HADITH ONE: IMAN IS LOVE
HADITH ONE: IMAN IS LOVE. The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, «Whoever has the following three will taste the sweetness of Iman: when Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to them than all else, when they love a person only for the sake of Allah, and when they hate to return to disbelief after Allah had saved them from it as they hate to be thrown in fire.»
Reported by al-Bukhari (16) and Muslim (67)
Commentary
Love is the path to tasting the sweetness of Iman. It is the beginning of Iman and its culmination. When our love for Allah grows, it reshapes our priorities and brings us the pleasure of this life and the next.
The sweetness of Iman
If you happen to enjoy food, you do so because of its taste and aroma. The flavor and smell of our favorite dish, especially if it brings some fond memories, bring pleasure and transport us to a different plane of sensory experience. Like appetizing food, Iman has a taste that we feel in our hearts: it is the real soul food that brings the greatest joy. (Think about this connection between food and Iman the next time you are enjoying your favorite dish. As you are finding joy in your meal, remember that Iman has a greater potential for joy.) Every act of worship is a meal that brings additional sweetness to our lives. It is not sugary sweetness but contentment and calm that permeate our whole being, a sense of peace that all is right or will be soon. In that state, obeying Allah turns from a chore to pleasure; the burden changes to joy because it leads to the ultimate happiness of being near to Allah. Thabit al-Binani said:
I struggled in performing Salah for twenty years, and then I enjoyed it for twenty years.
Sifat al-Safwah (vol. 2, p. 154)
The soul is not able to taste this sweetness until it has conquered its weaknesses and is elevated in its love of Allah. This is why it took him twenty years, yet he never gave up. Once the soul is there, it will find its greatest happiness and comfort in its proximity to its Maker. The body and tongue of a sick person do not crave or enjoy their favorite food. It is not the fault of the food but a body that is too infirm and a tongue that has turned bitter. When we are addicted to bad food and habits—junk food, smoking, and drugs—we grow unable to enjoy healthy food and a wholesome lifestyle, craving instead what harms us. Iman feeds the soul like good food nourishes the body, and sin, like bad food, kills it. When the soul is fed the sweetness of Iman, it will not need sin or think it sweet. Sin is what keeps us from tasting the sweetness of Iman. But when we break free, we will find it. And when the sweetness of Iman is intense, one can almost taste it on their tongue and feel it in their body.
The three conditions to finding the sweetness of Iman in the hadith are all about love, even the last one. They represent the pinnacle of Iman (Fath al-Bari by Ibn Rajab, vol. 1, p. 50). Love, it turns out, is the height of Iman and the path to its sweetness. Al-Nawawi emphasized the significance of this hadith when he said:
This is a great hadith, a pillar of the pillars of Islam.
Sharh Muslim by al-Nawawi (vol. 2, p. 13)
It is no wonder that this pillar is all about love. Islam is built on it.
Loving Allah and His Prophet
The first and the foundational condition for the sweetness of Iman is for the love of Allah and His Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم to be greater than any other love. This is the origin of all love and, in reality, the greatest form of love. It is the greatest realization, and from it, all other realizations flow.
As Ibn Rajab explained in Fath al-Bari (vol. 1, p. 51), the love of Allah develops from knowing Him better and beholding His bounties upon us. We tend to love others for these two reasons: for admirable qualities they possess that draw us to them and for the good that they have done to us (see also Appendix I). When it comes to Allah, He has more of those than anyone else. We learn about Allah’s Perfection through His Names and Attributes and the greatness of His creation. The more we study Allah’s Names and Attributes, the more we would know Allah to be the Merciful, the Wise, the Forgiving, the Powerful, and the Beautiful. Observing His actions and His creation only confirms these conclusions. The beauty, wisdom, and justice found in creation and the grandeur of what He created are a reflection of His Beautiful Names and Attributes. In addition,
Allah is the One who blessed us with everything good in our lives. Realizing the Beauty of Allah, in Himself and His actions, propels people to love Him. Loving Allah for His bounties leads to loving Allah for Himself. Ibn Taymiyyah wrote:
The foundation of love is knowing Allah, Glory be to Him, and it has two sources. The first—which some call the love of the laymen—is [love] for His favors to His slaves. No one denies this love that is based on this cause, for the hearts were created to love the one who is kind to them and to hate the one who harms them. Allah is the true Benefactor and Bestower to His slave, for He is the one who gifted all bounties even if they occur through a medium, for Allah is the Facilitator of mediums and the Causer of causes. But this love, in reality, if it does not pull the heart to love Allah for Himself, then the slave only loves himself. And anyone who loves another because of their kindness to him has in truth only loved himself. And this is not condemnable but praiseworthy. This love is the one referred to when he صلى الله عليه وسلم said, «Love Allah because of the bounties by which He nourishes you, love me because of Allah, and love my family because of me.» The one who only knows this love does not know from [the multitude of] reasons for which Allah should be loved except the benefit they receive from Him. And this is as they say that hamd is of two kinds: hamd that is thanks, and this is only for a bounty, and hamd that is praise and exaltation and love because of what He deserves for Himself. And so is love, for the second cause is loving Allah for what He deserves. This is the love of someone who knows why Allah should be loved. And there is no way from the ways by which Allah is known, that His Names and Attributes have guided to, except that He deserves complete love from that way, even His Actions. For every bounty from Him is a favor, and every affliction is justice. And this is why He deserves to be praised all the time, and He deserves to be praised for ease and difficulty. And this is a higher and more complete [love]. This is the love of the chosen. They are the ones who seek the joy of looking at His Honorable Face and enjoy remembering Him and privately conversing with Him, and this would be more important to them than water is for fish. And if they were to stop that, they would find unbearable pain. They are the first and the closest [to Allah].
Majmu‘ al-Fatawa (vol. 10, pp. 84–85)
Though the hadith he quoted is weak, the principles he laid out are sound. Most people love Allah for the sake of what they receive from Him. And this is how we are first introduced to Allah and how we begin to know Him. But Allah is a lot more than the new child or job we got. Still, these bounties guide us to love Allah and want to know Him more. When we do, we move from love only for the sake of worldly gifts to love for the sake of the Giver Himself. This love is unaffected by worldly fortunes and status. It is pure and noble. Allah then becomes the greatest comfort to the heart. Thu al-Nun said:
The mark of the people who love Allah is that they do not find peace except with Allah, and they do not feel estranged while with Allah. This is so because once the love of Allah settles in the heart, it becomes comfortable with Allah, for Allah is greater in the hearts of the knowledgeable than them loving Him for the sake of another.
Al-Zuhd al-Kabir (p. 78)
The believers draw near to Him each day not because they have to but because they want to and need to. They need Him more than they need food, and they rely on Him more than they rely on their bodies and wealth. They love Him to such a degree that they cannot bear separating from Him, and their greatest reward would be to finally see Him. This is the love of Allah, available to all to seek and rejoice in.
The first step in the love of Allah is a must for all believers: to love Him enough to obey His commands, avoid His prohibitions, and be patient with the afflictions and hardships that He destines. Failure here signals insufficient love. If one commits a sin, they do so because they put its love before that of Allah. If one complains about Allah’s decisions in their life, they do so because they still love the world more than Allah.
The second step in the path of Allah’s love is recommended. Here, one’s greater love for Allah prompts them to perform voluntary worship on top of the obligations; avoid the prohibitions, the disliked (makruh) acts, and suspicious matters (shubuhat); and is content with what Allah destines of hardship and affliction (see Hadith Forty-One). ‘Amir ibn Qays used to say:
I loved Allah, the Most Exalted, a love that made [enduring] every disaster easy for me, and made me contented in every matter, so I do not care while loving Him, in what state I will be in the morning or the evening.
Hilyat al-Awliya’ (vol. 2, p. 89)
Loving the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم is part of loving Allah, and it increases as the love of Allah increases. Similar to the conditions that create the love of Allah, loving the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم happens through knowing him better and realizing how much he has benefited us. When we read his biography and go through his teachings, we understand his sacrifice صلى الله عليه وسلم, the nobility of his character, and the beauty of what he taught. We will then realize that there is no other human who has done us more good than him .صلى الله عليه وسلم And if we add to this that Allah chose him above all else specifically to be the Last Prophet, that Allah loves him more than any other, we would not be able to feel but the greatest love for this incredible man.
In the same vein as the love of Allah, loving the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم has an obligatory and a recommended level. The necessary love is to love him enough to obey the obligations he commanded and steer clear of the prohibitions. In addition, it includes seeking and accepting his guidance and finding no discomfort with his judgments and counsel. The recommended part is a love that moves one to follow his recommended guidance, etiquette, character, spirituality, and devotion to Allah.
Loving another for Allah’s sake
Loving Allah entails loving what He loves. This, as the Prophet
صلى الله عليه وسل explained, is of the best and highest stations of Iman.
Mu‘adh ibn Anas asked the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم about the best of Iman, so he said, «That you love for the sake of Allah, hate for the sake of Allah, and engage your tongue in the remembrance of Allah.»
Reported by Ahmad (22130) and Shu‘ayb al-Arna‘ut declared it sahih
Why is love for the sake of Allah one of the best acts of Iman? Because it is an honest and strong indicator. When you love someone, you would naturally want them to be happy and would hate any harm to come their way. When our love is strong, the likes and dislikes of our beloved become our own, a state only those who have experienced intense love would know. Consider, for example, how we start liking our child’s favorite food, story, or toy because it makes them so happy, or how we hold tight to heirlooms from deceased parents simply because they used to love them. Loving what Allah loves is the mark of Iman.
Ibn Rajab wrote:
Love is incomplete without obedience and agreement. Al- Hasan said, “The Companions of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم said, ‘O Messenger of Allah, we love our Rabb immensely,’ so Allah loved to establish a sign for love, and so He revealed this ayah ﴾Say, ‘If you love Allah, then follow me and Allah will love you.’﴿” And it is because of this that al-Hasan said, “Know that you will not love Allah until you love obeying Him.” And Thu al-Nun was asked, “When would I have loved my Rabb?” He answered, “When what He hates is bitterer to you than the bitterest plant.” Bishr ibn al-Sariyy said, “It is not one of the marks of love for you to love what your beloved hates.” Abu Ya‘qub al-Nahrajuri said, “Anyone who claims to love Allah but does not follow His commands, then their claim is false.” Ruwaym said, “Love is agreement in all conditions.” Yahya ibn Mu‘adh said, “The one who claims to love Allah but does not observe His laws is dishonest.” Some of the predecessors said, “I read in some of the books of the past, ‘If one loves Allah, nothing would be dearer to them than pleasing Him. And if one loves the world, nothing would be dearer to them than their own desire.’ ”
Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wa al-Hikam (vol. 1, pp. 212–213)
One may love Allah, but their love could be weak, unable to love what Allah loves. When one’s heart is (partially) captive to this world or to Haram, they will love what Allah hates or hate what Allah loves. But when one’s love for Allah grows, it chases away all inferior lovers that try to compete with Him for our hearts. When one liberates themselves from their personal inclinations and ascends to what Allah loves, Allah’s choices and preferences become their own. When they encounter someone close to Allah, they will naturally love them because Allah loves them. They are close to Allah, and their heart is drawn to what pleases Allah, their Supreme Love.
Hating to return to disbelief
Loving what Allah loves is incomplete without hating what He hates. Some may find it off-putting that Allah may hate and that they are required to hate. But hate here is not the dark, irrational, and destructive hate that we have seen so much of in modern times (see also Appendix II). This is not hate guided by human whims and biases but one that reflects the Divine Wisdom. There is harm and corruption in what Allah hates, like murder, rape, theft, and so on. Knowing the harm, we naturally hate it and try to stop it whenever we can. Additionally, anyone who loves Allah loathes anything that steals them away from Him. Since sin distances us from Allah, it is hateful for that reason too. Every good thing we love has a harmful opposite we should hate. Thus, hate in this context is not there to destroy but to save us from destruction.
Disbelief is the greatest disconnection between Allah and his creation, the greatest ingratitude, and the greatest corruption on earth. Since the believer cannot bear the idea that they could be separated from Allah’s love, Kufr becomes so loathsome that they would prefer death. Even being burnt alive. The sweetness of love cannot tolerate the bitterness of separation. Prophet Yusuf said:
O My Rabb, prison is more beloved to me than what these women invite me to do.
Yusuf (Q12:33)
How could staying in a dingy jail be more pleasing to anyone than comfort, luxury, money, power, and sexual fulfillment? What is the thing that Yusuf had that many of us are still looking for? What prompted the People of the Ditch to choose to be burnt to death in a great fire over polytheism, as recorded in Surah al-Buruj?
When the love of Allah is firmer in the hearts than any other love, it would be possible to give up everything for it. His love is the greatest discovery in this life. But we need to know Allah more to love Him. This is what the rest of the book is inviting you to do.
DR. ALI ALBARGHOUTHI
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