Praise be to Allah, the Lord of Creations, and Peace and blessings be upon our prophet Muhammad, the faithful and the honest. O Allah our Lord, lead us out from the depths of darkness and illusion, unto the lights of erudition and knowledge, and from the muddy shallows of lusts unto the heavens of Your Vicinity.
The successful Da'wah addresses both the mind and the heart:
Dear noble brothers, we are discussing a new lesson, which tackles the Ayaat that start with, "O you who believe!", and the Ayah today is the following:
﴾ (O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam), Allah will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the Way of Allah, and never afraid of the blame of the blamers. That is the Grace of Allah which He bestows on whom He wills. And Allah is All-Sufficient for His creatures' needs, All-Knower.) ﴿
Dear brothers, as a human being, you realize things with your mind, love with your heart and move with your body. You nourish your mind with knowledge and your heart with love. Be aware that the Da'wah, which addresses the mind only, or the heart only, will never succeed, because it should address both the mind and the heart.
Religion is half knowledge and half love:
The Ayah we are tackling today addresses the heart, as it revolves around love. Due to the Wisdom of Allah the Almighty, the relationship, between Allah and the believers, is based on love:
﴾ (Whom He will love and they will love Him…) ﴿
Allah does not accept that man chooses Him against his will. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (There is no compulsion in religion.) ﴿
Allah the Almighty wants you to approach Him with obedience, love and full will. As a human being you have the free will to pray or not and to be morally committed or morally deviated, so choosing to obey, love and get closer to Allah the Almighty means you do love Him.
In fact, this religion is based on both acquiring Islamic knowledge and loving Allah.
He who does not love Allah treats believers arrogantly and submits to a powerful human:
One of the scholars said, "How strange it is to know Allah the Almighty, but you do not love Him! It is even odd to love Him, but you do not obey him!" Pay attention to this Ayah, please:
﴾ (O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion (Islam)…) ﴿
Whoever turns back from his religion does not love Allah the Almighty, and as a result, Allah will bring a people whom will not turn back from religion:
﴾ (Allah will bring a people whom He will love and they will love Him; whom He will love and they will love Him; humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers...) ﴿
Those who do not love Allah the Almighty are humble towards the powerful, and they look down to the believers. They humiliate themselves to the strong, but they oppress the believers and treat them arrogantly.
Pay attention to the following description, please:
﴾ (Humble towards the believers, stern towards the disbelievers, fighting in the Way of Allah…) ﴿
They fight in the Way of Allah with their money, time, experience, knowledge, Da'wah and career. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (and never afraid of the blame of the blamers…) ﴿
They are not affected by the blame of the blamers:
﴾ (Those who convey the Message of Allah and fear Him, and fear none save Allah.) ﴿
Whoever loves Allah achieves the purpose of his existence:
Verily he who does not have love for Allah and religion has no faith. The first half of religion is knowledge, and the second half is love. When you know Allah and love Him, you will achieve the purpose of your existence. Worship by definition is a voluntary act of obedience. Thus, it is not compulsory, nor is it performed forcibly. In other words, you have the choice whether to come to the Masjid or to go to the nightclub, to get married or to have an illicit affair, to earn money legally or to collect it illegally and to be a good man or to be a bad one. In brief, you have the free will to do whatever you wish and this per se evaluates your deeds; you approach Allah the Almighty submissively by your own free will.
Unfortunately, the people who seek the pleasure of this worldly life tend to love a human being who is mortal, and one day this person will leave them or they will leave him. Ironically, people created a celebration day for love. Even if the one you love is your wife, one day you will part by death.
(( (Live as you wish, for you will surely die. Love whomever you wish, for you will surely part from. Do as you wish, for you will surely be reckoned for.') ))
[ [Ash-Shirazi, on the authority of Sahl Ibn Sa'd] ]
Loving someone for Allah's Sake is Tawhid:
Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, wants your relationship with Him to be based on love and the proof is in this Ayah:
﴾ (…whom He will love and they will love Him…) ﴿
What marks your faith is your love to Allah the Almighty along with your feeling of submission when Allah is mentioned before you. On the other hand, common people are like those who are described in the following Ayah:
﴾ (And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah.) ﴿
If you do not love Allah, then definitely you love someone or something else, because without love man does not belong to human race. Every man has love for someone, only the believer loves Allah the Almighty and this love is the root of all other kinds of love that are derived from the original love (i.e. the love for Allah). The love for Allah is the root of the love for His Messenger, peace be upon him, for all noble companions, may Allah be pleased with them, for the believers, for the Masajid, for the Noble Quran, for the good deeds and so on. In fact, there is love for the Sake of Allah, and there is love in association with Allah (joining others with Allah in love); the former reflects Tawhid (believing in Allah as the only Deity worthy of worship), while the latter reflects Shirk (polytheism). Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ And of mankind are some who take (for worship) others besides Allah as rivals (to Allah). They love them as they love Allah. But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else).﴿
Desires have two sides: permissible and impermissible:
The observance of Siyaam reflects your love for Allah the Almighty. What really prevents you from eating whatever you long for or drink water during the day of Ramadan? Your love for Allah the Almighty does. Fasting Ramadan is a manifestation of man's love for Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He.
Allah the Almighty has installed lusts inside us to be means of elevation in His Sight. Lusts can be fulfilled lawfully or unlawfully. For examples, Allah permits marriage and having children and forbids fornication. Allah has installed inside you the love for owning money, provided it should be collected in legal ways, and He forbids you from gaining ill-gotten money.
Allah has installed inside you the desire of having the upper hand on earth, so He allows that provided you should be obedient to Allah the Almighty, you should seek knowledge and you should serve the creations, and He forbids you from having the upper hand on earth for purposes of oppressing people and tyrannizing them. Accordingly, all lusts Allah the Almighty has installed inside us have legal ways through which they are fulfilled. Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, says:
﴾ ("That which is left by Allah for you (after giving the rights of the people) is better for you, if you are believers.") ﴿
On the other hand, there are illegal ways through which these lusts can be fulfilled, and this is why Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (Beautified for men is the love of things they covet; women, children, much of gold and silver (wealth), branded beautiful horses, cattle and well-tilled land. This is the pleasure of the present world's life…) ﴿
Hence, Allah has installed these lusts inside us to be means for exalting in the Sight of the Lord of the earth and the heavens.
Man exalts by lusts twice:
How do we get closer to Allah the Almighty? If a woman walks in the streets exposing her beauty, there is no law on earth prevents you from looking at her, but if you lower your gaze, this proves that you love Allah, you obey Him and you seek His Proximity. If you get married to a righteous woman and you feast your eyes of her beauty, you will thank Allah for that.
Thus in both cases you exalt in The Sight of Allah, once by being patient because you lower your gaze from looking at the beauty of unlawful woman to you, and the other time by being thankful to Allah for helping you getting married and looking at the beauty of your wife
Another example, when you refuse to earn money from illegal sources, you will exalt in Allah's Sight due to your patience, and when you make a living from legal sources and buy with your money the basic needs of your household, you will exalt in Allah's Sight due to your gratefulness to Him. In both cases you are elevated in Allah's Sight because you remain patient (when you lower your gaze from looking at forbidden things, and refuse to take illegal money), and because you are grateful to Allah the Almighty (when you look at the beauty of your wife, and when you make a living from legal sources). In fact, we would not be elevated in Allah's Sight if the Lord of the earth of heavens did not install lusts inside us.
The worldly life ends at the moment of death:
The problem with man is that he loves the present life and forgets about the Hereafter. Allah the Almighty says:
(Not [as you think, that you (mankind) will not be resurrected and recompensed for your deeds], but (you men) love the present life of this world* And leave (neglect) the Hereafter.)
[Al-Qiyamah, 20-21]
Death puts an end to everything; it ends the power of the powerful, the weakness of the weak, the affluent of the rich, the misery of the poor, the beauty of the handsome, the ugliness of the ugly, and so on. Man's world ends when death comes, but the Bestowal of Allah the Almighty never ends; it is everlasting. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (Not [as you think, that you (mankind) will not be resurrected and recompensed for your deeds], but (you men) love the present life of this world* And leave (neglect) the Hereafter.) ﴿
He the Almighty also says:
﴾ (And you love wealth with much love!) ﴿
Loving money with much love is wrong, and detesting it is wrong as well. If you make money a means that elevates you in the Hereafter, it will be the greatest blessing you ever have had, but if you love it for the purpose of enjoying yourself in the worldly life, this enjoyment will end at the moment of death.
When man exalts in Allah's Sight, his rational love will take over his sensual one:
There is rational love and sensual one. When man exalts in Allah's Sight the rational love overwhelms him and makes him turn away from sensual love. The student usually likes to have fun with his friends, to stay up late with them and to go for picnics, but when he studies hard to gain knowledge, he stops all these kinds of entertainment, simply because his love to acquiring knowledge is rational, whereas his love for picnics and other kinds of entertainment is sensual. In this case, rational love takes over sensual love.
We have the same result when it comes to our health; the delicious food sometimes harms us, and because man is overpowered by his care for his health, he eats light food. The food that we long for (like fast food, junk food and some snacks) is not good to our bodies. Accordingly, whenever we exalt in Allah's Sight, this indicates that rational love overcomes us.
What do you fight against when you decide to come to the Masjid to perform Salah or attend a religious lesson? You fight against your desire, which urges you to stay in bed. This is the rational love, which takes over when you elevate in Allah's Sight. Regarding this point, Almighty the Almighty says:
﴾ … and it may be that you dislike a thing which is good for you and that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.﴿
This kind of disliking is due to man's reason:
﴾ …that you like a thing which is bad for you. Allah knows but you do not know.﴿
Whoever claims to love Allah but doesn't follow His path is a liar:
Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, never accepts the claim of loving Him without a proof. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (Say (O Muhammad PBUH to mankind): "If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Qur'an and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins…") ﴿
Claiming to love Allah without following His path is a false claim.
Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, never accepts the claim of loving Him without a proof.
One more thing is indicated in the following Ayah:
﴾ (By no means shall you attain Al-Birr (piety, righteousness, etc., it means here Allah's Reward, i.e. Paradise), unless you spend (in Allah's Cause) of that which you love…) ﴿
Desires are installed inside us to exalt us to the Lord of the earth and the heavens. For instance, you love money, but you will not be exalted in Allah's Sight unless you spend money (in the cause of Allah). Similarly, you will not be exalted in Allah's Sight unless you forsake your bed in order to make Munajat and Dua to Allah. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope…) ﴿
We have made a deadly mistake when we established relations with the west, thinking that they like us, while in fact they do not. We discovered this fact late, but Allah the Almighty tells us about it:
﴾ (Lo! You are the ones who love them but they love you not…) ﴿
If you are on Allah's Path, you love and hate as He recommends:
Let me repeat the Ayah:
﴾ (Lo! You are the ones who love them but they love you not…) ﴿
Regarding this point, listen to the following Hadith, please:
(( Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said. "The (Hell) Fire is surrounded with all kinds of desires and passions, while Jannah is surrounded with adversities." ))
[ [Al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Abi Hurairah] ]
Man accepts adversities due to his reason, and he keeps away from desires although he likes them with his senses.
(( (The (Hell) Fire is surrounded with all kinds of desires and passions, while Jannah is surrounded with adversities.) ))
[ [Al-Bukhari and Muslim, on the authority of Abi Hurairah] ]
Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, never punishes those He loves:
Dear brothers, as I have just said, whoever loves Allah the Almighty would never be punished by Him, but whoever falsely claims to love Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, will definitely be punished, and the proof is:
﴾ And (both) the Jews and the Christians say: "We are the children of Allah and His loved ones." ﴿
What is the response of Allah the Almighty to their claim?
﴾ Say: "Why then does He punish you for your sins?" Nay, you are but human beings, of those He has created… ﴿
Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, assures us that claiming to love Him is pointless. The second fact is that He never punishes those who truly love Him, which is indeed a glad tiding. If you love Allah sincerely, Allah never punishes you. Thus, when Muslims fail upon being tried by Allah with calamities, this means that their love for Allah is a false claim.
Man cannot reach to Allah if he favors things over the love for Allah:
Dear brothers, by Allah the only Deity worthy of worship, the following Ayah has great gravity:
﴾ Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight … are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah). ﴿
When you take a house by force from its owner, this means that its importance to you is more than the importance of obeying Allah the Almighty, and thus the way to Allah will be blocked. Also, if you favor a trade that does not please Allah the Almighty, the way to Allah is blocked. Likewise, if you obey your wife at the expense of obeying Allah the Almighty, the way to Allah is blocked. Similarly if you take the side of your clan though they follow al-Batil (falsehood), the way to Allah is blocked. Indeed, this Ayah sends a chill up one's spine.
﴾Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight … are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His Cause , then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are Al-Fasiqun (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah). ﴿
The rational love and the sensual one:
Let us move to discuss the rational love and the sensual one. Allah the Almighty:
﴾ (He said: "O my Lord! Prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me…") ﴿
Is there any young man on the earth who would refuse to have a sexual relation with a woman if she invites him to do so? The wife of al-Aziz, who was famous for her charming beauty, wanted to have an affair with our Master Yusuf, peace be upon him, but what did our Master Yusuf, peace be upon him, say to her?
﴾ (He said: "O my Lord! Prison is more to my liking than that to which they invite me…") ﴿
Dear brothers, the issue of love in both kinds- the rational love and sensual one- is essential. Take the example of our Master Yusuf, peace be upon him, in the above-mentioned Ayah; this Noble Prophet preferred to be imprisoned, facing whatever hardship might be in jail, to having an illicit affair with any woman.
Allah will let all creations love the one whom Allah loves:
What does it mean to be loved by Allah? It means to be loved by all creations. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (…And I endued you with love from Me…) ﴿
If Allah the Almighty loves you, He will cast love into the hearts of creations for you. The most precious thing on earth is to be loved and trusted by all creations, and this is a blessing from Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He.
Sweetness of faith and facts of faith:
Dear brothers, we move to another topic. There are the facts of faith and there is the sweetness of faith. The sweetness of faith is something beyond description; it makes you heroic and privileged. Furthermore, it makes you favor the blessings of Allah over the entire worldly life. The sweetness of faith also makes man energetic and gives him a clear vision, sound logic, honest tongue, love for Allah, tranquility, security and happiness.
Concerning this point, pay attention to the following Hadith, please:
(( Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (peace be up[on him) said, "There are three qualities whoever has them, will taste the sweetness of Iman: To love Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) more than anyone else… ))
[ [Agreed upon, by Anas bin Malik] ]
When your interests contradict whatever is mentioned in Shari'ah texts, you are expected to favor obeying Allah the Almighty over your interests. Only then, you will taste the sweetness of faith. When you refuse a business deal that does not please Allah the Almighty, you will taste the sweetness of faith. Let me go on with the same Hadith:
(( Anas bin Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) reported: The Prophet (peace be up[on him) said, "There are three qualities whoever has them, will taste the sweetness of Iman: To love Allah and His Messenger (peace be upon him) more than anyone else; to love a slave (of Allah) only for (the sake of) Allah; and to abhor returning to infidelity after Allah has saved him from it as he would abhor to be thrown into the fire (of Hell)".))
[ [Agreed upon, by Anas bin Malik] ]
Love is the essence of the religion:
Dear brothers, love is the essence of the religion. You are pleased when you love Allah the Almighty, and you are safe when you obey Him. Whoever loves Allah, Exalted and Sublime be He, is loved by Allah in return. So what happens if Allah the Almighty loves you? He will cast tranquility into your heart, and thus you will be pleased even if you lose everything. On the other hand, you will be distressed when you are deprived of Allah's love even if you have everything in life.
When Allah loves you, He will cast satisfaction into your heart, and He will grant you wisdom. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ (He grants Hikmah to whom He pleases, and he, to whom Hikmah is granted, is indeed granted abundant good.) ﴿
If Allah the Almighty loves you, He will grant you satisfaction, tranquility, and security. Allah the Almighty says:
﴾ …(So) which of the two parties has more right to be in security? If you but know."* It is those who believe (in the Oneness of Allah and worship none but Him Alone) and confuse not their belief with Zulm (wrong i.e. by worshipping others besides Allah), for them (only) there is security and they are the guided. ﴿
The parable of this comparison is like the one between a precious gem (like the diamond I told you about in Istanbul) and a piece of coal. That diamond has the size of an egg, and 20 years ago, I overheard that its price is 150 million dollars, whereas a piece of coal that has the same size is worth only a penny. How big the difference is between the diamond whose price is 150 million dollars and a piece of coal that is worth nothing, given diamond ironically comes from coal!
There are people who are as precious as the diamond, and others whose worth is like a piece of coal. This is how huge the difference between the believer and the disbeliever is. In fact, the disparity is as great as the one between a diamond ring that costs four million, and a ring that costs five liras, even though the cheap ring might be bigger in size.
Dear brothers, as I have mentioned earlier, when man loves Allah the Almighty, he reaches everything, as love has a price and its price is exorbitant. Verily, the commodity of Allah is precious; verily, the commodity of Allah is precious; verily, the commodity of Allah is precious.
![O you who believe! Fear Allah as He should be feared. [Obey Him, be thankful to Him, and remember Him always], and die not except in a state of Islam (as Muslims) with complete submission to](https://nabulsicdn.fra1.digitaloceanspaces.com/thumbnail/1811.jpg)
