In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Humans are needy and dependent social creatures. We all need companionship--whether it be with friends (physical or virtual), children, parents, husband or wife, righteous people, or some kind of allies. We couldn't handle let downs.
But at the heart of what makes us run after the creation, is simply love. The need to give and receive love. This need has been put in us by the Creator. And every need created by Allah, has been created for a purpose. The need to give and receive love was created as a driver. A driver that pushes us back to Allah. Allah wants us to come back to Him in this life— even before we return to Him in the next. So He puts inside us, drivers intended to bring us back. Intended to bring us back Home.
But our problem is we get lost along the way.
We can’t deny the drive; but we get lost because we seek to fulfill it in the wrong way. We look to fulfill that need in the wrong place. The driver was created by Allah to take us to Him. But instead, that driver takes us towards the creation. And that’s where we get lost.
Why do we run after people, money, status, or power? We run after these things because we want love and respect. And we believe that by attaining these things, we will succeed at getting both love and respect.
But there is a fascinating formula that governs this world. And it is very, very simple. Unfortunately, we almost always get this formula wrong. Yes, we all have that same driver inside us, but the human being is hasty. We prefer the immediate over the delayed, the seen over the unseen, the physical over the spiritual. We run first to what we can see and feel and touch. We run first to what we 'think' is closer. We do this because while the human being is needy and dependent, the human being is also impatient and weak. We go for what seems closest, easiest, quickest.
So we go towards the creation.
We think that the more we run after this world (dunya)–the more we run after the love of people, and wealth and beauty and status–the more we will have of it. We think that the more intensely we want something, the more likely we are to get it. And when we don’t get it, we become angry—so angry—maybe even at Allah Himself. As though the intensity of my wanting, somehow makes me entitled to having.
But the more we drown in this false equation, the more we fail at reaching our goal, and the more we miss the true–but simple–equation of love and life. That equation is clear: The more intensely we want the creation itself, the less likely we are to attain it. If it is love you need, and you seek it from the creation, you will never truly get it. Or get enough. Anything of the creation sought for its own sake will evade you.
And will never fill you.
Even happiness itself: The more you run after it, the more it evades you. But if you run to Allah instead, happiness will run after you. If you run to Allah instead, the love of people will run after you. If you run to Allah instead, success will run after you. True success in this life, and the next. If you run to Allah instead, provision will run after you. This is the secret formula for which tyrants have burned down cities, and kings have searched the world—but never found.
This is the secret. The only formula you need to know.
In a profound hadith, a man came to the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) and said: “O Messenger of Allah, direct me to an act, which if I do, Allah will love me and people will love me.” He said: “Detach yourself from the world, and Allah will love you. Detach yourself from what is with the people, and the people will love you.” [Ibn Majah]
Ironically, the less we chase after the approval and love of the people, the more we gain it. The less needy we are of others, the more people are drawn to us and seek our company. This hadith teaches us a profound Truth. Only by breaking out of the orbit of the creation, can we succeed with both Allah and people.
To run to Allah is a movement of the heart. To run to Allah is to strive with everything He has given you. Running to Allah is movement. If you are passive, you are not moving. You are falling. Movement to Allah, running to Allah, is to face your heart towards Him in every motion of life. It is to face every goal, every intention, every End towards Him. He becomes the object of your striving. The means of your striving. The ultimate End of your striving. But you keep striving. You keep working to be the best mother you can. The best father. The best sons and daughters. The best neighbor, teacher, student, worker, employer, employee, citizen.
This is the legacy of all our Prophets, peace be upon them all. Their bodies were in dunya. Striving. The Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) was the best leader, the best father, the best husband, the best friend. His body was working hard in dunya. For a while. But his heart was always with Allah. His heart was already in Akhira (Hereafter), even while his body was still here—for a time. His heart was already Home. His heart saw through the illusions of this life. His limbs worked hard. So hard. He bled, and cried, and strived. His body stood until his feet cracked. His body was abused in Ta’if. His body lost sleep, and felt hunger, and thirst, and fever, and pain. And loss.
But his heart faced only Allah.
And with Allah there is no hunger, thirst, pain, or loss. His body had to strive in different directions; he was a father, a leader, a friend, a husband. But while his body had to strive in all those places, his heart faced only One. Only one direction.
His heart faced only Allah.
As Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said so beautifully:
إِنِّى وَجَّهْتُ وَجْهِىَ لِلَّذِى فَطَرَ ٱلسَّمَـٰوَٰتِ وَٱلْأَرْضَ حَنِيفًا ۖ وَمَآ أَنَا۠ مِنَ ٱلْمُشْرِكِينَ ﴿٧٩(Qur'an, An-'Am 6:79)
Indeed, I have turned my face toward He who created the heavens and the earth, inclining toward truth, and I am not of those who associate others with Allah.
Ibrahim (peace be upon him) focused the face of his heart only on Allah. Completely. Haneefan. Completely. You will find that to only partially face your heart to Allah is to suffer. And that suffering is in proportion to the degree of partial submission.
Allah tells us in the Qur'an:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ فِى ٱلسِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ خُطُوَٰتِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٢٠٨(Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:208)
O you who have believed, enter into submission completely [whole-heartedly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.
There is pain in just partial submission. There is a pain in not entering into peace and security—the only peace and security—completely. With one’s whole heart. There is pain in half a sajdah (prostration). There is a pain in putting your heart (even partially) in anyone else’s hands. And that pain continues until you turn your entire heart only in one direction. Until you turn your entire heart only towards Him. He becomes the only true aim of your striving.
As we say at least 17 times every single day: “You alone do we worship and You alone do we seek for help.” (Qur'an, Al-Fatihah 1:5). Allah is the only true End, and the only true means to that End. No one gets to Allah without Allah. La hawla wa la quwat illa billah: “There is no change and no strength, except by Allah.”
The one who turns his heart completely to Allah in this way, reaches true freedom. And that person can no longer be harmed by the creation. The fire couldn’t burn Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him). The ‘fires’ of the creation cannot harm the one who’s heart faces only Allah. The financial, physical, emotional, social, and psychological fires cannot harm the one who’s heart is only with Allah. Externally, the person might look harmed, but in Reality, such a person is never harmed. The truth of the situation is not harm, but good, as we know from the words of our beloved Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace):
“Strange is the case of a believer, there is good for him in everything—and this is only for the believer. If a blessing reaches him, he is grateful to Allah, which is good for him, and if an adversity reaches him, he is patient which is good for him.” [Muslim]
And this is only for the believer. This is only for the one who’s heart is turned completely and only in one direction. Remember, Allah says:
يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ ٱدْخُلُوا۟ فِى ٱلسِّلْمِ كَآفَّةً وَلَا تَتَّبِعُوا۟ خُطُوَٰتِ ٱلشَّيْطَـٰنِ ۚ إِنَّهُۥ لَكُمْ عَدُوٌّ مُّبِينٌ ﴿٢٠٨(Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:208)
O you who have believed, enter into Islam [submission and peacefulness] completely [whole-heartedly] and do not follow the footsteps of Satan. Indeed, he is to you a clear enemy.
Enter into peace and security completely. Complete security is only for those who enter completely. But remember the heart is not a still entity. The heart is by definition that which turns (hence the Arabic word for heart ‘qalb’ comes from the root which means ‘to turn’). The heart by definition is that which turns. So our object in life is to keep bringing the heart back to focus, back to center, back to Allah. And we consistently seek Allah’s help, as the Prophet (Allah bless him and grant him peace) used to supplicate most of all: “Oh turner of hearts, set our hearts firm on Your deen (way).”
This constant reorientation is tawbah. Return. Again and again and again. Until we meet Him. Only the one who gives up this fight, fails. Only the one who—due to complacency or despair—gives up the fight of constantly bringing the heart back to focus, fails in this life and the next.
We all want love-- from Allah, and from the creation. We are all running towards something. Ironically, the more we run after the creation, the more the creation runs away from us! As soon as we stop running after the creation, and re-orient, as soon as we start running towards Allah, the creation runs after us. It’s a simple, simple formula:
Run towards the creation, you lose Allah and the creation. Run towards Allah, you gain Allah and the creation.
Allah is Al Wadud (The Source of Love). Therefore, love comes from Allah—not people. As one author, Charles F. Haanel, put it: “To acquire love... fill yourself up with it until you become a magnet.”
When you fill yourself with the Source of love (Al Wadud), you become a magnet for love. Allah teaches us this in the beautiful hadith Qudsi:
“If Allah has loved a servant [of His], He calls Gabriel (peace be upon him) and says: ‘I love So-and-so, therefore love him.’” He (the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallam) said: “So Gabriel loves him. Then he (Gabriel) calls out in heaven, saying: ‘Allah loves So-and-so, therefore love him.’ And the inhabitants of heaven love him.” He (the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wassallamh) said: “Then acceptance is established for him on earth. (Bukhari, Muslim, Tirmidhi)
We’re all running. But so few of us are running in the right direction. We have the same goal. But to get there, we need to stop. And examine if we are running towards the Source–or just a reflection.
May Allah love us and bring us closer to Him. May Allah increase our love for His beloved Prophet (sallallahu alayhi wasallam), his family and companions. Ameen.
Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wasallam.
And Allah knows best and is Most Wise, and He alone grants success, and to Him is the final return of all.
Wassalaam
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