Beautiful Names of our Rabb
Al-Wadood
Meaning – The Most Loving One, The Source of love.
Love is a powerful emotion and we crave for it often and we often time to time feel devastated in love, we feel broken and shattered when we love people deeply, perhaps because we love with loads of expectations and perhaps because we don’t know actually how to love in reality?
Being humans, we do expect, and there is nothing wrong in it but to expect a lot, that too from the imperfect beings like us, is the biggest folly, it is the trap where we often fall and fail.
We need to be kind with ourselves and with others by not expecting too much, this will not make other’s life suffocated as we won’t be in constant complaining mode (which automatically comes with the baggage of over expectations) and this will help us as well, as we will be the ones who will not live in the mirage of getting our thirst quench from the wrong source.
We will realize that other people are also like us: imperfect. They themselves are not filled, then how can they fill us and our voids?
We will realize the reality that the only source of love is Allah Al Wadood, He alone is The Most Loving One and He is The Source of love.
Alhamdulillah, In Islam, love is a beautiful concept but Hollywood and Bollywood and their narratives have given us a different perspective of love and we have surrendered to their narratives and weird definitions of love.
The society we live in has reduced love to a commodity and has commercialized it by capitalizing and monetizing it.
Alhamdulillah, It is indeed Allah Al Wadood’s favour upon me that I am writing the explanation of Allah’s beautiful names in sequence and Allah Al Wadood has blessed me with the opportunity to write the explanation to this beautiful attribute tonight when it is 13th of February and the next day is 14th February, which is now celebrated as the festival of so called love by the majority-Valentine’s Day. I feel blessed to be writing the explanation of Al Wadood’s tonight, may it reach far and wide and reach the hearts of Al Wadood’s creation and may they reflect upon His amazingly beautiful love.
We know 14th February is considered now as the festival of (so called) love and is celebrated even by some muslims too, almost the whole week of February is dedicated to days like “Chocolate Day”, “Rose Day”, “Teddy Day” and finally Valentine’s Day, which has made this pagan celebration, a billion dollar revenue generating industry, the definition of love was already distorted by the capitalists and now they have also provided how to celebrate this distorted love by making people who are single, to be under constant pressure to have someone as their partner for the day, and compel others in relationships to spend more than they can afford on fancy dinners, parties and expensive gifts just to fit into the narratives by having different advertisement campaigns which turn the masses into consumers.
Allah (swt) has blessed us with the criterion to judge between right and wrong, we should not be the ones to distort the definition of love and then get carried away into deceptions, filling the pockets of the capitalists whose nucleus is nothing but capital and money making, even if the cost of it is the destruction of the society’s well being.
We need to understand that only Allah is Al Wadood and we should love His creation as Allah Al Wadood has asked us to do because if we love them more than ourselves, more than Allah Al Wadood, then they will become the source of our destruction.
Allah Al-Wadood says: “Say, [O Muhammed pbuh], If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your spouse, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and struggling in His cause, then wait until Allah executes His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.”
(Holy Quran 9:24)
Allah Al Wadood has set the clear standard for us on love.
Citing two beautiful quotes from
Ibn al-Qayyim (rahimahullah) which are worth reflecting in this context.
“The heart will rest and feel relief if it is settled with Allah and it will worry and be anxious if it is settled with people.”
“The perfection of Tawheed is found when there remains nothing in the heart except Allah, the servant is left loving those He loves and what He loves, hating those He hates and What He hates, showing allegiance to those He had allegiance to, showing enmity to those He shows enmity towards, ordering what He orders and prohibiting what He prohibits.”
The best state is to love Allah Al Wadood, and love others (His creation) through Him, for His sake.
Allah is Al Wadood, The Most Loving One, He loves us the most and when we believe and do good for Al Wadood’s sake then He swt will bestow love in the hearts of His creations upon us.
“As for those who believe and do good, the Most Compassionate will certainly bless them with (genuine) love.”
(Holy Quran, 19:96).
It is mentioned in a hadith “If Allah loves one of His servants, He (subhanahu wa’taala) calls upon angel Gabriel to tell him so, whereupon Gabriel loves that person, so he calls upon the residents of the heavens saying, `Allah loves so-and-so; therefore, you, too, should love him,’ whereupon the residents of the heavens respond to him in the affirmative. Love for him will thus be disseminated among the residents of the earth.”
We need to seek love from Him – Al Wadood, The Most Loving, The source of love and if we do not do so by disobeying Him then He is free of all wants and it is we who are dependent upon Him and upon His love.
“O believers! Whoever among you abandons their faith, Allah will replace them with others who love Him and are loved by Him…”.
(Holy Quran 5:54).
Loving Allah Al Wadood means to act, by obeying His commands in our life.
As the servants of Allah Al Wadood we should try to imbibe this beautiful saying in our lives by Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) which will make our life easier and will give us contentment as it will remove jealousy and envy from our lives.
The Prophet Muhammed (pbuh) said: “None of you will believe until you love for your brother what you love for yourself.”
Loving for others what we love for ourselves just for the sake of Allah Al Wadood, will make our life full of tranquillity and peace, which in itself is an immense blessing.
May Allah Al Wadood allow us to understand the definition of true love and may we love Him and may we love others through Him and may we be loved by Him and His creations in the heavens and the earth. Ameen.