NEARNESS TO GOD

NEARNESS TO GOD Greatest Happiness The Quran (96: 19) says ‘prostrate yourself and come closer to God.’ According to a Hadith, the Prophet of Islam said: The nearest a person comes to his Lord is when he is in prostration, so make supplications to God in this state. (Sahih Muslim) T HIS nearness to God is not just about the physical form of prostration, but also about the spirit of prostration. The following incident illustrates this point well. A boy once developed certain habits, because of which his father was very angry with him. The father threw him out of the house. For some time, the boy roamed about here and there. Finally, he met with a man. This man told him, “If you want your father to accept you again, there’s only one way. Go quietly back to your house, and when you get there, knock on the door. When the door is opened and you find your father in front of you, then at once you should fall at his feet and say, ‘Father, I made a mistake. Please forgive me." The boy did just as the man had suggested. When he fell at his father’s feet sobbing, his father, too, began to cry. He lifted him up and hugged him. He pardoned him and took him back inside the house. Prostration before God is something like this. It is not some ritual action. True prostration is when someone, overwhelmed with emotion, lays his head on the ground. It is like placing one’s head before God’s feet. This sort of prostration is the highest form of surrender and acceptance of God’s will. When a person surrenders to God in this manner, God’s mercy demands that He forgive him and bestow His grace upon him. o Nearness to God is not just about the physical form of prostration, but also about the spirit of prostration. Creativity Problems increase creativity.