A031
Surah: 003 - Ayah: 031
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3:31
Q. How is heavenly or true love created and how can it be developed?
A. According to the Holy Qur'an,love for God is attained by love for the Prophet and love for the Prophet is attained by love for his family (3:31; 42:23). Thus it is the Imam of the time who is the mazhar of the name "wadud" of God. Wadud means the one who loves. Thus the living and present Imam, in the attribute of being mazhar, loves people in different degrees. If you have special love for him, he will also love you specially. If by the grace of God, your love is ardent, then it will be called sacred fire, namely the fire of love and this will have descended to you from heaven, just as it descended for Hazrat Habil to accept his sacrifice of the carnal soul in the form of a sheep (5:27). An extremely important point should be noted here that the light (nur) is also called fire (nar, fire of love). It is mentioned in the Qur'anic story of Hazrat Musa, that in zahir he needed material fire, but in batin it was the search for the fire of love (27:7). The ta'wili implication of the verse is that when Hazrat Musa came near that fire, he was called with the words: "Blessed ( burika=mubarak) is he who is in the fire (of love) (light of love=light of intellect) and he who is around it. But Allah is free from and above this rank, because He is the Nourisher of the personal worlds" (27:8). That is, He nourishes them gradually to the ultimate rank.
Wisdom of going out of the Universe: If the Holy Prophet is truly followed and obeyed, this is the successful power of love and annihilation (3:31), and carries the mumin in the footsteps of the Holy Prophet, beyond the heavens to the treasures of non-spatial and non-temporal secrets. This is the esoteric aspect of the subjugation of the universe and spiritual science (knowledge and wisdom).
God has not left a time in which He has not erected a spiritual ladder from the ground to the Throne (52:38; 70:4), nor has there been a time in which He has not suspended the rope of the light of guidance (3:103). All this is so that whomever the Lord of the Throne wants may elevate towards Him, step by step (12:76; 40:15).
The Divine or heavenly love is mentioned in the wise Qur’an both explicitly and implicitly. Among those words in which it (`ishq) is explicitly mentioned is hubb (= mahabbat). Although according to some scholars mahabbat and `ishq are two separate things, according to others they are two names of the one and the same reality. This latter view is more correct. This means that Divine love is possible, not directly, but through the Prophet. And it is the teaching of the holy Qur’an (3:31) that unless someone obeys the Prophet with love, God does not love him. This means that people can be illumined with the light of the love of God and His beloved Messenger through knowledge and good deeds.
Obedience and Disobedience - In verses (3:31-32), the obedience of the holy Prophet is considered the single condition of the love of God, as the perfect faith lies in it, and also it has been emphasised that disobedience of his command is unbelief and God does not befriend and love unbelievers.
It is said in the wise Qur'an “(O Prophet! Say to these people) if you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins” (3:31). According to this verse, God’s obedience and love are not possible directly but only indirectly. That is, they are possible through the mediation of the Prophet. If that is the case, then how can there be any doubt that in the same way, the Prophet’s obedience and love are possible through Ali's mediation?
1. The Holy Qur’ᾱn describes in detail those who can obtain God’s walᾱyat or friendship and His love and hat their characteristics are and those who do not deserve His friendship and love and the reasons for that. Some examples are mentioned here:
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Because walᾱyat or the love of God is among thefundamentals of the religion of Islam and since the means of islᾱm (submission) and imᾱn (faith) is the holy personality of Prophet Muhammad (s.a.s), therefore he is the means of God’s walᾱyat and love also, as God, may He be blessed and exalted, says: “Say (O Muhammad): If you (claim to) love Allah, then follow me .Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Verily, Allah is forgiving, merciful. (3:31). If we reflect upon this blessed verse, from among many of its wisdoms, the following come immediately in front of us:
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"Ittiba-i anbiya' (following the Prophets)" is a great subject in the Wise Qur'an. The root of "ittiba" is ta', ba', ayn from which there are many other grammatical forms in the Qur'an. The gist of all these forms is that all people should follow the Prophets on the straight path, particularly the Holy Prophet, as God says in verse (3:31): "Say (O Prophet): If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive your sins. Verily, Allah is forgiving, merciful."
(12) cIbadat (Worship):
The first condition of cibadat (worship), duca (prayer) and dhikr (remembrance) is ikhlas (purity), which has been discussed above. Thus “Iyyaka nacbudu = You alone we worship” means: We worship You with purity, free from the dirt of idolatry of thoughts. In short, the way of doing ''carifanah cibadat is taught in this verse, so that every mu’min'' may gradually reach the highest stage of cibadat and macrifat.
However, the question arises here: What is the means through which ikhlas or purity of a mu’min may progress to such an extent that, during cibadat, there remains in his heart nothing but attention towards God and everything else is forgotten? The answer is that, God has created two means to make human being’s headstrong carnal soul follow and obey his intellect: one is fear and the other is hope, as mentioned in the definition of faith (iman): “al-imanu bayna’l-khawfi wa’r-raja’ (faith lies between fear and hope)”. Just as horror and hatred are hidden in the meaning of fear, affection and love are hidden in the meaning of hope. Thus, in a Qur’anic example of fear, it is explained that the headstrong human nafs becomes frightened and starts to work according to the suggestions of caql and how, as a result, the practical ikhlas (sincerity) of a human being rejects the worldly desires of the nafs, and his heart’s attention and chain of prayers become strong and unbreakable as long as the fear lasts.
The same is the result of hope, that is, true and ardent love. In fact, mu’mins’ ikhlas, which is based on true and ardent love, is stronger and more fruitful than the one based on fear. However, a question still remains: What is the means through which true love can be created for God? A satisfactory answer to this most essential and important question is given in the noble Qur’an itself where God says: “Say: (O Muhammad to humankind): If you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful” (3:31).
This shows that God does not love those who are trying to love God on their own without following and loving the Prophet. However, when they start to follow and love the Prophet, God also starts to love them and as a result forgives all their sins in this life, so that they may be purified to such an extent that pure love for God may manifest from them. Thus, it is evident that the means of true love for God is to follow and to love the holy Prophet Muhammad.
Now, if someone asks: “What is the means of truly following the holy Prophet, according to the Qur’an?” The answer is that the only means of following him is love and friendship of his relatives, as God says, “Say (O Muhammad unto humankind): I ask of you no reward for it (for conveying the message of God), save friendship for [my] relatives” (42:23).
According to this verse, although the friendship of the Prophet’s relatives is an obligation upon every religious person, we have to reflect in the light of intellect and wisdom that it is not something that has been forcefully enjoined upon a group or an individual as a fee for conveying the message, or that one should accept it without knowing about its reality and benefit and expect this friendship is what God and His Prophet like. Rather, this friendship is such that the reality of their spiritual closeness to the Prophet and their luminous relationship to him must be understood from the very beginning of his mission. For the relationship of cAli, Fatimah, Hasan and Husayn and their pure progeny, the true Imams, to the Prophet is not only physical, but more so and on a higher level it is luminous and spiritual.
Thus the love and friendship of the luminous relatives of the Prophet mean that they must be obeyed and followed after God and the Prophet. For, to love the higher ranks of religion means to obey them, and to be their loving and befriending mu’mins means to guide and have mercy on them. Thus one of the meanings of verse (3:31) is: “Say (O Muhammad unto humankind): If you (think that you) love God then (the correct form of loving God is that you should) follow me. (As the result of that) God will love you, (and His love and friendship means) that He will forgive you all your sins.”
It is evident that mu’mins can love and befriend God, the Prophet and his relatives in the form of [their] obedience. Thus, the means of loving the Prophet is to love his relatives and the means of loving God is to love His Prophet. The love for God has the miraculous effect that it helps mu’mins to do His cibadat in true sense. It is this true love for God, which is the source of hope and sincerity. It is this love due to which the attention of their hearts remains focused on God, as there is spiritual happiness and luminous peace of a higher kind in this kind of cibadat.
Q120 It is said in verse (3:31): “Say (O Messenger): If you love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. Verily, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” Is there a condition of following the Prophet? Is the straight path the name of this following? What and where is the ultimate destination of the straight path? Is it correct to say in the light of the Qur’an and hadith that there is the greatest success for whoever has the perfect love and affection for God, the Prophet and the Imam?
A120 To follow the Imam of the time is a pre-requisite to follow the holy Prophet. Yes, it is true that to follow the Prophet is the straight path and its ultimate destination is the recognition of God and that is in the personal world. Yes, it is absolutely true that the greatest success is love for God, the Prophet and the Imam of the time.
This verse has been referred 11 times.