Who Is Your God?
“O you who believe, you shall remember God frequently; glorify Him day and night.”
Most people are outraged upon hearing the question “Who is your god?” They say: “My god is the Creator of the heavens and the earth.” And most of these people will be shocked to find out that their proclamation is no more than lip service, and that they are in fact destined for Hell ().
Your god can be your children (), your spouse (), your business (), or your ego (). This is why one of the most important and most repeated commandments in the Quran is to remember God frequently ().
To put this commandment into practice, we must establish certain habits whereby we guarantee that God occupies our minds more than anything else. The Quran helps us establish such soul-saving habits:
Six Habits to Remember God
- 1
The Contact Prayers (Salat): Those who observe the 5 daily prayers come a long way towards commemorating God throughout their waking hours. Salat helps us remember God not only during prayer, but also throughout the times of anticipation — glancing at a watch to see if noon prayer is due causes one to think about God, and one is credited accordingly ().
- 2
Commemorate God before eating: enjoins us to mention God's name before we eat: “You shall not eat from that upon which God's name has not been mentioned.”
- 3
God Willing (IN SHAA ALLAH):“You shall not say, ‘I will do this or that tomorrow,’ without saying, ‘God willing’ (IN SHAA ALLAH). If you forget to do this, then apologize and say, ‘May my Lord guide me to do better next time.’” (). This is a direct commandment regardless of who we are talking with.
- 4
God's Gift (MAA SHAA ALLAH):To invoke God's protection for our beloved objects — our children, our cars, our homes — we are enjoined in to say “MAA SHAA ALLAH” (This is God's gift).
- 5
Glorify God day and night:When we eat, we must reflect on God's creation of the food — the flavor, our enjoyment through the senses God has given us, the perfect packaging of a banana or orange, the varieties of seafood. When we see a beautiful flower, animal, or sunset, we must glorify God. We must seize every possible opportunity to remember and glorify God.
- 6
First Utterance:Make it a habit to say: “In the name of God, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. There is no other god besides God,” the moment you wake up every morning. If you establish this good habit, this is what you will utter when you are resurrected.