We do love God. He is our supreme benefactor, the most gracious and the most merciful. Piety in human beings is a manifestation of the love they have for God. Having fear of God is not in the same sense as having fear of a ferocious animal. Rather, fear of God is positive fear and can be understood in the context of obedience to God. While God is compassionate and benevolent toward human beings, He is also very just. Thus, fear of God is a result of the realization that God has the ability of punishing wrongdoers for their evil deeds. God is all-knowing and nothing is, or can be, hidden from Him. A person who has fear of God constantly lives with the sense of being accountable to Him. Even if his fellow human beings do not have the power to implicate him for his wrongful actions, a person who has fear of God knows that in the Hereafter he will surely be answerable to the Almighty for his actions, big or small. It is this that causes a believer to naturally fear God, a concept which serves as a source of reform in his life.

According to a Hadith, you should be merciful to people on earth and God Almighty will be merciful to you. In this way, Islam links personal salvation to serving others. God’s reward in the Hereafter can be earned only if one has striven to alleviate the sufferings of mankind.

The following incident brings out the concept of service to others in a very profound way. During the British monarchy, one of the British Emperors disguised himself as an ordinary person to inspect his military establishments. During an interaction when one military officer admonished him in a very stern and harsh manner, the disguised king asked, “Do you know who I am?”

Taken aback at such a question and doubting himself the officer said, “Are you a military officer just as I am?” The king replied, “I am of a greater position than that”. The officer said, “Then you must be a Captain.” Again to this the king replied, “I am greater than that.” “Are you a colonel?” asked the officer. “No, I am greater than that”, was the reply. The officer said, “Then you must be a General”. “No, I am even greater than a general”, said the king. Then the officer who was by now in total shock said, “Then you must be the Emperor”. He said, “Yes, I am the king”. The officer handed his gun to the king and said, “You may shoot me for my crime, I have failed to recognize my king”. The king said, “No, you are a good military officer but I have an advice for you. Whenever you interact with any common man think of him as your king and of yourself as an ordinary soldier then you will treat every individual in the best manner and will consider the common man’s affairs as the affairs of the king”.

In this incident, there is a principle for living a God oriented life. When God created man and asked the angels to bow down before man all the angels obeyed God’s command but Satan refused to do so. The angels considered the issue as a matter of God’s command but Satan considered it as a personal issue between man and himself.

All the teachings of Islam are based on two principles—the worship of God and the service to mankind. Without putting both principles into practice, there can be no true fulfillment of one’s religious duties.

Islam inculcates the spirit of love and respect for all human beings. On the one hand, by serving human beings they please God and on the other, they achieve spiritual progress.

Source: Spirit of Islam September 2016

The present world with all its components is an expression of the blessings of God. This discovery is enough to make man regard God as his Benefactor. He becomes the grateful servant of God. However, this feeling becomes the most intense when a man discovers all these blessings at the level of his being. The first discovery causes man to utter these words, “God, You have given me so much!” However, further discoveries cause him to call out spontaneously, “O God, You are so merciful that You have given me those blessings of which I knew, and besides those, You gave me Your countless blessings about which I had no knowledge and so could not have asked You for them.”

This same reality has been expressed thus in chapter 19 of the Quran: “For when the revelations of the Merciful were recited to them, they fell, prostrating themselves and weeping.” (19:58) In another place in chapter 96, the Quran has this to say: “Prostrate yourself and come closer to God.” (96:19) An actual act of self-prostration is a moment of nearness between God and man. At that moment, spiritual contact is formed at an invisible level between God and man. This contact experience is so intense that tears fall from the eyes of the servant.

Umar bin Khattab reported that there were brought some prisoners to God’s Messenger amongst whom there was also a woman, who was searching (for someone) and when she found a child amongst the prisoners, she took hold of it, pressed it against her chest and provided it suck. God’s Messenger said: ‘Do you think this woman would ever afford to throw her child in the Fire?’ We said: ‘By God, she would never throw the child in Fire so far as it lies in her power.’ God’s Messenger said: ‘God is more kind to His servants than this woman is to her child.’ (Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2754)

God is Most Merciful toward man.

Source: Love of God

There is a common misconception that Islam is a religion of Violence. There is no basis for this in Islam. Islam is a religion of peace.

The very first verse of the Quran reads: In the name of God, the Most Merciful, the most Compassionate. This verse, which is repeated in the Quran 114 times, clearly shows that the God of Islam is the God of Mercy and Compassion, and the book of Islam too is the book of mercy. The people of Islam must also possess the quality of mercy and compassion; otherwise they could not be true believers.

If you go through the Quran you will find that from most verses, either directly or indirectly there emanates the sprit of peace. There is a verse, which says ‘And God calls to the home of peace.’ (10:25) This means that the destination of Islam is peace. All the teachings of Islam are oriented towards the goal of peace.

If you make a detailed study of the Quran you will discover many verses, which deal with the objects and events of the universe, as signs of nature. These verses project the universe as a model of peace and harmony. There are innumerable astronomical bodies in space. All are in motion, but all follow their own orbits without the slightest deviation. Holding up this phenomenon as an ideal, the Quran asks us to follow the same course of peace, that is, to move in one’s own orbit and not trespass (3:83). Thus peaceful living is the religion for both: man and the universe.

Now I would like to present examples from the traditions of the Prophet. Once a man came to the Prophet and asked, “O Prophet, give me a master advice which will enable me to manage all the affairs of my life.” The Prophet told him: “Don’t be angry.”

That is to say, stick to positive behaviour in all situations. In fact, in normal conditions man is governed by his own nature. And nature always takes the course of peace. When people are provoked their nature is upset, and they are derailed into negativity. So the Prophet advised people never to take a negative course of action, and to keep to peaceful and positive behaviour in all situations, even in the face of provocation.

According to another tradition, the Prophet of Islam once observed: Don’t wish for confrontation with your enemy; instead always ask for peace from God.

This means that even when they have enemies. Muslims are not allowed to take the course of confrontation. They must rather seek the way of avoidance. The Quran further states that if you deal with your enemy positively and return good for evil, he will become your closest friend (41:34). These references from the Quran and Sunnah make it clear that peace is the greatest concern of Islam. The Islamic method is a peaceful method. Islamic activism is a peaceful activism.

Why does Islam lay such a great emphasis on peace? Because all the good things which Islam wants to see in human life can be brought about only in peaceful environment. For instance, such constructive activities like spiritual uplift, character building, educational activity, social welfare, worship and prayer — and above all dawah work, can be performed only in peaceful conditions. No peace, no progress; no peace, no development. Peace in Islam is not required for the sake of peace. It is required for the sake of God that is for the sake of a great purpose. It is because no Islamic activity can be carried out except in peaceful conditions. Due to this great importance, the Prophet of Islam always wanted to maintain peace even at the price of unilateral adjustment.

Some people portray the picture of Islam as a religion of violence by using the word Jihad. They say that Jihad in Islam is a holy war. But there is not concept of holy war in Islam. Jihad has nothing to do with war or violence; it actually means a struggle, a peaceful struggle. ‘And make Jihad on them, with the help of the Quran’ (25:52), says the Quran. Nowhere does it say, ‘with the help of the sword’.

Clearly, Jihad is an act to be performed by the power of ideology rather than the power of the sword; it is only another name for peaceful activism along Islamic lines.

The Quran says that on the day of the Judgement, God will say: ‘O peaceful soul, come and enter my paradise’ (89:28). And only those who have followed the path of peace in this world will be allowed an entrance into God’s Paradise.