Chapter Two: A True Companion

To befriend anyone, there must be a strong attraction. Strong relationships revolve around love. The deeper we go in love, the more we bond with the other. Recall the feeling of being in love—how that person becomes the center of your attention. All you want is to be in their presence: glued to your phone all day, distracted from everything else, and ready to drop everything just to spend time with your beloved. You find yourself constantly thinking about what you love about them and everything you want to do for or with them.

You’re completely focused; your attention is fixed on one person. The deeper you go, the more you share—and the more intimately you connect with your beloved. The bond strengthens, trust grows, and you do everything in your power not to hurt them, longing to keep the relationship just as it is. You yearn to become one with the other. 

We long for these relationships, hoping they will stay stable and unchanging. But the reality is that this world is constantly changing—everything shifts from moment to moment, beyond our control. And still, the heart yearns for love, trying to fill the void within by clinging to one thing after another, always searching for something lasting. 

If we truly want to know someone, if we are genuinely longing for them, we manage to divert all our attention and focus toward them. So why can’t we do this with The One who is The Source of Love, The One who created the whole universe with it? You and I are both created with this Love, and our constant seeking to fulfill it is part of our very nature—we often mistake it for other things. 

 As soon as someone seeks to know God with love, HIS magnetic field unveils—suddenly wide open—attracting those who are searching for HIM. At a time when every aspect of my life was turning upside down, when everything I believed would remain constant was changing, my Beloved Murshid (RA) said to me, “Everything in this duniya¹ is constantly changing; nothing remains the same. The only constant is Allah ﷻ and His Rasool ﷺ.”

The problem is that religion has become overly focused on rules and regulations, right and wrong, good and evil. As a result, it has either turned into a taboo or created rigidity among its followers. However, this is the practice where true freedom is found—if done right. We often forget the main purpose of Deen²: to divert our attention toward our Creator and build a genuine relationship with HIM. Worship has become something people do out of fear or for show, making it challenging to cultivate a personal, intimate relationship with God.

Worship itself is defined by scholars as the highest act of love and devotion. To be a servant (عبد) is the highest station (مقام) with Allah ﷻ.  Think of your own relationships—the ones you gravitate toward and feel comfortable in are those based on love. These relationships lift you higher and allow you to feel vulnerable, to be yourself, to share intimately, and remain open and free. You are genuinely happy to serve the other and spend your time in these connections.

In contrast, some relationships are rooted in fear, defined by feelings of force, uneasiness, shame, and discomfort. You may feel ashamed to be vulnerable, afraid of being judged for who you are. In these situations, you don’t want to invest time; instead, you simply try to get through them as quickly as possible, often going through the motions out of fear or guilt. 

So, the question to consider is this:  how can we worship a God we don’t truly know or have made acquaintance with? A God that someone else has painted for us—a God who judges, punishes, and burns? Someone else’s perception will never be enough. As anything in life, you only truly come to know through experience—you must go through it. 

The distinction between theory and practicality lies in experience. 

It is only when we truly know someone that the bond of love grows, allowing us to feel connected to the person and experience a sense of closeness. Worship without focus becomes redundant; to focus on something, it must first attract your attention and spark your interest. Once interest is established, you begin to know it. This is the fundamental law for understanding anything.

If a scientist wants to discover something, their intense focus (توجه) allows them to explore it. They read about it, imagine its possibilities, visualize its potential, experiment with it, and spend time in its discovery. Through focused attention, it reveals its characteristics, and they come to know it. 

When we are deeply in love, the pain of everything fades away. We forget everything and simply long to be in the presence of the person—whether physically or in our thoughts. We long to know everything about them, willing to give up even parts of ourselves—perhaps even fully—to know them more deeply, to be like them, and be close to them.

This is the concept of Naffi (negation). Fourteen hundred years ago, when our Beloved Prophet Muhammed ﷺ was reflecting on life in Ghar Hira on Jabal Al-Noor, He withdrew from society. He distanced Himself from the chaos and noise, secluding Himself for a specific period with food and drink to sustain Himself during His temporary retreat before returning to engage with the affairs of the world—this was His first Sunnah³. It marked the first act of negation in His practice. He negated His entire environment, the practices and traditions of His society and ancestors. He negated His external senses. 

In the silence of the cave, with His external eyes—or rather, His external senses—closed, He withdrew and turned inward. He began His journey into Himself. This activated His inner senses, and as He traveled deeper within, He continued to negate everything that was not Al-Khaliq (The Creator)—La illah⁴, La illah, La illah (لا إله).

Until, at last, the spectacular experience of Wahi (Revelation) occurred—“Iqraa!” (Read!). His immediate response was to negate Himself, ”ما أنا بقارئ” (I will not read).

Again, Jibreel AS said to Him, “Iqraa!” and once more, His reaction was to negate Himself, ”ما أنا بقارئ” (I will not read). The deeper He went, the more He continued to negate.

He even had to negate Himself for the transfer of “اقرَأ بِاسمِ رَبِّكَ الَّذي خَلَقَ” (Read in the Name of Your Lord Creator) to occur—to realize Allah ﷻ.  His negation led Him to cognize Khaliq Al-Koun (The Creator of the universe)  – illa Allah⁵! (الا الله).

It is without a doubt that Rasool ﷺ lived the most honorable life, as the Insaan⁶ with the best character. He is Allah’s Messenger ﷺ, The Waseela⁷ to lead us to Allah ﷻ.  La illaha il Allah (لا إله الا الله), Muhammed Rasool Allah (محمد رسول الله). For this reason, we follow His guidance and look to His Seerah⁸ to understand His pattern of thinking that informs His pattern of conduct. 

Why is it that we are so focused on the little details of His everyday life, but forget to examine how He came to truly know Allah ﷻ? What was He practicing in that very moment when He cognized The Creator? He is our Beloved Prophet ﷺ, whose task is to lead us to Allah ﷻ.

Regardless of our backgrounds, or the religions into which we were born, Muhammed Rasool Allah ﷺ has been sent as a Mercy for the entire universe (رحمة للعالمين). All the Prophets (AS) came with the same Message: The Message of Monotheism—that there is only One Creator. A single Message from the same Source, sent down in succession. And each time it began to deviate among the community of that era, a new Prophet—with the same Message—was sent. 

The completion of the Knowledge that Allah ﷻ intended for humanity was sealed with Prophet Muhammed ﷺ, who is connected to 124,000 Prophets (AS). He ﷺ is Khatam Al-Nabiyyeen (The Seal of The Prophets), the one who reached the Maqam of Adnaa⁹ in an embrace with Allah ﷻ—guiding all of humanity to HIM as The Waseela.

If we follow in His footsteps, adhere to His guidance, wouldn’t we be able to develop a personal, one-on-one, conscious relationship with our Creator? Isn’t that the very purpose of every Divine Book sent to us—to explore the possibility for ourselves, to see if it is indeed attainable, without someone dictating that it is out of bounds? Imagine how different life could be if we connected with The Source instead of the resources. <3

If we reflect on that instance, it becomes clear that while Rasool Allah ﷺ was practicing negation, He initiated—and thereby introduced—the practice of Muraqabah¹⁰.  He withdrew His attention from His external senses and went within Himself to observe and discover Reality. He sat in a quiet, dark cave and delved into the cave of His ribs, exploring the depths of His own heart to find out who makes it beat. 

Muraqabah is essentially the practice of concentration—stilling the body and quieting the mind to focus on a single point. Through this singular point of focus and concentration, Allah ﷻ revealed HIMSELF to Rasool Allah ﷺ, allowing Him to cultivate an intimate relationship with HIM—beyond creation.

From this depth of communion, He conversed with Allah ﷻ and received not just what appears to be words of The Holy Quran, but the living experience of Allah’s Command (امر). The Holy Quran is not mere words written in a book; it is a vibration, a frequency of Life.  If it existed without the example of Rasool Allah ﷺ—living as a walking embodiment of The Holy Quran¹¹— would we ever truly unlock its depths?

The Holy Quran was revealed not merely as words for us to read and memorize, but as experiential Formulas of Creation—translating The Pattern of Thinking (طرز الفكر) of Allahﷻ , revealed and transferred to Rasool Allah ﷺ.  The Holy Quran is the transfer of Noor upon Noor (نور على نور)—a continuous transmission of Divine Light.  Allah ﷻ says in Al-Quran Al-Kareem:

قَد جاءَكُم مِنَ اللَّهِ نورٌ وَكِتابٌ مُبينٌ

There has come to you from Allah a Divine Light and Book clear

[Al-Mā’idah: 15]

Allah ﷻ tells us that this Holy Quran and Divine Noor are clear, manifest—and can be seen. Revealed to Rasool Allah ﷺ to pass on to His Ummah¹² as an inheritance, it holds the secrets of creation as well as the Knowledge of Allah ﷻ and HIS Irfan (cognizing HIM).  As Khatam Al-Nabiyyeen¹³, He opened the way and led humanity—with the Knowledge of Siraat Al-Mustaqeem¹⁴—to follow The Path to The Creator.

This Guidance and Knowledge is not meant for another time or space; time and space must also be negated—for the here and now. Rasool Allah ﷺ was sent to reveal to us Allah ﷻ’s Ayat (Signs). To truly comprehend this, we must be purified of all misconceptions, misinterpretations, doubts, and the negative thinking patterns that lead to negative patterns of conduct— patterns we’ve inherited and adopted. 

It is not a purification that is meant only for the physical aspect of life, as we often base much of The Sharia’ah¹⁵ on these days. Rather, The Sharia’ah serves to purify the body and mind, preparing us to enter the realm of the Soul and encounter our True Selves. Sharia’ah is not merely about halal and haram¹⁶, nor is it simply a system of reward or punishment by Allah ﷻ. Instead, it cleanses our energy, making us lighter, bringing us closer to Reality—and ultimately, to Allah ﷻ. 

Allah ﷻ mentions in Al-Quran Al-Kareem:

لَقَد خَلَقنَا الإِنسانَ في أَحسَنِ تَقويمٍ ۝ ثُمَّ رَدَدناهُ أَسفَلَ سافِلينَ

Then we reduced him to the lowest of lows ۝ We created man in the best state

At-Tīn: 4-5

These Ayat illustrate two distinct states of Insaan. The first— Ihsan Taqweem—is your True Self in its original form as Allah ﷻ intended. The second is the result of disobedience. When we align our thoughts and actions with what Allah ﷻ loves—and in the way HE loves—it purifies the body and mind, protecting us from overthinking, stress, and doubt.

When we align ourselves with what Allah ﷻ loves, we enter a safe zone and elevate our vibrations—allowing the mind to be in a state of sukoon (peace)—clear and receptive deeper realities.  But when we act contrary to what Allah ﷻ loves, it scatters our thoughts, lowering our vibrations and energies, making it difficult to access higher or deeper zones of Reality. We remain on the surface, trapped in shak (doubt), and this doubt creates distance between us and Allah ﷻ. 

However, when we practice the way of Rasool Allah ﷺ, there is nothing to doubt. We enter the domain of Yaqeen (certitude), which allows us to experience firsthand what it means to be close to Allah ﷻ. 

Let’s illustrate with an example: suppose I steal or lie today. Immediately, guilt surfaces, and doubt creeps in. I overthink the situation—trying to come up with a cover-up story that I must keep revisiting just to remember. Inevitably, my energy drains. My focus scatters. And my conscience… keeps tugging at me. 

When I go against Sharia’ah, I’m left uneasy, in a state of guilt and doubt, which creates distance between Allah ﷻ and myself, hindering my closeness to HIM. 

Now, suppose today I tell the truth—even if it is very difficult. Later, when I rest my head on my pillow, my conscience is clear. Even if it was painful, I spoke honestly; there’s nothing to hide. I am at peace with my choice of action, and so, my mind is at ease. No worry, no restless looping thoughts. My energy is stable, neutral, and centered—I can focus without having anything clouding my thoughts or conscience. 

Therefore, yes—Sharia’ah is designed to maintain order in society. But for the seeker on a spiritual path, striving for Allah ﷻ‘s Irfan (cognition), it becomes clear that Sharia’ah is the very foundation: clearing the way, purifying the nafs¹⁷, and preparing us to enter higher states and realms of Reality.