Love of God

Bismillah Ar-Rahman Ar-Rahim,

I begin in the name of Allah (God), The Beneficent, The Merciful.

My Dear brothers and sisters of all faiths and beliefs. I just wanted to share something with you all which I feel is so necessary for every human being to have. I say with confidence that this is not a thing to be desired but rather a thing which we all crucially need. For this reason, I sincerely pray that we all take from this what we can and use it to strengthen each other.

All of us, no matter what walk of life we are on or what level of understanding we have reached thus far, have a common goal. This common goal is true happiness. Deep witin our core we search for this peace hoping that something will quench this undying thirst. The poor man looks for it in wealth. The student looks for it in a successful career. Some look for it in finding a soul mate. But the essence of this search is that inclination to find true happiness.

Can our Beloved Creator allow for this need to stir within the depths of our being and not provide us with the remedy? Would he not provide us with the very need He placed within us?

The Holy Qur'an beautifully answers us:

"In the remembrance of God do the hearts find satisfaction" (13:28)

God has revealed something which is so powerful and profound that it makes one shake in gratitude. In the first place, He has given us the gift of life when there was none to care about whether we exist or not and on top of this He has honored us to such a degree that He has made Himself the answer to our undying need! When He takes His place in our hearts, there will be nothing more our essence needs and nothing else will be desired.

There are two traditions of our Holy Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) which are worthy of our reflection:

"The heart is the sanctuary of God"

"The heart is the throne of the Beneficent"

These two traditions show us that the heart is for God and God alone. Noone and nothing else belongs there. If we try to love the transient things in life, they will pass. Nothing lasts except for the love of God.

This love of God can be replaced by nothing else and once we have it there is nothing you and I won't do for it. You will give everything you have as long as you know that your Beloved is with you. Such beauty and tranquility does the heart feel in loving God. This is a thing we all need to develop within us. I swear in sincerity that nothing compares to the peace that loving God brings.

If I could but express it in words but it would never do justice. All the tears we ever cried for His sake would not be able to measure up to thanking Him for giving us this blessing of loving Him. This should be our true goal and the aim of all our efforts.

I want to leave you with a few words that are very special and dear to my heart. They come from a sincere servant of God, supplicating to His Beloved as his heart trembles and his tears fall freely:

My God, who can have tasted the sweetness of Your love and wanted another in place of You?

Who could have become intimate with Your nearness and then sought removal from You?

These words of beauty come from none other than my Beloved Imam Zainul 'Abideen (as). I can not imagine what he must have been feeling as these phrases left his mouth. How pure was this man's heart? How intense was his longing? There is none that can taste the love of God and then want anything else after it, as my beloved Imam has mentioned. I pray that we all can reach this true love of God. I conclude with a verse from the Qur'an:

"And the true believers are overflowing with love for God" (2:165)

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If you are interested in reading the full version of the supplication I cited above, you can visit the link below:

http://www.duas.org/sajjadiya/dua77.htm