Love

Love is a word that is commonly used and one can attribute the modern western and to some extent the modern eastern literature of corrupting its meaning which can be further attributed to the modern science accepting human being as a mere social animal.

To understand the true essence of love it is important to understand the true status of human being. Whilst the human body is derived out of this earth and can be argued that it may be a product of an evolutionary process (I do not support the evolution through means of natural selection but that is a different topic), the human being is not composed of a mere body. Humans are composed of a body and a soul (Ruh) as it is mentioned in the Quran (32:7-9) and (95:4-5):

 “Who perfected everything which He created and began the creation of man from clay.” (32:7)

“Then He made his posterity out of the extract of a liquid disdained.” (32:8)

“Then He proportioned him and breathed into him from His [created] soul and made for you hearing and vision and hearts; little are you grateful.” (32:9)

“We have certainly created man in the best of stature” (95:4)

“Then We return him to the lowest of the low” (95:5)

This soul is distinct from the body and it is not the same as whatever we refer as life. I will not go into details of the body and soul as this is not the purpose of this article, but if anyone is interested further please do not hesitate to contact me and I can direct you to some very good explanations. However, for the purpose of this article it is important to understand this difference as the whole essence of love revolves around it.

The body is derived out of this earth and seeks to get the pleasure of this world; the soul is a heavenly creature and therefore desires the qurb (closeness) of the Creator.  The soul does not desire the pleasures of this world and therefore usually (please correct me if I am wrong) a stage comes in a person’s life where he is not satisfied with what he is doing and there is a feeling of unrest as if something is missing, as if this is not the true purpose of his life.

If you look at the definition of love in most dictionaries it is predominantly focused on the love of the worldly things by the human body. In fact most of the definitions are not complete primarily as love cannot be defined and can only be felt. Science has tried to define love as a chemical imbalance. It is like explaining the beauty of a sunset to a person who has never experienced it.  Love in the words of Rumi: “Although I may try to describe Love, when I experience it, I am speechless.”

Whilst it may not be possible to define love, we find one recurring definition predominant in poetry is that love is selfless, it is timeless and it is something that can only be felt. At the start of this article I mentioned that the definition has been corrupted by the modern western and eastern literature for it has focused predominantly on the love which is not everlasting. A person may love another person for her beauty but the beauty is not everlasting; a person may love another person for their character but no human being today is perfect.  The closer you get to that person, the more imperfectness you see and therefore your love for that person lessens. You may overlook the imperfectness and still love that person but eventually it will lessen. Therefore, true love can only be for the Entity that is perfect, which is free from all faults and which is unique. The definition of Allah in Quran (112 – Al Ikhlas) is that of an Entity which is Absolute and Perfect. We cannot imagine the true essence of perfection as the human mind can only comprehend things as an analogy but the Perfection of Allah has no similitude and therefore the human mind cannot imagine it.

The closer you will get to the Perfect Entity, the more you will fell into love. Through various experiences throughout my life, I have come to the conclusion that there is no other love than the love for the Perfect Entity. That love is everlasting, ever-increasing and has no bounds. The condition of the lover is such that no questions are asked. Indeed, the definition of mu’min in Quran is of a person that is intensely in love with Allah (2:165):

  

“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 stronger 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.”

When you love someone you do question their authority for love has no conditions; you do not question the logic behind any order for the lover does not question the beloved. The lover is in such a state that they just submit themselves to the will of the Beloved and that is true love; the love that only the Creator deserves.

To love anything or anyone else more than Allah can be categorized as shirk for you are devoting a feeling to that person or thing that only the Creator deserves. Anything else should be loved for the love of Allah. Therefore, to love something or someone unlawful will never bring you peace and will take you away from Allah. Moreover, if you love something or someone else in a manner that only Allah deserves love than your love is in vain, as you are loving a thing that is not everlasting. Everything in this world changes and will eventually cease to exist.

Another thing is that you cannot claim to love to someone unless you love the persons/things that that person loves. Similarly, you cannot claim to love Allah unless you are in love with his Messenger Muhammad (PBUH); and you cannot claim to love the Messenger (PBUH) unless you follow him.

Narated By Anas : The Prophet said "None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind." (Bukhari Volume 001, Book 002, Hadith Number 014).

We received guidance (hidayat) from Allah through Prophet (PBUH) and everything we have is a blessing only if we have hidayat; without hidayat everything is an azmaish.  Thus it is imperative that we love the Prophet (PBUH). Further, the Prophet (PBUH) is a perfect human being as mentioned in the Quran (33:21)

“Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much.” (33:21).
 

Who loved Allah more than the Prophet (PBUH); and therefore to attain the love of Allah we need to follow the footsteps of the Prophet (PBUH) and we cannot follow his footsteps until we love him. I will give an example of beard because it is one of the most common debated topics. Some people refer to the beard as Wajib whilst other dismiss it as saying it is a sunnah and it was for a particular time etc. For the lover it should be just sufficient to know that the Prophet (PBUH) had a beard and should keep a beard for the love of Prophet (PBUH), whether it is obligatory or not is out of question.

So the true love (ishq-e-haqiqi) is only and solely for Allah and to love anyone or anything more than Allah or to the same extent as the love deserved by Allah could be classified as shirk. May Allah guide us all to love Allah and His Messenger (PBUH) in a manner and with the intensity as the Allah and His Messenger (PBUH) deserve to be loved and may Allah protect our hearts from the unjust love of this world and its adornments, ameen.


 P.S: This article does not discount the love for parents, wife, family members etc. Rather, this article states that all individuals should be loved for Allah and the love for any individual should not exceed the love for Allah.