The article is an effort toward understanding how Allah SWT has put forward his message for us – for whoever wants to know how close is Allah SWT to its creation.
Let’s look at the verse from Surah Al-Baqarah and we can proceed forward.
وَإِذا سَأَلَكَ عِبادي عَنّي فَإِنّي قَريبٌ ۖ أُجيبُ دَعوَةَ الدّاعِ إِذا دَعانِ ۖ فَليَستَجيبوا لي وَليُؤمِنوا بي لَعَلَّهُم يَرشُدونَ
[Surah AL-BAQARAH ( البقرة ) 2, Verse 186]
When My servants ask you about Me, [tell them that] I am indeed nearmost. I answer the supplicant’s call when he calls Me. So let them respond to Me, and let them have faith in Me, so that they may fare rightly.
First and foremost, the literal translation of the verse doesn’t cover the gems hidden in the verse but I will try to shed some light for all of us to understand.
The first part of the verse is that Allah SWT has chosen the word “when” instead of “if” – it reflects that Allah SWT hopes for us to turn to Him, and “when” we do, the message tells us He is near most (more than we will ever know but Allah SWT out of his love has put it forward in Quran for our ease).
The second part of the verse is that Allah SWT responds to our supplications when we call Him. Here we understand that anyone who is far away from his Creator for very many years, even when they call Allah SWT, they get the answer – this is for us to refine our belief system that any and every supplication that we make, they all are heard and answered by Allah SWT.
The third part of the verse is the advice from Allah SWT, whoever is turning back and supplicating should now respond to Allah SWT by following the guidance covered in Quran & Sunnah, and should work towards reviving and strengthening the faith in Him.
The last part is the blessing as we see in very many verses of the Quran, where Allah doesn’t just advice but also puts forward an ultimate hope and reward that will follow as part of the efforts we make towards Him. Here, Allah SWT tells us the result of following His advice, which is we will be on the right path, guided to the right results, and will be from among the righteous ones.