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When you say “I love Allah”, do you actually mean it? Do you fully understand the meaning of such love? Do you know how to love Allah?
To know how to love God is very easy… Not everyone who says “I love Allah of course” sincerely does so. When you declare your love to Allah, then your actions should be in parallel with your words… Are they?
To sincerely love Allah, you must sincerely follow His messenger, for it is through Muhammad (PBUH) that we can learn how to love Allah. Allah told us Muslims that by following Muhammad (PBUH) we will be loved by Allah for seeking His love… (Al Imran)
So in order to fully love Allah, obeying His messenger is the golden key to unlock all doors towards salvation of the soul.
Obeying Allah is by obeying His messenger, since God ordered us to do so… How do we obey Muhammad (PBUH) if we neglect most of what ha had adivsed us to do, and then say that we do indeed love Allah? Obeying Muhammand (PBUH) is by doing what he had told us to do and avoiding what he prevented us from doing. This is following his “Sunnah”…
Prophet Muhammad is the only way to show us how Allah is pleased and what Allah likes. Through him, we can gain the ability to perform whatever is necessary to please Allah. Allah had given us the chance of knowing how to love Him through Muhammad (PBUH) who taught us in his daily life how to love Allah more than anyone or anything in this life.
Therefore, this is a continuous challenge, a struggle against the devil that tries by all means to disencourage us, to let us lose hope, to make us believe that it is a very hard thing to do, and to convince us that this obedience is a difficult task beyond our ability… Don’t let the devil disencourage you, or put you down… Be sure that Allah will always guide you to His path once you decide to walk that road towards Him…
To love Allah, to love His messenger is the true faith. In this concept, you can truly achieve the greatest happiness of the soul, which knows no boundaries at all… nothing can ever stand between you and this goal, because Allah Himself is guiding you and helping you… You make one step towards Allah, He makes a lot more towards you… You change one little thing in yourself to please Allah, He will help you change more to gain His love… Further more, Allah will order his creatures, any kind of creatures to love you as well….
To truly love Allah, you need to get rid of any doubt that you are alone on this journey… Be patient and try tasting this little sweetness life can offer you and endure the little sadness it compells you to face… This struggle doesn’t mean at all that Allah is angry at you or does not love you… On the contrary, it does mean that Allah loves you and He chose you to see how much You love Him… How much are you willing to take and endure to pass the test of life with patience and by being satisfied with whatever Allah brings you and puts in your way.
After all, any pain we live, is a way of purification from sins… the slightest pain of a thorn in a finger is a way to erase sins… Imagine the more pain you face along your journey, the more sins are erased, the more faults are wiped off your page… We all make mistakes, we all commit things we can ‘t always be proud of, even between ourselves and our reflection in the mirror.. Allah knows everything done, the way you’ve felt while doing it and the circumstances while doing it… The point is not to be judged… but to see how can you make it up,…. will you wake up and discover that you should not just feel guilty about it but try to erase it… by the good deeds and going back to Allah, returning to His path and asking Him and only Him for forgiveness… You don’t need to tell anyone what you’ve done… Allah kept it a secret, why should you anounce it in public….
Allah will preserve the veil on your secret and simply forgive you, for you, slave, by asking Allah for forgivness, you acknowledge that there is indeed a God who punishes sinners and forgives them too, once they return to Him, with hands raised up to the sky asking for salvation and forgivness….Isn’t this to show how merciful He is…? Isn’t this a way to show us how easy it could be to be as pure as a baby without sins… once your forgiven…? This shows how Allah loves us….
To love Allah and through obeying His messenger (PBUH), you are following the correct path towards Jannah. Isn’t this what we all aspire… Paradise? Eternal paradise…? Don’t we all dream of its endless pleasure and joy?
It is costly to achieve… it is based upon patience and submitting to God’s will. To know how you truly love Allah you need to ask yourself a question everytime you do something:
Will Allah be pleased with this deed? Will this make Him happy with me? Will I make His messenger angry by doing it…?
Or you can simply ask yourself, if I meet Muhammad (PBUH) now, as I’m wearing this, doing that, saying that…. etc… will I be proud or ashamed..?
If you leave a prayer, will this please Allah? As long as you’re sure of the answer NO, then you know whether you are in this particular moment loving Allah the way you should or not.. Same concept in saying if I do my prayers on itme, will this make Allah pleased with my deeds? As long as your answer is YES, then be proud of loving Allah the way you should, the way He wants you to do so. This was a simple example of course there is a lot more than just the 5 prayers and the fasting and the dealing with people, and ….etc….it is always about deeds and hearts… along with the intentions for these deeds..
I believe that you should not fear what you say or do; or say or do what you fear… Do what you can be facing the whole world while you’re doing it.. this only proves that you are brave enough to take responsibility for all your actions, and be confident that any deed you actually make is done for Allah’s satisfaction… and of course for loving it… don’t you lose this feeling of loving what you do while doing it… then and only then, you will have a cost for everything you do… nothing will be done for free,……. Yes.. the cost is little things in Paradise with each word, each gesture, each whisper, what you do alone or with people, anything will have a price… one minute can simply give you thousands of golden trees in Jannah without you being aware of it… one little deed, that you didn’t notice could be a great deal after life…
So when you say “I love Allah” be sure you sincerely mean it the way you are supposed to love Him.
Muhammad’s Early JobMuhammad [pbuh], had no particular job at his early youth, but it was reported that he worked as a shepherd for Bani Sa‘d and in Makkah. At the age of 25, he went to Syria as a merchant for Khadijah [R]. Ibn Ishaq reported that Khadijah, daughter of Khwailid was a business-woman of great honour and fortune. She used to employ men to do her business for a certain percentage of the profits. Quraish people were mostly tradespeople, so when Khadijah was informed of Muhammad [pbuh], his truthful words, great honesty and kind manners, she sent for him. She offered him money to go to Syria and do her business, and she would give him a higher rate than the others. She would also send her hireling, Maisarah, with him. He agreed and went with her servant to Syria for trade. [Ibn Hisham 1/187,188] |
His Marriage to KhadijahWhen he returned to Makkah, Khadijah noticed, in her money, more profits and blessings than she used to. Her hireling also told her of Muhammad’s good manners, honesty, deep thought, sincerity and faith. She realized that she homed at her target. Many prominent men had asked for her hand in marriage but she always spurned their advances. She disclosed her wish to her friend Nafisa, daughter of Maniya, who immediately went to Muhammad [pbuh] and broke the good news to him. He agreed and requested his uncles to go to Khadijah’s uncle and talk on this issue. Subsequently, they were married. The marriage contract was witnessed by Bani Hashim and the heads of Mudar. This took place after the Prophet’s return from Syria. He gave her twenty camels as dowry. She was, then, forty years old and was considered as the best woman of her folk in lineage, fortune and wisdom. She was the first woman whom the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] married. He did not get married to any other until she had died. [Ibn Hisham 1/189; Fiqh As-Seerah p.59; Talqeeh Fahoom Ahl-al-Athar p.7]Khadijah bore all his children, except Ibrahim: Al-Qasim, Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah and ‘Abdullah who was called Taiyib and Tahir. All his sons died in their childhood and all the daughters except Fatimah died during his lifetime. Fatimah died six months after his death. All his daughters witnessed Islam, embraced it, and emigrated to Madinah. [Ibn Hisham 1/190,191; Fath Al-Bari 7/507] |
Rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah and the Arbitration IssueWhen the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] was thirty five, Quraish started rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah. That was because it was a low building of white stones no more than 6.30 metres high, from the days of Ishmael. It was also roofless and that gave the thieves easy access to its treasures inside. It was also exposed to the wearing factors of nature — because it was built a long time ago — that weakened and cracked its walls. Five years before Prophethood, there was a great flood in Makkah that swept towards Al-Ka‘bah and almost demolished it. Quraish was obliged to rebuild it to safeguard its holiness and position. The chiefs of Quraish decided to use only licit money in rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah, so all money that derived from harlotry, usury or unjust practices was excluded. They were, at first, too awed to knock down the wall, but Al-Waleed bin Al-Mugheerah Al-Mukhzumi started the work. Seeing that no harm had happened to him, the others participated in demolishing the walls until they reached the basis laid by Abraham. When they started rebuilding its walls, they divided the work among the tribes. Each tribe was responsible for rebuilding a part of it. The tribes collected stones and started work. The man who laid the stones was a Roman mason called Baqum. The work went on in harmony till the time came to put the sacred Black Stone in its proper place. Then strife broke out among the chiefs, and lasted for four or five days, each contesting for the honour of placing the stone in its position. Daggers were on the point of being drawn and great bloodshed seemed imminent. Luckily, the oldest among the chiefs Abu Omaiyah bin Mugheerah Al-Makhzumi made a proposal which was accepted by all. He said: "Let him, who enters the Sanctuary first of all, decide on the point." It was then Allâh’s Will that the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] should be the first to enter the Mosque. On seeing him, all the people on the scene, cried with one voice: "Al-Ameen (the trustworthy) has come. We are content to abide by his decision." Calm and self-possessed, Muhammad [pbuh] received the commission and at once resolved upon an expedient which was to conciliate them all. He asked for a mantle which he spread on the ground and placed the stone in its centre. He then asked the representatives of the different clans among them, to lift the stone all together. When it had reached the proper place, Muhammad [pbuh] laid it in the proper position with his own hands. This is how a very tense situation was eased and a grave danger averted by the wisdom of the Prophet [pbuh].Quraish ran short of the licit money, they collected, so they eliminated six yards area on the northern side of Al-Ka‘bah which is called Al-Hijr or Al-Hateem. They raised its door two metres from the level ground to let in only the people whom they desired. When the structure was fifteen yards high they erected the roof which rested on six columns. When the building of Al-Ka‘bah had finished, it assumed a square form fifteen metres high. The side with the Black Stone and the one opposite were ten metres long each. The Black Stone was 1.50 metre from the circumambulation level ground. The two other sides were twelve metres long each. The door was two metres high from the level ground. A building structure of 0.25 metre high and 0.30 metre wide on the average surrounded Al-Ka‘bah. It was called Ash-Shadherwan, originally an integral part of the Sacred Sanctuary, but Quraish left it out. [Bukhari 1/215; Fiqh As-Seerah p.62-63; Ibn Hisham 2/192-197] http://www.witness-pioneer.org/vil/Books/SM_tsn/ch1s6.html#His Birth |
Bismillah.
Thinking about and Trying to Understand Meanings of the Glorious Qur’an
Thinking about and trying to understand meanings of the Glorious Quran, which Allah has sent down for His slaves to clarify all things and as a Light that He gives to whom He wills among His slaves. Indeed, the Quran contains tremendous medicine for all ills of the heart, as Allah said, what translated means, “And We sent down from the Quran that which is a healing and a mercy to those who believe (in Islamic Monotheism).” [17:82]
…The Quran contains Islamic Monotheism; Allah’s promises, warnings and Commandments; stories of previous nations; and codes of the best conduct and behavior. These various subjects in the Quran have different effects on the heart. Some Surahs (chapters) of the Quran are more frightening than others. The Messenger of Allah said, what translated means, “Hud (chapter 11) and its sisters (chapters 56, 77, 78 and 81) have brought me white hairs before their due time.” [As-Silsilah As-Sahihah]. Hud and its sisters brought white hairs to the Messenger of Allah because of what they contain of matters of Iman. These Surahs, and the rest of the Quran, showed their effect on the Messenger of Allah and his companions, exactly as they were ordered in the Quran, “So stand (ask Allah to make) you (Mohammad) firm and straight (on the religion of Islamic Monotheism) as you are commanded and those (your companions) who turn in repentance (unto Allah) with you.” [11:112]
The companions would also be deeply moved with emotions when they recited the Quran. Abu Bakr, for example, who was a soft-hearted man, used to cry while reciting the Quran when leading Muslims in prayer. Once, Umar became ill as a result of his reciting the Ayah, “Verily, the Torment of your Lord will surely come to pass. There is none that can avert it.” [2:7-8]
On another occasion, Umar wept when he was reciting the Ayah, “I (Prophet Jacob) only complain of my grief and sorrow to Allah.” [12:86], and he was clearly heard by those who were standing behind him. Furthermore, Uthman ibn `Affan said,“If our hearts were pure, they will never have enough from reciting Allah’s Speech (the Quran).”
As for later generations, Ayyub said, “I heard Sa`d ibn Jubayr recite the Ayah, “And be afraid of a Day when you shall be brought back to Allah.”[2:281], repeating it more than twenty times.” This is the last Ayah that was revealed to the Messenger of Allah, and it ends with, “Then every person shall be paid what he earned, and they shall not be dealt with unjustly.” [2:281].
Also, Ibrahim ibn Bashshar said, “If you could but see where they will be held over the (Hell) Fire! They will say, ‘Would that we were but sent back (to the world).’” [6:27], was the Ayah that Ali ibn al-Fudhayl died while reciting. I was among those who prayed the Janazah (funeral) prayer on him, may Allah grant him His Mercy.”Furthermore, when our Salaf would reach a portion of the Quran were Sujud (bowing down) is warranted, they treated this incident different than ordinary people. A man once recited, “And they fall down on their faces weeping and it adds to their humility.” [17:109], and then fell in Sujud. Then, he said to himself, “Here you are, you do the Sujud, so where is the crying?”
Ibn Al-Qayyim said with regards to what one should do to cure his weak Iman using the Quran, “First you should remove your heart from the life of this world and settle it in the Last Life. Then, pay your full attention to pursuing the meanings of the Quran, and try to comprehend and understand them and what they were sent down toaccomplish. Then, offer these meanings to the sickness that your heart feels, and when they touch the disease, they will cure the heart, Allah willing.”
