Name:

Hikma S10

Essay 1

Date: 27th February, 2022

Q. Using strictly scripture (Quran, hadith) as the basis of your argument, and in your own words,

demonstrate the foundational nature of love in Islam.

Love is in the nature of things. However, it cannot be defined or described. Love is an

intangible thing, which cannot be seen or touched like many other tangible things, but it can be

expressed or felt. Love can be the objective of what individuals say or what they want to achieve.

The basic necessities of individuals are clearly highlighted in the following verse of Holy Quran,

“Beautified for humankind is love of lusts – of women, children, stored-up heaps of gold and

silver, horses of mark, cattle, and tillage. That is the comfort of the life of this world; but God

with Him is the most excellent abode. (Aal ’Imran, 3:14)

Individuals spend their lives in search of family, children, prestige, wealth, God and Hereafter,

and hence they find love. Imam Ghazali defines love as a liking towards beauty after being

pleased by it. However, love cannot be complete without God, as it is He who has created all the

beautiful things that human beings tend to love. This paper will discuss that how God shows love

to humans i.e. by His beautiful creation and His Mercy and not only humans but all of His

creations. It will also discuss how should humans show their love to God in response to God’s

love.

God loves all He has created, so He has put beauty in all of His creations. Allah says in

the Holy Quran, “Who beautified everything that He created. And He began the creation of man
from clay.” (Al-Sajdah, 32:7) This means that God loves all of His creations so much that He

adds beauty to them. As, it is He who has created everything initially, including beauty, this

means that He has given beauty as a free gift to its creations. All of His creations are created

beautifully in a particular sort of way. According to the Hadith of the Holy Prophet (pbuh), “God

is Beautiful, and He loves beauty.” The first part of this Hadith clearly explains that as He is

Beautiful, so beauty is given by Him as a free gift with many other countless favors. The second

part of the Hadith that God ‘loves beauty’ explains the reason for His creation having the most

beautiful form. The love that is given by God as a free gift to human beings is compared with a

seed in the Holy Quran, which falls to the ground, and then grow into a beautiful plant. The Holy

Quran says, “The likeness of those who expend their wealth in the way of God is as the likeness

of a grain (‘habb’) that sprouts seven ears, in every ear a hundred grains; so God multiplies for

whom He will; God is Embracing, Knowing.” (Al-Baqarah, 2:261) The word ‘hubb’ (‘love’)

itself comes from the ‘habb’ (‘seed’), whose concept is explained very well in the above verse of

Surah Baqarah. Thus, it can be clearly said that as love comes from God, it is He who can

multiply it when He wills and for whom He wills.

God has spoken of His beautiful creations many times in the Holy Quran. However, His

love is not just limited to making creations in a beautiful form. Love is not God’s just one act of

creating them, it is every one of the Divine qualities of God which are mentioned in the Quran in

the form of ninety-nine names of Allah. His most prominent act of Love is His Mercy and His

act of Forgiveness. The Holy Quran says, “And ask forgiveness of your Lord, then repent to

Him. Truly my Lord is Merciful, Loving.” (Hud, 11:90) At another place the Quran mentions,

“And He is the Forgiving, the Loving.” (Al-Buruj, 85:14)

The Holy Quran mentions His name ‘the Loving’ (Al-Wadood) twice in the Holy Quran, as seen
in the verses above. This name concurs with the other two Divine qualities of God, ‘Merciful’

and ‘Forgiving’. This shows a link between God’s love and mercy, that God’s Love is conjoined

with His Mercy. Not only Mercy, God has associated His Name ‘the Compassionate’ (‘Al-

Rehman’) with His Divine Name ‘God’ (‘Allah’) in the following words in the Holy Quran,

“Say: ‘Invoke God or invoke the Compassionate One; whichever you invoke, to Him belong the

Most Beautiful Names’…” (Al-Isra’, 17:110) At another place in the Quran, God says, “…He

has prescribed for Himself mercy…” (Al-An’am, 6:20)

For example, a mother loves her child so much that she can do anything for the sake of her child.

Then we cannot even imagine the level of Mercy of our Lord. This is because the Lord that has

made the mother benevolent, should definitely be more Benevolent than her. Allah is more

Merciful than any other of His merciful creations, regardless of how extraordinary an

individual’s mercy might be, because Allah is the One who ingrained leniency in their souls.

God has made mercy obligatory upon Himself. In other words, it can be said that mercy is made

mandatory on God by His Own Being. Subsequently, God is obliged Himself to be Merciful.

And His Mercy embraces everything. (bin Talal, 2010) This is affirmed by His words, “…My

Mercy embraces all things…” (Al-A’raaf, 7:156)

Moreover, every chapter in the Holy Quran except Surah Tauba begins by Tasmiya. referring to

God and His Mercy, ‘In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful’ (‘Bism Illah Al-

Rahman Al-Rahim’). The missing Tasmiya of Surah Tauba comes in Surah Naml, where its

mentioned, “…And lo! it is: In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful.” (Al-Naml,

27:30) Thus, it can be inferred that there exists a strong connection between Divine Name

‘Allah’ and Mercy.

way that His Mercy is greater than His anger. According to a Hadith Qudsi, “My mercy outstrips

My wrath.” However, the question arises that how can God give the evil-doers with severe

punishments? According to Fakhar-al-Din-al-Razi, God’s Mercy in this world is collectively for

all, but it is only for the believers in the Hereafter. According to God, “and so I shall prescribe it

for those who are God-fearing.”

However, looking from another perspective, God is actually having mercy on the disbelievers.

God’s Mercy embracing all things thus does not mean that nothing will ever suffer, but that God

will guide every existing thing to what will enable it to suffer the least, and God knows best. (bin

Talal, 2010) However, if Allah is Merciful, He is also Just. He is Merciful and Just, both at the

same time. He rewards those who have done good and punishes those who have done evil. He

says in the Holy Quran, “By the fig and the olive, / and [by] the Mount Sinai, / and [by] this

secure land, / Verily We created man in the best stature. / Then, We reduced him to the lowest of

the low, / except those who believe and perform righteous deeds, for they shall have an unfailing

reward. / So what makes you deny thereafter the Judgement? / Is not God the fairest of all

judges? (Al-Tin, 95:1-8)

This means that even if God loves and created human beings out of mercy, the only ones that

Allah does not love are the evil doers and non-believers. Allah had created humans in the best

forms, however, it is the choice of humans what they choose to become. ‘Iyad ibn Majashi’i

reported that the Holy Prophet said, “God Almighty says: And I created all My servants in a

righteous state, and then demons came to them and drew them away from their religion…”

God might temporarily not punish them, and give them a leverage to come on the right path, but

He will surely punish them in the Hereafter.

favors. Some of the individuals see these favors, perceive the reason behind their reality and

subsequently submit themselves to Allah. Whereas, some do not and stay thankless and decline

submitting to Him. In spite of this, Allah shows His Benevolence on all individuals, whether they

are believers or non-believers. Thus, He grants them food and drink, provisions, heals them and

awards them prosperity, and other multitudinous types of kindness. Nobody would discover air

to inhale or water to quench their thirst, or any food or garments, if it were not the Love of Allah.

If someone falls sick, he would never recuperate, if it were not the Mercy and love of Allah. His

Mercy embraces all things. However, this means that God is merciful and tender to whom He

wills and to those love God back in favor of His countless favors.

Bibliography:

bin Talal, P. G. bin M. (2010). Love in The Holy Quran (6th ed.). Kazi Publications, Inc. (USA).