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.

The concept of Shura, literally consultation, in the Qur'an is widely misunderstood and underestimated, and worse yet, misapplied or ignored by many Muslim collectivities. Allah the Exalted has commanded Shura not merely as a thing to do, but as a way of life for all forms of Muslim organizations. I use the word collectivity because it applies to all groupings:wherever there are more than one Muslim involved in any decision-making process, there is the domain of Shura, be it a family, a committee, an entire local community, or an entire country or a political arrangement. Let us ponder the oft-quoted verse of the Qur'an about the concept of Shura: "And their affairs are (a matter of) Shura among them." [42:38]