By Haroon Balogun

LOVE of Allah triggers sweetness of faith

The prophet had said as narrated in both Sahih hadith, “Whoever possesses the following three qualities will taste the sweetness (delight) of faith: the one to whom Alláh and His Messenger become dearer than anything else, the one who loves a person and he loves him only for Alláh’s sake, and whoever hates to revert to disbelief, after Alláh has saved him from it, as he hates to be thrown into the Fire.”

Love of Allah can keep us away from sins

Today, when the hearts of most of us are filled with lusts, desires, temptations and fantasies, we need to remind ourselves that it is not possible to have those take room in the same heart where we want to plant our love for Allah. Always ask yourself whether what lives in your heart makes you neglect Allah, and is worth more than the love of Allah? When we start replacing the lusts, desires, and fantasies that live in our heart with Allah’s love, then we will see ourselves regaining that love back from Allah.

Positive mental states

Ibn Taymiyyah said, “the more the servant loves his Master, the less will he love other objects and they will decrease in number. “The less the servant loves his Master, the more will he love other objects and they will increase in number (Majmu Fatawa [1/94]).” Let’s, therefore, take stock of how much we love this life’s objects versus how much we love Allah and His Prophet.

Stimulates our emotions: The vagaries of this life generate emotions which must be channeled appropriately for us to retain our positive mental states. No matter how we express and channel those emotions to various people in this life, there are emotions trapped in our system that we simply can’t express with an open heart to even the most beloved of His creations. But it is different with our creator. When we do succeed in planting that love for Allah in our hearts and build that relationship, it can make our repressed emotions pour out with a pleasing force.

The relationship that we establish with our creator out of that love for Him and His love for us can make us say what is in our hearts, complain about our situations, express profuse apologies, and so on – all without worrying about demeaning ourselves because He is our creator and sustainer who controls everything in this universe. In fact, what we humans go through and what manifests as hidden emotions can come flooding back when we sit in front of our creator with that love for Him.

This can help us in reconciling matters within ourselves and, most important of all, lets Allah respond and listen to us. Thus, the more we love Allah, the better we will be able to engage with Him at this level and the better we will be able to feel and expect his mercy in return. When we love Allah, He will put our love in others’ hearts

Many of us spend a lot of our efforts to gain the love and pleasure of others and sometimes we may do that at the expense of disobeying Allah’s commands. We should realize that such tactics are short lived (even if achieved) and earn us nothing but Allah’s displeasure. On the other hand, if we focus on planting Allah’s love, then we will not only get His love but He will instill our love in others’ hearts as well. Allah says in the Quran:

“Verily, those who believe [in the Oneness of Allah and in His Messenger (Muhammad SAW)] and work deeds of righteousness, the Most Gracious (Allah) will bestow love for them (in the hearts of the believers)” (Surah Maryam: 96).”

How do we get love of Allah in our hearts and lives?

Finally, knowing that love for Allah brings about happiness, His pleasure, and keeps us from indulging in temptations, we can focus on factors that increase our love for Allah in our hearts. Ibn Al-Qayyim had indicated 10 such ways to bring about the love of Allah and they are mentioned below: *Recitation of Quran with reflection and understanding of its meanings and what is intended by it. This also enables us to know Allah using His own words.

*Optional acts of worship, after the obligatory ones, can get us closer to Him and furthers the love of Allah beyond what is achieved through the sincere worship through obligatory acts. *Constant remembrance in every circumstance by the tongue, the heart, actions and (one’s) condition (based only on sanctioned forms of remembrance as described in the Quran and Hadith), so that a person’s share of love is in accordance with his share of this remembrance.

Fundamental pillars

*Preferring Allah’s love over your own when desires overcome you and climbing to reach His love, even if the ascent is difficult. *The heart’s comprehension of His Names and Attributes, witnessing them and having knowledge of them, to immerse himself in the garden of this knowledge and its fundamental pillars. Whoever knows Allah by His Names, Attributes and Actions, will, no doubt, love Him. *Witnessing His generosity, His benevolence, His favors and blessings, both hidden and open, for these things call to His love. *The heart’s total defeat and humility in front of Allah, the Most High.

*Being alone at the Time of the Descent of Allah (during Tahajjud) for having private conversations with Him, reciting His Words, investigating the heart, displaying the manners of servitude whilst in front of Him and then to seal all of that with seeking forgiveness and repentance. *Sitting with the truthful lovers (of Allah) and gathering the good fruits (arising) from their speech, just as one picks out the best of fruits; however, you do not speak except when the benefit of the speech prevails and when you know that there is a betterment for you and benefit for others in it. *Keeping distant from everything that comes between the heart and between Allah, the Mighty and the Majestic.

Iqrasence