Episode 7 - If this did not stop you, renew your love!

How affectionate Allah is to us, and He is free of need of us! Is not one of His names (Al-Wadud)? Look at His saying: {O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance 41 and glorify Him morning and evening 42 It is He who prays over you and His angels [pray] that He may bring you out of darknesses into the light. And He is to the believers merciful 43 Their greeting the Day they meet Him will be "Peace," and He has prepared for them a noble reward 44} [Al-Ahzab: 41-44].

Allah is affectionate in these verses to the believers and stirs their emotions by reminding them that He guides them, has mercy on them, and will meet them on the Day of Judgment with a noble reward that expresses His love for them. As if He is saying to them: Since I do all this for you, do I not deserve that you love Me and remember Me often, as a lover remembers his beloved?

Our relationship with Allah should not be limited to waiting for worldly or even hereafter bliss... Allah's pleasure must be a goal in itself. We must love Allah and strive to be loved by Him, and we cannot bear life without this love.

Do you not see that Allah often ends His commands by stating that He loves those who do such and such and does not love those who do such and such? What do we gain from these endings? If we are sincere to Allah and truthful in our love for Him, then this ending (Allah loves such and such) should be enough to encourage us to carry out the command, so that we may obtain this great prize: Allah's love for us. How many times these endings are repeated in the Quran: {Indeed, Allah loves the doers of good}, {And Allah loves the patient}, {Indeed, Allah loves the righteous}, {Indeed, Allah loves those who purify themselves}, {Say, "If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you"}, {Indeed, Allah loves those who fight in His cause in a row as though they are a [single] structure joined firmly}, {Indeed, Allah loves those who rely [upon Him]}.

Have you ever stopped at these endings before? Have you not felt the overwhelming happiness if you are among the people whom Allah loves? Does this love not mean much to you? Does Allah's love not deserve to be the highest aspiration and the greatest meaning we live for?

If we have not stopped at these endings before, if we have not striven to be among those who deserve them, if Allah's love has not been enough for us to be among the doers of good, the patient, the righteous, the purifiers, the followers of the trustworthy messenger, the reliant, and the fighters in His cause... If Allah's love has not been enough for us to strive to embody these virtues... Does this not indicate a dryness in our love for Allah and a lack of concern for His love for us?

On the other hand: Do you see that Allah has forbidden certain things and followed the prohibition by saying that He does not love those who do such and such: {And Allah does not love the wrongdoers}, {Indeed, Allah does not love the transgressors}, {Indeed, He does not love the excessive}, {Indeed, Allah does not love the treacherous}...

Brother, examine yourself: Whenever you read these verses, do you think in this way: (If Allah does not love me, He will test me or deprive me of bliss)? Is this all that concerns you? That bliss continues and trials are averted? Have you not felt the sting and pain of not being loved by Allah? Is this not terrifying and a punishment in itself that Allah does not love us? Is this punishment not enough to make you strive to avoid injustice, aggression, excess, and treachery because Allah does not love those who possess these traits? To search your words and deeds and hold yourself accountable, fearing that you may lose Allah's love without realizing it?

Ask yourself these questions to know if you are closer to the character of Rami Al-Jaf or Ghassan, who could not bear to see his father's frown and could not imagine living while feeling the lack of his father's love, out of loyalty and nobility in his soul.

Do you not see how a small child derives his self-confidence from his parents' love for him? He does not feel stability and tranquility unless his parents express their love for him. If his father says to him: I do not love you, this threatens his stability, destroys his self-confidence, and gives him a gloomy view of life. Are we not the creation of Allah, with no provider or refuge except Him? If Allah says to you: I do not love you... Does this not frighten you? Does it not make you tremble? Does it not darken your life? Does this not threaten your stability and tranquility? Should you not hold yourself accountable for every word or deed that may make you one of those whom Allah mentions in His Book that He does not love?

When your heart absorbs this meaning, you will find a great impact and a new feeling in many verses and hadiths, such as His saying: {Your Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Himself and approval and gardens for them wherein is enduring bliss 21} [At-Tawbah: 21]... Contemplate this verse word by word to see how Allah's love emanates from it... And on the other hand, the verses and hadiths that mention types of people whom Allah does not speak to or look at... Is it not enough punishment that your beloved does not speak to you or look at you if you have a living heart? Contemplate with me also the hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari that Allah says to the people of Paradise: ((O people of Paradise)), they say: At your service and happiness, the good is in your hands, He says: ((Are you pleased?)) They say: O Lord, how can we not be pleased, and You have given us what You have not given to any of Your creation, He says: ((Shall I not give you better than that?)) They say: O Lord, what is better than that? He says: ((I will make My pleasure lawful for you, so I will never be angry with you again))..

It is difficult for a dry-hearted person to understand why this is the greatest blessing! As long as the people of Paradise are under a spreading shade, abundant fruit, and houris, what does Allah's pleasure add to them in his view?!

But the sincere lover knows that the pleasure of the beloved is the highest aspiration and the ultimate ambition: {Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual bliss. And [greater] pleasure from Allah is the greatest [blessing]. That is the great attainment 72} [At-Tawbah: 72]... Yes! Allah's pleasure is greater than all other blessings... Greater than the gardens, the rivers, and the pleasant dwellings... It is the pleasure of the greatest beloved, Allah.

Contemplate with me also His saying: {And remember Me, I will remember you} [Al-Baqarah: 152]... Our Lord is affectionate to us and asks us to remember Him and promises us a reward... What is this reward? That He remembers us. A weak-hearted person does not understand the merit of Allah remembering the servant. But the sincere lover is content that the greatest beloved, Allah, remembers him.

Contemplate with me also the hadith that depicts Allah's joy at His servant's repentance: ((Allah is more pleased with the repentance of His servant than one of you finding his lost camel in the wilderness)) (Narrated by Muslim). The noble, believing human is content with the motivation to repent, knowing that it will please whom? It will please the greatest beloved... Allah!

There is also another beautiful aspect: If someone you love gives you a gift, which makes you happier? The gift itself or its indication of the giver's love? You are happier that the one who gave it to you expresses his love. Therefore, the joy of the people of Paradise is doubled, for they are not only happy with what Allah has given them of His bounty, but also with the indication of this bounty on Allah's love for them and His pleasure with them. So do not forget to sense this meaning whenever you read verses and hadiths of divine bounty... {Your Lord gives them good tidings}, {Allah has prepared for them}, {Allah has promised those who believe}, {Allah has given them}... Allah's pleasure, which this blessing indicates, is more important than the blessing itself.

Of course, what has been mentioned does not mean that the believer obeys Allah and worships Him out of love alone without awaiting reward or fearing punishment, for this is an extremism that the Quran and Sunnah reject, such as His saying: {They call upon their Lord in fear and aspiration} [As-Sajdah: 16]... And His saying: {And they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment} [Al-Isra: 57]... The intended meaning is to draw attention to a meaning that is often overlooked and should be combined with fear and hope, which is obeying Allah out of love for Him and striving for His love and pleasure. Have you now been convinced that Allah is affectionate to us? Have these verses stopped you before? Have you been eager to reciprocate Allah's affection with affection? Or have you been heedless of the Giver of blessings? If you have been heedless, do not be surprised when Allah tests you to remind you to reciprocate His affection with affection. Even if the trial is severe, it will not be more severe than the dryness of the soul and the barrenness of the heart, devoid of tasting Allah's affection for us and reciprocating this affection. If the trial drives you to this tasting, you have gained everything and lost nothing, no matter how great the apparent loss.