A Wali of ALLAH was one day walking past the balcony of a palace. The king, who was seated on the balcony saw him, a nd he shouted out: “Is it possible for me to meet you and speak to you?” The Wali looked up and said: “You are on the balcony of the third story how is it possible for me to come up there?” The king said, “If you decide to come up I will make arrangements for you.” He replied. “No problem, I will come up.” So a basket was lowered to bring him up and he soon he was sitting next to the king on the balcony. The king asked him, “How did you get so close to ALLAH? So he replied, “When I decided to get to you, you pulled me up. The day I decided to get close to ALLAH, I put my foot into that arena then ALLAH brought me closer and nearer to him.”
What does this mean? Are we honest and sincere in befriending and getting closer to ALLAH? If we are honest and sincere then yes indeed, ALLAH’S aid and assistance will be with us and we will experience that aid and assistance.
Now ten or twelve days of Ramadhaan have passed. Our minds should be functioning. Is the mind speaking to us, what does it say? I say to myself firstly, Oh ALLAH before Ramadhaan how was my tongue? Would I backbite, swear, slander, be harsh and rude with my tongue? Now that Ramadhaan is here, is the mind functioning and telling me that this is not how you should be using the tongue, this is not how you should be speaking. Is this happening to me? How are my anger levels. When you are sick then you go to the doctor and he puts the scope on you and says, “Well, the temperature is high.” He feels your chest and says that you have a cough. Now we ask ourselves, “How is that anger level in me? Am I still blowing my top when I come home especially in the month of Ramadhaan. If the wife did not prepare the food on time is the anger level rising or decreasing? How do I treat my wife? Is the greed and lust for Dunya still in my heart? How are my old habits of the past? I was not in the habit of performing Salaah. I was not in the habit of reading Quraan, am I still lazy?” So we put the thermometer on ourselves and start checking these levels. And if there are no changes then, O ALLAH, you have promised that this Quraan does not have an atom of doubt in it; it is a syllabus and a guide for those who want to get close to ALLAH.
ALLAH says in the Holy Quraan: “The garments of Taqwa are the best” Now what brand name is this which ALLAH is calling the best garment? Today we know of ‘Diesels, Petrols and Nikes’; these are brand names but O ALLAH, we did not come across this one, ‘the garments of Taqwa’! What brand name is this O ALLAH? ALLAH says that the colour of ALLAH is the best of colours and the garments has the brand name of ‘Taqwa’.