LOVE FOR ALLAH
What is love? Love, according to the Oxford dictionary is, “a strong feeling of affection.” If
this definition is analysed, love could be many things; love could be
desire or love could be lust. To go more in depth, love can be of many
types; love for yourself, love for objects, love for desire, motherly
love and the list goes on and on. Today’s topic of discussion is in fact
the greatest type of love, love for the sake of Allah.
Now
the question arises, why should I love for the sake of Allah? What’s
wrong with just loving? Well there are numerous narrations of the
prophet (peace be upon him) and verses in the Quran which speak about
the virtues of those who love each other for the sake of Allah.
Hadith 1
Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) “Anyone
who possesses three attributes will experience the sweetness of belief:
that he loves Allah and His Messenger more than anything else; that he
loves someone for the sake of Allah alone; and that he hates the idea of
reverting to disbelief as much as he would hate being thrown into a
fire.”
Hadith 2
Mu’adh (may Allah be pleased with him) said,“I heard the Messenger of Allah, May Allah bless him and grant him peace, say,‘Allah, the Mighty and Exalted, says, “Those who love one another for My majesty will have minbars of lights. The Prophets and martyrs will envy them.”‘” [at-Tirmidhi]
After
reading these two narrations of our holy Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) it shows that this type of love is held very high
in our religion and even the prophets and martyrs will be jealous of it.
Now that we know what the strongest type of love is and its virtue, how
do we love for the sake of Allah?
Loving
for the sake of Allah means to love for someone what Allah loves, and
hate for them all that Allah hates. This means to enjoin good and forbid
them from evil. Making them the best Muslim they can be and securing
your future in paradise with them.
“Say
(O Muhammad) “If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and
forgive you your sins: for Allah is oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Ali-Imran, 3:31)
Love
for the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) will open
the doors to attain Allah’s Love. By emulating the ways of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), we have found our guide to
attaining the love for Allah. This can be seen from the 5 pillars of
Islam. The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) had said, “Pray in the manner that you have seen me praying.” In
performing all acts of worship, we refer to the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) for the ways that he has guided us with.
In a hadith narrated by Imam Muslim, the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“Whoever
possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness of
faith, that is, The one to whom Allah and His Messenger becomes dearer
to him than anything else; and he who loves a person and he loves him
only for the sake of Allah; and he who hates to revert to disbelief
because he hates to be thrown into the Hellfire.”
What are some of the ways that we can emulate the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)?
1) Read the Quran every single day
The
Qur’an is a miracle of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah
be upon him) that will last till the end of time. Thus, be consistent in
the reading of the Qur’an all year round. Even if we were only able to
read one ayat, how great it would be to reflect upon its meaning.
One
of the companions, Abu Darda (ra) is said to have asked the Prophet’s
wife, ‘Aisyah (ra), about the morals and manners of the Prophet (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) and she remarked that his morals and
manners were after the Qur’an, and he was pleased with the things
described to be pleasing (to Allah) in the Qur’an and was displeased by
the things disapproved by Allah.
Ibn Mas’ud (ra) once said:
The
Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) asked me to recite
the Holy Qur’an for him. Ibn Mas’ud said to the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him),“Should I recite the Qu’ran before you whereas it has been revealed unto you?”
At this the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said,“I like it more to hear the Qur’an from someone else.” Then, Ibn Mas’ud recited An-Nisa’, Chapter 4.
After verse 41 was recited, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said, “This is enough.” When Ibn Mas’ud saw the face of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), he saw tears rolling down both his eyes.
2) Follow his sunnah to keep him close to our hearts
Friday
is the best day of the week for Muslims and so, let us follow closely
the sunnah of the Prophet. For each week, Muslims are urged to increase
their Taqwa (God-consciousness) and remembrance of Allah (SWT) and we
hear the call to send blessings to our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace
and blessings of Allah be upon him) in the khutbah:
“Allah
and His Angels send blessings on the Prophet: O you that believe! Send
you blessings on him, and salute him with all respect.” (Al-Ahzab, 33:56)
There
are many ways of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)
that we can follow in relation to Fridays. The Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
“For
whoever recited Surah Al-Kahf on Friday, it will light for him a light
between the two Fridays (the current and the next one).”(al-Bayhaqi)
Also,
as a motivation for Muslims who head to the mosque for the
congregational prayer, the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) said:
“On
Friday the angels come to stand on the doors of the mosque, the angels
record who comes first, if the Imam starts delivering the speech, the
angels close their files and come to listen to the speech.”(Abu Dawood)
At
the mosques, as we contribute a sum of money for donation, it is an act
that is encouraged by the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him).
Abu Hurairah (ra) reported Allah’s Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) as saying: “Charity
does not in any way decrease the wealth and the servant who forgives,
Allah adds to his respect; and the one who shows humility, Allah
elevates him in the estimation (of the people).” (Muslim)
I
once encountered a blind man in a lift. As he entered, he started
feeling the Braille characters on the lift buttons. Later, he apologised
for making me wait, explaining that as the lift was newly installed, he
wanted to familiarise himself with the button for the fourth storey. I
then carelessly replied to him, “It’s okay. It’s interesting to see you read it”.
In
retrospect, I learnt two things from it. Firstly is the need to be more
sensitive towards others. Secondly, I also realised that this man was
really dependent on his walking stick, his acute sense of hearing and
touch, his sharp memory and his familiarity with his surroundings.
As
a Muslim, the Qur’an and the Prophet’s (peace and blessings of Allah be
upon him) sunnah should serve as our walking stick for us to hold dear
to. Else, would we not be wandering around, lost?
To
attain love for Allah and in turn, His Love, we need to continue
emulating the ways of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him) in acts of worship and all aspects of life, as he is the best of
example sent to mankind. The Qur’an should be more than just a source of
quotes for our use, and the history of the Prophet (peace and blessings
of Allah be upon him) and his Companions should not be reduced to
stories that we read and then, forget.
May
we receive the intercession of the Messenger of Allah (peace and
blessings of Allah be upon him) on the Day of Judgement and be
acknowledged as part of his Ummah. O Allah, let Your Blessings come upon
Saiyyidina Muhammad and the family of Saiyyidina Muhammad.
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