FEARING ALLÂHU TA'ÂLÂ AND LOVING ALLÂHU TA'ÂLÂ

To fear Allâhu ta’âlâ and to love Allâhu ta’âlâ is the highest form of worship. To fear and love Allâhu ta’âlâ is not only an academic exercise, but a product of great effort and struggle. Everyone cannot attain such a blessing easily.

Allâhu ta’âlâ makes Himself be loved by whomever He wills. He engenders in them fear and dread. This is not the case with everybody. This means that He loves people blessed with His love. Most people achieve this grade at the end of a long period of striving, struggling and working.

There are an infinite number of reasons for fearing and loving Allâhu ta’âlâ.

Reasons for fearing Allâhu ta’âlâ: First let’s think about the many disasters experienced by everyone living in this world. To become ill, to be injured, to lose a body organ, to starve, to be thirsty, to be poor, to experience misfortune in one’s family, fires, earthquakes... are all examples of disasters and sorrows which either come from creatures indirectly or Allâhu ta’âlâ directly in a manner predetermined and prearranged for everyone. Fortunately, sorrow in this world is temporary. But the disasters of the next world are everlasting. The torment in the life after death will be endless. However, if a sinful Believer (Muslim) enters the next world, he will be tormented according to Allâhu ta’âlâ’s will. The torment in the Hereafter will start as soon as one is put into the grave. Are these not sufficient reasons for greatly fearing Jenâb-i Haqq? An uncountable number of reasons exist for loving Allâhu ta’âlâ too! The first one is to be born a Muslim. In other words, to be the child of Muslim parents by itself is a unique and wonderful reason for loving Allâhu ta’âlâ and for thanking Him the rest of our lives. For instance, if we were born Christians, then it would be quite difficult or impossible to find the path of Islam. We would have lived as a member of the Christian community and would have gone to the next world as unbelievers. Yet it is not sufficient in our time to be born a Muslim. It is an extra blessing for one to belong to a family that loves Islam and does their best for Islam. There are countless so-called Muslims who don’t practise the commandments of Islam, even though they carry Islamic names like Ahmad and Fatma. It is one of the greatest blessings from Allâhu ta’âlâ to have intelligence and understanding so as to be able to distinguish good from evil. Furthermore, to live under a government that respects human rights, to be healthy, not to live in poverty, and the many other thousands of blessings are all favors and gifts from Jenâb-i Haqq. If we think about the millions of unbelievers and the millions of Muslims who do not have these blessings, it then becomes very easy to love and thank Allâhu ta’âlâ.