Love for Allah
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Love for Allah
The definition of belief in the Qur'an is complete devotion to Allah and Allah alone. The Hereafter is absolutely inescapable. The believer is devoted to Allah because he knows he will certainly give an account of everything he did in the world. Everything a person owns in the world such as health, intelligence, beauty, wealth, career, good standards of living, spouse, children, and other blessings such as food and clothing are all from Allah and is defined by Allah down to the finest detail. There is no provider other than Allah. The true believer knows this undeniable fact and so loves and glorifies Allah ceaselessly. Surely the one who has given everything is deserving of the greatest love and respect. He never dares to attribute the source of these blessings to any worldly being, to himself, or anyone else, nor does he love any being as he loves Allah.
?Allah is most compassionate and most merciful to mankind? (Qur?an 2265)
When people forget Allah and pay no heed to the true religion, they begin to love and chase after objects in life thinking they exist independent of Allah, deceived into thinking that these objects have an existence outside of Allah, who is the One who actually originates them. In Qur?anic terms, being devoted to objects independent of Allah is associating partners with Allah.
For a believer, the good things in life given to him by Allah, is merely ways to get nearer to Allah. He does this by praising Allah for each and every blessing no matter how disguised it may be. For example, the believer is grateful to Allah for his healthy heart and eyes, this leads him to work more righteously in life as Allah requires him to do so. If he 'loves' anything or any being in life, he does so only so he can increase in his love for Allah and to render thanks to Him. Indeed, that is the purpose of all the blessings Allah has provided people. For example, the believer may love his spouse, this makes the believer thank and love Allah even more and in no way does he consider this love to have originated from any other than Allah. It is all from Allah. In this way, everything on earth is given to us so we can be more devoted to Allah, and follow His commands as described in the Qur'an. If the believer looses anyone or anything of attachment in the world, he really has not lost anything so long as he has love for Allah and continues to be devoted to Him.
When love for objects or human figures, living or of the past, take an independent standing outside the realm of Allah, a person's purpose of living is faulty and he is only following his own vain desires and not Allah. For instance, a person acquires material wealth without duly thanking Allah or a person who ?idolises? an individual due to love for that person outside and beyond the love of Allah, for instance, celebrities, football players, scientists, and thinkers or religious figures.
?Have you considered the one who has taken his own desire as his god? Allah has, knowing him as such, allowed to be strayed? Sealing his ears and heart and covering his eyes ? who can guide such a person after Allah has done this? Will you not take heed?? (Qur?an 4523)
The believer?s only motive on earth is to earn the good pleasure of Allah and only Allah?s approval, no one else?s.
Having now seen the kind of superior understanding of faith and way of life of a true believer, it becomes easier to see that disbelievers are always committing great wrong when they consume Allah's blessings without making it a way to increase in love of Allah and draw nearer to Allah. Indeed, they are arrogant about accepting Allah as the originator of the blessings and deny Him altogether. They begin to venerate human beings and themselves for every blessing they are given and chase after objects thinking they are outside of Allah's originating power.
"Yet, there are those who chose to worship others beside Allah as rivals to Him, loving them as they should love Allah, but the believers have greater love for Allah" (Qur'an 2165)
Knowing that Allah is the source of every single blessing on earth, the true believer derives the greatest pleasure from the worldly blessings Allah has provided for him, while also earning Allah's Paradise in the Hereafter.
The hidden idolatry committed by most people is because their hearts do not reflect on the Qur'an which calls them to true faith. They therefore have given themselves no possibility of bringing themselves to true faith. Only the Qur'an explains to people the true sense of faith.
Unfortunately, this form of hidden idolatry we are discussing is not just restricted to disbelievers. Even many so-called Muslims, who think they are practicing religion, also fall into this hidden idolatry. For example, some Muslims profess their love for Prophet Muhammad readily and are full of praises and glory for the Prophet. Amazingly, the same does not hold true for Allah. Upon a closer analysis, we find that their case is no different from all the other ignorant people who fail to accept true faith in Allah and fail to love and glorify Allah independent of anything else.
Islam is purely and simply a complete surrendering of ones soul to the Almighty Creator and His purpose in Creation. This is actually a comprehension more than anything else. Only the Qur'an provides accurate information on how to attain true faith and comprehension, which is free of corruption, the kind required by Allah in order to be successful in the Hereafter. All Muslims must make sincere attempts to understand what true faith is by taking serious responsibility to study faith directly from the Qur'an, before it is too late. Until a person does this, there can be no chance of true faith.
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Peace AceofHearts
Although most the things you mention in your article are things that most of us at free-minds know, i still think its a good article. A good reminder for us. Most of what you write in the article are matters and ideas and interpretations that layth, Ayman and Arnold Yasin and many other people have wrote about in their articles. Some of the things you mention in your article about idolizing prophets etc are also things that many free-minds members including me have wrote about in the different threads here. Almost anyone that has studied the Quran or read the whole quran and interpreted it themselves while reflecting upon the verses, knows about the things you mention. So i guess its more written towards a sunni and shia-muslim audience. With all respect, i am just trying to give constructive critism and be honest. There is nothing i disagree with in your article, and as i mentioned above, i think its a good article, and i also think that you are a good writer ) However, if i was you, i would write more about things which people didn't know about. For example I would have written about something special i had observed in many quranic verses, or i would have written about a special event that happened in one of the stories about a prophet in quran. By other words, i would have written about something that very few, or no one has ever written about when it comes to Islam.
I got one question. Why do you use the word Allah, and not write God instead?
Yours sincerely
David -
Dear AceOfHearts, I hope you don't mind me answering, I just couldn't resist.
Hi David, and Peace on you,
I got one question. Why do you use the word Allah, and not write God instead?
Um, there is a good answer that I offer for your consideration. I do not know Arabic, just a little, but actually not even the basics. I like languages, however. I learned about the word Allah from a popular Sunni website and discussion, before I got introduced to Free-Minds.org.
You probably know this, but put simply, the syntax and semantics of the word Allah is a combination of ?al? for ?the? and ?illah? for ?entity of worship?. So, Al?illah can mean ?the god? or even 'a god', but Allah in Arabic means ?THE god?. Put another way, the difference between ?Al?illah? and the word ?Allah? is that ?Allah? is an overarching absolute, as in ?THE God? or "THE Lord". The semantics can also specifically be conceived of as, "THE ENTITY at the RECEIVING END of all worship". I too use the word Allah, when referring to God, or phrases such as 'the most merciful', 'the supreme in grace', and so on to avoid the gendered aspect of the English word God. Though, I see no problems using it at all. Personal preference . We are, after all, urged by Allah in the Qur'an to call on the lord God by the most beautiful names!
Plainly, Allah means THE 'God', and not just ?a? possible god.
tempt Ha haa, so much for a word in a secular world! D
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Peace Flameindecent
Off course Allah means "The God". However, the reason i asked the question was because i think it is better to write "God" when we write articles in english. Why? Well, if you write an article about for example globalization, do you then for example use spanish words like loco and sombrero in your englis-article? Probably not. Wouldn't it then be better to either write all the words as english in article about Islam, rather than writing all the words except one word in arabic (the word Allah) ? This is what sunni-muslim do to separate themselves from the rest of the religions. What they forgot is that their God is the same god as the god in christianity, judaism and all other religions that believe in the same God. Have you ever seen christians use the word "Yehova" of the language of their scripture in articles about christianity? From what i seen, christian use the word god when they write english articles about christianity. Some of them rarely, or even never use the words yehova or elohim from their scripture language. They however use the word God for our God. So i think there is no point to write Allah, when we know that Allah is the same as "the god". I am not saying its wrong, and everyone should write what they its the best thing to write, however in my opinion it is better to write "the god" or god in our articles. No verse in the Quran demands us the use the word allah when we write articles about Islam. These are my personal opinions based on Logic.
Yours sincerely
David -
Hi David and I wish you peace!
Um, first, I'm glad that you're a logic kind of person. I love it myself. bravo Thankfully, I'm no Sunni anymore, and that's thanks to both my creator and the efforts of free minds. Really!
Anyway, the issue for me is this
Wouldn't it then be better to either write all the words as english in article about Islam, rather than writing all the words except one word in arabic
True. No doubt. However, again, I offer for consideration, not everyone knows English. That is, some know more, and some less. Place them on a continuum. And not just English, pick any from your list of known languages. What I'm getting at here is, it's better to open lines of communication rather than have an exclusive club. That is, for our way of life to spread, it would aid readers to get transliterations in addition to the semantics of various lessons in the Qur'an. I hope you agree.
Also, as you know, English is an evolving language. "McJob" was not a word, it is now. And the word "Allah", is literally a transliteration of the Arabic word, In English we spell it as 'Allah'... that's arbitrary technically. Therefore, there ought not to be any issue, so long as we're having a rational exchange in text, in using the word Allah in English. Though, I agree with you fully, because I too see simplicity and clarity as being appealing in a certain way. My concern is the gender associated with the 'term' god. And, please, lets not talk about the capital 'G'. As you know, the sound of the word 'Allah' does not possess this gendered conception. Sorry, it looks like I took my feminism classes a little too seriously . -)
I pray I was clear. And, I sincerely would be happy to learn more from you about writing in "English" per se, but I hope you understand that it's difficult for a constantly evolving language. And David, I sincerely do not mean no offend. Please pardon my style that's all... still new to this. peace
Now, I like saying "Alykum As'salaam", which I learned conveys, upon you be peace from the source thereof - The Arabic language has this wonderful quality, unlike English, which I like to share. And again, I fully acknowledge what you've said... Peace!
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Hi Rahi
I am not offended my friend ) I'm actually glad that you spoke your mind. You havent done anything wrong, so no apologies This is actually what free-minds stands for. In this people speak their mind to the fullest, because the truth shall be told. We all have right to have different opinions, and no one should be offended by truth, logic or reason. As long as i've been here in this forum, i can remember that people question eachother and use arguments, and that there is no political correctness or censorships like some other forums. And this is what i like about free-minds, and this is what every forum and countries should accept if they want to evolve fully. However, most forums that are political correct doesn't accept facts and proofs. They don't accept facts and proofs because it threaten their false beliefs or systems. The truth (Facts and proofs) eat up falsehood. So they will not let the truth be told in the forums, at all costs. Sad, but true.
I guess you are right. Using the word "allah" in articles is a personal preference and does not matter. I think it the actually can be good, if it is used for the traditionalists (sunni and shia-muslims). If we for instance write "allah", rather than god in the english-articles, the sunni and shia muslim may easier accept the articles because they relate to the word allah and are familiar with it. At the same time if we see the usage of the word allah from the other side, it can both negative. Because some christians and hindu's and jews and people from other faith are probably more familiar with the word "god", so they will like this better. Anyway, i think a true and honest truthseeker doesn't care about which words that are used. He will accept both of the words; (the arabic Allah), and (the english God). So after all it this not matter for honest truthseekers. I agree that english is an evolving language, and have studied this myself. For instance the word blog didn't exist in the past. New words come and some of them even replace the old ones, correct me if im wrong.
Yours sincerely
David -
Dear David, hey and peace on you!
Thank you for your post! Sincerely. And for sure, I've learned too, that languages can either evolve or go extinct. English is constantly evolving (Blog, McJob, etc.), however several languages around the world are facing a hard time, because there are a fewer and fewer people who use and practice it. Perhaps, because English and our computers etc., are even at the computer language level (syntactical level), in English very often. Also, I know in India at least, English is a means for additional income. So, other languages here, start being ignored and people are unable to relate to certain concepts in the 'mother tongue'. That is why, I try to preserve, if possible, the semantics or meanings which lie in the language of "origin". It's usually quiet spectacular. Greek and Latin, I learned aid reasoning through a host of subjects very easily, simply a function of the language. I wish I knew them! hmm Hence, Arabic and others are important.
In fact, the lord choose Arabic for the Qur'an because it is, perspicuous (very very clear) according to a Yusuf Ali translation of the Qur'an.
At the same time if we see the usage of the word allah from the other side, it can both negative. Because some christians and hindu's and jews and people from other faith are probably more familiar with the word "god", so they will like this better.
This is actually my opinion as well, very accurate in my experience! Ha haa... So we're faced with a dilemma of some sort. Because we're both right in a way, and further, we are for sure living in a secular world, some parts more secular than others.
I do not want to go off topic, however, from our discussion, I can surmise as follows Since we live in a world with various faiths', it's best to keep the peace. That is, by expressing ourselves, perhaps, in ways that are comfortable to peoples' understanding (thanks for that point). This, I believe will take effort, however, opening lines of communication, as we agreed, may actually pay our secular world good dividends in the long run. Aiding the truth seeker, is always cool, especially one looking for more information about the truth in our way of life (which is "Islam". I'm almost, if not, sure that you agree! D
Last point, maybe we ought to use the word "Allah" more often in English, so that it too gets a more refined entry in our dictionaries, because the semantics or meaning is pretty unique, along with several other Arabic ways to call on God... like, Ar'Rahman... Ar'Raheem... and so on (both are mercy, Rahman is the superlative, and Raheem, from what I learned, is less intense). But, God is Ar'Rahman 'nir' Raheem, that's much more mercy than we can deal with! Ha haa D
Just to put things in perspective, the entry by AceOfHearts points to the Qur'an and believers who have "greater LOVE" for God, our cherisher, sustainer. For, the Lord (Allah), in other words.
Peace! peace
Please email me anytime, I'm sure we have lots to share.
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Peace be to everyone.
Thank you very much for the beneficial discussions. Here are the answers to the following questions.
- Who are the articles targetted at?
As you have suggested, any articles I put up, written by me, are all directed towards Sunnis/Shias or any tradition orientated Muslim. They are not targeted for people who have already grasped faith as is described in the Qur'an. I put them up on free-minds when I do my circle of visits of the traditional forums posting a finished article, just so readers of free-minds traditional and non-traditional too may benefit from it.
- Why use the word "Allah" and not "God"
To make the article more suitable for the 'Muslim' mass audience - ie. to make it more acceptable. This will help shape the 'Islam' already known to people rather than what may appear to be a new Islam.
Take care and thanks for the kind words David_K about my writing - its all from Allah / God.