Steps to Gaining Allah's Love

By Umm Haneefah

Muslim Writer—Nigeria

Riwayat Attubani-Islam, Zhikr and Duaa are ways to Allah
TheQur'an details seven qualities that Almighty Allah loves and seven qualities that Almighty Allah does not love. Then, we-Muslims-have a way to explore the steps to gaining His Love.

Human beings by nature, love rewards when they exert themselves. And when they are devoted to a cause, coupled with anticipating the rewards, they tend to strive more and bear the discomfort that comes with the struggle.

This is similar to our relationship with Allah. Almighty Allah loves it when we exert ourselves for His sake and He describes the payoffs when He loves His servant.

As prophet Muhammad says in a hadith qudsi,

"...When I love him(my faithful servant) I am his hearing with which he hears, his seeing with which he sees, his hand with which he strikes and his foot with which he walks. Were he to ask [something] of Me, I would surely give it to him, and were he to ask Me for refuge, I would surely grant him it. I do not hesitate about anything as much as I hesitate about [seizing] the soul of My faithful servant: he hates death and I hate hurting him" (Al-Bukhari).

This is indeed an aspiration worth pursuing, a dream worth fulfilling and a love worth nurturing.

Why would it not be?

The One who does good when displeased,

How will He be when pleased?

(The key to Paradise by Ibn Rajab Al-Hanbali)

Therefore, to complete one's faith and gain this love, we should seek only Allah alone in love, hate, giving and withholding and Allah alone must be our Lord and the only One whom we worship.

Let me break it down - It is total submission and the essence of submission is to love what the Beloved loves and to abstain from what He does not love.

This was how our pious predecessors achieved the criteria of true worshippers and reached the highest level in their efforts. Allah loves His servant to beautify his tongue through speaking the truth, his heart through sincerity, piety, repentance, trust and patience, his body through obeying and purifying it from all dirt.