← Back to The Art of Having Good Expectations of Allah
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Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah and His blessings.
Brothers and sisters, we continue to build our love for Allah, the Exalted, by contemplating His names and attributes, and we are still with the name "Al-Wadud."
Imagine that you met a man, smiled at him, and forgot about the moment. Then, this person gives you a car and says, "I will never forget your smile as long as I live. I felt your sincere love for me in it." He continues to call you to thank you for your smile. He helped you when you were in trouble, spent his time, effort, and money with you. He visited you when you were sick and fed you with his own hands. You felt shy and said to him, "I do not deserve all this from you." He said to you, "No, I will never forget your smile to me." He continued to show you sincere love without any worldly interests.
What do you call a person like this? Wadud, right? Wouldn't you feel great shyness from the affection of such a person, especially if you couldn't repay his kindness? And Allah is the highest example.
Allah, the Exalted, is Al-Wadud. He is pleased with His servant and honors him for very simple actions that the servant does not pay attention to, on one condition: that this action, word, or feeling is purely for the sake of Allah, the Most Generous.
Look at the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him, in the authentic hadith narrated by At-Tirmidhi: "Verily, one of you may speak a word from the good pleasure of Allah which he thinks does not reach a certain extent, but Allah writes for him because of it His good pleasure until the Day he meets Him." A word that perhaps the servant forgot and did not think it would reach this extent with Allah, but He, the Exalted, is pleased with His servant forever because He is Al-Wadud.
In the authentic hadith: "There was a branch of a tree on the road that harmed people, so a man removed it and entered Paradise." A very simple action, but we are dealing with Al-Wadud, the Exalted.
Allah, the Exalted, multiplies the good deed to ten times, to seven hundred times, to many times, because He is Al-Wadud.
A tear that falls from you in a moment when you contemplate the kindness, generosity, greatness, and forbearance of Allah, a tear that Allah will shade you with it in His shade and prevent your eye from the Fire, because He is Al-Wadud.
In the hadith narrated by Al-Bukhari about the man who pitied a dog and gave it water, so Allah thanked him and forgave him. Very simple actions, but Allah, the Exalted, thanks them because He is Ash-Shakur, He shows affection to us if we do them because He is Al-Wadud.
"And seek forgiveness of your Lord and turn to Him in repentance. Indeed, my Lord is Most Merciful, Most Loving." Allah may erase mountains of sins from you, but He will not erase a single good deed from you. "Indeed, Allah does not waste the reward of the doers of good" because He is Al-Wadud.
In the hadith narrated by Muslim, He, the Exalted, says: "Whoever comes with a good deed will have ten times its reward, and whoever comes with an evil deed will have only its like, or Allah may forgive him. Whoever draws near to Me by a hand's span, I will draw near to him by a cubit, and whoever draws near to Me by a cubit, I will draw near to him by a fathom. And whoever comes to Me walking, I will come to him running. And whoever meets Me with an earth's width of sin, not associating anything with Me, I will meet him with an earth's width of forgiveness." Yes, because He is Al-Wadud.
What makes you feel shy before Allah with His generosity and affection is that you cannot benefit Him, the Exalted, in any way. You cannot repay His generosity. Above that, He is the One who enabled you to do good. Allah enables you to do good, then Allah tests your patience, then Allah rewards you for the good that He enabled you to do, He rewards you for the patience that He enabled you to have. He rewards you with an immediate reward in this world, inevitably, even if it is with the comfort of the heart and its tranquility, then He rewards you in the Hereafter. What is this generosity? What is this affection? No wonder, for He is Al-Wadud.
During the experience of captivity, I saw from my Lord, the Exalted, a dream, kindness, generosity, covering, help, and mercy more than I imagined. I searched in my past and present to see why Allah bestows upon me in this manner, I did not find anything. I only found very simple actions: I gave, so Allah gave me many times, I forgave, so I saw the effects of Allah's forgiveness many times, I covered, so Allah covered me many times, I helped, so Allah helped me many times. And He is the One who enabled me to do these actions, then He rewards me for them in this world many times, and I ask Him to reward me in the Hereafter, because He is Al-Wadud.
In one of the moments during captivity, I cried out of shyness before my Lord, the Exalted, when I saw from Him this kindness, mercy, forbearance, generosity, and help, and I said to Him, "By Allah, my Lord, I do not deserve it. By Allah, my Lord, I do not deserve it." Yes, by Allah, I do not deserve, I do not deserve, but He is Al-Wadud.
Isn't all this enough to love our Lord, the Exalted, unconditionally? Isn't all this enough to love Him in the midst of suffering and hardship, to find comfort in Him and be content with His closeness no matter the circumstances?
Brothers and sisters, then let us love Allah, the Exalted, because He is Al-Wadud.
Peace be upon you.