Love of Allah

**noora.allah** · 10-19-2012

Love of Allah

We start by asking Allah SWT to put in our hearts What is beneficial to us In this life and the life after death! We ask Him to give us sincerity in our intentions! We cannot talk about Allah SWT unless He permits us to talk about Him. Allah SWT is the Doer, He is the Giver! And the Protector! One day Musa AS was walking and he said to Allah SWT 'Oh Allah I want to be close to You'. Allah responded by saying 'Oh Musa, love Me, love those who love Me, and make people Love Me'. Musa AS said ]Ya Allah, I know the first and I know the second but how can I do the third?' Allah SWT replied 'remind them of my gifts, about the treasures that I gave them, and they will love me'.

Why can't we love Allah SWT the way we should?

We cannot love Allah SWT unless we know who He is. Allah SWT has put certain format and structure in our lives; it is very similar to the way we deal with eachother. In order to love someone, we have to know the person; you cannot claim to love someone without knowing him or her! The more you see, feel and understand this person's qualities, the more you will get attracted to him/her. The good qualities will make you love that person; no one loves a person who has a bad character or negative qualities, unless the lover is really sick in the heart. But based on normal human fitra (natural instinct we are created with) people love goodness, beauty, kindness, generosity; we love those who help us, and those who are considerate towards our feelings. The more someone cares for you and does things for you, the more you will love this person.

Love is something that is not generated overnight; at the same time, some people no matter how much goodness you do, will take the goodness for granted and give you evil in return, and will never recognize what you do for them. Once you see this you should know that they are blocked by Allah SWT because of the sickness in their hearts, and there is nothing you can do about it.

But here, we are talking about the normal fitra, pure hearts without diseases inshallah, or sick hearts with minimum diseases. Such people are naturally attracted to those who are good to them. Bad quality is attractive to those who themselves have bad qualities. This is why Prophet Muhammad SAWS said of the meaning of : Similar souls are attracted to each other and the souls that are different move apart.

We have to ask ourselves the following question: Am I a normal person? If so, I should love these qualities; Beauty, generosity, kindness, peace, happiness, tranquility, honesty, sincerity, truthfulness, etc. These qualities will effect and in turn generate love inside our hearts. If I love these qualities, I should in turn love Allah SWT, the owner and distributor of all these qualities and who possesses the highest of all these qualities. The Creator of the heavens and the earth has all the qualities and from these He gave us a very small part. How Merciful is Allah SWT? How patient? How generous? We should go back to the names of Allah SWT, study His attributes and qualities and ask ourselves, 'Which one is more valuable--to think about, recognize, and get closer to Allah SWT, the one who is the owner of everything, or beg those who cannot do anything for us?'

Allah SWT has command us to love Him and has praised those who do so. He has given us qualities that if we inculcate in our character, we will gain the love of Allah SWT. He tells us in the Qur'an that He loves those who are patient, and those who repent to Him after committing sins. Repentance gains Allah's love because when we repent we are in fact recognizing our mistakes and going back to Allah SWT believing in His quality of forgiveness; but at the same time, we have to promised Allah SWT that we will not repeat our mistakes.

Why does Allah SWT open for some people and not for others?

Allah SWT opens His door according to the amount of love we have for Him , and no one knows about this amount except Allah SWT himself. We can fake it and show off but we cannot pretend to Allah SWT. Qualities are like links of a chain; if you cut one you break the entire chain and if you bind one you bind it all. Who gave us our eyes for vision, our ears for hearing, our bodies, etc? It is Allah SWT that gave us everything without us asking for them. In Sura Al-Mulk, verse 23 Allah SWT said:

Say: 'It is He who has created you (and made you grow), and made for you the faculties of hearing, seeing, feeling and understanding: little thanks it is you give.'

Are these gifts that we are provided with, not enough to thank Allah for? When Allah SWT calls us toward Him, how many of us respond to His call? He is the one who has created us, fashioned us, made us who we are, and has given us everything we have. He is the one who cures diseases and saves us from all evils.

Usually when someone gives us a gift, we try to show gratitude or we try to pay it back. Do we give thanks and show gratitude to the one who showers us with His mercy day and night? Everything that we see around us has been created for our benefit. Air, tress, wind, birds, fish, all the food we eat, whether out of necessity or for the fulfillment of our desires; but sometimes because of our arrogance and blindness we do not see these gifts that are provided for us by Allah SWT. Allah has given us the heart, brain, and good qualities; now it is up to us how we utilize these gifts.

How do we utilize the gifts of Allah SWT?

We try to utilize them by recognizing them as bounties, trying to learn, and trying to think about them. Allah SWT in many verses in the Quran tells us to go and travel on His earth and ponder. In other verses Allah SWT questions us about something or shows us the wisdom. He recognizes these people in the form of following words, 'those who have hearts and minds, those who think and wonder about the glory of Allah SWT, those who are patient, kind, and humble.'

We can't really get to know Allah SWT unless we try to build good qualities in ourselves. When you know someone who has good qualities, can you meet him/her with bad qualities and manners? Or you try to show good qualities to attract this person towards yourself? Even if you fake it at the beginning, sooner or later the person will recognize your reality and break the relationship? The relationship between us and Allah SWT is similar and we should give more importance to this relationship than anything else.

Why should we love Allah SWT?

Study the qualities of Allah SWT, and you will fall in love with Him. Ask yourself, Is there anyone better or with better quality than the Creator of all qualities? Usually when we spend some time with people of good qualities, we get these in ourselves. Shouldn't we aspire to get good qualities? But unless Allah SWT allows us, we cannot have them, and why would He allow us unless we honestly inquire them?

An example of this is the story of a group of villagers who were on their way to a king to present their requests and needs. They were sharing with each other as to what they were going to ask him. One young man among them was quiet. When they asked him about what he was going to ask the king, he replied 'nothing; I just want to be near the king so I can take care of anything he might need.' The villagers asked him the reason for that. He said, 'If I am closer to the king and take care of all his needs, he will notice me. Once he notices me and appreciates my service, he will take care of all my needs without mine having to ask for anything'.

What about Allah SWT? Doesn't Allah SWT deserve this respect and treatment that this simple villager was willing to provide to the king? And if we give Allah SWT the attention that He deserves, wouldn't He out of His generosity and love, take care of all our needs?

A man went to Abu-Darda RA and said to him 'I am an old man I cannot do too much; teach me something that will make me closer to Allah SWT; something very small but big in reward'. Abu Darda RA was quiet for sometime and then said, 'make a Muslim smile'. The old man replied, 'I came to you expecting certain amount of worship and dhikr, and you are telling me to make someone smile? What benefit will that have?' Abu-Darda RA relied: 'if you go and make one Muslim brother or sister smile, then Allah SWT will smile at you, and if Allah SWT smiles at you He will forbid your body to be in the Hell-fire'.

Allah u Akbar! Only if we understand the benefit of this; but it does not mean that we go to someone and make them smile by joking around or taking them out to movies. What it really means is that you find someone who has a need and you fulfill that need, because if you do so Allah SWT will love you. There are many ahadith about this topic which you can locate under 'loving your brother' or 'fulfilling the needs of your brother' in any hadith book. We should always ask Allah SWT 'Oh Allah, give me your love, help me to love you, allow me to love those who loves you, and help me to spread your love; without you I can not do anything Ya Allah'.

A man was walking one night and he sincerely asked Allah SWT 'Oh Allah I want to be for you, show me how to love you ya Allah'. He was passing by a village and overheard a conversation between a boy and his mother. The mother was talking very harshly with her son because he disobeyed her. She threatened the boy that she will kick him out of the house. The boy begged saying, 'mother you can't do that. It is a cold night; its raining! And some animal might eat me!' His mother said, 'you have no respect for me, you do not love me neither do you obey me so it's best that I throw you out.' Initially the boy was arrogant as he walked out of the house, but he soon realized that he has no shelter from the rain, no food to eat, and once he started hearing animals' noises, he got very scared and felt very insecure.

Now that he had lost everything, he didn't know what to do and he realized how valuable his mother was, and how arrogant he was not to recognize this before. He knew that his only choice was to go back to his mother but he was not sure if she would accept him back. He went back to his house and started to cry and beg his mother to open the door and let him come back to the house. He praised her and started to remind her of her wonderful qualities. After some time, the mother opened the door and let him in. She hugged and comforted him and prepared food for him. Was she heartless that she didnit do it earlier? No. She wanted to teach her son a lesson; and sometimes in order to learn a valuable lesson, a person has to go through tough times.

The man who was watching all this cried saying 'this boy cried for just a few minutes and his mother became so compassionate, then what about you, Allah the most compassionate, the most merciful?' Who can answer the prayers of the desperate one except Allah SWT? Allah SWT will never leave us alone if we are desperate for His closeness.

How can we achieve the closeness and love of Allah SWT?

We should replace the love of material life with the love of Allah SWT in our hearts. Think about Him, call Him however way you like as Allah SWT knows all languages. Call the most generous lord who listens to and provides for all! Sometimes Shaitan makes us forget the generosity of Allah SWT. He makes us forget the forgiveness and love of Allah SWT. We call so many people in order to fulfil our needs, but what about calling Allah SWT, the one who owns everything? Allah SWT is the greatest, He hears without us saying anything and He SWT can take care of everything! Do not listen to the whispers of Shaitan since he makes us feel poor and helpless. Allah SWT is able to do everything, all we need to do is call Him with sincerity. The generous Lord does not deny any of His servants.

What else can really benefit us if we do not see all the things that Allah SWT has provided us with? If we ever feel that Allah SWT has deserted us, it is truly Shaitan who is making us disbelieve in this way. Allah SWT has showered every one of us with unlimited goodness, most of which we take for granted. If we believe that Allah SWT is not generous towards us, or Allah SWT is not giving us enough, we cannot reach Allah SWT; vice versa, if you want to reach Allah SWT, you have to thank Him for all He has offered you. You have to thank Him all the time and have to be in a state of contentment. We also have to think about Him, remember him, and praise Him all the time because Allah SWT deserves all of our attention and devotion.

How to Praise Allah SWT?

Who else deserves to be praised except Allah SWT? Who else deserves to be known more than Allah SWT? Who else deserves to be loved more than Allah SWT? You can call and praise Allah SWT any way you like, including the following: Ya Allah, you have created me; you are the one who gives light; you are my supporter, my fashioner, my sustainer and my provider; you are the one who has given me knowledge; you gave me my soul, and you allowed me to be who I am; I do not have power or strength except what you have given me. If I do not call on you, try to recognize you or know you, then who would I call and know ya Allah? Oh Allah fill my heart and soul with your light.

If someone obeys and tries to reach Allah SWT, Allah calls Angel Jibreel and says 'O Jibreel bear witness I love so and so (Allah calls that person with beautiful names), so love him'. Then angel Jibreel announces it to the kingdom of angels and they all start to love that person. After that Allah puts the love of that person in the hearts of others on earth. May Allah SWT make us all among those whom He loves. Ameen.

My dear brothers and sisters, if you want Allah SWT to love you then try to recognize him as the giver and always be in a state of contentment and humbleness. Do not say I have such and such, or I own such and such; instead say Allah has allowed me to have or Allah has given me or provided for me, because this is the truth. And even if you do not recognize this, Allah will continue to provide for you the way He has been doing all your life as He even provides for those who disbelieve in Him. What more generosity than that? Allah SWT's kindness and generosity does not get affected by the behavior of his creation. He is always generous to those who love Him as well as to those who do not; but His way of generosity towards them both is different. Allah SWT extends His generosity to those who love Him by preparing them for the hereafter; so when we see calamity we should know that it is a trial for us, since calamities are actually designed to test us.

How is this talk related to Da'wah? (inviting towards Allah)?

Once you study and recognize who Allah SWT is, it becomes your responsibility to invite others towards Him. Why? Because when a person recognizes the good qualities of someone, he spreads the news of this to. So what about Allah SWT? Who is more deserving of this recognition than Allah SWT? The more you learn about Allah SWT, the more you will know His qualities; and the more you know His qualities, the more you will love His qualities and you will try to implement those qualities in yourself. Inviting towards Allah SWT is not just to give away bunch of books and tapes to others. This is the attitude of a lot of people where they go, 'here take it! I know and you do not know! I am going to paradise and you are going to hell fire!' This is an arrogant attitude which Allah SWT does not like and it shows that a person is in a state of blindness. Allah SWT wants us to deal with others the way he deals with us, which is with mercy, patience and compassion.

Final Du'a
(Supplicate: ask the Creator!)
Oh Allah make us love You, love those who love You!
And allow us to make others love You!
Please make us among those:
Who are completely in love with You!
Use us to spread your Message, Ya Allah!
Make us remember you day and night, Ya Allah!
Make us devote our hearts and minds for You, Ya Allah!
Make us live as a Muslim and die as a Muslim!
And Be resurrected as a Muslim, Ya Allah!
Make us an inviter to Islam, Ya Allah!
Allow us to submit to You!
The way it pleases You and Your Prophet!
And not according to our wishes or desires!
Oh Allah clean us from our bad habits and custom!
From our bad conducts and diseases!
Oh Allah, make us truthful, pure and sincere!
Bless us and put your blessings in whatever we do for you!
We need you, ya Allah! We need you in our lives!
In the moment of death! Ya Allah!
In the grave where there will be no one else except You!
Please accept our prayers!
O' Lord of the Worlds!

Oh Allah give us the humbleness and humility towards you, and your creation, and to show gratitude and thanks to you, and to be steadfast for you, and your message and give us the acceptance and light and wisdom and blessing by you, for you, toward you, to be the magnet and the lighthouse to your guidance of mankind. Ameen!

By Da'ee Ahmed Moait Thanks for reading, all feedback welcome!