gt8145a@prism.gatech.edu (FADEL,AYMAN HOSSAM) (04/09/91)
THE MUTUAL LOVING FOR THE SAKE OF GOD (al-taHaabbu fi allah, al-tawaaddu fi allah, al-ta'aalufu fi allah al-ta'aakhi fi allah) The sources for this article are the chapter called al-akhuwwa fi allah in iHyaa' `uluum al-diin of al-`allaama abu Haamid muHammad al-ghazaali al- Tuusi (The Chapter of Brotherhood for the Sake of God in The Revival of the Religious Sciences) and riyaaD al-SaaliHiin by al-imaam al-nawawi, which is a collection of hadith reports. THE VIRTUE OF MUTUAL LOVING AND BROTHERHOOD FOR THE SAKE OF GOD God's messenger alayhi assalaam said: No servant of God has ever taken a brother for the sake of God except that God had elevated him a degree in paradise. Mujaahid radiy allahu 'anh said: The mutual lovers for the sake of God, when they meet, they smile at each other and their sins fall off of them like leaves in winter. Anas radiy allahu `anh reported that God's messenger alayhi assalam said: Three things if you do them you will find in them the sweetness of belief: Love God and his prophet more than anything else, don't love a person except for God, and hate that you return to disbelief after God has saved you from it just as you hate to be thrown in the fire. Muslim rahimahu allah reported that Abu Huraira radiy allahu `anh said: God's messenger alayhi ssalam said: God ta`aala will say on the day of Judgement: Where are the mutual lovers in my glory? I will give them shade today when there is no shade except mine. It is agreed that Abu hurayra radiy allahu `anh said: God's messenger alayhi ssalam said: "God will give shade to seven types of people on the day there is no shade but His: a just leader, a young person who grew up worshipping God, a person whose heart is locked up in the masjid, and two persons who loved each other and departed by each other for the sake of God, and the man who was called by a woman of position and beauty but said, "I fear God," and the giver of charity who hides it such that his left hand does not know what his right hand is spending [i.e. he is liberal with his money], and a person who remembers God in a deserted place until his eyes flood with tears." WHAT IS LOVING FOR THE SAKE OF GOD? Abu Haamid rahimahu allah divided love into four categories: 1. Love of the beloved in-and-of itself (Hubb al-maHbuub li dhaatihi) 2. Love of the beloved to acquire something in this world not of the beloved. 3. Love of the beloved to acquire something in the next world. 4. Love of God for God. (al-Hubbu lillaahi fillaahi) Love of the beloved in-and-of itself is possible, but its cause is the sharing of characteristics common to the lover and the beloved. The lover loves the characteristics of the beloved that he finds in himself. Love of the beloved to acquire something is this world is good if the thing desired is good and bad if the thing desired is bad. Love of the beloved to acquire something in the next world belongs to the category of love for the sake of God. Love of God for God means loving a thing merely because God loves it, not for any goal to be arrived at by loving it. An example of this is the believer's love for all prophets salla allaahu alayhim was sallam wa baarak. This final category is also part of loving for the sake of God.