Directing Attention (01/05/2020)

The Believer should recognize that only Allah ﷻ is capable of fulfilling all of his or her needs, and therefore, only Allah ﷻ is worthy of his or her full attention. The attention of human beings has inherent limitations, due to which human beings are limited in their ability to direct their attention in multiple directions. The human mind can only attend to one, maybe two, tasks at any given time. The goal of the believer is to focus his or her attention exclusively toward Allah ﷻ, not just while engaged in acts of worship, but at all times. However, this becomes challenging when our attention is being pulled in multiple directions in the form of people, lifestyles, devices, etc., all of which are vying to draw our attention towards them. The one who seeks nearness to Allah ﷻ recognizes that only Allah ﷻ is worthy of attention. Our focus should be on Him and our attention should be directed toward Him. Turning one’s attention away from Allah ﷻ and toward that which distracts us from Him carries certain implications. Allah ﷻ rhetorically asks the Believers in the Qur’an: “Is Allah ﷻ not sufficient for His servant?” By asking this question, Allah ﷻ makes clear that He, and only He, is able to fulfill His Believer’s every need. Why should we look elsewhere? Why direct our attention toward anything other than Allah ﷻ? Is anything truly worthy of our attention but Allah ﷻ? The Creator and Sustainer of the Universe is not to be competed with. Hence, the Believer should strive to focus their attention fully toward Allah ﷻ, His greatness and His attributes, and become so deep and constant in this reflection that they have no desire to turn their attention elsewhere.