You, I would not know Thee.”4

The entire existence calls for Allah, and in the depths of ourselves, an instinctive voice calls us to Allah.

﴾My knowledge, O' my Master, is that which guides me to You and my love is my intercessor to You, and I am trusting of my evidence with Your guidance and comfortable of my intercessor with Your intercession.﴿5

Everything within this existence calls to Allah and guides Him: the flower, the bee, the atom, a galaxy within a universe, and the depth of our soul. If we follow these things, we shall find that all of them are invitation cards sealed with a divine stamp and are proofs to Allah. Let us listen to the supplication of Imam Hussein (peace be upon him) on the Day of Arafah:

“O Lord! I knew by the changing and movements of things that Your purpose is to know everything about me so that I would not unaware of anything about You.”6

Why did Allah call us to Him?

Allah is the Lord of all Worlds, that is, administering and managing the affairs of human beings and the universe is within His Hand alone. He regulates and organizes the universe, creates the sun and the moon and makes them work for us. He holds the skies, makes them rain and causes plants to grow. Anything that we need, Allah has made it work for us. Allah is the Lord; that is, raising humans and other beings is within His Hand. He leads us to reach the purpose of our existence: happiness. Since we are being created and formed within the wombs of our mothers through our deaths, Allah keeps on taking care of us and providing us with our physical needs, without forgetting our spiritual needs. As He sent us rain, He sent divine, holy books. As he created a lighting sun and glowing moon, He sent us prophets, messengers and Imams. So, as He is the one who provides us with food and drink, as Ibrahim (peace be upon him) says:

﴾Who gives me food and drink, And when I am ill, it is He Who cures me;﴿7

He is the one Who guides, educates and purifies us.

﴾So fear Allah, for it is Allah that teaches you.﴿8 ﴾…but Allah doth purify whom He pleases…﴿9

This is why we read the master of those who prostrate, “O’ Master! I am the young one whom You raised, And I am the ignorant whom You educated, And I am the mislead whom You guided…”10

Due to Allah’s mercy, compassion and wisdom, and since He is a Lord, that is a Teacher, He calls us to Him, to get acquainted with Him and get closer to Him with our minds and hearts.

Therefore, he called us to him in his Holy Book:

“O ye who believe! Give your response to Allah and His Messenger, when He calleth you to that which will give you life…”11

Consequently, Allah calls us to what gives us life and to be among those who are living…

What is this call about?

Listen to the previous verse once again: ﴾O ye who believe! Give your response to Allah and His Messenger, when He calleth you to that which will give you life…﴿ Does it not raise your question and wonder? Are we not alive? Then, what is meant by “to that which will give you life…” So, let us contemplate this life we lead. With our short sight, we shall find that the living signs are heartbeats and breathing. This is a medical view. Others believe that the survival signs are food, drink and marriage. As for Allah, He Who created life and death, what is real life? Is it the animals’ life? Allah has always denied such a life on those who reject Faith since it is a bestial life.

Real life is about leading a life of mind with consciousness and spirit, or else whoever has a sense of hearing and does not benefit from it is deaf to Allah. And whoever has a sight and does not use it is a blind man. The same thing applies to anyone who never benefits from his life and does not turn to the lights of Allah’s guidance and never listens to his words: Allah looks at him as a dead man.

﴾Truly thou canst not cause the dead to listen, nor canst thou cause the deaf to hear the call, (especially) when they turn back in retreat.﴿12

A spirit which has lost Faith and never benefited from the divine guidance calls of Allah is actually dead; and what a death!

Thus, we are dead if we never answer the call of Allah. We are dead if we never answer Allah’s invitation to us and never benefit from the lights of divine guidance. To exit our death into real life, we have to look into ourselves and make them pay attention and listen to Allah’s words and His messengers’ words. This is how we leave the darkness of ignorance and death and get into the light of knowledge and life: ﴾Can he who was dead, to whom We gave life, and a light whereby he can walk amongst men, be like him who is in the depths of darkness, from which he can never come out?﴿13

How many lives are bettered by death because in fact they are merely torture for those who own such lives and never feel the same because they have turned their faces away from recalling Allah. He who leads such a life never listens to Allah’s guidance verses, feels the pain of punishment or refrain from what he is doing: ﴾But whosoever turns away from My Message, verily for him is a life narrowed down, and We shall raise him up blind on the Day of Judgment.﴿14 Others’ deaths shall change into life. Has Allah not say, ﴾Whoever works righteousness, man or woman, and has Faith, verily, to him will We give a new Life, a life that is good and pure …﴿15

Allah calls us to live a good life which is so different than the bestial one. A life through which we enjoy security and safety and which is everlasting because then we will be overwhelmed and blessed with Allah’s love and approach Him more, He who has and owns life and death within his hand.

Conclusion:

O Dear! If Allah, the Master of our bodies, is the One Who provides us with nutrition and necessities and He is the Master of our minds Who teaches and guides us, does He not deserve our listening and obedience? ﴾Say: "Shall I seek for (my) Cherisher other than Allah, when He is the Cherisher of all things (that exist)? Every soul draws the need of its acts on none but itself: no bearer of burdens can bear the burdens of another. Your goal in the end is towards Allah: He will tell you the truth of the things wherein ye disputed.﴿16

^{* "Beginning of the Path", "Lesson Three". By: Islamic Cultural Knowledge Organization. Knowledge Center for Islamic Studies and Researches.}

^{1- (Adh-Dhariyat [The Winnowing winds] 051.056).
2- (Al-Baqara [The Cow] 002.186).
3- Du`aa Abi Hamzah al-Thumali – Al Mafatih.
4- Du`aa Abi Hamzah al-Thumali.
5- Du`aa Abi Hamzah al-Thumali.
6- Bihar Al Anwar, v 95, p 225.
7- (Ash-Shuara [The Poets] 026.079-080).
8- (Al-Baqara [The Cow] 002.282).
9- (An-Noor [The Light] 024.021).
10- Du`aa Abi Hamzah al-Thumali.
11- (Al-Anfal [Spoils of War, Booty] 008.024).
12- (An-Naml [The Ant, The Ants] 027.080).
13- (Al-Anaam [Cattle, Livestock] 006.122).
14- (Ta-Ha [Mystic letters Ta-Ha] 020.124).
15- (An-Nahl [The Bee] 016.097).
16- (Al-Anaam [Cattle, Livestock] 006.164).}