Increasing the Love of Allah (SWT)
(1) Recognizing the bounties Allah has
bestowed upon His slaves. These bounties [are so many that they]
cannot be counted or enumerated. [Allah says:] "If you count the
blessings of Allah, never will you be able to count them." [14:34]
Hearts naturally have love for those who do good to them. Love for a
blessing is from the general aspects of thanking the one who has
bestowed a bounty. It is said that thanks is with the heart, tongue
and limbs.
(2) Another cause is to have knowledge of Allah by His Names,
Attributes and Actions. The one who knows Allah, loves Him. Whoever
loves Him, obeys Him. Whoever obeys Allah is honored by Him. Whoever
Allah honors, He will have him live close to Him. Whoever lives
close to Him, has attained the glad tidings.
(3) One of the great causes [that leads to having love of Allah] is
the specific knowledge that comes about through pondering over the
creation of the heavens and the earth and what Allah has created. In
the Qur'an, there is much mention of the signs of Allah that
indicate His Greatness, Power, Majesty, Perfection, Eminence,
Compassion, Mercy, Strength, Subjugation and other of His beautiful
Names and exalted Attributes. Whenever one's knowledge of Allah is
strengthened, one's love for Him is also strengthened and one's love
for obeying Him is also strengthened. He will then experience the
pleasure of worship, whether it be in prayer, remembrance or other
forms of worship.
(4) Another cause that will bring about love for Allah is to act
towards Allah with sincerity and purity while going against one's
desires. This is a cause for Allah to bless a slave and when He
blesses the slave, the slave loves Him.
(5) One of the greatest causes that bring about one's love for Allah
is increasing one's remembrance of Allah. Whenever a person loves
something, he remembers it more often. And it is through the
remembrance of Allah that the hearts find tranquillity. In fact, one
of the signs of having love for Allah is the constant remembrance of
Allah by one's heart and tongue.
(6) One of the causes that brings about Allah's love for His slave
is reciting the Qur'an often and pondering over its meaning, in
particular those verses that contain Allah's Names, Attributes and
Actions. Having fondness for that action will lead the slave to love
Allah and Allah to love Him.
(7) Another of the causes of love for Allah is remembering what has
been mentioned in the Qur'an and Sunnah concerning the believers
seeing their Lord in the Hereafter and visiting them and gathering
together on the Day of Abundance. That will definitely bring about
in a person love for Allah.
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