salahdin
Junior Member
بِسۡمِ ٱللهِ ٱلرَّحۡمَـٰنِ ٱلرَّحِيمِ
Love of Allah
Author: Salih al Munajjid
Love is something that is hidden, it exists in the heart and therefore anyone can claim to
have it;
Allaah informs us about the Jews and the Christians:
وقالت اليهود والنصارى نحن أبناء الله وأحباؤه قل فلم يعذبكم بذنوبكم بل أنتم بشر ممن خلق
which means: “But the Jews and the Christians say: 'We are the children of Allaah and His
beloved.' Say: '
Then why does He punish you for your sins?' Rather, you are human beings
from among those He has created…” [Al-Maa’idah: 18]
Love is easy to claim but difficult
to prove.
One should not allow himself to be deceived by the thoughts which Satan brings
to his mind, making him think that he loves Allaah; a person should first test himself by
means of practical indicators in order to ascertain his claim,
because love is just like a
tree which bears fruit; so the love in one's heart will reflect on his limbs as an
indicator of
its existence, just as smoke is an indicator of fire.
There are many such signs, such as:
Loving to meet Allaah, because one always longs to meet his beloved, always
mentions him and never forgets him. When will we meet Allaah? This will happen
three times:
The first will be at the time of death; the second will be on the Day of
Resurrection and the third will be in Paradise.
The fact that the first meeting will be
at the time of death does not mean that one should supplicate to Allaah for Him to
take his soul, rather, what it should mean is that when death does arrive, the righteous
slave rejoices, because he will be next to his Lord and receive reward and blessings
from Him, as Allaah says:
إن المتقين في جنات ونهر * في مقعد صدق عند مليك مقتدر
which means: “Indeed, the righteous will be among gardens and rivers, In a seat of
honour near a Sovereign, Perfect in Ability.” [Al-Qamar: 54-55] Allaah knows that His
righteous slaves love and long to meet Him, and thus He informs them that they will
indeed meet Him by saying:
من كان يرجو لقاء الله فإن أجل الله لآت
which means: “
Whoever should hope for the meeting with Allaah – indeed, the term of
[i.e., decreed by] Allaah is coming…” [Al-‘Ankaboot: 5]
Enjoying being alone while supplicating to Allaah, reciting the Qur’aan, and praying
optional night prayers while taking advantage of the calmness of the night and the
absence of obstructions; and this is the very lowest level of love, because one who
enjoys sleeping or talking to others more than supplicating at night is not truthful in
his claim to love to Allaah. The more love that one has for his beloved, the more he
enjoys obeying and serving him. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam said:
“From among the things of this life, women and perfume were made dear to my heart,
but the delight of my eyes lie in prayer.” [An-Nasaa’i]
The delight of the eyes are, as
Imaam Ibn Al-Qayyim, may Allaah have mercy upon him, said, of a higher rank than
loving worldly things such as women and perfume. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa
sallam informed us that the delight of the eyes are those things that bring about real
tranquillity and joy, and in his case, it was when he would pray, which was his
connection with his Lord. He whose delight of the eyes in this life lies in prayer, will
have the delight of his eyes lie in being close to Allaah in the Hereafter in addition to
the support of Allaah for him during this life.
One who obeys Allaah due to love will do so easily and willingly, in contrast to he who
feels that it is a heavy burden on his back. Those who are sincere and who truly love
Allaah are obedient to him; they obey Him as easily as water runs down from the top
of a hill. Such people's souls delight in obeying Him.
How can we explain the hardship that one faces during certain acts, such as waking
up to pray the optional night prayers or the Fajr prayer? Does this perceived hardship
mean that the slave does not love Allaah? We must know that reaching the state in
which a slave worships Allaah with ease cannot be accomplished at the very first
attempt or act of worship; rather, it is vital that one trains himself, struggles and
sacrifices. This is why the joy and pleasure of worship only occurs after one perseveres
and exhausts himself in it. When he does this with sincerity, he eventually reaches the
level of being able to worship Allaah with ease and pleasure. This is why some of the
righteous Salaf, may Allaah have mercy upon them, would say: “We struggled for
twenty years with our optional night prayers, but enjoyed them for the rest of our lives.”
One fluctuates between enjoying them and finding them difficult until he reaches the
level of totally enjoying his worship.
Thus, It becomes evident that striving to worship Allaah consists of various ranks and
the one who comprehends this will be able to reach the highest of them, which would
then make worshipping Allaah very easy for him. One who reaches this level hates to
waste any time; indeed, he finds this abhorrent and very painful, and such feelings can
only be achieved by having love of Allaah. This is why those who have reached this
level suffer when they become sick, but they do not suffer due to their sickness; rather,
they suffer due to the fact that they have been prevented from worshipping in the
manner that they have become accustomed to. This is why Allaah has blessed such
people with the reward that the Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam informed us of
when he said: “When a slave becomes sick or is travelling, he receives the same reward
that he would receive for all the righteous deeds that he is used to performing whilst at
his residence.”