Five Keys

Five Keys

This is taken from Amr Khaled's lecture about the heart's comfort for youth:

Five things that are the keys to becoming close to Allah (swt) insha'Allah
that he suggested, if we do them for one month, insha'Allah our hearts will
become more alive and full of Allah's love and awareness, a lot of us have
tried lots of different things, so why don't we try this? Give it a chance, you
have got nothing to lose, on the contrary, you have tons to gain just by
tryingJ May Allah (swt) bestow His most beautiful blessings upon you and unite
our hearts for His sake.

1) Pray on time no matter what (this is the most beloved deed to Allah)
-if you do not pray, it is like your saying I cannot bear bowing to the
Creator, the Lords of the worlds, it's like saying I have nothing to thank Him
or ask Him for, that we do not need Him and we are just fine all on our own in
this huge world.

2) Remember Allah for 5 minutes daily
-Subhana' Allah 100 times, Astaghfurullah 100 times, La illaha illah Allah 100
times, Alhamdullilah 100 times...etc

3) Make duaa daily
-Please do not underestimate the power of your duaa, in anything and
everything, whether it is for something in this world or in the hereafter. We
need Allah's (swt) guidance in every step we take, and if we do not make duaa
while we are in a good situation, Allah (swt) will test us, trial us, because
He loves to hear us call to Him, duaa has many benefits, most important of
which is making your heart cling to Allah and become closer to Him, and there
are 3 ways that it may be answered:
1) Allah (swt) will answer it directly for you and grant you what you asked for
2) Allah (swt) will make it avail you from something bad that may have happened
to you
3)Allah (swt) will save it for you on the day of judgment where we will be
granted such rewards that we will wish that none of our duaa was answered in
this world.

4) Read Quran daily
-Even if it is one ayah, you say you do not know how to read properly-you get
twice as much rewards according to the prophet's Hadith
-you say you do not understand, you will eventually, we are patient with our
schoolwork and when learning another language, must we not be patient with the
blessed words of Allah (swt)?

5) Good Company (Friends)
-what we know of as "peer pressure", we need people around us that help us do
what is good and keep us away from that which is bad, on the day of judgment,
you will be with whom you love (Hadith), or to keep it simple as the saying
goes, tell me who your friends are and I will tell who you are.

PS. Feel free to pass it on....and may Allah (swt) reward you