How to Find God: A Powerful Teaching.

[Abu Hafsat]

Long ago we often heard of those who left everything behind in search of God .... the Sufis, the Saints, the Dervishes and the Wandering lovers of the Divine who walked through deserts, mountains and lonely paths. People ask, why would they search for the One who is everywhere? If Allah is present in every atom of existence, why must one travel miles to ''find Him"?  The truth is subtle yet simple. The Beloved was never lost: it is we who are missing, Allah never disappears, the human heart does.

Man loses himself in the noise of the world, in its glitter, desires and illusions until his own light becomes hidden beneath dust. The real journey of spirituality, therefore, is not across lands or oceans. It is the journey back into the heart. It is said that 'he who knows himself, knows his Lord', and when a servant begins to seek the one who breathes within him, he realizes the secret that the Throne of Allah is not above the clouds, it resides within the heart of the believer. A Saint once said the Real is not found by walking, He is found by turning within, because Allah Himself declared in the Qur'an: --

                    ''WE ARE CLOSER TO HIM THAN HIS JAGULAR VEIN'' (50:16)

Then why do we search for the near in what is far, why do we look to the sky when He whispers from within. When Sayyadina Musa, alaihi salaam, asked, ''my Lord, where shall I find You?''  Allah replied, ''You will find Me with the one whose heart is broken for My sake.''  That is the secret of all spiritual search .... broken becomes the door through which the light enters, because the heart that has been humbled, purified by longing and softened by tears, that heart becomes the Throne of the Almighty.

The Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, said: ''The heart of the believer is the House of the Lord.'' So the true Ka'aba we must visit daily is not in stone and marble, it is within our chest. And every sincere Sujood we perform cleans the dust from its walls. When Allah wishes good for His servant, He grants him awareness of his own soul. And the first sign of Divine mercy is that the seeker begins to see the impurities within, the pride, the envy, the deceit that once hid in shadow. He becomes aware of his weakness, his sins, his helplessness. This is not humiliation, it is purification; the beginning of awakening; for the ignorant boast of their good deeds but the truly enlightened weep over their flaws. And in those tears lies their nearness to Allah.