Hubb the root of Muhabbat means inclination toward a thing and being interested therein. Hubb is a branch of knowledge and familiarity. Familiarity or knowledge or acquaintance is gained sometimes through apparent senses and sometimes through the internal sight of the heart. The latter recognition is more impressive than the former.
Love for Allah means lifting up of the veil from the heart in such a way that whatever one looks at one finds therein the beauty of God. Rather he sees, through the inner eye, beyond the material or physical world.
Signs of love of Allah
A- The Holy Quran says: Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and Allah is Forgiving, Merciful. In the verse following, the Prophet (s.a.w.s.) is mentioned as a sign of love for Allah.
B- O you who believe! Whoever from among you turns back from his religion, then Allah will bring a people, He shall love them and they shall love Him, lowly before the believers, mighty against the unbelievers, they shall strive hard in Allah's way and shall not fear the censure of any censurer; this is Allah's Face, He gives it to whom He pleases, and Allah is Ample-giving, Knowing.
The above ayat describes some of the virtues of the lovers of God as given below:
A: Lowly and kind before the Faithful and hard, though and mighty against the enemies and the oppressors.
B: Jihad in the way of Allah is permanently in their schedule.
C: They never care for anyone's objection or opposition while carrying out the orders of Allah.
1. Imam Sadiq (a.s.) is recorded to have said: One who sins does not love Allah. Then he recited the couplet: You disobey the Lord while making a show of love for Him? By your life! This is a strange thing! Were you true in loving Him you would have certainly obeyed Him because one follows whom one loves.
2. Amirul Mo-mineen (a.s.) said: One who likes to know his position in the sight of God should check what is the position of the Lord in his sight? So, verily, Allah loves the one who gives preference to the Hereafter over this world. And Allah has no position in the eyes of the one who gives preference to the world over the Hereafter.
3. Husain bin Saif says he heard Imam Sadiq (a.s.) saying: Man's faith in Allah does not become pure until God becomes dearer to him than his life, his father, his mother, his children, his wife, his wealth and all people.
4. Imam Sadiq (a.s.) said: It was a part of revelation of Prophet Moosa (a.s.) O son of Imran! He told a lie who thinks that he loves Me and goes to sleep at night. Does he not know that every friend likes to retire with his friend? O son of Imran! I am aware of My friends. They become different at night, as if they have been uprooted from their place. Requital almost comes before their eyes. Then they address Me as if they see Me and they talk to Me from the near. O son of Imran! Seek from Me lowliness of your heart and of your body and of tears from your eyes in the darkness of night and call me. They really you will find He near you, answering.
How To earn love of Allah
A: Through the knowledge of finding out the eternal and everlasting Might of Allah.
B: Cleansing the soul of worldly material attachments.
C: Paying attention to the Holy favours of Almighty Allah.
It should be remembered that the heart is like a vessel. If there is air in it water cannot remain therein. This fact is explained in narrations like this: God has not given two hearts to a man.
So long as our heart is attached to the worldly affairs there is no room for Almighty Lord. In the words of Imam Sadiq (a.s.): The human heart is the abode of the Lord. So do not let it to any other than God.
In conclusion, If in the course of life, when we have to adopt either God or the world, we give preference or priority to the world, then we should know that we do not love Allah. Not only this we become the subject mater of the verse: Say: If your fathers and your sons and your brethren and your mates and your kinsfolk and property which you have acquired, and the slackness of trade which you fear and dwellings which you like, are dearer to you than Allah and His Apostle and striving in His way, then wait till Allah brings about His command: and Allah does not guide the transgressing people.
D: Paying attention to the lives and manners of the Holy Imams (a.s.) and great men of religion. Since half of the worship of the innocent Imams (a.s.) was in the form of night prayers and this their talk with the Lord used to be in solitude and as, fortunately, these prayers have till today lasted for us, which we recite as supplications, we give here some of their phrases as a gift:
In the famous and popular Dua-e-Kumail we read: Then suppose, My Allah, my Master, my Protector and my Lord, that I am able to endure Your chastisement, how can I endure separation from You?
Imam Husain (a.s.) appeals in his Dua-e-Arafa: My Lord! It is you Whose kindness removed the kindness of all others from the heart of Your friends in such a way that they do not love anyone except You and seek shelter in none but You.
And also says: O you High! Who made the mouths of Your friends the sweetness of Your love till they cling to Your Court.
Imam Sajjad (a.s.), in his Munaajaat-e-Inkiliya, cries: By Thy Honour! And by Thy esteem! I love you so much that the sweetness of Your love is retained on my heart and I have habituated myself with its tidings. I consider it far from Your justice that You will close the door of Your mercy for one who considers himself Your friend.
In another supplication he says: My Lord! Make me one of those in whose hearts the tree of your love has born fruits and the fire of Your friendship is raging in the centres of their souls.
And at another place: My Lord! Make me one of the those who won Your nearness and selected your friendship and whom You made the admirers of Your vision and whom You made contented at Your decisions and to whom You gifted Your mercy and gave them Your pleasure and whom You prevented from being away from You.
The late Faiz, in Haqaiq, discussing love, quotes Amirul Mo-mineen (a.s.) that Almighty Allah has a distinct drink. When His friends taste it they become ecstatic and when they become intoxicated they become joyful and when they rejoice they become clean of swooning and clattering and when they become clean they melt and when they melt they become pure and when they become pure they become desirous and when they desire they find Allah and when they find Allah they join Him and when they join Him they find no distance between them and their beloved as we read in the supplication of mid-Shabaan: At the end of this discussion we should remember that among the ranks of love for Almighty Allah is the love for His religion and His Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) and the sinless Imams (a.s.). In a number of traditions it is said clearly that religion is nothing but love. Thereafter this verse is quoted: Say: If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you.
What is desired through these traditions is that the spirit of the reality of religion is the same faith and love for Allah. That love and admiration which enlightens the entire being of man and affects each and every limb of his body. Its apparent lustre is obedience to the commands of Allah. In other words, it is the natural effect of love that attracts man towards the beloved and His pleasure. Of course, it is possible that, in cases of weak love, the radiance does not go beyond the heart. Truly such love does not deserve to be called love. A cardinal love positively joins the lover with the beloved and makes him endeavour in a fruitful manner.
The proof of this claim is clear, because, the love and liking of a person for something is surely because of the fact that he has found perfection and excellence in the latter. Man never lives and admires a thing which is mightless. Thus the love of man for God is because He is the fountainhead of all kinds of excellence and perfection. Doubtlessly all the schedules and programmes of such a Being are also perfect. In such circumstances how is it possible that one who loves perfection lags behind in fulfilling Divine orders. If he so lags behind, it shows that he lacks the knowledge of love and admiration. In this matter we also find several narrations:
One who dies when he is the friend of the progeny of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) leaves this world like a martyr and the one who dies while being the friend of the progeny of the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) is pardoned, and know that one who dies with the friendship of the Aale Muhammad (s.a.w.s.) at his heart dies the death of a Mo-min Faithful and he also has left this world with the ultimate degree of faith.
Hence the Imams (a.s.) also have addressed their friends in this way:
Imam Baqir (a.s.) said: O Shias of the progeny of Muhammad! There is no kinship between us and God and we have no plea over God and nearness to God is not gained except by following the divine commandments. Our friendship will benefit only those who obey Allah. One who does not obey god will not get any benefit from our friendship.
Now that here ends the description of some virtues, which enable man to reach excellence our next discussion, will be regarding mean vices.