Sunday 18 Mar 2018
Lesson 9: To Love Allah with all the heart, different types of love, and a statement of Imam Muqbil
- Recap of Lesson 8:
- Shaikh Muhammad Amaan Al-Jaami’s advise on how to prepapre for death
- Balancing between love, fear and hope
- The example of how physical light illuminates a room and expands the vision, likewise the light of Eemaan expands the chest. The opposite is also true
- Ibn Al-Qayyim says from among the means of bringing about relaxation of the Chest is “Al-‘Ilm”;The Religious Knowledge.
- Essential vs supererogatory knowledge
- Ibn Al-Qayyim says from among the means of bringing about relaxation of the Chest is Inaaba (turning to Allah in repentence) and to love Allah with all your heart;
- To love Allah such that your heart does not love anyone else alongside him
- NOTE 1: Love is of two types. Loving for the sake of Allah and Loving someone alongside The latter is prohibited as it is Shirk (associating partnes with Allah) and this nullifies one’s Islam.
- NOTE 2: Besides the above two types of Love, there is also the love that comes from the natural inclination someone has e.g. for his/her family, their wealth etc. However, this type of love is not considered Shirk as long as it is not submissiveness and humility
- NOTE 3: Love for the sake of Allah is a righteous deed, and Loving the awlia (allies) of Allah is considered good, however we do not call the awlia of Allah those sufi leaders who claim to have “Kashf” (pretend to know the unseen), or those who instruct their followers to make dhikr a thousand times in one sitting, or those who believe they have control over the affairs of the world etc. We find that sufi followers love their Imams with submissiveness and humility
- NOTE 4: It is better to love the one who is a faasiq from the people of sunnah than the worshipper from the people of innovation
- Ibn Al-Qayyim says we love Allah with all the heart, the type of love of worship which carries humility and submissiveness, this should only be directed towards Allah
- Therefore, we should find enjoyment in the worship of Allah
- This will alleviate the chest
- Associating others with Allah e.g. regarding love, fear and hope etc will lead to constriction of the chest:
- Some (many sufis) believe that they will be forgiven even if they direct their love of Allah towards others alongside Allah such as a sufi imam. For example, a sufi follower having great love for his Imam, whether he is alive or not, such that he is submissive to him or has humility for him. Know that Allah does not forgive shirk
- Ibn Qayyim says There is nothing that can expand your chest more than this, to such an extent that a person who finds enjoyment in worshipping Allah saying, “If I am going to be in a Paradise that will be like this, then I indeed will be in a good state”, i.e. paradise on earth is to love and worship Allah.
- A Sincerity and worshipping him whilst being conscious of him has a reward that is immediate, this reward is this relaxation of the chest
- In a similar way, a lack of these things and having shirk will have a recompose which is instantaneous, this is the tightness of the chest and its restlessness
- The life of those who sin against Allah, even if they are wealthy, have a suffocating life
- Ibn Qayyim says indeed love of Allah has an amazing effect on relaxing the chest and bringing delight to the soul, and none knows this than the one who has experienced it
- When does this type of love occur?
- The one who preoccupies himself/herself with useless things rather than the worship of Allah, then this person will not experience this
- Despite the tremendous amount of trial and tribulation that the Prophet’s, Messengers and the allies of Allah experienced, they were not people who lived suffocating lives.
- For example, the life of Ibn Taymiyyah, see Lesson 5 for more
- In fact, Ibn Taymiyyah wrote many of his books while he was in prison, expelled or banished. This shows how he was preoccupied with worshipping Allah, learning and teaching the religion and that the difficulties of the world did not affect him in the least.
- How do we respond when we are tested even a little? Or if minor issues occur?
- Instead of increasing our frequency and consistency in striving to get close to Allah, many of us do the opposite and instead become even further away from Allah,
- We become absent from the worship of Allah and become preoccupied by these issues which are small compared to what the previous generations went through.
- A comprehensive statement of Imam Muqbil regarding the blessing of seeking knowledge and the sweet enjoyment of reading ahaadith