Allah Loves a Believer

Allah Loves a Believer

Allah has blessed each and every one of us with an innumerable amount of blessings, but perhaps we can all agree that the greatest blessing that Allah has given us is the blessing of faith — the blessing of Iman — the fact that Allah has allowed us to be amongst those who proclaim:

This is not from anything that we earned. This is not from any doing of our own. There are billions — not just millions but billions — of people who do not partake in this blessing. Allah has blessed us with the ability to believe in this.

Now, once we understand that the greatest blessing that we can have is the fact that we believe, it behooves us — it is important for us — to know what are the qualities of those people who believe. We should be concerned about how Allah has described the believers in the Qur'an, and once we understand how Allah has described the believers in the Qur'an, we should ask ourselves how well do we fit the description, and then we should make an effort to try to fit the description more and more and better and better.

So amongst the many ayat, Allah dedicates different passages in the Qur'an to describe the qualities of the believers. There are a set of passages in Suratul Furqan, there are a set of passages in Suratul Qasas, and throughout the Qur'an. But I want to focus on one ayah — not even the entire ayah, but a portion of the ayah — where Allah says:

"And of the people are some who take other than Allah as equals [to Him]. They love them as they should love Allah. But those who believe are stronger in love for Allah."

The Quality of the True Believer: أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ

That those who believe have an extreme amount of love for Allah. Before I go and mention this quality, I want us to understand something. The word Allah uses here is آمَنُوا. In the Qur'an, Allah uses two words to refer to those who believe: آمَنُوا and أَسْلَمُوا — those who have surrendered themselves, those who are considered Muslim, and then those who are Mu'min.

The higher level of belief is the Mu'min. What is the difference? The Mu'min is the one who has wholeheartedly accepted Islam, meaning that everything that Islam asks of them, they conform to. So in one hadith, the Prophet mentions:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 69)

"None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his parents, his children, and all of mankind put together."

Now, if we ask ourselves if we fit this description, we will find that it's very difficult to say that we love everyone more than the Prophet. But this is our goal. This is what we should be striving for, and this is what Allah and the Prophet has described a Mu'min to be.

So Allah says وَالَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — those who have a complete amount of faith, those who have the perfect level of faith — what is the standard? What is their quality? We should want to strive to be like that: أَشَدُّ حُبًّا لِلَّهِ — that they have an extreme amount of love for Allah, that they love Allah more than they love anyone else and more than they love anything else. Their love of Allah is far above everything and everyone.

The Story of Bilal and the Hadith of This World

Let me give you an example from the lives of the companions. Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him), when the Prophet had passed away, he left Madinah al-Munawwarah. Then after a while he had a dream in which the Prophet said, "What is this cold shoulder that you are showing me? You never come to visit." So he went to Madinah al-Munawwarah to visit the Prophet.

I want to focus on one part of the story, which is that he couldn't stay in Madinah al-Munawwarah because he saw that the Prophet wasn't there, and everything in Madinah al-Munawwarah was reminding him about the Prophet. So he asked the Khalifah at that time to give him permission to go in the path of Allah. Permission was granted, and during that time he was struck with a fatal blow, and now he was about to pass away.

This reminds us of the hadith:

"This world is a prison for the believer and a paradise for the non-believer."

One of the interpretations of this — and perhaps the one that we are most acquainted with — is that this world is a prison for the believer because when a person is in prison they are not able to do everything that they want. Likewise, a believer lives in this world not trying to do whatever they want, not fulfilling their desires, but we have to think before we take every step: is this action permissible or is this action impermissible? Will this action bring about the pleasure of Allah, or will this action bring about the displeasure of Allah? So based on that, we are not going to be able to do everything that we want in this world. We have to confirm our actions to that which is pleasing to Allah.

The second interpretation of this hadith is: how is this world a prison for the believer? Because when a person is in prison, they are not able to visit their loved ones. They are barred from their loved ones. They are distant from their loved ones. So when Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) was passing away — and he had a great love for Allah, which is the quality that Allah is mentioning in this ayah — his wife came to him and she said, "Ya huzna!" — expressing her grief — "You are about to pass away in such a grievous moment."

What did Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) say? He said, "Wa farha!" — "Such a beautiful moment!" Why? Because now I am going to be attached — I am going to be with the One whom I love, which is Allah.

So this is the quality of the believer: that we have a great amount of love for Allah.

How Much Does Allah Love Us?

However, another question that we have to ask ourselves — which is perhaps a more important question — is: how much does Allah love us?

Now, as a general rule, as we learn from the ayat of the Qur'an and the hadith, Allah loves the believers generally, because it is the fact that we are fulfilling the purpose of existence. The world still exists because — when will Qiyamah, when will the Day of Judgment, be established? "La taqoomus sa'atu hatta la yuqal fil ardi Allahu Allah" — that the Qiyamah will not come until no one is doing the worship of Allah. When no one is doing the worship of Allah, the purpose of the existence of the world is not being fulfilled and Allah will establish Qiyamah. Who is fulfilling the purpose of the creation of this world? We are — by worshipping Allah. So by virtue of that, Allah loves us.

However, it is possible that Allah loves one Muslim over the other, and Allah favors one believer over the other. We have to ask ourselves: what is our relationship with Allah? What are the signs that Allah loves us? This is a question that we have to ask ourselves — do we fit that description? — and then we should try to strive to fit that description.

Signs That Allah Loves a Believer

There are many ahadith in which the Prophet describes the signs that indicate Allah loves a believer. I'm going to mention a few of these signs.

First Sign: Allah Will Use You for His Deen

The first sign that comes to mind is:

"When Allah loves a servant, He uses him." What does it mean that Allah will use this servant? One meaning is that Allah will use this servant for the sake of His Deen, for the purpose of propagating His Deen, for the sake of teaching other people.

I want to mention something: often times when you think of being used for the Deen of Allah, this doesn't mean that it only applies to the alim or the mufti or the imam or so on and so forth. Each and every one of you can be used for the sake of Allah, and each and every one of us can fall under this description. How?

Let me give you an example — a criterion that we can ask ourselves: how much is Allah using us? When you are together with your friends, when you are together with your acquaintances, or when people are in your company, ask yourselves: are you someone who will bring them closer to Allah? Are you someone who will bring them closer to the dunya? Or are you someone who will bring them closer to Shaitan? Just ask yourself that question. Because the ulema mention: if you want to know your place with Allah, ask yourself what does Allah consume your time with.

You know, there are certain people who are just consumed with work — whenever they fulfill the quota that their job demands, but whenever they have an opportunity to work overtime they don't need to, they will jump on that opportunity because that's what they love. They are what we call workaholics — they just love to work because they want to gain more and more income. But we have to ask ourselves: what is more important — us building a more luxurious lifestyle for ourselves, or, for instance, when you have extra time, what do you do? Do you try to allot some of that extra time to learn Qur'an and to learn something about this Deen?

Today, none of us have an excuse not to be learning about Islam. None of us have an excuse not to be involved in some type of education. There are so many opportunities today, whether it's online or here — the Sunday school, the Sunday classes, the Saturday classes. Almost every day of the week you can find a halaqah, almost every day of the week you can find a program in the masjid. But you have to ask yourself: how keen are you to want to join those programs? How keen are you to want to educate yourself about the Deen?

Because one hadith mentions:

"Whoever Allah wishes good for, He gives them a deep understanding of the Deen." But that deep understanding begins somewhere — it begins with a step here or there. Ask yourself: how keen are you when an announcement is made that there is going to be a program at the masjid?

Some people, when they hear that there is going to be a dars of tafsir or a Sunday class or a Saturday class, think to themselves, "I'd rather go hang out with my friends," or "I'd rather go watch a movie." We have to come to terms with our own spiritual reality — where do our priorities lie? — and we have to recognize that we will be asked about this.

If we want Allah to love us, one of the signs is that Allah will use you for the sake of His Deen — whether it be by someone being around your company and they are praying more, or at work when it is time for Salah, do you call your fellow co-worker to join you in Salah? Do you help propagate praying in jama'ah? These are certain questions that we have to ask ourselves.

In addition to that, the hadith indicates further what it means that Allah will use him — not just your relationship with another individual, not just allowing another person to be better, but your relationship with yourself. The Sahabah asked:

"How will Allah use us if He loves us?" One of the things the Prophet said was: يَفْتَحُ — Allah will open doors of good deeds. Allah will allow you to perform more good deeds. You are serving yourself — you are doing a favor to yourself — Allah is allowing you to be the means of your own goodness. So this is another sign that Allah loves His servant: because Allah will allow you to perform more good deeds.

Second Sign: Allah Will Test You

Another sign that Allah loves His servant is:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2396)

"When Allah loves His servant, He tests them." And another hadith which correlates to this:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2396)

"When Allah loves His servant, He hastens to them their punishment [in this world]." Allah will cause them to experience hardship in this dunya.

You know, often times when we think of love — our relationship with one another, our relationship with our family — we associate love with ease. We shouldn't necessarily apply that same thinking to our relationship with Allah. Why am I saying this? Because, my dear brothers and sisters, just because Allah tests you in a certain way and you are in a difficulty, that does not mean that Allah is upset with you. And that trial or tribulation should not be a means or cause of an individual becoming farther and farther away from their Deen.

So many times I hear of instances where a sister is in a difficulty and because of that difficulty she stops wearing the hijab. Or I've heard of a brother who is in a difficulty and because of the difficulty he is experiencing, he interprets it as if Allah is upset with him — and he was praying five times a day, he was coming to the masjid, and then: not even one prayer anymore. Or they go from five times a day to less than that. Just because Allah will test a servant does not mean that Allah is upset with them.

And likewise the opposite: just because Allah favors someone, just because Allah gives someone some blessings, does not mean that Allah is happy with them. Imam Ahmad said:

"If you see a man whom Allah has blessed — Allah has given him the luxuries of this life and he seems to be having a life of ease and comfort — and that person is insistent upon the disobedience of Allah, then know that this is istidraj." No — Allah is not favoring them; Allah is taking them step by step to the hellfire. Just because Allah gives a person ease and luxuries does not mean that Allah loves them, and likewise just because Allah tests an individual does not mean Allah is upset.

One time Imam Shafi'i he was making tawaf, and there was a man in front of him making tawaf, and the man was saying in his tawaf, making a du'a:

"Oh Allah, are You pleased with me?" So Imam Shafi'i said, "What type of du'a is this, my brother?" The man turned around and said, "Who are you to interrupt my du'a and my tawaf?" Imam Shafi'i said, "I am Muhammad ibn Idris," and then he said, "Tell me — why is that wrong?" He said, "Because all you have to ask yourself is: are you happy with Allah, so that Allah may be happy with you?" Then the man said, "How do I know that I am happy with Allah?" Imam Shafi'i said: "If you are happy with Allah in your difficulties just as you are happy with Allah in your times of ease, then that means you are pleased with Allah, and Allah is pleased with you."

So these are signs that Allah loves an individual — the fact that Allah will test that individual. If we look at the life of the Prophet, we find that his tests were never a means of him coming farther and farther away from Allah. The moment he was given wahy, the moment he was given revelation, his life became more and more difficult. People were calling him — he went from As-Sadiq Al-Amin to Al-Kadhdhab Al-Majnun As-Sahir. And did he consider that a reason to never have gone to the Cave of Hira? He didn't think that.

As a matter of fact, in Ta'if, when he was being stoned by the people of Ta'if, he stopped in a place and made a du'a. One of the most beautiful things he said in that du'a:

"If this difficulty is not because You are upset with me — if You are not causing me to be in this difficulty because You are upset with me — then, O Allah, I don't care. Bring the difficulty, so long as that does not mean that You are upset with me."

The Prophet did not allow the means of difficulty to cause him to go further and further away from his Deen. Rather, it was a means of him getting closer to Allah.

Third Sign: Allah Will Protect You from the Dunya

Another sign — and the last sign I'll mention — is that when Allah loves an individual, the hadith mentions:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2036)

"When Allah loves His servant, He protects them from the dunya — just as any of you when you are taking care of someone who is sick, and that sick person wants something to drink, they want water, and you know that that water is harmful for them but they want it — are you going to give them the water? You are not going to give them the water, even though they want it, because you know if you give it to them it will be harmful for them."

Likewise, the Prophet says that one sign that Allah loves His servant is that Allah will protect them from the dunya. A person may be asking for something specific, but Allah will not give them that specific thing. Allah will answer their du'a in a different way. Why? Because Allah knows that if He gives them this thing, it will be a means of them going further and further away from Him.

Ma'rifah of Allah: Knowing Allah Through His Signs

These are certain things — this is how we have to come to the ma'rifah of Allah. We have to recognize the signs of Allah. This is one of the things that when I think about the life of Ali (may Allah be pleased with him), what did he say? He said:

"I never saw anything — I never looked at anything, either at that moment, before it, or after it — except that I saw Allah in it." What does that mean, that he saw Allah in it? Another statement of his explains it beautifully:

"I knew my Lord through the breaking of my plans." When you make a plan and set your day up — you're going to do this, this, this, and this — and then it doesn't go according to plan, sometimes we become depressed or we start second-guessing: "only if I had done this..." But Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) says: "When I wanted to do something and it didn't go according to the way I planned, this showed me that Allah exists — because that shows me that I am not in control. That shows me that Allah is in control." So everything he is experiencing in his life, he is interpreting in a positive light to allow him to become closer to Allah.

The Du'a of the Believers: رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً

Likewise, the Prophet says that one of the ways Allah loves a servant — one of the manifestations of the love of Allah — is that Allah will not give you what you ask for. We make the famous, beautiful du'a, and we are encouraged to make it:

Now just look at this du'a. Allah mentions the qualities of the believers and says:

The quality of the believers is that they make this du'a. Now, what is the du'a? Two-thirds of the du'a is revolving around the Hereafter. Ask yourself: when you make du'a, how much of your du'a revolves around the akhirah, and how much of your du'a revolves around the dunya? In this du'a, two-thirds of it is revolving around the akhirah. And even the one part that is revolving around the dunya, we say رَبَّنَا آتِنَا فِي الدُّنْيَا حَسَنَةً — "Oh Allah, give us good in this life."

Hasan al-Basri (may Allah have mercy upon him), one of the great tabi'een, explained this in an amazing way. He said: what does حَسَنَةً فِي الدُّنْيَا mean? What does "good in this life" mean? He says having good in this dunya is one of three things:

Number one: عِلْمٌ نَافِعٌ — having beneficial knowledge. This is something of حَسَنَة in this dunya. Not getting involved as a youth — and sometimes even as adults we get stuck in it — in memorizing sports statistics and records. What benefit is it if a record is broken? Some people get depressed because their record is going to be broken. What benefit does that have for us? We should be making an effort to gain beneficial knowledge. Hasan al-Basri says this is the first good thing of this life: عِلْمٌ نَافِعٌ.

The second thing he says is رِزْقٌ حَلَالٌ طَيِّبٌ — having halal rizq, making sure that your sustenance is coming from halal means. The Prophet said in another hadith:

"Successful is the one who has submitted themselves to Allah, and they have been given sufficient rizq, and Allah has made them content with what He has given them."

The Prophet did not make du'a for abundance; rather, the Prophet would make du'a for barakah — because that's how you get abundance. The word barakah linguistically literally means زِيَادَة — an increase. So you're not just stuck on the sabab, but you're thinking about the One who has facilitated the means.

One hadith that comes to mind to remind us about the importance of barakah — we should always be asking Allah for barakah and always be seeing how much barakah we are bringing into our life — even when it comes to eating food, because we're talking about رِزْقًا طَيِّبًا. One time the Prophet was sitting and eating with six companions — this is a hadith in Tirmidhi, mentioned in the Shama'il of Tirmidhi — he was eating with six companions from one plate. One Bedouin came, and the companions invited him to come eat. He finished the entire plate in two bites, and the companions were left hungry. The Prophet looked at them and said, "Do you know why you are still hungry? If the Bedouin had said بِسْمِ اللَّهِ الرَّحْمَنِ الرَّحِيمِ before eating, he would have been satisfied and all of you would have been satisfied. But because he didn't say بِسْمِ اللَّهِ, Allah took the barakah away from that food."

This is why the sunnah is to even eat the food off of your fingers when you are eating — because the Prophet says, so long as a person has halal rizq and they're eating halal food, in that is barakah. But you don't know where that barakah is. It could be that you ate everything with a spoon or with your hand, and the small morsel left on the spoon or on the hand that you just flick away and throw in the garbage — it could be that that's where the barakah is, but now you've missed out. That's why you should lick your fingers after eating, because it could be that that's where the barakah is.

The third thing that Hasan al-Basri says is حَسَنَة فِي الدُّنْيَا is عَمَلٌ مُتَقَبَّلٌ — having actions that are accepted by Allah. We don't know which deeds we're doing that are accepted. This is why 'Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) once asked the Prophet about the ayah:

"And those who give what they give while their hearts are fearful..." — those believers who do the good deeds that they do, and they are still scared. She asked the Prophet: "Why are they scared if they are doing good deeds? Why are they still fearful?" The Prophet said: "They are scared because they don't know if their actions were accepted or not." So they are living between hope and fear. He says likewise, another حَسَنَة in this dunya is that Allah accepts your actions — so we should also be making du'a for that.

We ask Allah to give us tawfiq to make amal upon this. We ask Allah to be amongst those who love Him and amongst those whom Allah loves. Ameen.