Al-Hadi (The Guide)

He does not guide you because you are so-and-so, the child of so-and-so, but simply because He wills to guide you.

“He guides whom He wills to a straight path.”

Al-Hadi

Does confusion consume you? Do you feel your mind is too limited to discern right from wrong? Are you torn between two job offers and unsure which one is better? Are you contemplating a decision between two potential spouses and do not know who to choose? Or perhaps you are weary of the path of loss and wish for Allah to illuminate your way towards light and guidance?

If so, you are ready to begin a new chapter with the Name of Allah, Al-Hadi (The Guide).

You need to acquaint yourself with this Majestic Name and seek the guidance of Al-Hadi to still the armies of confusion in your soul and lead you to the straight path!

Get in touch

Warmth

The root meaning of Hidayah (guidance) refers to inclination as if Hidayah is like a gentle inclining from error to truth, from misguidance to righteousness, and from wandering to the correct path.

Thus, He the Al-Mighty guides you by redirecting your course from error to righteousness, from deviation to the most upright path.

And just as He guides you, He also guides things to you.

He brings you everything essential for your existence: He delivers water to the land you inhabit, provides sustenance to your dwelling, and supplies air to your lungs.

He provides guidance in countless ways, unique to each of His creations according to their needs and circumstances:

Get in touch

For the blind, guidance is walking on the path. For deaf people, guidance is understanding what is spoken. For the helpless, guidance is reaching his goals. For the child, guidance is keeping him away from harm. For animals, He plants instincts that sustain their lives; they recognize what benefits them, seek it, and know what harms them and avoid it.

He guides the lost in the deserts…

He guides the reader to the relevant passage of knowledge…

He guides the inventor to his breakthrough…

He guides the diligent student to the evidence of its solution…

He guides the preacher to the most effective way to convey their message…

He guides the parent to the best approach to counsel his child…

Get in touch

Not a Coincidence!

He guides you through what you may perceive as mere coincidence: He guides you with a verse you hear during prayer, with a dream you see, with an offhanded piece of advice, with a word in a book that catches your eye, with a moment of reflection, with an unprecedented spark of insight, with circumstances that push you towards the truth, with fear, with love, and even with death.

Hearing the Qur’an is among the greatest sources of guidance. Allah has embedded within it every means for guidance and righteousness. Allah the Al-Mighty said: “Indeed, this Qur’an guides to that which is most upright.”

One who acts upon the Qur’an cannot stray, deviate, or falter.

Consider the story of Umar bin al-Khattab’s conversion to Islam. He entered his sister’s house with anger blazing in his eyes, but upon reading from the first verses of Surah Taha, his heart fell in prostration at the altar of faith, and it remained there until the day he passed away.

What was the feeling that overcame him in that moment? What certainty descended upon his heart at that time?

How many hidden treasures of guidance lie within the Qur’an that we overlook in our reflection?

How many directives remain locked away because our hearts have failed to open to them?

Get in touch

No… and No

One form of Divine Guidance is receiving a dream that provides healing, warning, or direction. It is said that a man who was ill dreamt that his cure lay in “No” and “No.” He sought the advice of a scholar, who admitted he didn’t know but said: “I complete the recitation of the Qur’an every two days, so give me time, and perhaps I will find something in the Qur’an to interpret your dream.” After two days, the scholar told him: “Your cure is in olive oil,” referencing the verse in Surah An-Nur:”Lit from a blessed tree, an olive, neither of the east nor of the west, whose oil would almost glow.”

This was divine guidance through a dream.

Another form of guidance resembling dreams, in the sense of deriving meaning and connecting likenesses, is through performing acts of obedience that mirror the nature of the ailment.

For instance, a man once complained to a scholar about his ailment of dropsy (a condition where fluids accumulate in the body, often life-threatening). The scholar advised him to dig a well and dedicate it as a charitable endowment. The man dug the well and was cured by Allah’s will.

The scholar saw a parallel between the body’s retention of fluids and water retention in the earth. He believed that performing an act of obedience like digging a well, which releases water, might bring about healing…

A colleague once narrated an incident where he accidentally ran over his two-year-old niece with his SUV on his way to prayer, unknowingly. Her father rushed her to the hospital, where doctors gave her only a 20% chance of survival.

One of their cousins called my colleague, who gave him advice, urging him to sacrifice a sheep immediately and distribute its meat as charity with the intention of her recovery. He did so, and by dawn, the little girl was miraculously out of intensive care.

Allah guided the cousin to draw a connection between the meat offered in charity and the child’s injured flesh. The healing from Allah was more accurate than the doctors’ predictions!!

Guidance through casual advice: It is said that a singer with a beautiful voice was once approached by a righteous man who remarked, “What a beautiful voice you have; if only you used it for the Qur’an!” The singer repented on the spot and changed his ways.

Guidance through advice is vast and straightforward, needing no further elaboration.

Guidance through reflection: One of the clearest examples of this type of guidance is the story of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him). When night fell, he observed a star, and the story continued with his reflections until he reached certainty in his faith. These contemplations of the signs in the universe led to his guidance and unwavering conviction.

Get in touch

A Spark of Light

He observes from above, seeing the lost souls, their spirits ensnared by the darkness of confusion. He lights a spark of His Divine Light for them at night, allowing them to see the path and reach the straight road.

Allah does not guide you because of who you are but because He wills to guide you:

“He guides whom He wills to a straight path.”

So, strive to purify your heart and expose yourself to that precious Divine Will.

However, if Allah guides you and you fail to express gratitude or act upon it, He may take that guidance away. Like the man who was granted knowledge of Allah’s signs but abandoned them: “But he detached himself from them, so Satan overtook him, and he became one of the misguided.”

Conversely, if you are grateful and act upon His guidance, Allah may bless you with further guidance, making your life a continuous journey of Divine Illumination.

Consider the companions of the cave (Ashab al-Kahf): Allah guided them to believe, then guided them to remain steadfast in their faith, and then guided them to find a way to safety. Finally, He arranged their circumstances for salvation by placing them in a cave and putting them in a deep sleep for many years. Allah says about them: “Indeed, they were youths who believed in their Lord, and We increased them in guidance.

Get in touch

A Lost Compass

Imagine being in the middle of a dark desert, uncertain of your direction, and this lack of knowledge could mean certain death as you have neither provisions nor transport. Suddenly, a persistent feeling urges you to move in a specific direction. Without knowledge of the stars, with a lost compass, and with your companions far ahead, you follow this intuition. After struggling through the shifting sands, your eyes catch a glimmer of light—your companions, waiting anxiously at the edge of life itself.

Now tell me, what was that feeling? What equation caused it to arise at that precise moment? Why did it come? And how was it so accurate?

It was Allah, the All-Guiding, Who saw your heart gripped by fear and heard the pounding of your chest. Knowing the looming specter of death in your thoughts, He allowed an inner spark to illuminate your way so that you might arrive safely.

Don’t limit yourself to the literal experience; you may not have lived it yourself. But surely, you or someone you know has faced something similar. The bigger question is: Who placed that guidance in the anxious heart in need of light?

It is Allah, the All-Guiding.

“And when Divine care watches over you,

Sleep, for calamities, are kept at bay.”

Amid the tossing waves rocking your ship, Allah commands the wind to blow northward because the island of safety lies south. Without that Divine Intervention, the sails would tear apart.

Ibn Taymiyyah once left his house, overwhelmed by conflicting opinions about the meaning of a verse. He had read countless interpretations, but none eased his confusion. In despair, he fell to the ground, pressed his face to the dust, and wept, saying: “O Teacher of Dawood, teach me; O Inspirer of Sulaiman, inspire me.” When he returned, clarity dawned upon him, and the correct understanding settled in his heart through Divine Guidance.

“If Allah does not assist a youth,

His efforts alone will surely doom him.”

Get in touch

Then He Guided

Allah’s guidance is not exclusive to humans; He guides all His creation. Allah says: “Our Lord is He who gave each thing its form, then guided it.”

Sheikh Muhammad Ratib al-Nabulsi describes some examples of this guidance. He narrates how salmon fish travel from the Atlantic coasts to river estuaries in America, lay their eggs, and return. Months later, the baby salmon instinctively head back to where their parents came from, navigating across hundreds of kilometers without losing their way. Who guided them to their path? It is Allah, the All-Guiding…

A man once observed a hedgehog eating a dead snake. The hedgehog would then go to a specific plant, eat a leaf, and return to the snake to eat more before repeating the cycle. The man uprooted the plant to uncover its secret. When the hedgehog returned, unable to find the plant, it shortly died. Who guided the hedgehog to know that the plant contained an antidote to the snake’s poison? It is Allah…

When a wolf attacks a gazelle, the gazelle instinctively lowers its head, causing its sharp horns to pierce the wolf’s throat. Who taught the gazelle about the sharp weapon on its head and how to use it to survive? It is Allah, the All-Guiding…

As a child, I watched our cat with her newborn kittens. Blind and fragile, they would crawl toward her, instinctively nuzzling her belly to find her teats and begin feeding. Who taught these inexperienced creatures that this action would sustain their lives? It is Allah, the All-Guiding…

Get in touch

The Swamp

Among the greatest forms of Allah’s guidance is returning His servants to Him, guiding the lost back to the straight path, and opening the doors of repentance for those whose souls have been withered by sin.

In the stillness of night, someone ventures out to commit a sin, driven by the desires of his limbs and heart toward the mire of disobedience. But at the crucial moment, Allah sends guidance into his heart before he can reach the swamp. Suddenly, all his dark ambitions crumble, and an overwhelming force shakes him to his core. A new and pure feeling takes hold of him, urging him to turn in another direction—not toward the swamp but toward the glowing light of a Masjid’s minaret. He begins a new, luminous chapter with the All-Guiding.

Get in touch

A Piece of Paper

If Allah wills to guide you, He might use a discarded piece of paper to return you to Him!

It is said that a man, staggering through the streets drunk, noticed a piece of paper lying on the ground. Through his intoxicated eyes, he saw the Name of Allah written on it. His heart was seized with love and sorrow as he cried: “The name of Allah on the ground!” He picked up the paper, took it home, cleaned it, perfumed it, kissed it, and placed it in an elevated spot. He then fell asleep, only to hear a voice in his dream saying: “You lifted My name; by My honor, I will lift your name.” He awoke with his heart filled with faith and transformed into one of the well-known righteous.

If Allah wills to guide you, He might let you hear someone say, ‘Fear Allah,’ and these words might awaken your heart.

This happened to one of the three men trapped in the famous Prophetic story of the cave. Long before the incident, one of the men had prepared to commit an immoral act with his cousin, who came to him in desperation for help. He exploited her needs and pressured her to give in. But just before committing his sinful act, she cried out, “Fear Allah and do not violate me unlawfully.” Struck with terror, he immediately pulled back. Her plea, “Fear Allah,” crushed every desire in his heart and brought him back to his senses.

Get in touch

The Lifeline

Allah may remind you of Him in the midst of your heedlessness, awaken you in the throes of sin, purify you from the depths of the swamp, or extend a lifeline to you in the darkest of moments.

He might guide you through overwhelming love that fills your heart, fear that shakes your stability, illness that humbles your arrogance, need that forces you to bow, poverty that breaks your pride, or emptiness that torments your soul.

He returns you to Him, to the path of lights. He makes you a regular at the Masjid after you used to pass by it with indifference. He teaches your hands to hold the Qur’an after years of neglect. He moistens your tongue with His remembrance after it had long been occupied with trivial songs.

You might leave your house intending to pray in one Masjid but change direction to another. After prayer, you hear a word from a preacher that changes something deep within you, altering your course or even your life…

The servant of the sensitive soul perceives Allah’s guidance in everything and realizes that the universe is under His dominion. Allah may guide you through anything in His creation, just as He may mislead someone (may Allah protect us) through anything.

However, Allah does not mislead except those who close their hearts to guidance and the religion of truth.

Life is lost without His guidance…

Reflect on the earlier example of being lost in a desert. If we are lost on the path to Allah, to the Masjid, to Allahu Akbar, to O Allah, You are Peace, and from You is Peace, then our estrangement is far worse than being lost in a physical desert.Such estrangement is harsher than a bird separated from its flock in winter, so its dreams are swallowed by the snow!

O Allah, grant us Your divine guidance that saves us from the deserts of confusion and leads us to You. Let Your guidance bring us into a paradise as vast as the heavens and the earth.

Get in touch