Loving Allaah

Bismillaah

"And We have not created the Jinn and Mankind except to worship Me." (ad-Dhaariyaat: 56)

What is the meaning of worship?

Is the meaning of worship to establish prayer only or to give Zakah or to
make Hajj to the house of Allaah or to make Wudoo, to fast?

Are only these things worship?

Or are these things only the signs of worship?

The truth is that worship is an expression of LOVE for Allaah, subhanaho wata’ala, and it also expresses complete humility to Allaah, subhanaho wata’ala. For worship does not only mean prayer but prayer is merely a sign of worship. Worship is indeed love for Allaah, subhanaho wata’ala. And this is the most beautiful, the most sincere, the most elevated and the most exalted kind of love. This love is 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, exhalation and glorification, humility, submission and worship. Such worship cannot be directed towards other than Him. It is the perfection of love with complete submission and humility. Allah is loved for His own sake in every respect. All except Him are loved for the love they give in return. All the revealed Books, and the message of all the Prophets, bear witness to the love that is due towards Him, as does the natural impulse He has created in all His servants, the intellect He has given them, and the blessings He has poured on them.


Hearts will come to love whomever is merciful and kind towards them. So how much greater is their love for the One from Whom all kindness springs!
Every good thing enjoyed by His creation is one of His limitless blessings, and He is One with no associates and no partners:

"And whatever good you have - it is from Allah; and then, when misfortune comes to you, you cry to Him for help."
(Qur'an, An-Nahl 16:53)

And also:

"And from among mankind there are some who take for themselves (objects of worship as) rivals to Allah, loving them as they should (only) love Allah. And those who believe are stronger in their love for Allah."
(Qur'an, Al-Baqarah 2:165)

And also:

"O you who believe, whoever of you becomes a rebel against his deen (know that in his place) Allah will bring a people whom He loves and who love Him, humble towards the believers, harsh towards the disbelievers, fighting in the way of Allah, and not fearing the blame of anyone who blames."
(Qur'an, Al-Maidah 5:54)

Say (O Muhammad SAW to mankind): "If you (really) love Allah then follow me (i.e. accept Islamic Monotheism, follow the Quran and the Sunnah), Allah will love you and forgive you of your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." (Ale Imraan 3.31)

Many people claim that they love Allaah (SWT) and they say: 'I prayed and I
fasted and I made the Hajj and I gave Zakah. After all of this, what does
Allaah want from me because I have done all these forms of worship? I have
worshipped Allaah.'

Has this person really worshipped Allaah?

Does Allaah need our prayer?
Does Allaah need our fast?
Does he need our Zakah and our Hajj.

Allaah is High above all these things!

Allaah (SWT) said in a hadeeth Qudsi,

"O my servants! I have made unlawful oppression upon myself and I have made
it unlawful between you. So do not oppress each other.

O my servants! All of you are astray except the ones whom I have guided, so
seek my guidance and I will guide you.

O my servants! All of you are naked except those of you whom I have clothed,
so seek clothing from me and I will clothe you.

O my servants! All of you are hungry except those of you whom I have fed,
seek food from me and I will feed you.

O my servants! You make errors in the night and in the day and I forgive all
sins. Seek forgiveness from me and I will forgive you.

O my servants! You will never be able to harm Me and you will never be able
to benefit Me.

O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you and the jinn from
among you and the men from among you, were to stand as one man from among
you, that would never take away from My Majesty one bit.

If you were to fear Allaah as the best among you, that would not increase in
My Majesty any.

O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you and the jinn among you
and the men among you, were to perform the worst forms of crimes, that will
not decrease from My Majesty any.

O my servants! If the first of you and the last of you, the jinn of you and
the men of you, were to stand on one side and ask Me, I will give each one of
you what you ask and still this will not decrease from My Majesty.

This will not decrease from My Majesty as if you dip a needle into the
water."

Can anyone take away from the Majesty of Allaah? No-one can decrease from the
Majesty of Allaah. He is Great and Supreme. Allaah does not need our worship,
he does not need our love, he does not need our Salat, he does not need our
fast. Allaah is the Owner of all majesty and supremecy and He is independent
and above all needs.

And if we talk a little about the Prophet, aleyhi salato wasalaam, so are there ahadeeth where it makes it clear we should love him more than ourselves, more than our children, fathers. (Related Bukhari, kitab al-Iman: 1/58 Muslim, kitab al-Iman, 2/15) The Prophet also said to Umar ibn al-Khattab, "even until I am more dear to you than your own self". (Related Bukhari, kitab al-Iman wa'n-Nadhur, 11/523) This means that you are not a true believer until your love for the Prophet Muhammad reaches this level. And if the Prophet must take precedence over our own selves; as Allah says:

"The Prophet is closer to the believers than their own selves."
(Qur'an, Al-Ahzab 33:6)

then how much are we not supposed to love Allaah, isn’t He, subhanaho wata’ala, even more deserving of our love and adoration than the Prophet and our own selves?
Everything that comes from Him to His servants whether it is something that they hate, directs us to love Him. His giving and His withholding, the good fortune and the misfortune that He decrees for His servants and His abasing them and elevating them, His justice and His grace, His giving life and taking it away again, His compassion, generosity and veiling of His servants wrong actions, His forgiveness and patience, His response to His servants' supplications even though He is not in any need of His servants whatsoever - all this invites hearts to worship Him and love Him.
If a Human being were to do the smallest amount of any of these things to another, that person would not be able to restrain his heart from loving him. How can a servant not love, with all his heart and body, the One who is constantly Merciful and Generous towards him in spite of all his wrong actions?
Allah seeks His servants friendship and love by means of His generosity towards him, even though He is not in any need of him. The servant, on the other hand, invites Allah's anger through his disobedience and wrong actions, even though he is in need of His assistance.
Neither Allah's mercy nor His generosity towards the servant deter him from disobeying his Lord. In the same way, neither the servant's disobedience nor his wrong actions deter Allah from granting him His blessings.
Furthermore, while anyone who we love and who loves us may behave like this for personal gain, Allah does so in order to benefit us.
Furthermore, while anyone with whom we trade will not do business with us if he does not make a profit from the transaction - and he will do what he can to make a profit one way or another - Allah (Most Exalted is He) trades with us in order to enable us to make the best and greatest profit for ourselves from our transaction with him. Thus one good deed counts as between ten and seven hundred good deeds, or even more, while a bad deed is recorded as only one bad deed and can be swiftly wiped out.
Allah (Most Exalted is He), in His infinite mercy has created everything for us, both in this world and in the next. Who else then, deserves to be loved and worshipped more than Allah? All that we - and the whole of creation, for that matter - require and need is with Him. He is the Most Generous. He gives His servants more than they need, even before they ask him. He is pleased with even a little right action and increases its rewards. He forgives untold wrong actions and wipes them out. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth supplicates to Him. The multiplicity of things never bewilder Him, nor is He weary by the insistent pleas of His servants. Indeed He is pleased with those who persist in their supplication.
He is ever pleased with His servants who seek His assistance, and He is angry with those who do not. He is displeased when He sees a servant being disobedient and not caring about his actions, and yet He veils His servant's wrong actions while the servant himself does not veil them. He has mercy on His servant while the servant does not have any mercy on himself.
He has called him to His acceptance and mercy through His compassion and generosity - but he declines. He has sent Messengers to him and made His covenant known through them. Allah, even draws near him and says:
"....Is there anyone who is calling on Me, so I may answer his prayer? Is there anyone who is asking of Me, so I may grant his request? Is there anyone who is seeking My forgiveness, so that I may forgive him?" (Related by Muslim, Kitab al-Musafirin wa Qasruhu, 6/36)

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.
He is pleased with the obedient servant for his obedience, even though it could not have happened without his help and assistance. He pardons and forgives even after He has been disobeyed. And yet, the rights which are due to Him are the ones which are most rejected and neglected.
He is the nearest witness, the most sublime protector, the most true to His Word, and the most just of all Judges. He knows the secrets of the selves:

"There is not an animal of whose forelock He does not have a hold."
(Qur'an, Hud 11:56)

He records the actions and decides the lifetimes of His servants. To Him, the secrets in the hearts are known and the Unseen revealed. Everyone yearns for Him, faces humble themselves before the Light of His Face, and minds are completely incapable of understanding the Essence of His Being.
Love of Allah the Almighty gives life to the Heart and sustains the soul. The heart experiences no pleasure, nor feels any joy, nor tastes any success - not even life - if it does not have this love. If the heart loses this love, then the loss it suffers is more severe than that of the eye when it is deprived of its sight and the ear when it is deprived of its hearing.
Even worse than this, the decay of the heart when it is devoid of love for its Creator, Source, and True God, is far worse than that of the body when it no longer contains the soul. This truth is only recognised by the people who are alive, for a wound does not pain the dead.
A righteous man once said in a poem:

And love your Lord by serving Him
For lovers are but servants of the Beloved

When she was giving counsel to her children, one of the women of the salaf once said to them, "Make it a habit to love and obey Allah, for those who have taqwah take their obedience to the point where their body experiences aversion for anything other than obedience. If the cursed one (shaytan) tries to tempt them to do something wrong, the wrong actions is ashamed and avoids them because of the way in which it is rejected by them."

Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak recited:
You disobey Allah,
and yet you still claim to love Him.
By Allah, such behaviour is disgusting,
by any standard!
You would have obeyed Him had your love been true.
For the lover is always obedient to the Beloved!


Love is one of the greatest blessings that Allah gives to people. Throughout their life, everyone wants to be with those who they love, rely on, and are close to. Many of Allah’s blessings and their true meanings can only be found in an environment where true love and friendship exist. For example, a person who is enjoying a magnificent view naturally wants to share his feelings of awe and happiness with someone whom he loves. In the same way, the most magnificent feast or the most beautifully furnished house may not seem very attractive if you are alone. Allah has created people in such a way that they enjoy being loved and loving others, and are pleased with friendships and closeness. To be with those who live by the Qur’an’s morals, and to have fulfilling friendships and love with them is, for each believer, more enjoyable than many other blessings.
This is why Paradise, which Allah promises to those faithful servants whom He loves and with whom He is pleased, is an extraordinarily beautiful place where true love, friendship, and closeness are lived with great exuberance. In the Qur’an, Allah informs us of how believers will live in Paradise: It will be a life of constant joy, friendship, love, peaceful discussions, kind words, and overall peace. Its inhabitants will encounter none of the obstacles to love and friendship that they knew on Earth. For example, one verse in the Qur’an reveals that all malice and hatred will be removed from the hearts of those who enter Paradise (Surat al-A‘raf, 43). In other words, whatever prohibits love and friendship (e.g., jealousy, enmity, rivalry, anger, getting cross, or being offended) will not be found in Paradise.
One of the most important characteristics of the Muslims living in Paradise will be their ability to love, just as they did on Earth, all of the prophets, those pious believers who strove in the path of Allah, and all of the Muslims who lived in the past.
All believers feel very close to other pious believers who strive to please only Allah, and so choose them to be their close friends and guardians. Under all circumstances and unconditionally, they derive great pleasure from being in the company of other Muslims. This great love emanates from their fear and awe of Allah, and, as a reward for their internal closeness to our Lord, they will be rewarded with Paradise, the most beautiful abode of love and truthfulness.
The true source of love in the believers’ hearts is their profound love of Allah. Believers love Allah greatly and, at every moment, strive to gain His love and good pleasure.
Allah has created everything from nothing. While a person was still in a state of “nothingness,” Allah granted him or her life as a blessing. Our Lord, the Most Merciful, the Most Gracious, and the possessor of infinite mercy, has provided everything for His servants: a vast variety of foods, fruits, and flowers; lovely creatures and landscapes in which we take pleasure; and all other things, from the Sun to water, from the air we breathe to the vitamins we need. He created all of this perfectly on our world, which travels thousands of kilometers per hour in outer space, and maintains it in absolute safety. Believers who think about the blessings bestowed upon them, who are aware that He can do all things and is the sole sovereign of the universe, the Creator of everything in the best possible form, will feel their love for Allah strengthen. Those who love and fear Allah, and hold Him in awe, will faithfully observe the boundaries that He has established for humanity, show great sensitivity when implementing His rules, and do their best to win His good pleasure, love, mercy, and Paradise