Quran and Hadith emphatically iterate that man should have love of God. This is because love is the most powerful emotion in man and is meant only for God. According to a verse in the Quran,

“But those who believe love God most.” (2:165)

Meaning of love

The dictionary meaning of love is ‘strong affection’ felt towards those from who one receives unilaterally without giving anything in return. For example, one receives unilateral love from one’s mother and feels a strong sense of affection for her. However, God is most bountiful and therefore love of God should be felt most strongly.

It is also important to take cognizance of the fact that the feeling of love for somebody does not come into being by your being told to love. Nobody loves his mother because he is told to do so; a strong feeling of love exists within us already.

Object of love

This feeing of love that exists within man may create two objects of love: one is the false object of love and the other is the true object of love.

The difference between the two can be summed up by saying that God alone is the true object of love and everything else other than God is false object of love.

My understanding has made me realise that the love of God is interwoven in human nature; however, people mistakenly consider other things as their object of love. In fact, I have often experienced that these very men who held a false object of love, started loving God after being deconditioned.

To cite a recent example, yesterday I was at an event in Saharanpur. Several speeches were made before mine and a common feature among all was the disturbance that was being caused by the usage of mobile phones. I was very perturbed by this. So, when my turn to speak came, I stated the following Hadith according to which there will be a group of people on the Day of Judgement whom,

“God will present before all as His pride.”(Musnad Ahmad)

I also narrated the dialogue between God and angels at the time when He had created Adam. Quran records the dialogue between God and angels as follows:

“When your Lord said to the angels, “I am putting a successor on Earth,’ they said, “Will You place someone there who will cause corruption on it and shed blood” (2:30)

It is important to understand that why angels were apprehensive about man being made the in-charge of Earth. Their fears were based on the precedent set by the jinns who were given the charge of the earth before man. However, they fought with each other and spread a lot of corruption. God took back the charge form jinn and they were dismissed. Then man was given the charge of earth. But God’s reply to the angels shows that God created man with the hope that he would not do the same which Jinn did. Those people who stand this test would be God’s pride on the Doomsday; they would disprove the doubts of the angels.

“[God] answered, ‘Surely I know that which you do not know.’”(2:30)

As per the plan of God, man settled on earth and built a civilization. It is from this that such people will emerge who would discover God without seeing Him; they will believe and surrender before Him and follow His commandments. They will fulfill the hope of God.

Those whom God shall select

This world is a ‘temporary paradise.’ It has excessive beauty and innumerable objects of enjoyment. However, it is imperfect and impermanent - a ‘temporary guest house’ for man. Those who stand on this test by discovering God, though He is unseen and sacrifice the fulfilment of their desires will be selected by God. They will find a place in eternal and perfect Paradise.

To become the pride of God, man will have to prove himself. It means that man must realise the potential that God has kept in him. Those who love God are ones who fight the Satan and go against their whims or desires. The world in which we are living today is a jungle of thought; there are noises from every corner. In this jungle, he who tears apart all the veils of darkness and discovers God is precious in the eyes of God.

God is not hidden; He is more radiant than the sun or the moon, but only for those who are able to come out of all confusion and tear apart the veils of darkness. It is to find such people that God created this universe. The doomsday has been put on hold till God finds the last such person who would live His hope. God alone has the knowledge of when the doomsday will strike as is evident from the following verse of the Quran:

“Knowledge about it rests only with my Lord;”(7:187)

Love for God

A verse in the Bible says,

“Love God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind.”

This is hamd as is conveyed in the very first verse of the Quran and is the gist of the religion of God,

“All praise is due to God, the Lord of the Universe.” (1:2)

A tiny sample of the love of God can be seen in the love of one’s mother. Whereas a mother gives only a few things; God is the Giver of everything. God has given man, his existence. The love of mother has to be multiplied innumerable times to understand the love of God. When man reaches the stage of experiencing love of God and thanking God, he becomes the pride of God. But this thanksgiving to God has to be from the inner most recesses of our heart and must be truly felt. Only then does it become an embodiment of man. Explaining the same is the following Hadith which stresses on spirit instead of mere lip service.

“Al-hamd-ul-illah weighs a lot.” (Al-Bukhari)

According to another Hadith,

“The best people of God are those who praise God the most.” (Musnad Ahmad)

Here, praising God the most does not mean repeating some memorised words. This is sheer underestimation of God. Praising God means to make God the centre of one’s love.

Why it is that man is not able to make God his concern?

A verse in the Quran explains why is it so difficult for man to make god the object of his love,

“The satisfaction of worldly desires through women, and children, and heaped-up  treasures of gold and silver……is attractive to man.” (3:14)

It means that worldly things have been purposely made alluring for man. Be it the children, wealth, fame, power – all these have been made attractive for man because only then would they become the price that man has to pay to love God. Had these objects not been so tempting, foregoing them would not have been a difficult test for man. But only those men and women, who forsake the worldly paradise for God, and are able to tear the false beautification will be the ones whom God shall reward with Paradise in the Hereafter.

How can man pay the price?

Man is able to make God his object of love only by way of constant contemplation. Religion and the discovery of God rest on awakening of mind. A hadith gives an example of this ‘price’ by way of explaining how we need to deal with our relationships.

 “Love of god becomes manifest for two such people who love

each other for the sake of God.” (Musnad Ahmed)

This hadith alludes to how differences and complaints are a part of nature. Even while working for the cause of God differences may arise. They even arose between two prophets which is evident from the following verse of the Quran that is explains the case of Prophet Moses and Prophet Aaron as,

“Aaron said, ‘Son of my mother! Do not seize me by my beard nor by my head.

I was afraid that you would say, “You have caused dissension among the

Children of Israel and did not pay heed to my words.” (20:94)

Therefore we will have to rise above complaints and work together for it will be quite impossible that there will be no complaints when people work together. Many people would come together in the name of dawah; however, they will go apart in the name of complaints. But those people who love God the most will not complain. God’s pride will be those people who are above complaints and live only for God.

Manifestation of love for God

In the Bible, a Prophet says,

“We played the flute for you, but you did not dance.” 

This means that God’s signs and beauty were unfolded in front of you so that you become thrilled, but you did not take heed.

Here I am reminded of the Sufis who consider love of God to be same as ishq. But this is entirely baseless. Love for God is a much high emotion; one that arises only after making God your sole concern. Making God your sole concern is tawheed and making anything other than God your sole concern is shirk.

The following verse explains the gravity of shirk.

“God will not forgive anyone for associating something with Him.” (4:48)

This is a very strong verse of the Quran and clearly conveys that God will forgive whomsoever He wills for anything but shirk.

Zikr

Zikr does not pertain to repetition of certain memorised words. Thinking this is sheer underestimation of zikr. A verse in the Quran further clarifies the importance of wisdom and zikr:

“Praise be to God. But most of them do not understand.” (29:63)

Another verse in the Quran says,

“It is He who brought you into being, and made ears and eyes and hearts for you,

yet you are seldom grateful.” (67:23)

This verse highlights that there are very few people who think, activate their mind and thank God.

Isaac Newton, the father of Modern Science was known as a ‘wool-gatherer’ when he was young. He was not bothered about anything. Later it was discovered that Newton had the extraordinary capability of concentrating at one point. Newton had not married. His sister used to bring lunch for him in the afternoon and very quietly place it on his study table. Newton used to remain lost in his work and not even see that food is kept. Only after a very long time when he felt hungry, he used to take note of food. Towards the end of his life, Newton said that he considered himself as a child who is playing with shells, while the vast ocean of knowledge was lying in front of him undiscovered.

Newton had to discover gravity, a small portion of the creation of God. We, on the other hand, have to discover the Creator Himself. Hence our task is even more arduous than that of Newton and can only happen if we make God as the centre of our life.

Discovery of God

This discovery of God happens with the discovery of the fact that “I am not God.” Man must realize that he is nothing, but a helpless and all-powerless creature. The discovery of man’s “nothingness” becomes the base for the discovery of God. This is because when we discover our nothingness, we discover God as a Being that is Everything - that is our powerlessness vis-à-vis God’s all-powerfulness.

According to the Quran,

“But he has not attempted the ascent.” (90:11)

This means that discovering God requires climbing an ideological mountain. Climbing a physical mountain is very difficult; however, it is nothing in comparison to climbing an ideological mountain. This climb is enabled from the realisation that we are availing everything – even our own existence - without paying any price for it. And it is the discovery of God that is the price for paradise.

May God guide us!