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Q: How can I keep the focus on Allah and look past all manifestations to have a more direct and pure relationship with him?

A: . As usual, there are usually several answers at different levels to this kind of question. First is understanding the manifestations. Learning and applying Allah’s Names helps us to get a handle on seeing Him in action. There are several practical ways to practice this:

One: Pick one of Allah’s Names in the morning and observe your interactions through the day from that energy.

Two: Keep a notebook and jot down the Name when you see something that connects to that name. For example, you see a candle. We start with Nur, and then because it is melting and creating a shape it is Musawwir, and fragile so it also Latif. Allowing your mind to flow through the Names to observe Allah in the world around us.

There are more exercises, but you can now come up with your own.

A different way of focusing on Allah and looking past the manifestations is to learn how to shift your reference point.

Imagine that you can alternate between different kinds of eyes to see the Things around you in different formats and perspectives.

For example, if you are in a relationship we might start out with ‘I am husband’ eyes or ‘I am wife’ eyes. You see your partner in terms of the relationship built on time, experience, cultural and familial props.

A different set of eyes might see your career and job or business orientation: how you make your living. This would include cash flow, networks, opportunities, conferences, clothing and apparel to make you appear ‘professional’ to others.

Another set of eyes may take a more geological perspective to see that all that is happening is actually just a very tiny moment in an extremely long cascade of events and life forms. Our personal mark in a strata of rock will be infinitesimal, and everything that we consider vital and important actually isn’t from this view.

And then there’s Allah’s point of view, which is very difficult to attain and maintain.

One more way might be to seek the Truth of the Moment. Asking your heart, “What is the meaning of this? What is the Truth?”

As you are probably aware, most of us rarely speak what we really think. We have an editor who is checking our words before we say them because we might offend or put someone off or people will think we are stupid or arrogant or a jerk. We filter our output. In this context a possible practice you might like to try is to see if you can truly understand what another person is really saying by closely observing their body language, their pitch, phrasing, context, eye movement and hand gestures. Do the movements and sounds add up to be coherent and congruent with their language?

If not, can you deduce what they are trying to say? It could be, “Love me” or “hug me”
or “I’m scared” which can all be very difficult to verbalize.

So, back to the original question: how to have the best relationship with Allah. Again: stay tuned into your heart.

Salaam Alaykum, murids, seekers, curious and interested listeners,

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