How to Achieve Spiritual Comfort in Worship

Question

This Q&A discusses the challenges of achieving a heartfelt connection during worship and offers guidance on how to attain spiritual comfort and closeness to God. [AR_ID:1880]

Answer 1

Peace be upon you:

First, before answering your question, we must highlight the importance of thanking Allah for the blessing of being concerned with these spiritual matters and for the success in performing night prayers, even if done without full presence of heart.

Unfortunately, we often experience spiritual dryness and emotional barrenness, failing to truly connect with Allah. We pray as if it were a mere physical exercise, read the Quran as if it were just words, and call upon our Lord out of obligation, living in a state of overwhelming dryness that leaves our hearts like dry desert sands, devoid of water or life. We fear reaching the meaning of the blessed verse: "They have hearts with which they do not understand, and they have eyes with which they do not see, and they have ears with which they do not hear. They are like cattle; rather, they are more astray. It is they who are the heedless." We suffer from the disease of heedlessness, and the Imam awakens us to the degree of attachment to Allah when he says: "He revived his mind and killed his ego until the majesty of Allah struck him, and the subtlety of His presence illuminated his path, leading him to safety and establishing his feet in tranquility and peace." The shining light is divine guidance; whenever you feel love for prayer, that is the shining light in your heart.

So, how do we attain this comfort and tranquility in worship?

We must first understand the significance of worship in our lives. We have a fundamental need for worship because we live in a state of deficiency and poverty, and we need an expression that aligns with our essence and reality, which is worship: "Indeed, the believers have succeeded, those who are humble in their prayers." (Al-Mu'minun: 1-2)

Humility and submission express our true state, our need for divine support, as worship is a means of seeking aid and expressing hope. Worship relies on two pillars: hope and fear.

The Prophet Muhammad said: "A servant is not a believer until he is fearful and hopeful, and he is not fearful and hopeful until he is cautious of what he fears and works for what he hopes for." The Quran states: "And they call upon Us in hope and fear, and they are humbly submissive to Us." (Al-Anbiya: 90) Worship is based on the wings of fear and hope; it is indeed a manifestation of human weakness. Every moment, a person fears something and hopes for something else. When one lives worship with the wings of fear and hope, it reflects their reality and existence, which is one of deficiency and need, of hope and fear, of fluctuating emotions between hope and fear. Hope is based on love; one cannot have hope without a motive of love behind it. Love has various types and categories. When Allah manifests in the heart of His servant, the first degree of love for Allah begins. If you find yourself inclined towards voluntary prayers, reading the Quran, and listening to supplications, feeling sweetness in your prayers, you have attained the first degree of love for Allah, which is the degree of manifestation.

Imam Zain al-Abidin expresses this degree when he says: "You are the One who illuminated the hearts of Your beloveds until they tasted the sweetness of Your companionship." They feel that prayer, supplication, and voluntary acts are a comfort with the beloved who has manifested in their hearts and planted light within them. This degree of manifestation is described in the Quran: "Is one whose breast Allah has opened to Islam, so he is upon a light from his Lord..." (Az-Zumar: 22) He feels light and love in his heart because Allah has opened his heart to Islam.

Therefore, I advise you to try to sit with your Lord on Friday night in the darkness of the night, when all are asleep, to converse with Him, to recall your sins, and to choose solitude and darkness. Sometimes, with lights and noise, one does not engage with worship; lights distract the mind. However, when one sits in the darkness of the night, solitude and darkness provide tranquility to the soul. The night is a garment that the soul wears, granting it calmness and peace. When the soul is calm, there are no sounds, no quarrels, no distractions. In darkness, the soul finds tranquility and stability.

Here, darkness and solitude become factors that entice the soul towards worship. If one chooses to sit with their Lord, even if they pray just two units of prayer, it is not necessary to pray twenty or perform the night prayer. Even two units of prayer in darkness and solitude, with stability and calmness, acknowledging one's sins, shedding tears, and feeling remorse, all bring one closer to Allah. The Prophet Muhammad said: "O Abu Dharr, two units of prayer with understanding are better than a thousand units while the heart is heedless." It is better to pray two units with humility and tears than to pray a thousand while the heart is distracted. This can renew your relationship with worship and draw you closer to Allah.

Try to seek intercession, to hope to experience what the saints and the pure Imams experienced, and reflect on their words in supplication: "O my Lord, I did not shy away from You in solitude, nor did I watch over You in public. I am the one who has committed great sins, the one who has transgressed against his Lord. I am the one who has disobeyed the Lord of the heavens..." Reflect on your situation and your life. It has been narrated: "A moment of reflection is better than a year of worship." Imam Zain al-Abidin said: "Worship is not about the abundance of prayer or fasting, but rather about the abundance of reflection."

Reflect on the inevitable end; this short journey we live will come to an end. Imam Hasan al-Zaki, at the time of his death, cried. When asked why he was crying, he said: "I cry for two reasons: the separation from loved ones and the horror of what lies ahead." We are required to prepare and reflect on that world as we do on our worldly lives.

Imam Zain al-Abidin said: "And why should I not cry? How can I not cry when my fate is certain? I cry for the departure of my soul, for the darkness of my grave, for the narrowness of my resting place, for the questioning of Munkar and Nakir, for my emergence from my grave naked and humiliated, carrying my burdens while the creatures are preoccupied with their own affairs."

Read the supplications of Imam Zain al-Abidin, the supplications in the Sahifa Sajjadiyya, the supplication of Abu Hamza al-Thumali, the supplication of repentance, and the supplication of the penitent. Read these supplications to alleviate the diseases of a hardened heart, heedlessness, and turning away from the remembrance of Allah. Reflect on the Day of Resurrection, as in this sorrowful narration, Abu Basir said to Imam al-Sadiq: "My master, our hearts have hardened, so remind us of the horrors of Hell." Imam al-Sadiq replied: "O Abu Basir, you reminded me of something that saddened and troubled me." Then the Imam's face changed, and he frowned, saying: "O Abu Basir, Gabriel came to the Prophet with a frown on his face. The Prophet asked him: 'O Gabriel, you come to me smiling every day, but today you come with a frown. What happened?' He said: 'Today the preparation for the breaths of Hell has ended.' I asked: 'How?' He said: 'Allah commanded the angels to blow into Hell for a thousand years until it became white, then for another thousand years until it became red, and then for another thousand years until it became black and dark. If a drop of its pus fell into the waters of this world, all would die from its stench.' The Prophet wept greatly, and Imam al-Sadiq cried as he recounted this news."

When Darrar entered upon Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, he said: "O Darrar, describe Ali to me." He replied: "Spare me." Muawiya insisted, and Darrar said: "If I must, then he was indeed far-sighted, strong, just in his speech and decisive in his judgment. He was often in tears, deep in thought, holding himself accountable when alone, and he would reflect on the past. He found solace in the night and felt estranged from the world and its allure. He honored the people of faith and was kind to the poor. He preferred coarse clothing and simple food. The strong did not dare oppress the weak, nor did the weak despair of his justice. He would respond to us when we asked and draw us near when we approached him. Despite his closeness and kindness, we would not speak to him out of reverence. When he smiled, it was like pearls strung together. I once saw him on a night when darkness had fallen, standing in his prayer niche, holding his beard, trembling like a sick person, saying: 'O world, deceive someone else. I have no return to you. Your life is short, your existence is insignificant, and your danger is great. Ah, from the lack of provisions... Ah, from the lack of provisions and the long journey and the loneliness of the road.' This is Ali, and his son Ali ibn al-Hussein was seen by one of his companions at the Kaaba, clinging to its curtains, tears streaming down his cheeks, moaning like a grieving mother, saying: 'O my Lord, I did not disobey You out of disbelief, nor did I disregard Your command, but my soul tempted me, and my misfortune aided it, and I was deceived by Your covering over me. Now, who will save me from Your punishment? By what rope can I hold on if You cut off Your rope from me? Woe to me tomorrow when I stand before You, when it is said to the lightened: 'Pass,' and to the burdened: 'Lay down.' Will I pass with the lightened or will I lay down with the burdened? Woe to me, as my sins have increased with the length of my life. Is it not time for me to feel ashamed before my Lord?'

Thus, a person must monitor themselves in their relationship with Allah and in their worship of Him, to weigh this relationship and align it with the moments of their life and the purpose for which they were created. In doing so, they will find comfort in worship and grow closer to Allah, if He wills.

May you be successful in all that is good.