The Heart of Islam, The Principle of Creation
Divine love, both in the sense of loving God and being loved by God, is at the heart of Islam. Many of today's Muslims and non-Muslims widely misunderstand or underestimate this truth about Islam. Most may even find it shocking that divine love is the ultimate reason for all creation according to the orthodox opinion in Islam. Out of ignorance or malice, both of which abound in regard to Islam in the modern world, it is often alleged that the Shari'ah or Shari'ah-minded Islam is dry, and rule-based, and emphasizes mechanical obedience to a wrathful, stern and distant God. There is no more truth in this allegation than in the medieval Church propaganda that Muslims worship a moon-god. Muslim's own neglect of the requirements of our faith and of our tradition only helps the myth. This article therefore seeks to discuss the concept of divine love in two ways, by showing its centrality in the Qur'an and the Prophetic teachings, and by showing a glimpse of our rich tradition that has abundantly pondered over the question, meaning and implication of divine love.
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The article of divine love is so precise. It also is an eyeopener. For if we try to understand the spirit of Qur'an and study the biography of prophet, sallallahu alayhe wa sallam, we will find that it was mainly the divine love for which Allah created this life. It is also with hubba (love) of His creation that He sent down the holy Qur'an in order to guide human beings. It is because of divine love He informs us to protect ourselves from haram as well as from Satan and from the torment of hellfire etc. It is divine love that He has shown man the sraight path so that man can get nearer to Him and attain salvation. It is divine love of the creation that He gives worldly provisions not only to the believers but to the disbelievers as well, It is divine love that He gives the transgressors every chance to repent and turn pious. It is divine love that He warns human beings, the noblest of His creation, about the consequences of grave sins like shirk, kufr. It is divine love that although mushriks commit shirk, He does not punish them immediately, but provides them ample time and freedom to realise the truth of tawheed. It is divine love that He gives the freedom of choice between kufr or eman. It is divine love that when man is about to collapse during the trials of life He comes to rescue him and strengthens him again with help and guidance, and realisation of necessary truths so that man can regain comfortable position. It is divine love that the sun does not crash into the moon nor the planets falter from the orbits—there is divine love in maintaining creation. It is divine love that the baby naturally sucks the milk from the mother’s breast, and it is because of the divine love for the creation that whether it be the mushrik mother or the momin mother both love their children equally. It is divine love that human as well as animal bodies are created in perfect symmetry and proprtion….how many more examples of divine love can we find and relate from the Qur'an and the Sunnah?….many many more than this, for divine love is limitless and its facets and their impact on us are also limitless….in their number and their ways of touching us…subhan Allah--may all the praise be to Allah.