Do you Really Love Allah? 1. Longing – When we are in a relationship with another person, we look forward to our next encounter, yearn for it even. We think about that other person often, sometimes not able to think about anything else. “The hearts find peace only in the remembrance of Allah” Quran 13:28 Is that how we treat our relationship with Allah? Does He enter our thoughts often? Do we look forward to the next time we will go to the mosque, or do we just look to get our prayer session over with? Do we live our life preparing for and looking forward to our ultimate meeting with Allah? People are always cautious, always measured, when expressing their affection for another human being. Most of us do hold off on uttering the words “I love you” until we are absolutely sure that not only do we truly love the person, but that they will return the sentiment. However, Muslims are quick to express--- with words--- a love of Allah. But do our actions and our prayerfulness and our lifestyles reflect the love of Allah that we claim to have? Below is a litmus test containing 5 proofs--- 5 ways of being, if you will--- that define a true love of Allah: 2. Non-disobedience – We try to never do anything to upset our loved ones, because we love them! Why would we do something that would hurt that person in any way? Why, then, do we commit sins that would hurt Allah? Of course, He is forgiving of all our sins, but our act of committing them strains our relationship with our Creator. If our objective is turning to loving Allah, we must stop committing those sins because we know they would stop us from loving Allah. 3.Remembrance – We remember and mention with enthusiasm the people and things we love in conversations small and large. Do we treat Allah in the same way? Bringing Him up not only at meetings and celebrations, but also in the regular course of our lives? “...And the men who remember Allah often and the women who do so - for them Allah has prepared forgiveness and a great reward.” [ Quran 33:35].” 4. Joy – When we love someone, we enjoy being with them. We spend time with the one or ones we love because it brings us joy. This joy carries into other parts of our life, making us better workers, better citizens, better husbands, wives, children, and friends. Do we approach our prayers practice with such joy? Or are we simply angling for heaven and trying to avoid hell? It is not a bad thing to wish to go to heaven, but we must enjoy our prayer rather than practice it only because it is a must. This is a deeper relationship with Allah. Prayer turns into a source of joy. We wait for the prayer time to arrive and we enjoy practicing it. This is a great proof of loving Allah. The Prophet (PBUH) would to tell Bilal to make the call of prayer saying, “Relieve us with prayer Bilal.” Prayer was a source of relaxation and convenience for the prophet PBUH. 5. Omnipresence – Especially at the beginning of a relationship, we see our new partner in all situations, whether we are with them or not. We see their smile in the sunshine, their tears in the rain, and hear their laughter in the wind. But do we see Allah, the Creator, in all of his creation? “In the creation of the heavens and earth, and the alternation of the night and the day are signs for those of understanding.” [Quran 189-90] I was obviously far from loving Allah when I first knew about these five proofs. There was no love or anything, just talk. This prompted me to make a radical decision one year ago to try and build a relationship with Allah. I am not talking about that kind of relationship where the employee for example does extra work in order to get a bonus! This is just one level of building a relationship, because there is a deeper level. I am talking here about building a friendship. You might wonder what I mean by having a friendship with Allah. It is similar to the friendship that Abraham had with Allah. “And Allah took Abraham as an intimate friend”. An intimate friend is a friend that you love. Each atom of a human’s body must be filled with love. This is the deepest form of relationships that you can have with Allah, which is being his intimate friend. My objective was to deepen my relationship with Allah by doing things with love, desire and pleasure. “O you who have believed, remember Allah with much remembrance [ Quran 33:41] ”
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