What Better Love Than Allah's Love

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

We acquire closeness to Allah by worshiping Him. We obey Him and we don't disobey Him.

We wake up in the morning for prayer, eat from lawful income and lawful food, dress appropriately and cover our nakedness, observe the rules of Allah in social interactions and transacting, avoid interest/riba, tell the truth, avoid backbiting, pay zakat, etc. We struggle. This is difficult for many.

We continue to struggle to do extra worship such as performing the night vigil prayer, praying much sunnah prayers such as the ones before and after the prescribed prayers (Dhuhr, 'Asr, Maghrib, Isha and Fajr) and dhuha prayer, reciting plenty of Qur'an, performing sunnah fasting--Mondays, Thursdays and other recommended days, give charity, and performing other supererogatory worship. This is extremely difficult for most people.

But we must struggle against our self, forcing it to worship Allah even though it is difficult because we want Allah to love us. There is no better love than His love.

On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him), who said that the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said: Allah said:

Whosoever shows enmity to someone devoted to Me, I shall be at war with him. My servant draws not near to Me with anything more loved by Me than the religious duties I have enjoined upon him, and My servant continues to draw near to Me with supererogatory works so that I shall love him. When I love him I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him. (related by Bukhari)

May Allah help us draw closer to Him. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam