Love of Allah

All praise is due to Allah, and we seek refuge with Him in the evil which lies within our ownselves. Whoever Allah guides, there is none can lead him astray and whom He leads astray, there is none can guide him and I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam is His prophet and messenger.

After this, know dear brothers, that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has said in His Qur'an:

"And We have not created the Jinn and Mankind except to worship Me."

What is the meaning of worship?

Is the meaning of worship to establish prayer only or to give Zakah or to make Hajj to the house of Allah or to make Wudu', to fast? Are these things only worship? Or are these things mere signs of worship? The truth is that worship, as it was explained by the Shaykh of Islam, Ibn Taymiyyah, worship is an expression of love for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and it also expresses complete humility to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. For worship does not only mean prayer but prayer is merely a sign of worship but worship is indeed love for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.ning of worship? Is the meaning of worship to establish

Many people claim that they love Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and they say: 'I prayed and I fasted and I made the Hajj and I gave Zakah. After all of this, what does Allah want from me because I have done all these forms of worship? I have worshipped Allah.' Has this person really worshipped Allah? Does Allah need our prayer? Does Allah need our fast? Does he need our Zakah and our Hajj. Allah is High above all these things. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, said in a hadith qudsi, "O my servants! I have made unlawful oppression upon myself and I have made it unlawful between you. So do not oppress each other. O my servants! All of you are astray except the ones whom I have guided, so seek my guidance and I will guide you. O my servants! All of you are naked except those of you whom I have clothed, so seek clothing from me and I will clothe you. O my servants! All of you are hungry except those of you whom I have fed, seek food from me and I will feed you. O my servants! You make errors in the night and in the day and I forgive all sins. Seek forgiveness from me and I will forgive you. O my servants! You will never be able to harm Me and you will never be able to benefit Me. O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you and the jinn from among you and the men from among you, were to stand as one man from among you, that would never take away from My Majesty one bit. If you were to fear Allah as the best among you, that would not increase in My Majesty any. O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you and the Jinn among you and the men among you, were to perform the worst forms of crimes, that will not decrease from My Majesty any. O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the Jinn of you and the men of you, were to stand on one side and ask Me, I will give each one of you what you ask and still this will not decrease from My Majesty. This will not decrease from My Majesty as if you dip a needle into the water.""

Can anyone take away from the Majesty of Allah? No-one can decrease from the Majesty of Allah. He is Great and Supreme. Allah does not need our worship, he does not need our love, he does not need our Salat, he does not need our fast. Allah is the Owner of all majesty and supremecy and He is independent and above all needs. He does not need our worship. We need the worship of Allah, we need Salat, we need Zakat and we need to fast, we need to perform good deeds to the creation. We are poor and Allah is rich. We are weak and Allah is strong. We are the degraded, the low and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the High. So we need the love of Allah.aah or to make Wudoo, to fast? Are

O brothers! We relate to Allah as we relate to this world. Who from among us, when someone comes to him, says to his brother: 'I love you and I am this and that in obedience to you,' and then you say to him, if he said these words to you: 'Have you said these words from your heart?' Did he really understand what he said to you or are you merely speaking words that you have memorised. O brothers, are we truly relating to Allah in our prayers in this manner? How many of us recite Fatihah, the opening prayer of the Qur'an, in the right manner? How many of us, when we prostrate to Allah, we fell in our hearts, humility? We enter Salah, when the Imam says 'Allahu Akbar', God is the Greatest and we remember, at that moment, all the affairs of the world. We remember, at this moment, all the affairs of the world. We remember, we remember, only at this moment, the affairs of the world and we forget Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. We remember our food when we go to prayer and we remember our friends when we go to Salah and we remember our needs when we go to prayer and we don't know what the Imam is saying, what he is reading and we don't feel anything from the prayer except for when the Imam says 'Salam wa Alaykum, Salam wa Alaykum'.

Are we really loving Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala? When we are reading Fatihah, do we really understand the meaning or what we say or are we merely repeating words that we have memorised? We will never be pleased if people relate to us in this way, so how can we be happy if we relate to Allah in this manner? Our heart has become hard and they have become like stones! Even harder than stones! What is the way to the love of Allah? What is the way which would lead us and help us to arrive at this station of love of Allah?

Everyone of us, at this moment, should ask ourselves - When did you love this person? What were the reasons that lead you to love that brother or that women? There are three things that lead to love. The first is beauty, the second is dignity of character and the third is the kindness and graciousness of that person towards you. Maybe that person is not beautiful and he has no good character but he provides for you all your needs and maybe that is the reason that your heart feels out for him.

If we take the first reason, O dear brothers, we know that the hearts are naturally attached, naturally inclined to beauty. No-one can say that beauty does not affect the heart. Therefore if someone intends, or needs to travel to some place, he asks about the natural beauty of that place and if he wants to marry, he asks if the woman is beautiful. Once a young man came to me and he asked me to help him find a wife through my wife and I asked him: What are the things you are looking for? What are your conditions? He said to me: She must be beautiful, long hair, very tender, beautiful eyes and the colour of her must be qurnubi. I said: What is the meaning of this qurnubi? The Shaykh did not know what was meant by qurnubi. He began to describe beauty to me and the last word he said to me: '...and she must be religious, so that I will not despise her because the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said choose the one that is pious.' He did not describe Din but he described to me beauty. He only mentioned Din, so that I would be pleased with him and carry out his wishes. So really, the hearts of men are very much attached to beauty..

(Also), When we read the story of Yusuf alayhis salam, the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam informed us that Yusuf and his mother were given half of all the beauty in the world. When we read what happened between Yusuf and the wife of the 'Aziz in Egypt and the woman of the 'Aziz was the highest in social status for Egypt, because she was the wife of the minister of finance and she was very beautiful and Yusuf was a slave to her, not only a servant but a property. So one day, her heart reached out to Yusuf. She closed the door to him and said: Come to me. And Yusuf refused and this word spread among the women and among the women, the wives of the ministers. They said that the wife of the 'Aziz, the minister of finance, tried to lure her servant into lewdness. The love of Yusuf had dominated her heart and she became possessed by this love and it overwhelmed her heart. They said: 'Indeed the wife of the 'Aziz has gone astray. Is she not ashamed of herself? She is trying to intice her servant! This mean and low person is trying to capture (her slave), surely she is a women who has gone astray.' The word, sooner or later, go to the 'Aziz and when she heard of their sayings, she invited them to her house and she prepared for them a dinner and after this, she presented them with fruits and gave each one of them a knife and she said, 'Please eat,' and then each one of them took a fruit and a knife and then they began to peel the fruit. The wife of the 'Aziz went to Yusuf and ordered him to have a bath and then she ordered him to wear his finest clothes and this only increased in his beauty. She, herself, prepared her hair in the best manner. She made Yusuf wear the best forms of perfume and his beauty seemed perfect and absolute. So she said to him, 'Now, go to these women.' They were peeling their fruits and when they saw him, their image of him became very outstanding and then, without even feeling or being conscious of it, they cut themselves. The knives began to cut the nerves and the skin without them feeling it and it was said that they cut their hands and they said, 'By Allah! This is not a human being. He is nothing but a gracious Angel!' She (the wife of the 'Aziz) said to these women, 'This is what you have been blaming me for. Do you want to blame me for what I have done now?' They said, 'No!' She said, 'This thing which you have blamed me for. Surely, I tried to intice him and make him do something bad against his own nature but he stood firm.' She confessed that she had done something wrong. She was prepared to stand by her wrong-doing. At this moment, she had not yet gone back on her wrong-doing and she was happy with the words of the women. 'WIll you hold me wrong for what I have done?' One women from the crowd called Yusuf, as if she wanted to ask him something. She said to him secretly, 'What is your opinion of a meeting tonight?' He said, 'I seek refuge with Allah,' and another women invited him as if she wanted to make a similar request and when he came, she said, 'What about a meeting tonight?' And all of them invited (him) to have sex with them and he said, 'O my Lord! Prison is better to me rather than to do what they invite me to and if you do not divert me away from what they have tried to make me do, I will fall victim and I will be among the ignorant,' and Allah answered his prayer and Allah diverted him away from the bad calling. Allah is indeed the All-Hearing, the All-Knowing.

Who from among us, reads the story of Yusuf, he wishes in his heart that he see Yusuf in his sleep? To see and witness his beauty. By Allah! If the beauty of Yusuf were gathered and the beauty of his mother and the beauty of his nature and the beauty of all men and all women and all this beauty was put in the person of one man, by Allah, this beauty would not be in any way equivalant to the beauty of Allah. The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said in a hadith by Imam Muslim, 'Indeed Allah is beautiful and He loves beauty.' Because Allah's nature is beauty. Every aspect of Allah is beauty.

The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was asked, 'Have you ever seen your Lord?' He sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'Nur (Light)! This is what I have seen. How can I see all that beauty?' The face of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is all beauty and all light, therefore Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says about this world, 'Everything in it will vanish and face of Allah will remain.' His Majesty and His Glory, His Dignity and His Beauty is all that He embodies. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has described himself that is face is all light. Therefore he says about the light of His Face, 'Allah is the light of the heavens and the earth.' So, the light of the heaven and the earth is part of the creation of Allah. When the world is overwhelmed with darkness, this sun, which Allah has created, and it will overwhelm the darkness and present light to the earth and give it light and this is the light of the creation, so how can you imagine the light of the Creator! Therefore the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, opens His Hands in the night, to give forgiveness to those who disobeyed Him during the day and He opens His Hands in the day, to give forgiveness to those who disobeyed Him in the night and His veil is Light and if He removes it, His Light will burn whoever of His creation turn to Him.' All of Him is light.

Therefore Musa alayhis salam, when Allah spoke to Him, his heart reached out to Allah and there was an exchange of words between him and Allah. When Allah spoke to Moses, his heart was attached to Allah and Musa thought that there was no harm in trying to see Allah. He said, 'O my Lord, let me see You.' Allah, 'You will never see Me, but if you so wish, look at the mountain and if it stands in its place (when Allah unveiled Himself to the mountain), then you will see Me.' So Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, said, 'And when Allah revealed Himself to the mountain,' and as Ibn Malik said the light of Allah was only a small bit and when Allah revealed Himself to the moutain, it smashed the mountain, Musa fell down in a state of unconsciousness. The mountain could not carry the beauty of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. It could not stand in front of the Majesty of Allah and it became levelled with the earth and Musa fell down in a state of unconsciousness. When he was revived, he said, 'Glory be to You O Allah! I repent and I am the first of the believers.'

So, my dear brothers, Allah, all of Him is light and all of Him is beauty. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says about himself: On that Day, the Day of Judgement, how great is the Glory and Majesty of Allah and the whole of the earth, on the Day of Judgement will be in His grip and the heavens will be in His Palms. Glory be to Him over what they ascribe to Him!

It will be blown in the trumpets and all of the people in the heavens and the earth will faint away except whom Allah wills and then there will be a second blowing and they will stand up looking, all the people will stand again and look and the people will ask that Allah should come to seperate between the people and Allah says about Himself, ' ... and Allah will come with the angels in ranks ... ' and the angels will come carrying the Throne of Allah. Allah says, ' ... and they carry the Throne of Allah above them.' Eight angels carrying the Throne of Allah and when the procession comes before those who carry the Throne of Allah. Rows, ranks of angels will proceed before Allah comes. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, informs of His coming and the earth will become enlightened with the light of Allah and that is because of the beauty of Allah and the completeness of His light and Allah gives the best of examples.

When some of the most beloved people come to you, you say, 'Oh you have bought light because of your beauty.' So how could it be with Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala? So the dark earth which encompasses all the worlds on the Day of Judgement will become enlightened with Allah. It was this reason that the hearts of the companions were attached to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and so to our Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam was deeply attached to Allah and His Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'I ask you for the good taste of seeing Your beauty and I ask You, so that I may long to meet You.' So too the heart of Abu Bakr radiallahu 'anhu was attached to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, spoke about Abu Bakr in Surah al-Layl, when Allah said about the Fire, 'The pious will never enter the Fire.' Ibn Abbas said the most pious and God-fearing man after the Prophets and Messengers was Abu Bakr. This is because he used to purchase slaves, the weak, the oppressed and he would free them for the sake of Allah and his father would say to him, 'O son! Will you purchase people who have strength for themselves so they can defend you but you are purchasing weak people. What will they do for you and what will you do for them?' What did Abu Bakr say to his father, 'O my dear father, I want what I want and I want the pleasure of seeing the Face of my Lord, one look only at Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. It is equal to this world and what is in it.' And Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, said, 'The pious will never enter the Fire, the one who gives his wealth to purify his heart.' There is none who has any greater worldly qualities than Abu Bakr except the Holy Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam because he bought guidance, therefore Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said the most beloved person among people in terms of their person, is Abu Bakr and none can claim to better than him but he, himself, can claim to better than them. Why? Because Abu Bakr wanted to see the face of Allah and Allah said that He will indeed be pleased with Abu Bakr and Abu Bakr will be pleased with Allah. So the hearts of the companions were attached to Allah and their hearts were attached to the beauty of Allah. And Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, said about them, 'And they were giving out of their wealth for the love of Allah.' And they were giving their wealth despite their love of that which they were giving and they gave their wealth to the poor, the orphans and the prisoners of war. They said, 'We are feeding you. Why? So we can see the Face of Allah. We do not want your reward or your thanks.'

Once, one companion came to the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam and his heart was shredded and he said, 'O Prophet of Allah! Our hearts have become really attached to Allah and His beauty. O Prophet of Allah, will we see Allah on the Day of Judgement?' The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'If you all put yourself together and if the sun comes out without any clouds, will you see the sun (without needing to move to see it)?' He said, 'No Messenger of Allah, we do not need to move to see it.' The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'Do you crowd each other in order to see a full moon?' He said, 'No O Messenger of Allah!' He sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'So you shall see Allah like this on the Day of Judgement.'

What is the way to see Allah? The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'Whoever from among you is able to make Salat ul-Fajr and 'Asr, he should preserve these prayers.' These are two reasons which will enable us to see the Face of Allah. Therefore the hearts of believers are always attached to Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has promised them and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has said that on the Day of Judgement, all their faces will be lights and they will see the Face of their Lord.

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... and their faces will increase with light when they see the Allah! As Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, has also said when he has spoken about the righteous; He says, 'Indeed the Book of the righteous will be in a high stage ('illiyin).' And what can you perceive is this high station? Allah says it is a written book and the people who are close (the angels) will bear witness to this book and indeed the righteous will be in contentment and delight. They will be sitting on high chairs looking. What are they looking at? They will be looking at the Face of Allah! They will be sitting on high cushions looking at the Face of Allah and you will see in their faces, contentment and delight after they have seen Allah. You will contentment and pleasure. They will be given a drink, the Sealed Nectar. At the end of this drink will be misk* and for this, those who compete should compete and this drink will be mixed with something from tasnim. Tasnim is a spring from which the close people will drink.

Those crinimals used to laugh at the believers and the righteous. Used to laugh at the people when they grew their beards. They laughed at him and made fun of him because he had his thawb short. They laughed at him because he turned his back on vain desires and women and they say that he wasted his youth and they say he wasted his life and they say that he made his life narrow because of this religion, so they laugh at him. Surely, those people who committed crimes and outrages, they laugh at the believing, righteous people and when they pass the righteous people, they touch each other and they make fun of the righteous and when they go to their people, they laugh at the religious and the righteous people and when they see the righteous people, they say, 'Surely these people have gone astray. They have wasted their lives, wasted their youths. Surely there are many womens and girls for them to have and all these fair delights are easy to have.' Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says about the kuffar that He did not send the disbelievers to set any standard or to preserve or protect the believers. O unbelieving people are you not calling to freedom? So why don't you leave the Muslim people? Why are you laughing at them. I did not send you to protect them.

Allah says on this Day of Judgement, the believers will laugh at the disbelievers. They will be sitting on their high chairs looking at the Face of Allah and Allah says, after this, about the kuffar, did the unbelieving people get their reward for what they were doing? This the rewards for anyone who turns to Allah and attaches his heart and allows his heart to reach Allah.

Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says in Surah al-Insan, 'And they will be surrounded by boys who will never die and if you see them you will think they are scattered pearls.' And if you see them in their high stations, you will see delight and you will see Allah in His High Majesty. This is the promised vision of the believers of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala,. This is the greatest that a believer will be given on the Day of Judgement.'

So Bukhari has related and so too Imam Muslim on the authority of Abi Sa'id al-Qudri, that the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'If the people on Jannah, enter Jannah and the people of Hell, enter the Hell, there will be a caller who will give his call. 'O people of Jannah! You have an appointment with Allah, He wants to realise for you all your ambitions.' ' Then the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'Then the curtain will be taken away and they will not be given something more loved to them than the sight of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala.' Therefore the greatest pleasure to the believers is the sight of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and the worst punishment of the people of the fire is the denial to see Allah. So Allah says about the unbelieving people, 'Surely the Book of the unbelieving people will be locked.' And what is the prison were the unbelieving will be locked? It will be a punishment to those who denied the Prophets, the coming of the Day of Judgement and what did they deny with except with every mean form of outrage and sin. 'If our signs and verses were recited to them, they say 'Stories, fables of the past peoples.' O indeed, we will cover their hearts because of their wrong-doings. Indeed, they will be a barrier between them and their Lord on that Day.' They will be denied the right to see Allah, the King of all kings. They will be denied the right to see the most Mighty and Allah gives the most complete expressions.

If you want to reach out to the heart of the most beloved person to you or the most beautiful person, you will say close the door upon him. Don't let him enter him upon me. This is the way and this is the curse and he does not have the rights, he does not deserve to see me and he will be belittled and denied the right to see me and many peope will have this experience and they will be exposed in front of the people. How will it be on the Day of Judgement? When they will be thrown out in front of all the world. This is one of the worst forms of punishment for the people of the Fire while the believers will be given the delight and the pleasure of seeing Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala. This is the reason why the heart of the Prophet was so much attached to Allah. He used to say, 'O Bilal! Make us comfortable with prayer.' He never said, make us comfortable from prayer. That is because in prayer, he spoke to Allah and he felt during this dialogue with Allah, he felt love for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, and his heart moved and pulsated with the love of Allah and Allah gives the most beautiful expressions.

If all the disasters will fall upon you, you go the most beloved person to you and you speak to him and you sit with him and you open your heart to him and when you do this, your sadness goes away. So the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'O Bilal! Make us comfortable with prayer.' This is why the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'The delight of my eye is prayer.' Therefore, he stood up one night from among the nights, and he was sleeping in the house of the Mother of the Faithful, 'Aishah and he wanted to pray and she said to him, 'O Prophet of Allah. I love your closeness to me.' The Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'O 'Aishah. Leave me one minute to worship my Lord because my heart is attached to Allah.' Who from amongst us feels this way? The hearts of believers are this way. A man, when the night comes, his heart begins to throb with love and his heart begins to search for the most loved thing to him, so that he can sit with that person and he would call that person and pour out his troubles to that person as one person once said, 'When the darkness comes and the heart begins to move with love and longing is the most burning thing in the heart, and the believers wait for that night and instead of sitting with their love, they wait for the moment when they can stand in prayer, so that they can make the prayer of Tahajjud to Allah because their hearts are attached to Allah.'

One companion, one believer, was on his death bed. He began to cry and they said to him: Why are you crying? You are about to die and Allah has written death to everyone and you are among the believers. He said: I am not crying because my spirit is going, because I am going to leave but I will miss 3 things - Firstly, the night prayer. How will I be able to speak to Allah and I am in my grave and my heart has become so attached to Allah. Second, the fasting during hot days and the third, sitting close to the scholars who reminded me about Allah, about my beloved Prophet. Who would remind me of my beloved Prophet when I am in my grave?

One of the Salaf, Sufyan ath-Thawri was on his death bed and he began to cry. They said: Why are you crying? Allah has written death to all people. He said: I am not crying because of death but I am crying because Tawhid will be taken away from me. And what he means by Tawhid, if the love of worship for Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, only.

O brothers do we feel this way?

One of the Salaf, Qais said to his beloved wife, her name was Laylah and the star which guides people never came out and the morning except that it made me remember her. But the believers say the star never comes out and the morning never comes until we remember Allah. They never say that the coming of the star or the coming of the Fajr reminds them of their lovers but they say that the coming of the stars and the coming of Fajr reminds them of Allah and Qais also said about Laylah that he used to go to the desert alone and he said that we would go out from among the house, so that I can speak to my serve about you (Laylah) and it is an empty night. But what does the believer say? One of the students of Ibn Taymiyyah said: We saw Shaykh ul-Islam leaving the houses going and he went into the desert so we followed him without him knowing and we heard him saying, 'I have come out from among the houses so that I can speak to myself about you O my Lord!' So it was how their hearts were attached to Allah.

So the love of Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, dominates the hearts of the believers. Do we ourselves feel this kind of love? Maybe one of us, if we enter prayer to speak to Allah and to communicate with Him, he remembers his beloved or some other of creation other than Allah and when he sits with his beloved, he does not remember Allah and when he enters that thing which should be dedicated to Allah, he remembers his beloved and when he sits with his beloved, he does not remember Allah. Allah speaks about the polytheists, they ascribe to Allah what they have created from plantations, animals, a portion. They say these products are for Allah and this portion is for our idols and when the produce which they dedicated to the idols finishes, they take from that which they give to Allah and they give it to the idols and when the produce they dedicate to Allah decreases, they never take from Allah and give it to Allah. When we do our prayer, we see this matter. When we sit with the most beloved person to us, this sitting becomes purely for that person who we love and when we enter prayer, then comes the ideas and the memories of our beloved persons and so this prayer will never be purely for the sake of Allah. Would anyone be pleased that we are related to in this manner? So Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says that from among the people, there are those who take false gods and they love those false gods as they love Allah but the people who believe, they are more strong in their love towards Allah and Allah says in another ayah, 'And the gates of Jannah will be bought close to the God-fearing people and the fire will be bought close to the bad people and it will be said to them, 'What did you worship? Those who you worshipped other than Allah, can they help you now?' They will thrown onto their faces into the Fire and those whom they worshipped and the soldiers of the Satan, all together and they will be there debating and fighting amongst themselves in the Fire and they will say, 'O Allah! Surely we were astray because we worshipped others in the way that we should have worshipped Allah.' ' The associating of partners in Shirk is like the associating of partners in love as Ibn Taymiyyah said.

Therefore it should become clear to us know, the way to the love of Allah. I will not be much longer upon you. I will conclude now.

The second reason that leads to the love of Allah after the beauty of Allah, to know the great qualities of Allah because you may have heard of some man and you have never seen him but his qualities are well known and you love him, only because you have heard about his great qualities. If you look at the qualities of Allah, as this Arab once said he heard only one hadith of the Prophet. The hadith in which the Prophet sallallahu 'alayhi wa sallam said, 'The last person to come out of the Fire, his face will be turned to the Fire and he will look for one moment and the heat of the Fire will burn him and also the smell of the Fire and he will say, 'O my Lord, turn my face away from the Fire,' and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, will take from him a strong promise that he will not ask other than this question (for anything else) and Allah turned his face away and then he stood for one moment and then he would say, 'O Allah, turn my face towards the Jannah,' and Allah will say to him, 'O what a wretched creature you are! Did you not promise you would not ask for anything else?' He said, 'O Allah! I swear, I promise I will not ask for anything else.' Then Allah turned his face towards the Jannah. He (the man) waited for a moment and then he said, 'O my Lord! Make me come close to the Jannah,' and Allah will say, 'O what a wretched creature you are son of Adam! Did you not promise you would not ask for anything else?' He said, 'I swear I will not ask for anything else,' and Allah made him come close to the Jannah and the Jannah became high and near towards him and he saw in it the delights and pleasures. He said, 'O Allah, make me enter the Jannah.' Allah says, 'O what a wretched creature you are son of man! Did you not promise you would not ask for anything else?' He said, 'I swear Allah, I will not ask for anything else.' Allah then says to him, 'Make a wish.' And Allah said to him, 'Again, make a wish,' and the angels were near to the that person and the angels will say, 'Wish for any of things of al-Jannah,' and the angels will say, 'There are so many things in al-Jannah, what do you want?' And the angels will tell him all about the delights of al-Jannah and his heart began to long and yearn for the things of al-Jannah and then he made more demands from Allah until he had nothing more to ask for. Allah will then say to him, 'Ask for something again.' He said, 'I don't have anything else to ask for.' Allah says to him, 'All of this is for you and ten times this is for you,' and Allah laughed and this servant said, 'Are you laughing at me and you are the Lord of the Worlds? You told me to make a wish and now you laugh at me.' Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, says, 'I am not laughing at you but I am able to do whatever I want for you.' So Allah gave him.' This Arab man from the desert heard that Allah laughed, he said that the great Master of the heavens and the earth, He laughed!? The King of all kings is laughing!? The Owner of all-Majesty and Power laughs! The One who can hold the heavens in His Hands and the earth in His other hand and then He shakes them and then He says, 'I am King! Where are the great oppressors?' Where the proud people? Where are the people who held up their heads high up in pride and did not submit to this Din? And none of them will be able to say anything and they will be forced into submission and humility to Him. Where are the Ceasers? Where are the rulers of Persia? None of them will be able to speak in front of the Majesty of Allah, and they (the Arabs) would say, 'The Great and Powerful Allah is laughing!? Allah will never be able to deny us any good. If Allah is laughing then He will not deny us any good.'

If you enter upon one responsible person or one minister and you have some request and he smiles in your face after you enter upon him, you will say O look he is laughing at me and then you would say I am sure he will not reject my request. So how can it be with Allah? The King of all kings. Therefore when Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, smiles we know that there will not be a denial of good. O observe dear brothers, this one quality. This one quality made the heart of this desert Arab become attached to Allah.

And the third thing which will take us to the love of Allah, is the graciousness of Allah towards us. How much have we paid for what Allah had blessed us with? If you have lost your sight, how much can you pay? If you loose your heart, how much can you pay? If you loose your mind, how much can you pay for it? If you loose a kindey, how much can you pay for it? 30,000? A liver? 50,000? Intestines? 30,000? How much about the nervous system and different parts of the body? How much have we paid for all of these things which we have? We have not paid one single cent and Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, gives them working in perfect order for us.

One man, Ibn Sama, he went to Harun Rashid and Harun Rashid had with him a gathering. Harun Rashid asked for a cup of water and he was at the time, the leader of the Muslims and before Harun drank, Ibn Sama said to him, 'One minute Amir ul-Muminin, can you imagine if you were denied that cup of water and you were in the heart of the desert and you are about to die from thirst? How much will you pay for this small cup of water?' He said, 'Half, O Ibn Sama, I will pay half of my throne (kingdom) for this.' Ibn Sama said to him, 'O leader of the faithful, drink graciously and thankfully.' Then Harun Rashid drank and we waited for one moment and we wanted to go now to the bathroom to relieve himself of this water and Ibn Sama said to him, 'O leader of the faithful, can you imagine if this water could not leave you and this water was held within you? How much will you pay to get this water out of your system?' He said, 'O I will pay one half of my throne (kingdom).' Ibn Sama said, 'O leader of the faithful, what do you want from your throne!? Your throne is not equal to a cup of water? Half of your throne is not equal to what you drink and half of it is not equal for you to relieve what you drink? And in the night and the day, we drink and we relieve ourselves without anything in return!'

We use our eyes to disobey Allah! He preserves our eyes and we disboey Him with them. Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, preserves our ears and yet we disobey Him with them? Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, keeps our minds and we use them to disobey him. His good to us is descending upon us and our evil is going towards Him. He blesses us and provides for us and we give thanks to others. Is this not waywardness? Is this not a display of poor manners towards Allah? These are the ways towards love for Allah but this love must be encircled with humility of Allah through the way of learning the qualities of Allah.

Let us consider the story of this little girl. 'Umar ibn al-Khattab was making one of his rounds during the night and he became close to this house and this women was speaking to her daughter, 'Get up my daughter and mix the milk with water. So we can sell the people this and they will not know that it is mixed and we will make great interest and profit.' She said, 'O my dear mother, the Amir of the Muslims has prohibited us from doing this.' The mother said, 'Where is the leader of the Muslims now? He is not here.' She said, 'If the leader of the Muslims does not see us but the Lord of the Amir is seeing us!' 'Umar began to shiver. This strong man, this great personality, he began to shiver. He said to his servant, 'Put a mark on that house and come to me in the morning with the name of that girl,' and 'Umar gathered all his sons ...

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When she knew the value of worshipping Allah this way, when she knew that Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is the All-Seeing, she worshipped him with this consciousness and Allah raised her in station.

'Aishah said, 'Glory be to Him, Whose Ear encompasses all the voices.' She said, Kholat entered upon the Prophet and she was an old woman, and she began to complain to the Prophet in the house of 'Aishah, and the house of 'Aishah was small and the Prophet had placed a curtain in this house and 'Aishah was behind this curtain and the old woman was on the other side and the Prophet was with her and the Prophet said to her, 'What is your complaint?'

The woman said, 'O Messenger of Allah! Aisha will hear what I am saying because it is the nature of women to listen. She would say that I have heard some of her sayings and perhaps some of it will not be known to her.' And among the things she heard the woman say, 'My husband has used all her wealth and I have lost all my beauty and now I have become old and I have no offspring and he said to me, ‘You are like the back of my mother to me!' ' And she said, 'O Allah I complain to you!' 'Aishah said, 'I heard some of her statements and some of it was not clear to me but when she said, ‘O Allah I complain to you!’, Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, He was above His Throne, He heard her complaint, He sent down a verse at that moment:

'Allah has heard the saying of that women, who complains to you about her husband, and she complains to Allah and Allah hears your conversation. Allah is All-Hearing, All-Seeing.' '

And Allah, subhanahu wa ta'ala, is worshipped because He has this quality of hearing and Allah answered and Allaah, He has all things.

And those who feel the majesty and power of Allah, who goes to Hajj or goes to Makkah in the last ten days of Ramadhan, and he stands on the third story and sees the people circling the Ka'bah and he sees their number, a million or more and this one is making du'a and this one is crying and this one is seeking help and this one is hiding his du'a and this one is crying and tears are flowing from his eyes and the one who hides his crying and this one is speaking in Arabic, and another is speaking in Hindi, and another in Pakistani and another in English and all the people with their languages are calling upon Allah according to their own conditions and in one moment and their number is more than one million! Allah hears all of this and He hears this one and He answers to this one and He gives to the other and He realises the promises to this one, in one moment and the same time! This is greatness and power upon greatness and power. Glory be to Allah who can hear all voices.

This is why the scholars of the Salafis, they concentrate on this quality of Allah, that He is all-Hearing and they try to explain this meaning of this quality of Allah, that He is all-Hearing so that the believers can really feel the closeness to Allah and the love for Allah and they can experience true humility to Allah without any form of distortion of the qualities of Allah, without any form of denial of the qualities of Allah.

One of the Salaf said, 'Whoever denies any of the qualities of Allah, surely he does not love Allah, he does not feel the Majesty and Power of Allah.' Therefore, one of the people who denied the qualities of Allah, said when he was prostrating, 'Glory be to Allah, the lowest.'

This is why 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said, 'The truth about what they say is not above the Throne of Allah.' But on the other hand, the righteous predecessors, they have established and given true recognition to the qualities of Allah and they establish and realised true worship of Allah and also complete love for him and all praise is due to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.

(s) Transcript of a lecture given at Brixton Mosque, London

love of Allah