We Offer You Our Love
Man has nothing more significant to give anyone than love. Therefore, in all His perfection, man cannot discover God and offer Him something less than love.
There is a verse in the second chapter of the Quran (AI-Baqara) which reads like this:
“Yet there are some who set up equals with God and adore them with the adoration due to God, but those who believe love God most. If only the wrongdoers could see—as they will see when they face the punishment—that all power belongs to God, and that God is severe in punishment.” (2:165)
Man is forced by his very nature and the circumstances in which he finds himself on earth to seek some external source of dependence. Unable to rely on his scant inner resources, he seeks a prop in life—one who will compensate for his shortcomings. To take another person or thing to oneself in this way is to worship it. Feelings of adoration and devotion are then directed towards one’s object of worship, for to worship something is to love it above all things.
Since God is not visible in this world, man—wanting to see something before he will believe in it—usually stands as one who can be seen in the place that should be allotted to God alone. Usually, it is charismatic leaders who occupy this spot, “greats” in the sight of men, people who have captured the popular imagination. Such leaders are accorded the adulation that should be accorded to God alone. Faced with an inner vacancy, a yawning gap in his soul that had to be filled, man should have turned to God for replenishment instead of other men.
The highest form of spiritual consciousness is true, pure love. How can one not love God when one sees that all sublime qualities come together in His majestic Being; when one realizes that whatever man owns is His divine gift; when one observes the world of nature and is filled with wonderment at the beauty and perfection of the Maker of such a magnificent work of art? Such is God, and when one discovers One like Him, then it is only natural that one should be filled with love and devotion for Him.
Man has nothing more significant to give anyone than love. This being the case, one cannot discover God—in all His perfection—and then offer Him something less than love. Therefore, no offer less than love is acceptable to God, nor is it proper for a man to offer his Lord anything less than pure, true love.
