Sacred Narration

When a servant of God loves and remembers God, then God loves him from this world to the next and that servant becomes the recipient of divine mercy.

The wordings of one Hadith Qudsi (sacred narration), attributed to God are: “God said that when one of my servants finds meeting Me the most cherished thing, (then) for Me also meeting him becomes the most cherished thing.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 7504)

There is nothing mysterious about this. It is an expression of a known reality. It is an event of discovery by man and the response to, and appreciation of this discovery by God.

The truth is that when a servant of God thinks deeply, the result is that he discovers God and when he remembers God and His boundless blessings, it is but natural that he should start having feelings of boundless love for God. God loves such a servant from this world to the next world, and that servant becomes the recipient of spiritual divine mercy.

When a servant of God has love in his heart for Him, when he discovers God as the real Benefactor, acknowledges the Benefactor as well as His blessings; then he becomes a servant who is desired by God. He is a servant who will be fortunate enough to be able to meet God. This is the servant who will be eternally lodged in the neighbourhood of God. This eternal neighbourhood of God is another name for Paradise.

The source of loving God is the discovery of God’s blessings. It is owing to this discovery that the door to the great blessings of the Hereafter is opened to him. It is through this discovery that sublime feelings of gratitude and feelings of acknowledgement of God are produced in a person. It is this sublime feeling of acknowledgement which is another name for the love of God. The love of God by man is the result of discovery, and the love of man by God is the result of His appreciation of this discovery.