Love is Not Blind

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

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Love is the consequence of knowing.

The only spirit within our bodies is only here so that we might know Allah. When you truly know Allah, you will adore Him to the utmost meaning of the word.

Those who don't know Him and those who don't remember Him have only miseries because they have turned away from that very reason they are walking on this earth. Those who are distant, absent, don't know him, don't recognize Him, are miserable and their lives are extremely constricted just like their souls are constricted.

Allah Almighty says,

وَمَنْ أَعْرَضَ عَن ذِكْرِى فَإِنَّ لَهُۥ مَعِيشَةً ضَنكًا وَنَحْشُرُهُۥ يَوْمَ ٱلْقِيَـٰمَةِ أَعْمَىٰ ﴿١٢٤﴾ قَالَ رَبِّ لِمَ حَشَرْتَنِىٓ أَعْمَىٰ وَقَدْ كُنتُ بَصِيرًا ﴿١٢٥

And whoever turns away from My remembrance - indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind." (124) He will say, "My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?" (125)

[Qur'an Ta-Ha 20:124-125]

There is no one more deserving of our love than the All Merciful, the One who created us from nothing and bestowed us all the blessings. So to the extent that one knows the Tremendousness and the Might of Allah, His Beauty and His Perfection, His Excellence and His Generosity, is to the extent that one will know and will love Allah, Dhul Jalali Wal Ikram (The Lord of Majesty and Bounty).

People do wondrous things in expressing their love for creation and love takes all one's emotions, feelings and thoughts. So, what about when one loves Allah, the Greatest, the Most Generous, the Most Exalted, the Most Beautiful?

A believer's love is not complete until he loves Allah and His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, above all else.

Allah Almighty says,

قُلْ إِن كَانَ آبَاؤُكُمْ وَأَبْنَاؤُكُمْ وَإِخْوَانُكُمْ وَأَزْوَاجُكُمْ وَعَشِيرَتُكُمْ وَأَمْوَالٌ اقْتَرَفْتُمُوهَا وَتِجَارَةٌ تَخْشَوْنَ كَسَادَهَا وَمَسَاكِنُ تَرْضَوْنَهَا أَحَبَّ إِلَيْكُم مِّنَ اللَّـهِ وَرَسُولِهِ وَجِهَادٍ فِي سَبِيلِهِ فَتَرَبَّصُوا حَتَّىٰ يَأْتِيَ اللَّـهُ بِأَمْرِهِ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ لَا يَهْدِي الْقَوْمَ الْفَاسِقِينَ ﴿٢٤

Say, [O Muhammad], "If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people." (24)

[Qur'an At-Tawba 9:24]

وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَن يَتَّخِذُ مِن دُونِ اللَّـهِ أَندَادًا يُحِبُّونَهُمْ كَحُبِّ اللَّـهِ ۖ وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِّلَّـهِ ۗ وَلَوْ يَرَى الَّذِينَ ظَلَمُوا إِذْ يَرَوْنَ الْعَذَابَ أَنَّ الْقُوَّةَ لِلَّـهِ جَمِيعًا وَأَنَّ اللَّـهَ شَدِيدُ الْعَذَابِ ﴿١٦٥

And [yet], among the people are those who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they [should] love Allah. But those who believe are more intense in love for Allah. And if only they who have wronged would consider [that] when they see the punishment, [they will be certain] that all power belongs to Allah and that Allah is severe in punishment. (165)

[Qur'an Al-Baqarah 2:165]

To the extent of one's faith and knowing is one's love, for faith is connected to knowing. To the extent that one's faith increases, one's knowing increases.

Knowing Allah is required through proper reflection and contemplation on the speech of Allah and His Messenger, Allah bless him and grant him peace, and sincerely directing oneself to Him, standing at the door of His Bounty and Grace and what He has ordained of acts of worship, by reflecting on the tremendousness of His Names and Attributes Mighty and Majestic, by reflecting on His creation and His fashioning. His Names and Attributes are what govern everything in this universe. Knowing Allah in His creation is to know Allah in every moment and in every manifestation.

If one's reflection is good and its horizons expand, one's knowledge of Allah increases. So to increase knowledge of Allah is necessarily to increase in love of Allah. When love increases, then remembrance increases, for when one loves something, one makes much mention of it. With much remembrance, one's intimacy increases with the One remembered increases, and that gives one purity of knowing and purity of one's inward and much reflection on the tremendous of the Greatest and one's knowledge increases and strengthened and becomes more expansive.

Allah Almighty invites us so many times to call Him in remembrance.

فَاذْكُرُونِي أَذْكُرْكُمْ وَاشْكُرُوا لِي وَلَا تَكْفُرُونِ ﴿١٥٢

So remember Me; I will remember you. And be grateful to Me and do not deny Me. (152)

[Qur'an al-Baqarah 2:152]

The sign of love is in preferring--preferring Allah and preferring His commands over all other commands and above all desires of the self, and over all wishes and inclinations of one's caprice and desires.

Allah gives worldly matters to those He loves and those He doesn't but He gives the religion only to those He loves, and truly the servants' love for Allah Almighty is their honor, rank and dignity and the means for their eternal felicity, in this life and the next.

Let us become attached to the love of Allah, more than the love of all people for the things they may love besides Allah, more than the love of those who love entertainment, travel, sports and competition because these are all manifestations of the love of people for things. If the believer is true, then their love for Allah is more intense than the love of these people for all that they may love.

May Allah make us of the people whom He loves and who love Him and make us of those who love each other for His sake, loving only for His sake, and hating only for His sake. Ameen.

Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.

And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam