Love in IslamEthics

Lecturer: Dr. Bahmanpour

By: Marzia Jaghori

ICAS, In Affiliation with Middlesex University

Winter Semester

December 17, 2004

Similarly the way man has physical needs in life which he strives and struggles to fulfill, the soul too has needs that must be satisfied.

These spiritual needs and urges have been placed by the hands of the creator in the depths of the creation’s soul.

Man has a natural inclination to find Love and love in any form towards any object has no valid reality except when it is for the sake of God.

All love directly or indirectly in some way, shape, or form is a man’s hope to be in reach of the ultimate perfection, which can be nobody but God-the Almighty.

Next

Love the Sole Purpose of our Creation

God created the universe to have something or someone there to reciprocate his love back to him.

From the vast universe to the cosmos, the clouds above our heads to even the most minuscule insects, there is love intertwined within every creation of Allah’s. There is no realm of existence where love does not manifest itself in some way.

Next

“Oh my beloved! After witnessing Your infinite beauty I become

entangled.Seeing, the manifestation of Your

glory I become saturated with joy and ecstasy.”

-Imam Khomeini

(Amini, Self Building. p.415) Next

55

God’s Love for Man

It is the man’s heart which attracts God’s love towards mankind more than any other creature.

The angels cannot feel the intensity of Allah’s love as the humans can due to the fact that they cannot undergo wrath, severity, and detachment like man can. And the animals cannot feel love in the way man is capable because they cannot experience beauty, tenderness, and proximity suitably. All the conflicting celestial qualities are brought jointly within man, nearness, distance, gentleness, and severity.

Love the Sole Purpose of our Creation

Next

God, man’s real beloved

True love and Imitative love

True Love - All love in actuality is love for God, for the reason that everything else in existence is merely a shadow

or reflection of him. Only God truly exists and one should only direct their love towards him.

Imitative Love - Belief in independent existence of various objects of desire therefore turn one’s love towards them.

“Surely my lord is all-merciful, all-love.” Holy Quran (11:90)

Next

The Secret

I need a drink, wine maiden, that cup with grape stain lined,for love that once seemed pleasing has burdened down my mind.

Ah smell how West Wind wafts her musk through the tavern door;now feel our pumping hearts beat fast, watch our fears unwind.

Why do we who visit love think we'd stay forever?We know the yearn to wander will always lovers find.

So we asked the Elder: What law makes love bring pain?Sobriety, he laughed, you'll feel better when you're wined.

Your plight cannot be aided by that dull fear to riskthe toss and turn of love's dark storm upon the ocean blind.

See clear in all these gathered friends who still hold you dearlove's secret is that you must love without desires that bind.

Hafez, enjoy the one you love, drink deep and embrace;seek not with her to please your world, just give love and be kind.

From: 'The Spiritual Wisdom of HafezHaleh Pourafzal and Roger Montgomery

http://www.allspirit.co.uk/hafizsecret.html Next

God, man’s real beloved

Perfection

Human nature seeks flawlessness and beauty, and God is the absolute perfection and eternal beauty. When one is in deep infatuation with someone or something, whatever the field to which they belong and whatever the object of their love, since they identify perfection with them, they concentrate all their attention to their beloved. They long for an absolute magnificence and perfection which has no defect. If they reach anything greater to it their heart turns away from the original ideal and towards another superior one. One by one every man’s objects of desire will show their unfaithfulness and man with a broken heart will turn his love elsewhere. There is no other beloved except the perfect being towards whom human nature is directed, the only beloved that will not disappoint anyone eternally. All other love which is love for others than God originates from love for him, in due course leads to him.

“I have turned my face towards him who created the heavens and the earth……” Holy Quran (6:79)

Next

How to Reciprocate God’s How to Reciprocate God’s LoveLove

How to Reciprocate God’s How to Reciprocate God’s LoveLove

Act in a Manner that would Please God

Aside from the fact that one who loves God is loved by him, a real love for God prompts one to prove that if someone really loves him he would act in a manner that would please him. God says to Prophet Muhammad to tell the people in the Quran:

Act in a Manner that would Please God

Aside from the fact that one who loves God is loved by him, a real love for God prompts one to prove that if someone really loves him he would act in a manner that would please him. God says to Prophet Muhammad to tell the people in the Quran:

Through invocation one can gradually lift himself from the material world into the next world. A lover enjoys talking to his beloved, strives at every chance to do so, and feels the pain of separation when they are not in proximity of their beloved.

Invocation

“Remember the name of the lord at morning and evening.” Holy Quran (76:25)

“Say, if you love God, then follow me, and God will love you and forgive you your sins, and God is forgiving and Merciful” (3:31)

Next

Ayatullah Baqir Al-Sadr

In our world, there can be no truth except that of Allah's good pleasure. Had

the Imam worked for worldly gains, he would have been the most miserable person. Yet when he worked for Allah, he said on his deathbed "By the God of the Ka'aba, I am a successful person". This world is not for the students of theology. A student looking for this world can get neither this world nor the next. Therefore, it is incumbent upon us, as students, to confine our efforts to seeking the next world for this world has no value to us.

”

“

http://al-islam.org/beliefs/philosophy/sadrspeech.html

Next

How to Reciprocate God’s LoveNothing should come into conflict with your love for God

Man must separate God from imitative beloveds, enhance his seeking and need through spiritual discipline under the guidance of an educated, and wipe out all things other than God including himself so only God can be the core of his adoration.

Imam Ali once said:“Blessed is he who sincerely devotes the entirety of his actions, knowledge, love, hatred, receiving, relinquishing, speech, silence, deeds, and statements absolutely to Allah.” Al-Majlisi, Bihar Al-Anwar, vol.77, p.289.

Imam Sadiq said once, “The heart is the sanctuary of God, therefore do not settle therein anything but God.” Al-Majlisi, Bihar Al-Anwar, vol. 70, p.25.

Next

How to Reciprocate God’s LoveHow to Reciprocate God’s Love

If God asks us to give our lives to protect innocent lives or our territorial integrity or similar to, we shouldn’t let our love for this world or any other distraction i.e. family, wealth, power, etc. avert us from striving in his way.

Nothing should come into conflict with your love for GodNothing should come into conflict with your love for God

Next

“Say, If your fathers and your sons, your brethren and your wives, your kinsfolk and the property you have acquired, the commerce you fear may slacken and the dwellings which you love-if these are clearer to you than God and his apostle and striving in his way, then wait till God brings his command; God does not guide an ungodly people.”

Holy Quran (9:24) Next

No one is more worthy of love and genuine affection than the divine being.

Love is the most important principle of existence in the real world.

Next

Love Allah (SWT)By: Unknown Author

Thy love has infatuated me;O my Allah, I love Thee!

Thy love is so sweet, really;

O my Allah, I love Thee!

Neither wealth pleaseth me,Nor do I worry about poverty.

Thy love, alone, makes me happy;O my Allah, I love Thee!

Thou hast commanded us to pray,And advised to keep in the right

way;Thine blessings to enjoy in

endless way.O my Allah, I love Thee!

The nafs I have is so treacherous;Poor me, with this being so lecherous!

I've found the real delight, so gorgeous:O my Allah, I love Thee! Doing the prayers properly,

And also earning the worldly,Is what I do daily and nightly.

O my Allah, I love Thee!

Love is not only words, O Hilmi!Thy Allah commandeth drudgery;Let your manners testify to thee!

O my Allah, I love Thee!

Islam's enemies are so many,Attacking the religion insidiously;

How could one ever sit idly!O my Allah, I love Thee! A lover simply will not sit lazily,

Lest his darling should be hurt slightly.Silence the enemy, and then say honestly:

O my Allah, I love Thee!

http://www.islamic-paths.org/Home/English/Discover/Poems/Content/Love_Allah.htm The End