W4: Islamic Sustainable Development

Maintaining The Relationship With Allah

(Photo by Ali Arapoğlu from Pexels)

Hello guys, how are you? I hope you are always in the pink of health 💗

This week is officially week 4, and in our class today, Dr Suhaimi emphasized more about Islamic Sustainable Development. So basically, there are three fundamental of Islam and development, which are the relationship with Allah, fellow human beings and the environment (Triple Helix Relationship). If we want to maintain a good relationship with fellow human beings and the environment, first thing first, we must build a good relationship with Allah, the God of the universe. So, how we can maintain a good relationship with Allah? Actually, there are many things that we can do to build a good relationship with Allah. Now, let me share what I do to maintain my relationship with Him in my daily life :)

1) Maintain a strong belief in Allah

As we know, 'aqidah' is the most important thing in Islam follow up with Ibadah, Adab, Syariah and so on. So, I maintain a strong belief in Allah by worshipping only Him and not associating Him with other creations. Not only that, but I also have faith in Him in everything and trust Him wholeheartedly without having any doubt. If anything bad happens in my life, I believe that there will always be a reason or 'Hikmah' behind it, so I will never give up and lose hope because I believe that He is always with me and never leave me alone. Indeed, Allah is the only place to depend on and a place to ask for help. I trust Him with all of my heart.

2) Perform Five Daily Prayers

No matter what happens, I will perform the five daily prayers, which are Subuh, Zuhur, Asar, Maghrib and Isya' without missing any of them, unless if I missed because I did not wake up from sleep. As we know that it is obligatory for every Muslim to complete those five prayers every single day because prayer is a pillar of religion it is the first thing that will be asked in the hereafter. Undeniably, sometimes I do feel a bit lazy to perform it because of the tiredness of working/studying, but I know it is a mere temptation of the devil. I will never miss those prayers because they are the only times where I could meet and talk to Allah directly. 💘😊

3) Perform Circumcision Prayers

Apart from obligatory payers, I usually do circumcision prayer too such as 'solat Dhuha', 'taubat', 'hajat' and 'tahajjud'. It is because sometimes the obligatory prayers that we do are not perfect, so, these circumcision prayers can help replace and perfect the obligatory prayers. Besides, if we regularly establish prayers, then we will be able to be closer to Allah and strengthen the relationship with Him.

4) Recite Al-Quran Every Day

Every day, I will try my best to recite Al-Quran at least half a page of it. But alhamdulillah, I usually managed to recite more than one page each day. I often recite the Quran after Subuh prayer and Maghrib prayer because I think that time is the most suitable for me to recite it. After Subuh I will recite because it is the beginning of the day and before starting any work, and after Maghrib just to fill up the time while waiting for Isya' prayer time. Recitation of the Quran indeed a remedy for every hardship, and a way to get closer to Allah.

5) Pray and Ask for Forgiveness from Allah

Pray or 'du'a' is actually not to be done after prayer only, but we can do it at any time and anywhere. As for me, I will try to pray all the time for Allah to forgive my sins and make everything easier in this world and in the hereafter. I believe that God is all-hearing even if we only pray in our hearts. besides, I do not waste the golden opportunity to pray such as during 'sahur', before breaking fast, when it rains and so on. then, with much prayer and asking for forgiveness, we can definitely maintain our relationship with Allah.

6) Do Self- Reflection Before Sleep

Before sleep, I will normalise myself to do self-reflection, where I will reflect on everything that I have done on that day. By doing this self-reflection, I will be able to realize my mistakes, and be determined to abandon bad deeds, and be a better person afterwards. Besides that, I also do not forget to forgive all the mistakes that others have made to me. By doing this, it will be able to cleanse my heart and improving me to be a better Muslim. Indeed, the pure heart will be closer to Allah.

So, that is all that I often do to maintain my relationship with Allah. For sure it is not enough, and never will be enough. I will try my best to upgrade my worship to Allah from time to time, slowly but surely. To conclude, before we want to achieve anything, maintaining the relationship with Allah is always the first and priority. Related to sustainable development, only by sustaining the relationship with Allah can we sustain the resources, health and anything else. I hope this will benefit you in any way. Thank you for your time ^^