Post by yusuf72 on Sept 18, 2020 22:00:13 GMT
As-Salaam alaykum,
In traditional Islamic Thought, there are 2 basic sorts of Divine Love. The first sort is unqualified, for it asserts the reality of Tawhid... there is nothing real but the Real, so there is no beloved but Allah, no lover but Allah, and no love but Allah. The Holy Qur'an voices this love in the ayat:--
"He loves them, and they love Him." (5:54)
Allah's love is unqualified because He loves human beings eternally, and people's love for Allah is unqualified because they love Allah innately, whether or not they are aware of the fact.
The second sort of love takes into account freewill and the role of the Prophetic reminders. It invites people to turn away from metaphorical love and recognize their true Beloved. The King is walking among them in the bazaar, but they have no way to recognize him unless they follow the path of those who witness his presence-- Allah's Prophets and Awliya. The path to follow is summed up in the ayat:--
"Say: [O Muhammad], if you love Allah, follow me, Allah will love you." (3:31)
When people follow the Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, and when Allah Ta'ala comes to love them with this second kind of love, the fruit will be union. An explicit early statement of this union is found in the most authoritative collection of Hadith. In a Hadith-Qudsi, the Prophet, Sallallahu alaihi Wasallam, narrated from Allah the He says:--
"So much does My servant seek nearness to Me through supererogatory works that I
love him. When I love him, I am his hearing, so he hears through Me; his eyesight,
so he sees through Me; his tongue, so he speaks through Me; his feet, so he walks
through Me; his hands, so he takes through Me; his heart, so he knows through Me."
(Bukhari, Hadith No. 6502).