Monday, April 23, 2007

The Signs of the Love of God

The Signs of the Love of God


Many claim to love God, but each should examine himself as to the genuineness of the love which he professes.

The first test is this: he should not dislike the thought of death, for no friend shrinks from going to see a friend. The Prophet said, "Whoever wishes to see God, God wishes to see him." It is true a sincere lover of God may shrink from the thought of death coming before he has finished his preparation for the next world, but if he is sincere, he will be diligent in making such preparation.

The second test of sincerity is that a man should be willing to sacrifice his will to God's, should cleave to what brings him nearer to God, and should shun what places him at a distance from God. The fact of a man's sinning is no proof that he does not love God at all, but it proves that he does not love Him with his whole heart. The saint Fudhail said to a certain man, "If any one asks you whether you love God, keep silent; for if you say, 'I do not love Him,' you are an infidel; and if you say, 'I do,' your deeds contradict you."

The third test is that the remembrance of God should always remain fresh in a man's heart without effort, for what a man loves he constantly remembers, and if his love is perfect he never forgets it. It is possible, however, that, while the love of God does not take the first place in a man's heart, the love of the love of God may, for love is one thing and the love of love another.

The fourth test is that he will love the Koran, which is the Word of God, and Muhammad, who is the Prophet of God; if his love is really strong, he will love all men, for all are God's servants, nay, his love will embrace the whole creation, for he who loves any one loves the works he composes and his handwriting.

The fifth test is, he will be covetous of retirement and privacy for purposes of devotion;, he will long for the approach of night, so that he may hold intercourse with his Friend without let or hindrance. If he prefers conversation by day and sleep at night to such retirement, then, his love is imperfect. God said to David, "Be not too intimate with men; for two kinds of persons are excluded from My presence: those who are earnest in seeking reward and slack when they obtain it, and those who prefer their own thoughts to the remembrance of Me. The. sign of My displeasure is that I leave such to themselves." In truth, if the love of God really take possession of the heart all other love is excluded. One of the children of Israel was in the habit of praying at night, but, observing that a bird sang in a certain tree very sweetly, he began to pray under that tree, in order to have the pleasure of listening to the bird. God told David to go and say to him, "Thou hast mingled the love of a melodious bird with the love of Me; thy rank among the saints is lowered." On the other hand, some have loved God with such intensity that, while they were engaged in devotion, their houses have caught fire and they have not noticed it.

A sixth test is that worship becomes easy. A certain saint said, "During one space of thirty years I performed my night-devotions with great difficulty, but during a second space of thirty years they became a delight." When love to God is complete no joy is equal to the joy of worship.

The seventh test is that lovers of God will love those who obey Him and hate the infidels and the disobedient, as the Koran says: "They are strenuous against the unbelievers and merciful to each other." The Prophet once asked God and said, "O Lord! who are Thy lovers?" and the answer came, "Those who cleave to Me as a child to its mother, take refuge in the remembrance of Me as a bird seeks the shelter of its nest, and are as angry at the sight of sin as an angry lion who fears nothing."


... The Alchemy of Happiness, al-Ghazzali

7 comments:

Nunbun said...

Thanks for sharing Imam Ghazali's pearls. They are uplifting words, even though I'm leagues behind the entry requirement for the mentioned tests :)

Anonymous said...

sigh
how we always claim to love God
but our love is so insignificant
we're barely skimming th surface
:,(

Anonymous said...

Salam,

"Ilaahi anta maqsuudi
Wa ridhaaka mathluubi"

T_T

Wassalam.

ghoose said...

Lahaulawalla... ... really long long way to go....

but when yor heart is busy with the Beloved
all other love takes to standstill........

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the lesson. Its a very long way to go.

Anonymous said...

Dearest Hoopoe

please tell us more about having love for the Prophet (saw), and how we can develop that love within ourselves. (this was mentioned as the fourth test of one's love for Allah)

Thank you
wasalam

TheHoopoe said...

Salam friends,

The fact that we are all a long way behind this must only motivate and inspire us to hold on and to remain constant in this pursuit. That is why in this journey, we need some helping hands to get us moving when we are down. Even for me, I frequently have to "rest under the tree" before I eventually rise and move on ... and so is the story of man.

I hope, one of my contributions in setting up this blog is to achieve just that: to remind myself and others of our journey, to inspire and motivate each other to remain constant along the Way and to develop friends/families in this cyber-space who can extend that helping hand when we falter along the way - to help us get up and rise again. Amin.

As for the request made by breaze, you may wish to refer to my 3 entries on "Loving our Beloved Prophet". I hope that helps, insya-Allah.

Wasallam.