Pleased With God

Too often we strive to please God. We try to be perfect slaves, worshippers, servants, children, etc. Depending on our religious background, we are accepting Him as our Savior, or prostrating ourselves in front of Him as our Lord, or sacrificing to Him as our Creator. But what we seem to forget is that God also pleases us in our pursuit of His divine pleasure.

I am Muslim, so this piece will be looking solely at the Islamic view of being pleased with God and, more specifically, my understanding of it. I am sure there are notions of this in other theologies, but I do not know of them. Hopefully, someone will reach out to me to explain their take on this.

There are numerous authenticated, “agreed upon” ahadith (plural of hadith) which contain varying versions of the Arabic of the following phrase: “I am pleased with God as my Lord, and with Islam as my religion, and with Muhammad as my prophet/messenger.” The Messenger’s PBUH hadith all indicate rewards for saying this phrase. Most talk about saying it upon hearing the athan, or Islamic call to prayer, while some talk about saying it in the evening/morning. Some narrations say the reward is Paradise (the root of “compulsory” or “obligatory” is used, which is a heart-exploding thing to know as a believer, that I can make Paradise mandatory upon myself by saying this phrase) while others indicate it as forgiveness of sins (no less heart-exploding than guaranteeing Heaven).

Why is such a small phrase so valuable in the eyes of God?

Truthfully, I couldn’t tell you. I’m sure there are theologians who’ve theorized about it over the millenium that Islam has been around and these numerous thinkers have written and argued about it at length. But I’m not a theologian (yet) and my English isn’t eloquent enough — let alone Arabic — to philosophize about it.

If I were to guess within the layman’s construct, I would say that this phrase is so powerful because it reaffirms the insignificance of Man in a roundabout and gracious way.

Yesterday, when I was at the gym finally devoting myself to my New Year’s Resolution, I listened to Suhaib Webb’s podcast. Usually, I’ll play some JOCKO or even some music, but I was feeling religious due to a tragic instance of human mortality hitting closer to home than anyone is ready for. The two episodes I listened to were entitled “Hikam: The Wisdoms” part one and two. Hikam is the plural form of the word hikmah in Arabic. It’s a book written by some old scholar in Arabic that essentially serves a similar purpose to Al-Ghazali’s Ihya Uloom al-Din: reviving the Muslim spirit and bringing Muslims back to God and Islam. The two episodes were spiritually rejuvenating and were sprinkled with some tasawwuf (Islamic “mysticism”) throughout, bringing me closer to God and to those gains.

When enslaved people of a slave master say “I am pleased with my lord” — Stockholm sydrome galore, here — the owner is pleased. S/He feels pride, arrogance, and honor that his/her property looks up to, respects, and reveres him/her. This is a gross simplification and honestly not a good example, but the hyperbole does get the mind oriented on the right track.

Muslims believe that God, Allah, is our Creator. We believe that He loves us more than our mothers do (I’ve heard the “70 mothers” figure thrown around, but I’ve never bothered to verify this). We believe He is all of His 99 Names. Thus, He is uniquely qualified and deserving of absolute arrogance, a kind of absolute despotism. Qualified isn’t even the right word for it, it’s just the way He is.

And when Muslims say they’re pleased with Him as the despot, the King of Kings, the Ruler, the Lord, the Esteemed, they are reaffirming His Magnificence. Human beings are bound to Him absolutely and whatever license we have is by His permission alone, and yet we still use it to glorify and praise Him, His Beloved, and His religion.

This little phrase, I am pleased with God as my Lord, and with Muhammad as my Prophet/Messenger, and with Islam as my religion, has no bearing on God whatsoever. It has no bearing on the Prophet either, as the Quran says, “Indeed, God and the Angels send blessings upon the Prophet” and what are humanity’s prayers of blessing and praise in front of God and His Army’s?

So, qualitatively and qualitatively, the phrase is moot if not worthless. But spiritually and theologically, it is truly profound. The sayer feels rejoiced in His Creator, in the person’s choice to utter the words “I am pleased with God.” The sayer also grants him/herself immense reward by this, which is double spiritual strength/health. And theologically, the sayer confirms Allah’s absolute despotism to him/her personally as well as universally, in the creation-creator paradigm.

And Allah knows best! All that is correct is from Him and all that is incorrect is from me and I ask sincere forgiveness from Him if there is any falsehood in this piece. Hopefully this got your gears grinding or your heart exploding. Now go pray!