Build Your Love for Allah on Solid Foundations

Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.

With illness, with imprisonment, what will happen then? If afflicted with the loss of one of these foundations, the house will tilt, fall, and collapse. The conditional love of Allah in the heart of this servant will collapse, the conditional love, because it was built on foundations that can vanish at any moment.

Diagnosing Conditional Love

How do I know if my love for Allah, the Exalted, is threatened to vanish at any moment? How do I know if I have built my love for Allah on worldly foundations? The reality of affliction helps you with that greatly. And this is among the blessings of Allah upon you in affliction.

When you are afflicted and call upon Allah, the Exalted, and ask Him to remove the affliction and restore His blessings upon you, Allah may decree that your affliction continues, prolongs, and intensifies. At that moment, you will know if your love for Allah is conditional upon these worldly interests. Now, after being deprived of these things, do you still love Allah, the Exalted? This question helps you diagnose the extent of conditional love within yourself so that you can rebuild your love for Allah on the correct, solid foundations.

I ask you by Allah, are you ready to buy a house to live in if you knew that this house is built on weak pillars, on fragile foundations that can collapse and vanish at any moment? Of course, you would not do that. So, what do you think about the love of Allah, the Exalted, for which we live, indeed, for which we were created? Our Lord created us to worship Him, and worship is love and obedience. Are you ready to gamble with the love of Allah, the Exalted, and build it on foundations that can vanish at any moment?

The Correct Foundations for Building Love for Allah

Therefore, you must build your love for Allah in your heart on solid foundations. What are these foundations? There are many of them:

• Reflecting on the Names of Allah and His Attributes and contemplating their effects in reality.
• Attaching the heart to the Hereafter and its blessings.
• Recognizing Allah's favor of guidance.
• Being grateful to Allah for what He has bestowed upon you in the past, regardless of the present and the future.

With the permission of Allah, we will discuss each of these foundations in upcoming episodes. Therefore, these are fixed things that do not change: the Names of Allah and His Attributes and awaiting the Hereafter. These are things that do not change; they are not threatened to vanish.

The Heart's Affinity and Worldly Love

It may be said: But Allah, the Exalted, has legislated the affinity of people's hearts with some of the blessings of this world. It is known that the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, used to give a large portion of the spoils to those whose hearts were to be reconciled, for disbelievers whom the Messenger of Allah wanted to win over to Islam. Indeed, one of the categories of zakat is those whose hearts are to be reconciled.

True, but this affinity of people's hearts with worldly comforts, with worldly blessings, is temporary until the psychological barrier between the heedless heart and Islam is removed, until the veil is lifted from his sight so that he sees the reality of the religion and the brightness of faith mingles with his heart, so he no longer cares about what is given to him thereafter.

In the hadith narrated by Imam Muslim from Anas, may Allah be pleased with him, he said: "And a man would come to the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, wanting nothing but the world," meaning pure conditional love, wanting nothing but the world. "But he would not pass a day until his religion became more beloved to him and more precious to him than the world and what is in it." Therefore, his love for Allah turns into a true love built on solid foundations.

The Dangers of Conditional Love

As for living one's entire life as one whose heart is to be reconciled, this is a dangerous and unacceptable situation, because his love for Allah is threatened to vanish at any moment. When the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, died and some people apostated, what happened? Those whose love was conditional and attached to the world apostated when they faced the trial of the Prophet's death and the rebellion of the leaders.

The stability of this concept in our hearts, the unconditional love of Allah, gives us a deeper understanding of many truths of our religion. For example, when we read the saying of the Prophet, peace be upon him: "The most beloved of actions to Allah is the most regular, even if it is little," one of the reasons for this may be that frequent but intermittent obedience is often a defense against an impending trial or temporary joy at a new blessing, especially if it is followed by a severe slackening in obedience. As for the continuous work of acts of worship, it usually stems from a love that is firmly established in the heart and is not affected by pleasant or sad events.

The Treatment and Conclusion

Therefore, my brother and sister, if you find within yourself this dangerous ailment, the conditionality of the love of Allah, you must acknowledge it and strive to treat it. It is more dangerous than any worldly calamity, because it is a calamity in religion, because it is a defect in what we live for. Free yourself from the disease of conditional love by rebuilding love on solid, healthy foundations that are not affected by changes, and you will then be truthful in your love for Allah and a follower and teacher to people the meaning of sincere love.

Conclusion of the episode: Build your love for Allah on solid foundations that do not vanish. Peace be upon you and the mercy of Allah.