The Greatest Love of Your Life
by Arshad Gamiet
Royal
Holloway College/Univ. of London /UK. 21st
June 2002.
“As-salámu
'alaikum wa rahmatul láhi wa barakátuh!” [Wait
for adhán]
“A-úthu
billáhi minash shaytánir rajeem. Bismilláhir
rahmánir raheem.
I
turn away from Shaytaan, the Cursed One. And , I begin, In the Name of Alláh,
Most Gracious, Most Merciful.
Al
hamdu lillahi nahmaduhu wanasta’eenahu, wanastagh-firuhu, wanatoobu ilayhi,
wana’oothu Billaahi min shuroori an-fusinaa, wamin sayyi aati a’maalinaa.
All
Praise is due to Alláh, We praise Him and we seek help from Him. We ask
forgiveness from Him. We repent to Him; and we seek refuge in Him from our own
evils and our own bad deeds.
May-
Yahdillahu fa huwal muhtad, wa may- yudlill falan tajidaa lahu waliyan murshida.
Anyone
who is guided by Alláh, he is indeed guided; and anyone who has been left
astray, will find no one to guide him.
Wa
ash-hadu an Laa ilaaha ill-Alláh, wahdahoo laa shareeka lah, wa ash-hadu anna
Muhammadan ‘abduhoo warasooluh”
I
bear witness that there is no god but Alláh, the Only One without any partner;
and I bear witness that Muhammad, sws, is His servant, and His messenger.
My respected
Brothers and Sisters in Islam,
Where is
the greatest love of your life? Where do you lavish most of your affection and
attention? Is it your wife, your husband, your child, your parents, your
beautiful home, your nice car, your job, your hobby or sport? Is your most
beloved person or activity, the most deserving of your love? And, very
important, is your love reciprocated, or are you in an emotional 0ne-way-street?
These questions hold the key to our success in this world and the life
hereafter.
Our
khutbah today, is about love reciprocated; love that’s given, and love
that’s returned. I have no doubt in my mind that every one of us here has felt
the power and influence of love, in its many different forms, throughout our
lifetime. We first experienced love at the very moment of birth. Seeing their
newborn baby, our parents must have felt so much joy and gratitude to Alláh.
With our mother’s warm embrace and that very first drink of our mother’s
milk, we must have looked up at her face, feeling her love and security as she
gazed down, exuding love and satisfaction. From the first few minutes of life,
we were enjoying our parents’ love; at the same time we were showing them our
love in return.
As
we grew up, we continued to love and be loved by our parents, but then, our
relationships expanded horizontally and vertically. We now enjoy the love of
brothers and sisters, uncles and aunts, friends and wider relations. In time, we
become parents and later, grandparents, and so the story of love moves on in
ever widening circles, and repeating itself infinitely.
The
most important point about love is that it needs to be rewarded, returned, and
reciprocated. This is the essence of love, that it is given and received, in
equal measure. When love is given but not reciprocated, then it is as if a big
light has gone out in our lives. Love always needs to be returned, to find
completeness and fulfilment within itself. This is not a one-way street. No one
enjoys loving, and not being loved. Can you imagine for a moment what it must be
like to love someone, and not to be loved in return? Unreciprocated love, Love
without love returned, leaves a sense of despair, depression, unworthiness,
hollowness and emptiness. Love needs love, and love deserves love to enrich and
complete itself. To love and to be loved puts meaning and value into our lives.
Now
think for a moment, as we sit here, that we are also enjoying a love of a
different, deeper and yet subtler kind: the Divine love of the Creator for His
creation. None of us can doubt that Alláh, loves us. Whether we are tall or
short, fat or thin, black or white, Muslim, Jew, Hindu or Christian, our
Creator’s love and provision reaches us all, and we owe Him a debt of
gratitude. His sustenance reaches even those who deny His existence, even those
who disbelieve in Him.
In
Súra Yunus, [10] v 93 we read:
“There
is not a moving creature on earth, but its sustenance depends on Alláh, He
knows the time and place of its definite abode, and its temporary deposit: All
is in a clear record.”
We
depend so completely on Alláh, and we owe him everything. He deserves our
thanks, our obedience and worship. How do we show our gratitude to Alláh? How
do we show gratitude to anyone who has authority over us? At the very least, we
show respect and obedience. The best way to show gratitude to our Alláh, is to
worship him, to obey him and to avoid displeasing Him. This is how we can
reciprocate the divine love, to the One Who gave us life, and Who sustains us
for every moment of our lives.
If
we can accept that love must always be rewarded, should we not then return the
greatest of all loves, the unselfish love of Allah?
Just
think about it. How does it feel when you’ve shown love, kindness and
generosity to someone, and your reward is rudeness, ingratitude or indifference!
Do you know the feeling? When someone repays your kindness with cruelty.
Doesn’t it make you feel angry? Why then, should Alláh not be angry towards
those who repay His love with disobedience, ingratitude and disbelief?
Dear
Brothers and Sisters in Islam, I would like to remind myself and you, about the
secret of true love and true happiness. It is not simply to indulge the object
of our love, leaving Alláh aside, or to place our love for Alláh right at the
end of the queue. The way to real happiness is to place our love for Alláh at
the centre of our lives. Our love for Alláh must be greater than any other
love. It must come before our love for anyone or anything else. In fact, we only
have the capacity to love and care for someone, because Alláh gave us that
capacity in the first place! Alláh alone is the creator and author and
facilitator of all love. Therefore, it follows that the first and most deserving
love, should be our love for Alláh. When we love Alláh first, we give meaning,
and purpose and balance and harmony to every other aspect of our life.
In
Súra Al Baqara, v 165, we read:
“Yet
there are men who take [for worship] others besides Alláh, as equals with Alláh.
They love them as they should love Alláh. But those of Faith are overflowing in
their love of Alláh. If only the unrighteous could see the Penalty: that to Alláh
belongs all power, and Alláh will strongly enforce the Penalty.”
Look
what happens when we fail to put our love for our Creator at the top of our
agenda: Our loving nature loses its sense of proportion. It loses direction.
Excessive love for oneself then becomes vanity, conceit and egotism. Excessive
love for one’s community or race becomes bigotry and racism, and excessive
love for one’s nation becomes arrogant Nationalism, or Fascism. Zionism, like
Nazism and Apartheid before it, is a distorted Nationalism pretending to be a
respectable political idea.
It
is only the Love of Alláh that brings proportion and harmony to life, and
illuminates all our other loves and relationships. If we can all remember this
and live by it, we will go a long way towards making our lives happier and more
meaningful.
“Alhamdu
lillahi Rabbil ‘Aalameen. Was-salaatu was-salaamu alaa Khairil mursaleen.
Muhammadin-nabeey-yil Ummiy-yee, wa-‘alaa aalihee, wasah-bihee, aj-ma’een.
All
praise is due to Alláh, the Lord of all the Worlds; may the greetings and peace
be upon the best messenger, Muhammad, the unlettered prophet; and upon his
family and upon all of his companions.
Ammaa
ba’ad:
Innalláha
wa malaaikata yusallúna alan nabi. Yá ay yuhal latheena ámanu sallú alayhi
wasalli mú tas leema.
Behold,
Alláh and his angels shower blessings on the Prophet. O you who believe! Ask
for blessings on him, and salute him with a worthy greeting.
Allahumma
salli alá Muhammad, wa ala áli Muhammad, kama salayta ala Ibrahim, wa ala ali
Ibrahim. Allahumma barik ala Muhammad, wa alaa áli Muhammad, kama barakta ala
Ibrahim, wa ala ali ibrahim. Fil ála meen, innaka hameedun majeed.”
O
Alláh! Send your greetings upon Muhammad and his family,
just as you sent your greetings on Ibraheem, and his family. O Alláh,
send you blessings on Muhammad and his family, just as you blessed Ibraheem and
his family. In both worlds, you are praiseworthy and exalted.
Sub’
hanallahi wal hamdu lillah, wala hawla wala quwwata illah billah yu althi yual
theem.
How
do we begin to place our love for Alláh at the centre of our lives, at the top
of our priority love-list? The short answer is Zikr, the constant Remembrance of
Alláh. Zikr is not just an optional thing we do after completing Salaah.
Zikr is an integral part of Islamic worship. Remembering Allah must become a way
of life.
It
is only through constant remembrance of Alláh that human hearts will find true
happiness and satisfaction, in good times and in times of distress. There is a
beautiful verse no. 28 in Súra Al-Ra’d that confirms this:
Bismillahir
Rahmanir Raheem!
“Al-latheena
aamanu, watat-ma-innu quloobuhum, be thikrullah. Alaa bithikrillaahi tat-ma-innul
quloob.”
“Those
who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the Remembrance of Alláh;
for without doubt, in the Remembrance of Alláh do hearts find satisfaction.”
We
should train ourselves to be Alláh-conscious during every waking moment. Some
Sufis recite the Asma-ul-husna, the Beautiful Names of Alláh, with every
breath and every heartbeat. We can at least think consciously of pleasing Alláh,
and avoiding His displeasure, every time we make a decision or start an action.
We must constantly ask ourselves, why am I doing this? Is this decision, this
action going to bring me closer to Alláh? Or, is this decision, this action
going to arouse Alláh’s anger? If we do this exercise regularly,
consistently, this attitude will transform our lives at the most basic level.
Seeking to please Alláh, instead of seeking to satisfy our own lusts, will
transform us from mere humans beings, wandering aimlessly, to the true Believers
that we Muslims ought to be.
We
must expect the going to be difficult at first, because this is a major turning
point in our lives. But if we persist in our efforts, and we are patient, we
will, in time, ish-Alláh reap the rewards of returning Alláh’s love
with our love and obedience.
My
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Islam, let us ask Alláh to make us all worthy and
deserving of His love. Let us make the effort, and seek Alláh’s help, in
completing the circle of love given and love returned. Let us show the Creator
of love, that we have worked hard to bring our free will, and our heart’s
desires back into alignment with Him, the way He created our true nature before
we were exposed to temptation. Let us teach our children that the way to live
successfully is to recognise Alláh’s loving hand in everything we see around
us, and to return that love with every good thought, every good
word and every good action in our lives.
O
Alláh, help us to purify ourselves in body, mind, heart and spirit. Help us to
seek and find your good pleasure, and O Alláh, remember us in the company of
your beloved friends.
Ameen!
Aqeemus salaah!
This
khutbah, and others, can be downloaded from our website at www.khutbahbank.com