Connecting with Allah as a New Muslim

Ramadan is a wonderful time to better connect with Allah, especially as a new Muslim. Here are some tips to consider during these final days of this holy month.

We can observe throughout the Quran that Allah countlessly mentions His beautiful names and attributes. Through these examples, we can get acquainted with them to ultimately result in a strong spiritual connection with Him via different aspects of worship such as love, honor, fear, trust, hope, desire etc. 

To ponder over the reality of the perfection of each name, showing that perfection is only for Allah, not for his creation. This should remind us that the mistakes we make are a part of our human existence in his profound creation of the Earth. 

Attribute these signs back to him by resorting back to those beautiful names, notice how Allah mentions

This is not only confined to the camel and the skies; look at your children, yourself … your anatomy and physiology; how Allah has made you unique from all other forms of creation. The creation of time; the events that take place within it, and how time itself will diminish. Taking a step back, observing this, and ultimately realizing that all of this was done for a divine reason; to be gathered with him in heaven which is the ultimate bliss. Think of all the blessings that he has bestowed upon you and everyone around you. 

We hope that the realization of the blessing of Islam was by a choice you made to become a Muslim… congratulations! But, we should never forget that that was a blessing in making that choice; for there are people that have the opportunity to make the choice to embrace what they know is best for them, but choose not to proceed with that. 

Think about it, Allah presents those hard temporary moments for you to encourage you to make the right decisions. One decision that many of you chose was to call on him and ask him to guide you to the right path. Some of you called on him to “show” you that Islam was the path to truth. So ultimately, these scenarios are presented to us for us to call on him and ask him for his favors: from guidance (Al- Hadi - The one who Guides) , protection (Al- Hafeez - The Protector). This is all intentional, for Allah proportioned this with the goal of us resorting to him in times of hardship and ease. 

Let’s also reflect on the first chapter of the Quran; the chapter that we recite in every unit of prayer (AlFatihah - The Opening). This chapter is actually a compilation of calling on his names and attributes, invoking and him, then suppicating to him. 

Verbally mentioning these names of Allah has an effect on the heart, and ultimately our actions. Allah says (ithkuru Allah thikran kathiraa).. Which is an encouragement to mention these names plentifully. When we paint a picture in our minds of the time that we made the decision to embrace Islam we praise Allah by saying:  “AlHamdu lillah” (in context of the name “Al-Hameed”) When we think of how we used to hold creation (that is naturally imperfect)  in the same regard as Allah, we say “Subhanallah” (Allah is free from any imperfection) 

You may have a mentor or relative that you love and regard dearly because you knew that they wanted what was best for you. The fact that they would sacrifice their life for you. This is a huge factor in your intense love, honor and respect for them. They may be the first person that you supplicate to Allah for to guide them to Islam. A major contributor to establishing and strengthening that spiritual connection with Allah is reflection over his love for you; that there is no form of creation that can love you as intensely as Allah.