To Love For The Sake Of Allah

Hadhrat Justice Mufti Muhammad Taqi Usmani (db) writes in "Easy Good Deeds":

To have love for someone for the sake of Allah's pleasure is also a grand act for which much merit and many rewards have been promised. "To love for the sake of Allah" means loving someone, not for any worldly gain, but because he is more religious and pious or he is very learned in Deen or is busy in serving he cause of Deen or because loving him or her is commanded by Allah, e.g. one's parents.

Such love has been called "love for Allah" in ahadith. One hadith says:

Allah shall ask on the Day of Judgment, "Where are those who loved for the sake of My Greatness? Today when there is no shade save Mine, I shall have them in My Shade." [Sahih Muslim: Kitab al-Birr wa al-Silah]

Another tells us that "On the Day of Judgment. Those who had mutual love for the sake of Allah's Greatness shall be on pulpit of light and all shall envy them." [Jami' Tirmidhi, Kitab al-Zuhd]

Abu Idris Khulani, one of the famous tabi'in says that once he visited Mu'adh ibn Jabal in the mosque of Damascus and told him that "By Allah I love you for the sake of Allah". He repeatedly asked me to swear if it was so and when I answered in affirmative every time he pulled me by my shawl and said, "Hear the good news! I have heard the exalted and blessed Messenger of Allah saying that "My love shall certainly be for those who love each other for my sake, who sit in each other's company for my sake, who go to meet each other for my sake and spend money on each other for my sake." [Muwatta Imam Malik, Kitab-al-Shi'r]

Having love for Allah's pious and good bondsmen is actually an outcome of one's love for Allah, so it earns the same rewards and merits as the latter; because of this love, Allah includes His lover in His beloved people. According to a hadith, someone asked out blessed and exalted Prophet". When shall come the Day of Judgement" Our Prophet asked him "What preparation have you made for the Day?" The man said "Nothing, but I have love for Allah and his Messenger". The Prophet said "You shall be (on that Day) with whom you love."

The above hadith has been quoted by Anas. He says that these words of the Holy Prophet mere so pleased us as nothing els had ever done. He further said "I have great love for the Holy Prophet - may he eternally blessed - and with Abu Bakr and Umar, may Allah be pleased with them, and because of this love I hope I shall be in their company, even though my deeds are not equal to theirs." [Sahih Bukhari, kitab-al-Adab, chapter Alamah al-Hubb fi Allah]

There are many ahadith of the same import showing that having love for someone for the sake of Allah is an act of great merit, which grants one the opportunity of doing good in this world and being in exalted company in the Hereafter.

Hence one should love good people for the sake of Allah and with the intent of becoming good oneself and earning Allah's pleasure, as the poet says:

"I love good people (and) although I am not one of them, may Allah grant me goodness too."

Hadith tells us that when one loves his brother in faith, he must tell him of hs love. [Abu Dawud: Kitab-al-Adab; Tirmidhi: kitab-al-Zud]

Anas has recounted that someone was sitting with out Holy Prophet when another one passed. The sitting one said "O Messenger of Allah! I love this man". The Prophet said "Have you told him?" The man said "No". The Prophet said "Tell him!" The man rose to his feet and went to the man who was passing and said "I love you for the sake of Allah". He said "May Allah Whom you love, love you in return!"

Merit Of Spending On Family

Mufti Justice Hadhrat Muhammad Taqi Usmani (db) writes in "Easy Good Deeds" ("Asan-Nikiyan"):

Barring a few insensitive and selfish persons, there is none in this world who does not spend money on his family; the only purpose of the struggle for earning a living is to provide one's family with their needs and to make their life easy and comfortable. Few know, however, that this effort too is an act of great merit in the eyes of Allah.

According to Abu Hurairah (r.a.a.), our Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) said that, "There is one dinar which you spend in the way of Allah (for jihad), another is tha you spend on freeing a slave, another is that which you give a poor man by way of charity, and there is another dinar which you spend on your family (wife and children): the dinar that you spend on your wife and children has the highest merit." (Sahih Bukhari)

The reason why spending on one's own family is superior to other spendings is that providing for one's family is a duty (fard), while other are by way of nafl in nature; obviously fard earns more merit than nafl. It also makes the point that spending on one's family has more merit when the family is needy, but when their needs are fulfilled in the proper way, then it is more meritorious to spend on others.

Umme Salmah (r.a.a.) once asked our eternally blessed Prophet (s.a.w.), "O Messenger of Allah! Do I earn merit even when I spend on my sons from my previous husband Abu Salmah? They are after all my sons and I cannot abandon them." The Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) replied, "Yes you shall get merit for it."

Sa'ad ibn Waqas (r.a.a.) relates, that our eternally blessed Prophet (s.a.w.) said that: "Whatever you spend for the sake of earning Pleasure of Allah - even for the food you put in your wife's mouth - earns merit." (Bukhari, Muslim)

All these ahadith clearly prove that if one spends money to fulfil the lawful needs of his family with the intent of giving them their Divinely ordained rights as commanded by Allah and of pleasing Allah, then every expenditure earns him the same merit as sadaqah.

Behold how infinitely kind and gracious is Allah that what one does solely to satisfy his own inner urges has been changed by a slight change of intent into an act of such merit that it has become superior to all other sadaqah and expenditures. Hence to please Allah, one should openly spend to fulfill the lawful needs of one's family and should never regret it.

A Non-Muslim's Rights

This chapter is taken from Hazrat Maulana Muhammad Ashraf Ali Thanvi (r.a.)'s "The Rights of Others in Islam". The eBook is a little brief, but deals with most aspects of Huqooq-ul-Ibad in general.

"As a great deal of rights have been ordained in Islam, due to a person being close to you or due to having the same religion, so too some rights are ordained due to us being from the same species. That is, due to being human it is necessary to be considerate of them, even though they may not be Muslims. Their rights are:

i.Without reason do not give trouble to or harm anyone, neither in his person nor in his wealth.
ii.Without any Shari' reason do not speak evil or insult anyone.
iii.If you see someone afflicted with difficulty, poverty or sickness, then help him, give him food and drink, and give him medical treatment.
iv.Even in those cases where Shari'at has given permission to punish someone, do not be cruel or excessive, nor should you threaten him unjustly."

Rahmatulil Alameen

Allah Ta'ala is 'Rabbil Alameen', which means Lord of jinns, mankind and everything that exists or 'Cherisher and Sustainer of the world' in the translation of Yousuf Ali, and he has sent our beloved Prophet Muhammad as 'Rahmatulil Alameen', as a mercy to jinns, mankind and everything that exists. So, this is an appeal to the Muslims and a reminder to myself to bring this great quality in our life. As soon as we do so, we will see that people will come to Islam in masses.

Unfortunately, Muslims worldwide are fast to label things as Haram or people as Kafir. Islam teaches us the purposes of both our eyes, one is for seeing the good qualities of others and the second is for seeing your own faults. But we do it the other way around, we only point out faults of others and hide our own faults from ourselves' sight. And what about finding 70 excuses for your brother before judging him? Anyone even practising that? In my opinion this is one of the biggest diseases among the Ummah today. Especially on the Internet it's a trend to shoot with Fatwas to establish reputation and show how wrong others are.

This is not how Allah's Messenger taught us to spread Allah's message. And he has not to be misunderstood as 'Rahmatulil Muslimeen' or 'RahmatulilMomineen', but as 'Rahmatulil Alameen'... as mercy to the whole mankind, jinns and everything that exists. It can't be repeated often enough: 'Rahmatulil Alameen'. Islamic literature is full of stories, in which our beloved Prophet Mohammad sets an example of spreading Islam with soft and forgiving attitude. Yeah, I said forgiving. Didn't he was the one forgiving the people of Ta'eef, although angels were ready to smash the tale between the two mountains? Was it Muhammad or some one else who forgave the murderer of his uncle Hamza (r.a.a.), although he had the chance to punish him? Weren't those people who he forgave the same Jews who gave him poison, which showed effect on his body at his last days? The answers to all of these questions is in the affirmative, now why did he do this? Was it personal advantage he was thinking about when spreading mercy through his whole life or the worry of him how every human could be saved from the fire of Jahannam and enter Jannah? Indeed, it's got to be the latter one.

If you want to read more examples, then check out the eBook by Mufti Shabbir Ahmad Qasmi, which I have already posted before: Post-Emigration Islamic Conduct with the Enemy. On a side note let me say, when Muhammad sent someone as governor of some country or land, he always advised them to be not hard to others instead always spread good new. Like he did it, because he was not just a warner but as well messenger of good news.

Maulana Muhammad Ilyas (r.a.) said, that don't speak against someone's favourite, but give him something he can love more. This is great wisdom by a great scholar of all time. So, from now on we should think about what we say or write before actually doing so. Am I just pointing out faults and sins or am I actually helping someone to get back on the right track? Let's use wisdom instead novel long Fatwas.

This all counts even for the dialogue with non-muslims. It's a big mercy that we are Muslims, but it shouldn't come Takabbur into the game. Because it's not our strength which brought us Iman or the understanding to perfom good deeds, it's only the mercy of Allah. We should feel sorry for them like our Pophet did, he shed tears even for Jews who died, because he knew where there destination would be.