The strongest human feeling or emotion is that of love. When man makes something his supreme concern, it naturally happens that a feeling of love becomes associated with that thing. In religious terminology, this is called “deification”. The thing one loves the most is one’s deity (mabud), whether or not one utters this word.

Faith in God is for man to discover God to the extent of loving Him more than anything else. The Quran says that “those who believe love God most.”(2:165) One who loves God the most is one who has made God his object of worship.

Real love for God will find expression in many ways. Even uttering such words as praise (hamd), thanksgiving (shukr), and remembrance (zikr), as we find in the Quran, is also an expression of our love for God. It would be right to say that Al-ham-du-lillah, praise be to God, signifies love for God (Al-hubbu-lillah). Praising God means loving God. Gratitude to God also means loving God. Remembering God also indicates a strong love and affection for God.

The Quran has this to say: “Remembrance of God gives one’s heart peace of mind”. (13:28) This means, moreover, that it is only love of God which can give man peace of mind in the real sense.

Belief in God begins with the discovery of God. In the Quran this discovery is called Maarifah. Maarifah, or realization of God, in the real sense, becomes a part and parcel of one’s existence. When this happens, all those high and noble manifestations expressed in such words as love, gratitude and remembrance of God come into evidence.

Source: Love of God