… continued from previous post.
6. Observing His kindness and benevolence, and His blessings and bounties, both inward and outward, for verily it is a motive towards loving Him. In Surah Ibrahim Allah mentions a list of blessings and bounties that He has bestowed upon mankind. He mentions that it was He who created the heavens and the earth and sent down water from the sky, and thereby brought forth fruits as provision for us, and that it was He who made the ships to be of service to us so that they may sail through the sea, and that it was He who made the sun and the moon, both constantly pursuing their courses, to be of service to us, and that it was He who made the night and the day, to be of service to us. Then Allah ends off by saying:
“And He gave you of all that you asked for, and if you count the Blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them, verily man is indeed an extreme wrong-doer, a disbeliever.” [Ibrahim 14:34]
And Allah says:
“Verily, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, and in the alternation of night and day, there are indeed signs for men of understanding. Those who remember Allah standing, sitting, and lying down on their sides, and think deeply about the creation of the heavens and the earth, saying: Our Lord! You have not created all this without purpose, glory be to you! Give us salvation from the torment of the Fire.” [Aal ‘Imran 3:190,191]
And He says: “Say: It is He who has created you, and endowed you with ears, eyes, and hearts, little thanks you give.” [Al-Mulk 67:23]
7. And it is the most amazing of them: the breaking of the heart in its entirety before Allah (Subhanahu wa Ta’ala), and there is no expression of this better than this other than names and phrases.
Here Ibn ul-Qayyim is indicating to us that in order for one to be loved by Allah he must have Khushu’ (humility and humbleness).
Allah says: “Successful indeed are the believers. Those who offer their Salah with all humility and full submissiveness.” [Al-Mu’minun 23:1,2]
Mujahid said: “The Khashi’un (the humble ones), they are the real believers.”
And we find in the biographies of the Salaf amazing examples of their Khushu’ when standing before Allah, of these examples are the following:
1. When ‘Abdullah bin Zubair used stand in his Salah, he would stand so still due to his Khushu’ that when he would prostrate birds would come down onto his back thinking that he was a tree trunk.
2.When ‘Ali bin al-Hasan used to make Wudu’ his colour would turn yellow, so it was said to him: what is this that always happens to you when making Wudu’? He said: “Do you have any clue who it is who I intend to stand before?”
8. Seclusion with Him at the time of the divine descending, to call upon Him and to recite His words, and standing with the heart and behaving before Him with the behavior of servitude, then concluding that with asking for forgiveness and repentance.
Allah says: “Their sides forsake their beds, to invoke their Lord in fear and hope, and they spend out of what We have bestowed on them.” [As-Sajdah 32:16]
Mu’adh bin Jabal (RA) narrates that the Prophet (SAW) said to him: “May I show you the gates of goodness? Fasting is a screen from Hell, as-Sadaqah extinguishes the sins as the water extinguishes the fire, and standing in Salah by a person during the middle part of a night,” then the Prophet (SAW) recited: “Their sides forsake their beds to invoke their Lord.” [Tirmidhi]
Abu Huraira (RA) narrated the Prophet (SAW) as saying: “The best Salah after the obligatory one is the night Salah.” [Muslim]
And in the Hadeeth narrated by Sahl bin Sa’d, Jabir bin ‘Abdullah, and ‘Ali bin Abi Talib (RA) the Prophet (SAW) said: “And know that the honour of the Mu’min (believer) is in his standing at night, and his pride is in his self-sufficiency and doing without the people.” [At-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb]
Al-Hasan al-Basri said: “I have never found anything of ‘Ibadah (worship) more severe than Salah in the middle of the night,” so it was said to him: why is it that the ones who pray at-Tahajjud are the ones with the most beautiful of faces? So he said: “Because they have secluded themselves with ar-Rahman so he clothed them with His Nur (light).”
Sulaiman ad-Darini said: “The people of the night in their night are in more enjoyment than the people of entertainment in their entertainment, and if it was not for the night I would not have wished to remain in the Dunya.”
9. Sitting with the affectionate and truthful ones, and collecting the best fruits of their words just as one selects the best of fruits, and not speaking except if the benefit of the speech has become predominant and you have known that in it is an increase of your state of affairs and a benefit for others.
In the Hadeeth of Mu’adh bin Jabal (RA) where he narrates the Prophet (SAW) narrating from his Rabb, he mentions that Allah says: “My love has become binding for those who love each other for my sake, my love has become binding for those who sit with each other for my sake, and my love has become binding for those visit each other for my sake.” [At-Targheeb wat-Tarheeb]
Abu Huraira (RA) narrated the Prophet (SAW) as saying: “A man visited a brother of his in another village, so Allah made an angel to monitor him along his way, so when he came to him he said: where do you intend to go? He said: I want to see a brother of mine. He said: do you have a favor that he did for you that you are undertaking this journey as a result of? He said: no, rather for no other reason than that I love him for the sake of Allah. He said: I am a messenger of Allah to you, that verily Allah has loved you just as you have loved your brother for His sake.” [Muslim]
Ibn Hajar said: And it is not right for a person to belittle his choice of who is befitting for friendship because friendship has its great effect on the person, as the Messenger of Allah (SAW) said: “The person is upon the religion of his companion, so every one of you must look at who he accompanies.”
In the Hadeeth of Abu Huraira (RA) the Prophet (SAW) said: “Verily, the servant who speaks with a word, not being clear what is in it, will be dropped in the Fire due to it further than what is between the east and the west.” [Muslim]
And in the Hadeeth of Umm Habeebah (RA) the Prophet (SAW) said: “The speech of the son of Adam is against him, not for him, except enjoining the good and forbidding the evil, and the remembrance of Allah ‘Azza wa Jall.” [Tirmidhi]
10. Staying away from every reason that stands between the heart and between Allah ‘Azza wa Jall.
Allah says: “The Day wherein neither wealth nor sons will avail, except him who brings to Allah a clean heart.” [Ash-Shu’ara’ 26:88,89]
The Messenger of Allah (SAW) used to say in his Du’a: “And I ask You for a clean heart.”
Muhammad bin Seereen said: “The clean heart is: to know that Allah is real, that the Hour is coming without a doubt, and that Allah will raise up the ones in the graves.”
Sa’eed bin al-Mussayib said: “The clean heart is the healthy heart, and it is the heart of the Mu’min (believer) because the heart of the Munafiq (hypocrite) is sick, Allah said:
“In their hearts is a disease.” [Baqarah 2:10]
To Conclude, the love of Allah is not something easy to gain, however the one who does instigate it is called upon in the heavens and the earth. In the Hadeeth narrated by Abu Huraira (RA) the Prophet (SAW) said: “If Allah loves a servant He calls on Jibreel and says: verily, Allah loves so and so, so love him. So Jibreel loves him, then Jibreel calls on the people of the heavens (the angels) and says: verily, Allah loves so and so, so love him. So the people of the sky love him, then he is granted acceptance by the people of the earth.” [Bukhari]
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