Obedience means to do the obligations Allah Obligated upon you, avoid His restrictions, and stand carefully at His boundaries.
The origin of obedience to Allah is knowledge, fear, hope, monitoring Allah in deeds, and knowing that Allah is monitoring deeds.
{who arise and forsaken their beds to pray and worship their Rab in fear and hope, and who spend charity from what We provide them} Alsajdah: 16
Fear of His punishment and hope in His mercy, fear of His anger, and hope in His satisfaction. If the person ignores these facts, he will not reach the truth of obedience because obedience does not exist without knowing Allah and believing in His existence like nothing similar to Him.
{nothing is like his Him, and He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing} Alsoura: 11
A Bedouin said to Mohamad ibn Ali ibn Alhusain (R):
Q) have you seen Allah when you worshiped Him?
A) I would not worship what I do not see
Q) how did you see Him?
A) vision cannot see Him like eyewitnesses. However, hearts see Him with the truth of Iman; He cannot be realized by senses, He cannot be described as humans, He is well-known by His signs, described by marks He does not oppress at judgments, He is Allah no God but Him, the Lord of the heavens and earth.
The Bedouin said: God knows best where he places His messages.
Allah made obedience an essential tool of His love. He said:
{say oh Mohammad: if you love Allah follow me, so Allah love you and forgive you your sins} Al-Imran: 31
Loving Allah and His Messenger means following Their orders and prioritizing them and obeying Them, seeking their satisfaction, because the sign of love is to agree with the Beloved and to avoid otherwise.
Imam Alghazali said: who claims four without four; then he is a liar.
Who claims the love of Janna without working in obedience to enter it, then he is a lair.
Who claims the love of the Prophet ﷺ without loving scholars and poor people, then he is a liar.
Who claims fear of hell fire without leaving sins, then he is a liar.
Who claims to love Allah but complains of calamity, then he is a liar.
Ali (R) said: who long for Janna hasten to good deeds, who fear hell fire prevent himself from self-desires, and who is certain of death belittle the pleasures.
Prophet ﷺ said: "every one of my Umma enters Janna except those who refuse. They said: who refuses, oh Messenger of Allah? He said: he who obeyed me shall enter paradise and who disobeyed me indeed he refused".
Bisher Alhafi said: I saw Prophet Muhammad in the dream; he said: oh, Bisher, do you know why Allah elevated your status among your peer? He said: no, oh beloved Messenger. Prophet ﷺ said: for your service to the pious people, your advice to your brothers, your love to my companions and people who follow my Sunna, and for you following my Sunna.
Aljunied said: no one has reached Allah except by Allah, and the path to reach Allah is following His chosen Prophet ﷺ.
Indeed obedience to Allah and His Messenger is ultimate goodness.
Allah said: {and whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger has undoubtedly attained the highest achievement} Alahzab: 71
Obedience is uprightness on the way of Allah. Uprightness in the way of Allah is comforting and tranquilizing; there will be no fear, no grief, no anxiety, and no worry.
{indeed those who say: our Rab is Allah then remain steadfast on the Right-Way, the angles will descend upon them saying: do not fear and nor grieve and receive the good news of Janna that you were promised. We are angels are your guardians in the life of this world and Hereafter, and there you will have all that your soul desire and will have all that you pray for} Fussilat: 20-21
What anxiety stays if Allah is the guardian? Moreover, what grief or fear possess if Allah is the companion! If Allah is with you, who is against you? If Allah is not with you, who is with you?
To be guided to the straight path is a pleasure on its own, even if there was no reward but that pleasure.
It is not the same for the one who walks on a paved, enlightened path and responds and cooperates with him; and the one who walks on an unsettled dark path and every creature around him hostile him and encounters and harms him.
{he who was dead and We raised him to life and gave him the light that he walks among the people, can he be like him who is in utter darkness and cannot come out of that} Alan’am: 122
Believing in Allah and responding to His Messenger ﷺ, and obeying Him, are the path to a tranquil life and happy living in dunia and wining Janna in the Hereafter.
{whoever do good whether man or woman and is a believer, We will surely grant them to live in the good life, and We shall recompense them their reward according to the best of what they used to do} Al-Nahl: 97
{indeed those who believe and do good deeds, gardens of paradise will be their welcome and hospitality. They will live in that forever; they will never desire to be transferred or removed from it} Alkahf: 107-108
The human being has two lives; the life of the body and the life of the heart. Humans and other creatures share the fact of body life. The life of the heart is established on faith in Allah, helpful knowledge, pious deeds, and forsaken sins. So, the good life includes the life of the heart and its bliss and delight and pleasure. Nothing is better than alive hearts, and nothing is best than the blissed hearts, except for the bliss of the Hereafter.
The believer finds bliss in Allah’s obedience and the pleasure of His soliloquy.
A worshiper said: I struggled with Qiyam for twenty years, and I enjoyed it for twenty years.
Therefore, the person should draw near to his Lord and Creator by obedience and direct his whole self to Him. He should repent every time he sins, not despair from His mercy, endearing to Him by thanking His grace. If he continues doing that, he will wine security, tranquillity, and happy life in dunia and Akhira.
The most important fruits and results of obedience besides the above:
Guidance to another act of obedience to follow the previous one, as a gift of increasing in nearness and endearment and a reason of increasing faith
{and those who accept guidance, Allah increase and improve their guidance, and grant them piety} Mohammad: 17
2. It grants the obedient the love and intimacy of people
The Prophet ﷺ said: "No servant turns his heart to God except that God makes the hearts of the believers flow to him with kindness and mercy".
