LOVE FOR ALLAH By Mufti Taqi Usmani

LOVE FOR ALLAH - A DISCOURSE - VOL. 1

Adapted from the "Spiritual Discourses" of Mufti Taqi Usmani (rah)

LET NOT LOVE FOR ALLAH BE LESS THAN THE LOVE FOR A BELOVED

Maulana Rumi (rah) has narrated many stories about lovers in his Mathnawi. There is the story of Layla and Majnoon. Majnoon goes mad for Layla to the extent of digging a river of milk for her sake. No one can deter him from that. He says that he does that for her love and so enjoys doing it.

Maulana Rumi (rah) says:

How can love for the Lord be less than that for Layla?
Man enjoys enduring hardship for the sake of love

LOVE FOR SALARY

A man is employed somewhere. He wakes up for that early in the morning. He is prepared to give up the comfort of his bed in the severe cold to be there on time. He is there all day, away from his wife and children. There are many people who go away early in the morning while their children are still sleeping and return in the night when they have again gone to sleep. But, they would never be willing to give up their employment. They willingly wake up early in the morning and leave their children behind because they love the salary they receive at the end of the month. All difficulties are beautiful for the sake of that love.

If anyone falls in love with anything then every difficulty in its path is easy and pleasant. There's enjoyment in that!

In the same way, there is surely difficulty in giving up sin. There will be hardship in the beginning but once a man is determined and conducts himself within [the laws of] Shariah then he gets help from Allah. After that, he will find enjoyment in that difficulty. There will be pleasure in Allah's obedience.

PLEASURE OF FAITH

The Prophet (sallahu alayhi wa sallam) said: A man had a desire in his heart to use his eyes to the wrong ends - and who does not get such a desire? - The heart insists on casting the sight but fear of Allah prevents him from putting his sight there, and he kept his eyes away! It was very painful for him. His heart bled. But, in return Allah gave him such a pleasure of the sweetness of Iman that the pleasure of misusing the sight was worthless. This is the Prophet's (sallahu alayhi was sallam) promise and is preserved in the Hadith.

This promise is not only limited to the sin of sight but to giving up every sin, including backbiting. Just once stop backbiting, let not the words come out from your tongue. Then see what pleasure you derive. Once man becomes accustomed to this kind of pleasure then his love for, and relationship with Allah becomes stronger.

MAKE THE HEART WORTHY OF THE LOVE FOR ALLAH

Let the longings that grow in your heart go to ruin. Resolve to make your heart worthy of Allah. The heart will then become the recipient of Allah's light. It will grow in love of Allah. It will not commit sin anymore. Allah's mercy will descend.

In the beginning there is always some difficulty. The desires are not easily suppressed but soon the very difficulty seems pleasant. He begins to realize that what he does is only for his Master and Creator. One cannot imagine this pleasure without experiencing it first.

Look at a mother. It may be very cold - a shivering night! A blanket warming her. Her child next to her. But Oh...what's that? The child has passed urine. Will the mother leave the warmth of the blanket and go out into the cold? But if she doesn't do so her child will stay wet and could get a fever. So, she gives up the warmth of the blanket and attends to her child and gives him a new pair of garments and washes the wet ones. This is no ordinary difficulty. But she endures it because she has her child's health in mind. She kills the demand of her nafs [soul] for that.

LOVE REMOVES PAIN

A woman has no child. She longs for one. She gets medical treatment, requests the pious to pray for her, uses ta'weez, does whatever she can for it. Another woman tells her, "Stop, what's wrong with you? You are bringing hardship upon yourself. Its very difficult to raise a child." So the woman with no child replies, "For one child, I can bear the difficulties of a thousand cold nights." She understand what it means to raise a child. All difficulties and hardships are comfortable for a mother. The mother who beseeches Allah for a child realy beseeches for every responsibility and difficulty associated with a child. But she does not see that as a difficulty but as a comfort. She is surely taxed physically when she wakes up in the night to wash the child and his clothes but she has the mental solace and knows that she does that for the good of her child. And that solace gives her pleasure in crushing her desires.

Maulan Rumi (rah) said it beautifully and simply:

In love the bitterest things become sweet.

Those things that cause so much difficulty give pleasure to those who love it. This is because they do that for love's sake!