Being a New Muslim, How Can I Get Closer to Allah?

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Being a New Muslim, How Can I Get Closer to Allah? ​

Getting closer to God is something all of us should strive to do all the time, regardless of our level of faith. And the good news is: it’s not too difficult. Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) tells us that God promises to reach out to us many times as much as we try to reach out to Him, as long as our effort is sincere and our intention is genuine.

You can get closer to God through a series of simple steps, but the trick is to be persistent, because Prophet Muhammad tells us that God loves persistent, regular and consistent good deeds and acts of worship, even if they’re not too elaborate, what matters is that they become a habit, so that they would have a life-changing effect. You will need to:

1- Get to Know God: Start a life-long interactive relationship with God. God is not just a concept, He’s really there, and He knows you and listens to you, so talk to Him and listen to Him talk to you through His words in the Quran. Learn about Him, get to know Him through his 99 names and attributes, read His book, follow His messenger, and learn and apply His commands and prohibitions. This is easier said than done. You need to dedicate time and effort to learn and apply a little everyday and accumulate knowledge over time. And remember that the best way to retain knowledge is to practice it and to teach it to others.

2- Get to Know Yourself: Dedicate some time daily to focus inwards to really know the true you and create peace with yourself. Learn how your body and mind function, and how your emotions work, this is how the Quran instructs us to start; by looking at the amazing miracles we call our bodies. Love yourself and appreciate how you were created in order for you to love your magnificent Creator. Think of why you’re here in this life and set a goal for yourself to achieve as a mission. Give your life purpose and direction, because when you’re working to meet God’s expectations of you it will inevitably get you closer to Him.

3- Get to Know Your Environment: The Quran also instructs us to look around us at God’s amazing creation and contemplate. Contemplation is a highly rewarded worship in Islam. Think of yourself as part of an intricate structure, the circle of life, and start giving back as much as you’re taking from it, without expecting reciprocation, just give because it feels good to give. Use the powerful energy you gained from knowing yourself and your God to relate to your surroundings and interact with people from different backgrounds and cultures, both Muslim & non-Muslim, as well as with nature, resources and time. Attuning to God, yourself and your surroundings bring about a new level of heightened awareness that gives everything a much deeper meaning, and gives you a totally new perspective on life.

Strive to be proactive, effective, successful, caring, giving, humble, honest, strong and loving, not just because these are good manners, but because these are good deeds rewarded highly in Islam. And remember you have a great practical example for exemplary manners in Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. The Quran names him as our leader to God.

4- Balance Your Life: All of us have 3 spheres in our lives: self, work and relationships. Most people focus on one and neglect the other two, which result in a strained and unfulfilled life. Focusing only on self makes us selfish and arrogant, focusing only on work makes us materialistic machines, and focusing only on relationships makes us worthless pleasure seekers. Islam teaches that all three are interconnected and interrelated, they’re one unit, and we have to put a good amount of effort into all of them in order to lead a balanced, healthy life. You’ll notice that in the Quran, when faith is mentioned, it is always coupled with doing good deeds, and in the tradition of the Prophet, good manners is defined a mark of true faith. In other words, rearranging your priorities according to Islamic teachings, and applying the Islamic principles in every aspect of your life is your shortest way to God.

5- Pray On Time: you’re closest to God when your forehead is on the ground in prostration, and God loves prayer on time as the best deed from a believer. Making the basic worships He mandated on you is the shortest way to Him according to Prophet Muhammad. So make those simple worships a daily habit with your heart and mind totally cleared, opened and receptive to God’s love. It’s a life-changing experience.


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Tips for New Muslims on How to Read the Quran ​

It is very important for Muslims to read The Quran and get a better understanding of its message. This is how we can learn and practice the basic concepts of Islam as a balanced way of life. Reading the Quran also shows us the universe in a new light: we learn many amazing facts about ourselves and the different creatures of God, the environmental balance and our role in it, human behavior and relations, financial and economic concepts, and much, much more. In other words, when we read the Quran we must free our minds and open up our souls to get a much deeper understanding of our world and ourselves. It’s not just a book of worship and religious rules; it’s a book of wisdom that will change our lives.


Here are some general guidelines:

1- Find a good translation in a language you understand well. For English speakers, I recommend Professor Mohamed Abdel Halim’s modern English translation (THE QURAN, a new translation- Oxford University Press). Always bear in mind that reading the Quran in any other language than its original Arabic is only an approximation of the meaning and not the exact text, simply because it is impossible to reproduce the same literary experience in any other language.
Dr. Mostafa Mahmoud, a philosopher and scientist, describes the Quranic style: “There is no end rhyme, nor is the Quran written in verse. The prose, however, is so unique that one can detect a law of verbal architecture that governs its internal music pattern. It remains impossible to imitate the structural and rhetorical brilliance of the Quran”.


2- Listen to a recitation of the Quran from an experienced reader, even if you don’t understand. It’s important to get the feeling of the original text, and it’s mesmerizing to hear its unusual music.

3- If this is your first encounter with the Quran, plan two consecutive readings: a first quick and general reading to get the big ideas, then a second more thorough reading to delve deeper and get a much closer look at the details.

4- Start your first reading with a neutral frame of mind. Approaching the Quran with a pre-conceived perception will only slow your progress and color your understanding of its true message, resulting in a confused impression. Consult your own open heart and mind in the first reading, and not other people’s opinions, whether from classical books or from the mainstream media. The Quran reaches straight into your soul if you let it, so please allow yourself the experience. Dr. Mohamed Enani writes: “The Quran speaks the language of the human heart wherever humans are found and whatever the age they live in; it is a universal language rooted deep in a human’s natural constitution”.

5- Do not be afraid to challenge what you read. The Quran actually invites the reader to do just that, as long as you diligently and earnestly try to find the answers, because in the process, you end up re-discovering your true self. This rewarding journey of mental and spiritual growth is described in the works of many prominent western Muslims such as American Professor of mathematics Jeffrey Lang, who was challenging the Quran as a fierce atheist, yet couldn’t help but surrender to it eventually (Struggling to Surrender, Amana Publications), he writes of his first reading: “You cannot simply read the Quran, not if you take it seriously. You either have surrendered to it already or you fight it. It attacks tenaciously, directly, personally; it debates, criticizes, shames, and challenges. From the outset it draws the line of battle, and I was on the other side. I was at a severe disadvantage, for it became clear that the Author knew me better than I knew myself. The Quran was always way ahead of my thinking; it was erasing barriers I had built years ago and was addressing my queries”.

6- Allow yourself time to contemplate. Don’t read the Quran like you read the newspaper, rather, read it as a direct message from God Himself to you in particular! When you read verses where God talks to the reader, stop and let the message sink in, then allow yourself time to think of yourself and your life in relation to this divine communication, think of how you could put it to good use to adjust your convictions and behavior. When you read stories about previous nations, find contemporary parallels and try to learn the lessons. When you read about God’s magnificent creations, think of educating yourself about nature and showing gratitude to Him through respecting life and natural resources. Think of the Quran as a dialogue or a conversation rather than a one-way communication of do’s and don’ts. Be brave enough to provide the honest answers to the questions your heart and mind will throw at you while you read.

7- Get additional insights from trusted sources about the Quran’s message from different perspectives: scientific, sociological, behavioral, regulatory…etc. in addition to reading about the historic context in which it was revealed, including the biography of the man who transmitted it to us: Prophet Muhammad peace by upon him and his companions. I advise you to read original writings from fellow Muslims of your native culture, rather than translated works from Arabic, with the exception of a few outstanding works (for example, Dr. Mostafa Mahmoud’s book Understanding the Quran, a Contemporary Approach, translated by Dr. M Enani- Amana Publications).
Read also about the brilliant achievements of Muslim scientists across history, when they understood and applied the Qur’anic rules of acquiring and applying knowledge to serve humanity as God’s vicegerents on Earth. A good source is “Lost History, the Enduring Legacy of Muslim Scientists, Thinkers, and Artists” by Michael Hamilton Morgan, National Geographic. You can also find interesting info online on http://www.muslimheritage.com/

8- Plan to read the Quran in its original language one day by learning Arabic, and the science of the correct recitation of the Quran called ‘tajweed’. There are lessons in all the mosques in the world, and there are transliterated Qurans especially for this purpose, to help you pronounce correctly, and many new Muslims have excelled at this and teach others, you can easily find their sites through a simple online search.


The experience is unparalleled if you allow yourself to absorb it in full. In his book “The Amazing Quran”, Dr. Garry Miller writes: “Calling the Quran amazing is not something done only by Muslims, who have an appreciation for the book, and who are pleased with it; it has been labeled amazing by non-Muslims as well. In fact, even people who hate Islam very much have still called it amazing.”
Dr. Miller then explains his surprise as a scientist during his first reading: “Within the last century the scientific community has demanded a test of falsification for any new scientific theory. This is exactly what the Quran has. Basically it states, "If this book is not what it claims to be, then all you have to do is this or this or this to prove that it is false." Honestly, I was very surprised when I first discovered this challenge. In 4:82 the book openly invites the non-Muslim to find a mistake. In 1400 years no one has been able to do that, and thus it is considered true and authentic”

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