Causes That Bring About Love for the Lord of the Worlds
Abdullah bin Jarullah al-Jarullah
From ‘The Delight of Faith’
(1) Recognizing the bounties Allah has bestowed upon His slaves. These
bounties [are so many that they] cannot be counted or enumerated.
[Allah says:]
“If you count the blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count
them.” [14:34]
Hearts naturally have love for those who do good to them. Love for a
blessing is from the general aspects of thanking the one who has bestowed
a bounty. It is said that thanks is with the heart, tongue and limbs.
(2) Another cause is to have knowledge of Allah by His Names,
Attributes and Actions. The one who knows Allah, loves Him. Whoever loves Him,
obeys Him. Whoever obeys Allah is honored by Him. Whoever Allah honors,
He will have him live close to Him. Whoever lives close to Him, has
attained the glad tidings.
(3) One of the great causes [that leads to having love of Allah] is the
specific knowledge that comes about through pondering over the creation
of the heavens and the earth and what Allah has created. In the Qur’an,
there is much mention of the signs of Allah that indicate His
Greatness, Power, Majesty, Perfection, Eminence, Compassion, Mercy, Strength,
Subjugation and other of His beautiful Names and exalted Attributes.
Whenever one’s knowledge of Allah is strengthened, one’s love for Him is
also strengthened and one’s love for obeying Him is also strengthened. He
will then experience the pleasure of worship, whether it be in prayer,
remembrance or other forms of worship.
(4) Another cause that will bring about love for Allah is to act
towards Allah with sincerity and purity while going against one’s desires.
This is a cause for Allah to bless a slave and when He blesses the slave,
the slave loves Him.
(5) One of the greatest causes that bring about one’s love for Allah is
increasing one’s remembrance of Allah. Whenever a person loves
something, he remembers it more often. And it is through the remembrance of
Allah that the hearts find tranquillity. In fact, one of the signs of
having love for Allah is the constant remembrance of Allah by one’s heart
and tongue.
(6) One of the causes that brings about Allah’s love for His slave is
reciting the Qur’an often and pondering over its meaning, in particular
those verses that contain Allah’s Names, Attributes and Actions. Having
fondness for that action will lead the slave to love Allah and Allah to
love Him.
(7) Another of the causes of love for Allah is remembering what has
been mentioned in the Qur’an and Sunnah concerning the believers seeing
their Lord in the Hereafter and visiting them and gathering together on
the Day of Abundance. That will definitely bring about in a person love
for Allah.
Ibn Rajab, Instinshaq Naseemul-Uns min Nafahaati Riyaadil-Qudus, pp.
22-30.
“I put my trust in Allah, my Lord and your Lord! There is not a moving creature, but He has a grasp of its forelock. Verily, my Lord is on the straight path. (The truth)”
(11:55-56)