Love: A Two-Sided Matter

God’s love for a person is like a divine gift, and the love for God by God’s servant is a matter of gratitude and acknowledgement. This is the key to entering Paradise.

There is a long tradition recorded in the books of Hadith, one part of which is: “The Prophet of Islam once observed that God would not cast anyone in the fire whom He loved.”  (Musnad Ahmad, Hadith No. 13467)

This Hadith has nothing mysterious about it. The love mentioned in this hadith is two-sided, not one-sided. This means that one who, upon reflection, realizes God, the Creator, who discovers God as the Benefactor, will become endeared to God. All his emotions and feelings will attach to God.

When one reaches this state as a result of conscious realization, he will take God as the sole object of his love. Subsequently, when such a man becomes a beloved of God, this will be a guarantee that, on Doomsday, God will never cast him into the fire.

There is nothing mysterious about becoming a beloved of God. This is a natural happening. When someone so attaches himself to God that he comes to love God more than anyone else, he becomes deserving in the eyes of God, and God showers His mercy upon him and saves him from hellfire in the Hereafter.

God’s loving a person stems from his divine mercy, making man’s love of God its own reward. God’s love for a person is like a divine gift, and the love for God by God’s servant is a matter of gratitude and acknowledgement. It is this gratitude and acknowledgement which are without doubt, the key to entering Paradise.