Becoming Beloved to Allah – Habib Kadhim al Saqqaf
Habib Kadhim al Saqqaf counsels us on how we can become beloved to Allah through the means given to us by Allah and His Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace.
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful and Compassionate. We praise Allah for what He has given, inspired, and bestowed to human beings. He granted this creation the ability to love, and to attain elevated stations of love. And Allah informed us of this reality in the the most truthful speech.
He revealed it to the foremost among humans, in what is in the Qur’an: “O you who believe, whoever among you turns away from His religion, Allah will bring forth a people who loves He loves and who love Him.” (Sura al Maida 5:54)
In this Divine statement is a clear message that among Allah’s servants there are those He particularly love and who particularly love Him. And we, in these blessed nights [of Ramadan] seek out this love for Allah.
We try to become established in those matters that lead to the love of Allah. And we seek that love from Allah, Mighty and Majestic.
The Doors to Allah’s Love
Our Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, opened that door of seeking love from Allah. Had our Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, not opened these doors through his teachings we might have considered ourselves to puny and too insignificant to seek the love of the exalted Lord.
However, the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, opened for us the door of this seeking and being avid for Allah’s love, and attaining this tremendous good. And he taught us to seek Allah’s love through the dua:
عَنْ أَبِي الدَّرْدَاءِ قَالَ قَالَ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ كَانَ مِنْ دُعَاءِ دَاوُدَ يَقُولُ اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ حُبَّكَ وَحُبَّ مَنْ يُحِبُّكَ وَالْعَمَلَ الَّذِي يُبَلِّغُنِي حُبَّكَ اللَّهُمَّ اجْعَلْ حُبَّكَ أَحَبَّ إِلَيَّ مِنْ نَفْسِي وَأَهْلِي وَمِنْ الْمَاءِ الْبَارِدِ
O Allah, I ask you for your love and the love of those who love you and the deeds that will bring me your love. O Allah, make your love more beloved to me than myself and my family and even cold water. (Sunan al-Tirmidhi 3490)
Look at how the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, opened for us the door of seeking and being avid and being keen in asking for Allah’s love. So that we truly love and we are truly beloved to Allah.
To Be Beloved to Allah
Rabia al Adawiyya used to say in her entreaties to Allah: “I am not amazed that I love Allah, but I am mazed that Allah loves me.” Just consider how you, an insignificant, originated creation can be beloved to the Great Creator, the Merciful Creator, the Noble Creator.
So there are means for attaining this love and then Allah gifts to the person its blessings and traces. How do we earn this love?
Through the speech beloved to Allah. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said there are four statements: “Subhan Allah, alhamduliLlah, La ilaha illa Allah, Allah akbar.” These are statements beloved to Allah, the Tremendous.
As much as we repeat the mention of these, they are the means to be beloved to Allah, O you perishing, puny creation, who will depart from this life. It is possible for you to be beloved to the Creator of all creation.
Consider, O puny creation within creation, it is possible for the Creator of all creation to love you, for He is Merciful.
Allah Loves Excellence
Then, by repeating certain auras of the Qur’an, such as Al Ikhlas. When we repeat Sura al Ikhlas, this is a means for Allah to love us. The Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, said of a Companion who loved Sura al Ikhlas and therefore repeated it often: “Inform him that Allah loves him.” What a tremendous Sura. It is a means to attain Allah’s love.
Had it been a means for us to love Allah, that would be sufficient joy and honor. So, how about if it is a means for Allah to love us, Mighty and Exalted? We should recite it a lot to become beloved to the Tremendous Creator.
There are qualities beloved to Allah in His servants. Allah loves those of excellence. We should therefore strive to excel in all that we do, so that we can be beloved to Allah through this.
Turn to Him in Repentance
Then, we should always renew our repentance. “Truly, Allah loves those who are oft-repentant and who purify themselves.” (Sura al Baqara 2:222)
Then, outward and inward purity. Inward means the purity of soundness of the heart. So that we have nothing against anyone in this Umma, or in creation, or humanity – Muslims and believers especially. Through such qualities you will be beloved to Allah. This is through acquiring qualities that in reality are qualities of Allah.
If we characterize ourselves with excellence, this is a quality that Allah possesses. Caring is a quality of Allah. Mercy is a quality of Allah. We acquire the character trait. We resemble the name only, not the reality. For where is Allah’s Mercy for it to be comparable to our mercy? How can out mercy for our children and family compare to Allah’s Mercy for us?
Mercy Takes You to the Merciful
However, when we’re merciful to our children, families, neighbors, and all mankind, and likewise to ourselves – by raising ourselves to the grounds of closeness to the Most Real – or rather, we rise up to the fields of love of Allah, we are merciful to ourselves before we are merciful to others. By being merciful to other we are merciful to ourselves.
When we give ourselves our rights, by busying ourselves with remembrance and good; our due of sleep and of food; even our share of permissible things, these become a means of attaining Allah’s love. So we should be merciful to ourselves, to our relative and our children, in seeking our Lord’s Mercy on us. This will make us beloved to Allah.
Characterizing ourselves with such a trait that Allah loves is a means for attaining to Divine Love.
Consistency Even in Small Things
The actions most beloved to Allah are those that are consistent, even if they are small. So if we for instance perform one rakat of Witr every night or send twenty blessings upon the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace, before sleep, but do so consistently, they are a means to attain Allah‘s love, even if they are small.
These are the four means:
- Speech beloved to Allah.
- Qualities beloved to Allah.
- Renewal of repentance.
- Outward and inward purity.
We ask Allah by His Favour and Generosity that He makes us of His servants who love Him and who are beloved to Him. That He make us stand in the niche of worship out of love for Him. That we worship Allah out of yearning for Him. That we worship Allah out of gratitude for what He has granted us of Islam and Faith. And that He make us members of the Umma of the Prophet, Allah bless him and give him peace. And all praise is to Allah, Lord of the Worlds.
Habib Kadhim currently teaches at the prestigious Islamic institute, Dar al-Mustafa in Tarim as well as sitting on the Council for Legal Verdicts at the same establishment.
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