Some people say that loving God simply means obeying Him. Their argument is that God is an invisible being, and that an emotional attachment such as love cannot develop towards someone who cannot be seen. Therefore, they say, a person can only obey God. Such obedience is expressed by following the commands of God as known through the Quran and Hadith.

This view, however, is not correct. The same reasoning, if applied consistently, would also rule out faith in God. Yet the Quran describes the believers as those who “believe in the unseen” (2:3). If a person can believe in God without seeing Him, then there is no reason why a person cannot also love God without seeing Him.

The fact is that both faith and love acquire a special and higher meaning when they are related to God. Faith means belief. The word “belief” can also be used in relation to something visible. In such a case, it is used in its ordinary sense. But when belief is related to God, its meaning rises to a higher level because its object is no longer an ordinary visible entity. It becomes a higher form of belief. In the same way, when love is related to God, it assumes the meaning of a higher form of love.

Human psychology shows that emotional attachment is not necessarily created by directly seeing the object of one’s attachment. Rather, it develops through thought and understanding, at the conceptual level. Whether something is visible or invisible, a person’s inner relationship with it is formed through the ideas and perceptions associated with it.

From the psychological point of view, faith itself is conceptual belief. It is at this conceptual level that a person attains the realization of God. In the same way, it is at the conceptual level that love of God develops. A person loves God not through direct physical observation, but through reflection, understanding and inner realization.

Source: Love of God