How Can I Distract Myself from Your Remembrance While You Are Watching Me?

Question

In the supplication of those who hope for mercy, how can I distract myself from Your remembrance while You are watching me? What is the interpretation, and does it mean that we should remember Allah at all times?

Answer 1

Peace be upon you. A person must always feel the watchfulness of the Lord over them, as this awareness reflects on all their actions and movements. It helps them ascend the ladder of perfection and prevents them from falling into sins, acting as a safeguard against mistakes. Naturally, when a person lives this awareness fully, they will not forget that Allah is watching them, because forgetfulness is a lapse that occurs due to a lack of vigilance (as noted by Al-Raghib). How beautiful is the saying of Luqman to his son when he advised him, saying: 'O my son, everything has a sign by which it is known and testified to... And the heedless have three signs: distraction, amusement, and forgetfulness.' Therefore, we must remember our Lord and not forget our Creator, for through His remembrance, our hearts find tranquility. The heart is only sound when it remembers Allah; if it forgets His remembrance, it becomes greatly disturbed, like a fish when it is out of water, swaying left and right. Our master Zain al-Abidin said: 'My Lord, through Your remembrance, my heart lives.' Allah does not look at our appearances or the abundance of our wealth, but rather at our hearts and deeds, as mentioned in the sacred hadith: 'My earth and My heavens cannot contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant can.' Hence, when we neglect the remembrance of our Lord, our hearts become attached to the world, and heedlessness takes over, burying the soul among hopes and desires. This is what the verses indicate, and thus the first task of Satan is to make the heart forget the remembrance of its Lord: 'The devil has taken hold of them, so he made them forget the remembrance of Allah.' Since the remembrance of Allah is intertwined with the spirit of man, if a servant forgets the remembrance of their Lord, they have forgotten themselves: 'They forgot Allah, so He made them forget themselves.' Therefore, whenever we do not remember Him, our affairs will turn upside down, our conditions will worsen, and we will live in a state of sins that corrupt the hearts. Just as a knife in flesh is not as harmful as a sin in the heart, we read in our supplications and repeat them morning and evening: 'O my God, my sins have clothed me in the garment of humiliation, and my distance from You has covered me with the attire of my dwelling, and my heart has died (and here is the point) due to my great sins.' May you remain under the care and protection of Allah.