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The
Concept of Love in the Shi'ite Creed
Love is one of the sublimest and most appealing of concepts in Shi'ism in
particular and Islamic culture and belief in general. In Shi'i belief,
mahabbah or
hubb, and related words like
mawaddah and
waliyah, play a very significant and profound role, to the extent that,
to cite one instance, it is asserted to be the fundamental basis of the faith.
In a famous hadith, the Prophet (s) is reported as questioning his followers
concerning the "firmest handhold of faith" (
awthaq 'urwat al-iman). When
they cannot reply, he declares:
The firmest handhold of faith is to love
for the sake of God and to hate for the sake of God, to befriend God's friends
and to renounce His enemies.'
In another
tradition, Fudayl ibn al-Yasar, a disciple, asks al-Imam al-Sadiq, may peace be
upon him, whether love and hate derive from faith; he replies:
Is faith anything but love and
hate?
It is also narrated that al-Imam al-Baqir,
may peace be upon him, stated that:
Religion (din) is love and love is
religion.
As these statements and traditions
indicate, love plays an important role in Shi'i doctrine. Hence it deserves our
close attention in order that we may discover the real meaning of the
concept.
First of all, some questions come to the mind. What is the kind of love
that has been emphasized by Islam in general and Shi'ism in particular? Who is
the object of this special kind of love? Why should the believers have this kind
of love and what purpose does it serve?
Love, in Shi'i doctrine, includes three interrelated categories: Love for
God, love for the Prophet and his Household, and love for the
faithful.
Love for
Allah:
According to Islamic teaching, God is the highest and foremost object of
love. The Holy Qur'an says:
Say: "If your fathers and your sons,
your brethren and your wives, your kinsfolk and the property you have
acquired, the commerce you fear may slacken and the dwellings which you
love-if these are dearer to you than God and His Apostle and striving in His
way, then wait till God brings His command; God does not guide an ungodly
people." (9:24)
This ayah clearly indicates that
the love of God has precedence over everything and whatever that one may love in
one's life. Moreover, the Holy Qur'an points out in another verse that the
believers' love of God is greater than that of anything else, but that some
people love certain things as much as they love God:
And there are some among men who take
for themselves objects of worship besides God. whom they love as they love
God, and those who believe are stronger in love for God ...
(2:165)
That is, God is the source of all love
just as He is the source of all that exists. That love is an attribute of God is
affirmed implicitly by numerous Qur'anic verses. Hence love for God is the
foundation of belief, the foundation on which man is to establish the principles
of his faith. This is also affirmed by reason. It may be noted that
(a) human nature aspires to perfection and beauty, and God is absolute
perfection and eternal beauty; thus it is an innate quality of the human nature
to love God;
(b) men by nature love whoever does good to them, and they appreciate such
favour and benevolence, as Imam 'Ali, may peace be upon him, said:
Generosity and magnanimity enslave
men.
Now, as God is the source of all being, of
all generosity and benevolence, man, by virtue of his nature, loves God. The
Prophet, may God bless him and his Household, said:
Love Allah because He has done good to
you and He has bestowed favours upon you.
It is
narrated that God declared to Moses and David, may peace be upon them: "Love Me
and endear Me to the people." When they asked Him how they could endear Him to
the people, He replied:
Remind them about My favours and bounties, for they do not
recall My favours without the feeling of gratitude.
This
relationship of love between man and his Creator is reciprocal, and the
intensity of a people's love for God is indicative of God's love for them, as
indicated by the following verse:
God will bring a people whom He loves
and who love Him. (5:54)
This love stands for a
spiritual relationship between God and the God-loving people wherewith they are
ever made aware of the beneficence and mercy of their Lord. It is narrated in a
hadith qudsi that when God loves someone He becomes his ears, his eyes, his
tongue, and his hands:
When I love him, then I shall be his ears with which he
listens, his eyes with which he sees, his tongue with which he speaks, and his
hands with which he holds; if he calls Me, I shall answer him, and if he asks
Me, I shall give him.
Aside from the fact that one who
loves God is loved by Him, a real love for God prompts one to perform the best
of deeds. Reason and nature dictate that if someone really loves God, he would
act in a manner that is pleasing to God. In this regard, the Holy Qur'an
says:
Say: "If you love God, then follow me,
and God will love you and forgive you your sins," and God is Forgiving and
Merciful. (3:31)
This ayah indicates the
interrelation between love, as an inner state, and emulating the Prophet, which
is an outward action. Moreover, it implies that no one may neglect his religious
obligations under the pretext of love for God.
Love for the
Prophet:
After God, the Prophet, Muhammad, may God bless Him and his Household, is
the one whom the faithful love. It is evident that the love for him is a
ramification of the love for God. It is stated in traditions that God loves the
Prophet and his Household as the ideals of human perfection so much that He
created the heavens and the earth and whatever is in them out of His love for
them. In the Hadith al-Kisa', it is narrated by Fatimah, may peace be upon
her:
When they, the Ahl al-Bayt, gathered
under the kisa', the Almighty said: "Let it be known to you, My angels and
those who are in the heavens, that I have not created the heavens and the
earth and what is in them, but for My love for the Five Ones under the
kisa."
The Prophet, may God bless him and his
Household, said to his followers:
Love me because of the love of
God.
We love the Prophet as he is the beloved of
Him, and He has directed us to love him. This is the first and the most
important reason for loving the Prophet. Further, he is the Perfect Man and
personifies the highest degrees of such virtues as generosity, greatness, moral
sublimity and wisdom. Hence human nature is fascinated by his perfect being and
loves him. Thirdly, he brought us the most significant and essential gift which
benefits us both in this world and the next and gives us true
life.
For these reasons, and because of the many verses and traditions which
declare the necessity of loving the Prophet, may God bless him and his
Household, it is obligatory for all Muslims to love him as much as they love
themselves and even more, as according to the Qur'an:
The Prophet has a greater right on the
faithful than they have on themselves.
(33:6)
Love for the Prophet's
Household:
As part of the love for the Prophet, love for the Household of the Prophet
is also necessary for all believers. In fact, it is a test of the genuineness of
one's love for the Prophet, and it is declared in traditions that it is the
first thing which they would be questioned about on the Day of
Resurrection.
As regards the necessity and importance of this love, there are more than
three hundred ayahs and hadith found in both Sunni and Shi'i sources. In all,
they indicate that the main role of this love is to nourish faith. It is
narrated that the Prophet, may God bless him and his Household, said:
There is a basis for every thing, and
the basis of Islam is the love for us, the People of the
Household.
In another hadith he is reported to
have said:
One who wants to partake of the firmest
handhold (of faith) should abide by the love of 'Ali and my
Household.
He also said:
Love of them (my Household) is a sign of
faith, and enmity towards them is a sign of unbelief. Whosoever loves them,
loves God and His Messenger. And whosoever harbours enmity towards them is
enemy of God and His Messenger."
It is
narrated that al-Imam al-Sadiq, may peace be upon him, said:
For every kind of worship there is
another which surpasses it, and the love for us, the people of the Household,
is the best form of worship.
On the basis of the
traditions that have been cited and many others like them, it is clear that the
love for the Household of the Messenger is a necessary part of every Muslim's
faith. This is further confirmed by taking into consideration that the love of
the Household is considered by the Qur'an as the mark of gratitude for the
guiding mission of the Prophet. God says:
Say (O Muhammad, unto mankind): "I do
not ask you a wage for this except the love of my kinsfolk."
(42:23)
When the Holy Prophet was asked by his
followers as to who were his near of kin" whose love God has made obligatory on
all Muslims, the Prophet replied; "Fatimah, 'Ali, al-Hasan and
al-Husayn."
The Shi'ah believe that, in accordance with this ayah, it is necessary for
every Muslim, from the point of view of his faith, to love them. For, in this
verse, God has told mankind to love them. On the other hand, God has ordered us
to love them because they merit it, as the highest exemplars of obedience to the
commands of God, their exalted stations in the eyes of God, and their purity
from all traces of polytheism, sin, and everything that deprives His servants of
God's mercy. In summary, if God instructs all people to love certain human
beings, they must be the best among them in virtue and the sublimest of His
creatures, otherwise they would not deserve to be loved, and God would never
prefer some person to another for no reason, or favour someone who has no
merit.
However, it may be asked whether love as an emotional attachment is
capable of producing any profound results or capable of motivating deeds of
higher religious and moral worth. In my opinion, love not only operates on an
emotional level but can be a real agent that prompts man towards virtuous
action.
The real love which has been emphasized by both the Qur'an and Sunnah is
not merely an emotional relation between the lover and the object of love
without any actual relevance to one's conduct of life. That it is a love which
produces piety and encourages the lover to righteous action is confirmed by the
Islamic tradition. It is stated in a hadith:
Do not neglect righteous
action and diligence in worship by relying on the love of Muhammad's
Household; and do not neglect the love of Muhammad's Household for reliance on
righteous action and diligence in worship, because none of them will be
accepted without the other.
Al-Imam al-Sadiq,
may peace be upon him, said:
One who follows someone would strive to
emulate him.
Accordingly, God commands the
faithful to love the Household and to have recourse to them in order that they
may learn their religious obligations from the Imams of the Prophet's family. In
this relation, the Messenger of God, may God bless him and his Household, is
reported to have said:
Whoever aspires to live my life, to die
my death, to enter the Paradise that my Lord has promised me, and to grasp the
handhold which my Lord has appointed, should take 'Ali ibn Abi Talib and his
successors after him, as his masters, because they will never cause you to
enter the doors of misguidance, nor will they divert you from the gates of
guidance. Never try to teach them, since they are more knowledgeable than you.
I have asked my Lord never to separate them from the Book until they meet me
by the side of the Pool (hawd) ...
Al Imam al
Sadiq, may peace be upon him, also said:
God has ordained our guardianship, and
He has made loving us an obligation. By God, we don't say anything out of our
desires, and we don't do anything according to our whims; we don't say
anything but what our Lord, the Almighty and the Glorious,
says.
They have been given authority and God has
ordered people to obey the. They are the witness for mankind, the doors leading
to the way of God, the guides to His path, the guardians of His knowledge, the
interpreters of His revelations, the pillars of the teaching of Divine Unity,
and the custodians of His Wisdom. The Holy Qur'an refers to them in these
words:
Honoured servants, who speak not until
He has spoken and who act by His command.
(21:26-27)
That is why God has urged the faithful
to love them, to seek them and follow them, obeying their commands.
Thus befriending them, which is obligatory for all Muslims according to
the Holy Qur'an, would lead the believers to fulfil their duties. A real love,
as was mentioned earlier, encourages the lover to act according to the beloved's
will and wishes. Therefore, Muslims, by emulating the Prophet's Household,
become real believers. Hence the 'wages' of prophecy which the faithful have
been asked to pay, ultimately return to the believers themselves. Hence the
following verse of Surat Saba' says:
Say (O Muhammad): "Whatever reward I
have asked of you is only for yourselves; my reward is only with God, and He
is the witness over all things." (34:47)
We may
conclude that love plays a great, if not the greatest, formative role in
religious faith in the Shi'i creed and is the uniting principle of its universe
of religious ideas. So far, we have seen that this principle unites a vast
collection of religious ideas each of which relates to the others, and that this
totality impels the believer towards a higher form of life.
The principle of love frees religious devotion from a dispassionate and
lifeless state, and inspires it with a new refreshing spirit. This is the
meaning of the following statement of the Holy Prophet, may God bless him and
his Household:
O servant of God, let your love and hate
be for the sake of God, because no one can attain to the wilayah of God
without that, and no one shall find the taste of faith without that, though
his prayers and fast be great in number.
color=#000000>I would like to conclude this discussion with a hadith of
Imam 'Ali, may peace be upon him, wherein he states:
Most certainly the best and most
delightful of things in Paradise is the love of God and love for the sake of
God and the glorification of God. God, the Almighty and the Glorious, says
"And the last of their cry shall be: 'Praise be to Allah, the Lord of the
worlds.
