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Love of Allah

Written in Arabic by: Sk. Younis Salih.
Translated by: Dr. Faheem Bukhatwa.

 

In the name of Allah most gracious most merciful.

  

All thanks be to Allah, the Lord of the worlds. Peace and prayers be upon His messenger Muhammad.

Dear believers, Today’s talk is about is about another condition of being a Muslim or another condition that is associated with the testimony of: “No God but Allah”. This condition is: the love of Allah. For the greatest thing a human can get in this life; or the next life is to be loved by Allah. That is the ultimate aim for which all true and sincere strivers are competing for. To be loved by Allah; is heaven on earth. It is the joy, strength and life of the heart. Hearts will only do well, and can have joy, pleasure, peace and tranquility, only by knowing Allah. Knowing Allah is through love of Allah.

Love of Allah is the light, the recovery, the health and the happiness. Love of Allah is what carries people to lands they wouldn’t otherwise be reaching except with great effort and fatigue. Love of Allah elevates people many levels for which without they can not reach. Believe this: those who got the love of Allah got the best of this life and the next.

The messenger (PPBU) said: {Three features; whoever possessed them will find the taste of faith: (1st) That Allah and his messenger are more loved to him/her than anybody or anything else, (2nd) and to love someone for no reason other than for Allah’s sake. (3rd) and would hate to go back into being a disbeliever, after being saved by Allah, as one would hate to be thrown into a fire.}

Allah created all creatures to worship Him. And worship can only be through loving Him, and submission to Him and abiding by His commands. Ebn-AlKay-yem said: “rightfully, worship is: loving Allah. In fact; it means specifically distinguishing Allah with love. All the love should be to Allah, and no one else is to be loved except Him. You only love others for Allah or for the sake of Allah. Just as one would love the prophets and angels; One’s love for them is a complement of loving Allah, but is not the same as loving Allah”

Love is an inspiration to worship. Allah created all hearts naturally to be in peace and in love with Him alone. This who loves anything or anyone else as he/she loves Allah; then they would have taken a peer or a rival or an equal or an associate with Allah. Loving other than Allah is an ultimate sin of making association with Allah (or Shirk). Allah says: {and some people make peers with Allah, love them as they love Allah; while the faithful have greater love to Allah} 2:156. This shows that loving Allah is one of the main required conditions of faith. Loving Allah is the root of faith and its main foundation. Indeed, it is the root of all acts of faith and religion. Again Ebn-Taymiah said: “one of the reasons that would generate the love of an individual to Allah is all the thinking of all graces and mercies which Allah bestows upon him or her”. The more the individual pursues and investigates the seen and unseen mercies of Allah; the more love for Allah one will have in his/her heart. All the good that occurs to an individual only comes from Allah. In fact Allah’s goodness to His slave happens in each and every moment of the human’s life, and with each breath he/she takes. {All thanks be to Allah}.

One of the factors which will achieve the love of an individual to his God is reciting, studying and meditating the magnificent Koran. In fact there is nothing more beneficial than reciting the Koran with thoughts and analysis put into it. Reciting and loving the Koran is a cause which leads to the love of Allah towards His slave. One of the companions of the Messenger; kept reciting the chapter “Al-Ikhlas” in the Koran. He loved it. The messenger (PPBU) said: {Tell him that Allah loves him.}

Another factor that brings Allah’s love to His slave is to constantly utter or speak His name. The messenger said: {Allah (May He be exulted) says: I am with my slave wherever he/she speaks of Me and whenever his/her lips move with Me}. Allah also says: {Speak of me and I will speak of you, and give thanks to me and do not be disbelievers.} 2:152. So, you can see that your share of Allah’s love is directly relative to how much you speak of Him.

Another way for the slave to win Allah’s love is through the voluntary prayers (Nafilas). The messenger (PPBU) said: {Allah says: This who carries enmity to a supporter of mine then consequently I am in a declared war against him. And My slave continues making offerings to me with voluntary prayers until I get to love him (or her). And if I love him then I become the hearing with which he hears, and the sight with which he sees, and the hand with which he fights, and the foot with which he walks. If he asks me, I definitely give, and if he asks for my help I definitely help}

Another factor that brings the love of Allah to the individual is following and conforming to the messenger’s example in words, deeds and general living. Allah; talking to His messenger (PPBU) says:  {Say if you did love Allah then follow me; and Allah will love you, and He will forgive your sins; For Allah is forgiving and merciful} 3:31. The love of Allah to His slave is conditional to following the guidance of the messenger in public and privacy, external visible acts or internal within the heart, and believing in what he says, and obeying his orders, and responding to his call. One is not considered to love the messenger if they do not live by his example. And consequently Allah will not love such a person. Remember that the reward is of the same type as that of the act.  

Every person who is disobedient to Allah, who disobeys His commands, and commits His prohibitions can not claim love for Allah. If he make such a claim then it is definitely false. Allah has put as a condition for loving Him is to show evidence of that. The evidence is obeying Him. Logically and legally, if no evidence is made to support a claim then it remains just a claim.

 

All love, praise and thanks be to Allah.

 

Notes:

    1. Ansar (or Al-Ansar): The inhabitants of the city of Almadina that received and supported the messenger (PPBU) when he immigrated from Mekkah in the very early years of Islam.

    2. Aya (or Ayah): is a verse of the Koran.

    3. Arafa (or Arafah or Arafat): is a mountain that represents the climax of the Hajj worship. All doing Hajj must stay at this location on the same day.

    4. Duaa: a prayer in the form of talking to Allah; praising him and asking him for help.

    5. Ferdose: is the highest level of the all the gardens of Eden or paradise.

    6. Hadeeth: is something reported that the messenger said. It includes all the speeches and ceremonies he gave. It is usually narrated or told by one of his companions. There is a list of hadeeths approximately 14000 that are reported and checked to be genuine. No more hadeeths are acceptably added to this list.

    7. Hajj: is the worship of pilgrimage.

    8. Hijra: the event of the immigration of the messenger from Mekkah to Madina. This event marks the start of the Islamic calendar. the Islamic calendar has 12 months based on the lunar cycle, each is 29.5 days. Hijra is also used as a name for the Islamic dating system.

    9. Iman: belief or faith

    10. Jihad: is striving in the line of Allah in many forms. Includes a very wide scope varying from improving oneself to fighting a defensive war in protection of Allah's word.

    11. Khalifa: is the Muslim ruler. Head of the Islamic empire. Exact translation: "Successor".

    12. Madinah: A city in the Arabian peninsula (in the country known now as Saudi Arabia). A city where the messenger had to immigrate to.

    13. Mekka: is the holiest city or Muslims. It contains the Ka'aba mosque with the famous black cubical shape. Some say it was first built by Adam, and some say by Abraham. It is where all Muslims face in their daily prayers.

    14. Nafilah: a voluntary prayer other than the five obligatory prayers; performed at any time.

    15. Ommah: is the Arabic word for a nation. It usually refers to the Islamic nation unless otherwise specified.

    16. PPBU: Peace and Prayers Be Upon him. A statement Muslims use any time they mention the name of the messenger or make a reference to him.
    17. Qadr (night of Qadr): The night when the first revelation of the Koran took place. Most likely it happened during one of the last ten nights of the month of Ramadan.

    18. Sunni: is a the title of  those Muslims who are suppose to be following the life style of the messenger. This differentiates them from the Shiaa of Iran.

    19. Sunna (Sunnah): Is how the Messenger PPBU lived, what he did or said. It includes the way he dressed, ate, drank, prayed, interacted with other people and fought. Basically, sunnah is the life style of the messenger PPBU. It is considered the second source of legislation in Islamic laws and it is considered an important reference to be used for concluding arguments and disputes. It is also a title used to call the main stream Muslims who make 90% if all Muslims.

    20. Tawaf: part of the pilgrimage (Hajj) ritual. It involves walking round the Kaaba Mosque in anti-clock wise direction a number of seven circles.

    21. Wathoo (wadoo): a washing up ritual done by Muslims before each of the five daily prayers known as ablution.

Faheem Bukhatwa, my email address is : faheemfb@gmail.com