Assalamualaikum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh

In the name of Allah, the Entirely Merciful, the Especially Merciful. O Allah! I seek refuge in You from knowingly associating partners with You in any way, and I seek Your forgiveness for that which I do not know. Ameen.
 

IN the journey of life as a servant we often feel far away from Him and at the same time find many difficulties to get closer to Him.

If all this time we feel far from God and experience difficulties in getting closer to Him, it could be because we misinterpreted the phrase 'close to Him'.

"Prostrate yourself and draw near to Allah," (QS. Al-Alaq: 19).

In a narration it is mentioned that the closest condition between a servant and Allah Ta'ala is when the servant is prostrating, especially in prayer.  A servant is not easy and diligent and steadfast in prostrating (prayer), unless he belongs to a servant who is on the path of obedience.

Obedience is the true meaning of obedience.  It is really hard, but there is a feeling of peace and pleasure when going through it.  This closeness to obedience, sometimes we also do it 'unconsciously', especially when a servant relies entirely on Allah Ta'ala and realizes the impossibility of practicing obedience, except because of His help.

In other narrations, it is also mentioned that whoever approaches himself with obligatory deeds, then istiqamah and adds to them with sunnah deeds, then Allah Ta'ala will be close to him.  When Allah Ta'ala is near, a servant does not walk, act, speak, listen, and do all deeds except in order to draw himself closer to Allah Ta'ala.

What comes out of his mouth is muraja'ah Al-Qur'an, dhikr with sentences that are recommended, conveying various statements and words that are soft, polite, calming, and preachy.

So is his hearing.  He only uses it to listen to the words of Allah Ta'ala, the words of dhikr, and other good words.  On the other hand, he deliberately avoids when there is hate speech, slander, rumours, let alone meaningless gossip.

The same is the case with hands that are only used in goodness to help others, help the elderly to lift the load on the vehicle, light hands to help the spouse, ready to serve the needs of the elderly, people, and various other good projects.

That is the meaning of closeness.  Perfect closeness to obedience, not just rituals, but also obedience whose benefits are directly felt by fellow Muslims and mankind.