Allah's Love (Earth, purification, soul, creation, mission)

[Cordoba]

God Increases His Blessings on Those Who Are Grateful
People who give thanks have the insight and capability to perceive the beauties and blessings that God creates

http://www.islamonline.net/English/introducingislam/Worship/Heart/article04.shtml

[Cordoba]

Q: Does God ever give humans unconditional love?

A: A simple answer to your question would be that God loves humans but hates their sins.

This means that although bad deeds merit God's disapproval and subsequent punishment, they also invoke His infinite mercy on a weak creature whom He had lovingly created, to whom He had given life, and whom He had nurtured with gifts and bounty.

Allah describes Himself in the Qur'an as "the Loving":

*{And He is the Forgiving and Loving}* (Al-Buruj 85:14)
Yet love must be expressed in action; otherwise it's just a word without meaning. For example: A man may say to his wife "I love you" and then may treat her badly. Does he love her?

Love between humans and God follows the same principle of actions consistent with words. It must mean obedience from us to God — as His grateful creation — and mercy from God to us as our loving Creator.

Is God's Love Unconditional?

[Cordoba]

Love for Allah

To meet the demands of faith, it is not enough to worship and obey Allah.

Rather, worship and obedience should be tempered with genuine love for Allah.


Love for Allah

[Cordoba]

Q: Why should we love Allah more than anything else? And how can we achieve this?

A: The most beautiful, the most sincere, the most elevated and the most exalted kind of love is most certainly the love of the One Whom hearts were created to love, and for Whom creation was brought into existence to adore.

Allah is the One to Whom hearts turn in love, exaltation, glorification, humility, submission and worship. Such worship cannot be directed towards other than Him. It is the perfection of love accompanied by complete submission and humility.

Allah is loved for His own sake in every respect.

Allah: We Ought to Love Him

[Cordoba]

O' Allah

When there is a viloent storm and the seas are turbulent, the occupants of the boat call out, "O' Allah!"

When disaster and calamity occur, the afflicted call out, "O' Allah!"

When doors are shut before those who seek to enter through them and barriers are placed before those who are in need - they all cry out, "O' Allah!"

When the earth, vast and wide though it is, is straitened for you, causing your soul to feel constricted, call out, "O' Allah!"

To Allah ascend all good words, the sincere supplication, the tears of the innocent, and the invocations of the afflicted. Hands and eyes are extended to Him in times of hardship and misfortune. The tongue chants, cries out, and mentions His name. The heart finds peace, the soul finds rest, the nerves are relaxed, and the intellect is awakened - these are all achieved when we remember Allah, Subhanahu wa Ta'alaa - "How Perfect He is, the Exalted."

*Allah is very Gracious and Kind to His slaves.* (Qur'an 42: 19)

Allah: the most beautiful of names, the truest combination of letters, and the most precious of words.

*Do you know of any that is similar to Him?* [There is nothing like unto Him and He is the All-Hearer, the All-Seer] (Qur'an 19: 65)

Allah: He is thought of when kindness, care, relief, affection and mercy come to mind.

*And whatever of blessings and good things you have, it is from Allah* (Qur'an 16: 53)


(Source: Book titled "Don't be Sad")

[Cordoba]

A believer who loves God accepts His Pre-Ordainment


You will never completely feel at ease until you firmly believe that Allah has already pre-ordained all matters

The pen has dried and with it has been written everything that will happen to you. Therefore do not feel remorse over that which is not in your hands. Do not think that you could have prevented the fence from falling, the water from flowing, the wind from blowing, or the glass from breaking. You could not have prevented these things, whether you wanted to or not. ALL that has been preordained shall come to pass.

*Then whosoever wills let him believe, and whosoever wills, let him disbelieve.* (Qur'an 18: 29)

Surrender yourself: believe in preordainment, before pangs of anger and regret overwhelm you. If you have done all that was in your power, and afterwards what you had been striving against still takes place, have firm faith that it was meant to be. Do not say, "Had I done such-and-such, such-and-such would have happened"; rather say, "This is the decree of Allah, and what He wishes, He does."

A believer who loves God accepts His Pre-Ordainment

[Cordoba]

Love of Allah

How then, can our hearts not love Him, the One who - and no other than Him - grants rewards, answers prayers, pardons mistakes, forgives sins, veils wrong actions, dispels grief and drives away sorrow?

He alone, is worthy of remembrance, worship and praise. He is the most generous to be asked, the most liberal to give, the most merciful to pardon, the mightiest to assist and the most dependable to rely on.

He is more merciful to His servant, than a mother is to her baby. He is more pleased by the repentance of the penitent sinner than a man who is overjoyed to find his riding beast, with all his provisions still on its back after he had lost it in a barren land and had given up all hope of survival.

http://www.missionislam.com/knowledge/love.htm

[Cordoba]

Q: Why should we love Allah more than anything else?
And how can we achieve this?

A: It is not difficult to love Allah more than anything else if we come to know what Allah means to us. For instance, our love for our own children is a gift from Allah, the One Who is the source of all love, as He gifted us with children. Let’s think of the One Who gave us those children—what a generous and bountiful Lord!

The most beautiful, the most sincere, the most elevated and the most exalted kind of love is most certainly the love of the One Whom hearts were created to love, and for Whom creation was brought into existence to adore. Allah is the One to Whom hearts turn in love, exaltation, glorification, humility, submission and worship. Such worship cannot be directed towards other than Him. It is the perfection of love accompanied by complete submission and humility. Allah is loved for His own sake in every respect.

http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?pagename=IslamOnline-English-Ask_Scholar/FatwaE/FatwaE&cid=1119503546094

[Cordoba]

We Must Love Others to be Loved by God

"When we close our hearts to others, our eyes are closed to see the beauty of God in them.

The message of Islam, Judaism, Christianity and all other religions is one of love and service to others.

If God decides to care and love and feed even those who deny his existence, then who are we to deprive someone else of our love just because he is of different color or speaks a different language or is born in a different country or prays to the same God but in a different direction, using different words?"

http://www.islamfortoday.com/athar14.htm

We are all brothers and sisters in humanity

[Cordoba]

Specific acts that nourish ALLAH’S love

1. Have Taqwa (piety)
2. Constantly repent to ALLAH
3. Engage in self purification
4. Do good
5. Place Trust in ALLAH
6. Be steadfast
7. Act with justice

http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Articles/tazkiyah/taqwa.html#Love_of_ALLAH_in_context_of_Islam