Re: Do you ever get this feeling....
Thanks everyone for sharing your knowledge. I would like to share here something a scholar once shared with me.
Once a very old man who had spent a pious and clean life was offering his prayers when the devil put a question in his mind,
"All your friends spent their youth experiencing all the forbidden luxuries of life, but you refrained from all those forbidden things, BUT still you have absolutely no idea if you are still liked by Allah and deserve heaven. What if Allah (s.w.t) didn't like all your good deeds, and He like one good deed of your friends, due to which all of them might enter heaven and you might enter hell. You might have wasted all your life because Allah never communicated to you in any way that might indicate His approval and acceptance of your deeds"
This thought made the old man so depressed that before sleeping he only offered the obligatory prayers and didn't do usual "zikr" of Allah (s.w.t)
In his dream he heard a voice from "Ghaib" (unknown) "Why didn't you do zikr tonight ?"
He replied, "I was so confused and got depressed by thinking that I still don't know if Allah likes me or not, may be all my good deeds are not good enough to be accepted in front of Allah (s.w.t)"
The reply came. "The name of Allah is very pure and honorable and only sincere people with a pure heart deserve to recite His name with their tongue. If Allah had disliked your deeds and were you not sincere enough, He would not have given you the "Tawfeeq" (permission) to recite the name Allah by your tongue. Till the time you are able to praise Allah and recite his attributes with your tongue, be assured that Allah is so happy with you that he allowed you to take His name with your tongue"
When the old man woke up, he became very happy and started doing "Zikr" of Allah with a lot of motivation.