The True Joy: Attaining Love

This is the sixth in a series of articles on true happiness, joy, and commitment according to the Quran and Sunna from the seminar The True Joy with Shaykh Abd al-Rahman al-Kharsa and Shaykh Faraz Rabbani.

There is a principle taken from the prophetic teachings that Allah deals with the servant as the servant deals with Allah. And Allah places the servant at the level that the servant places Allah in their life. As you are, so shall you find.

If Allah is the priority for you in your life, then you will be a priority amongst Allah’s servants with Allah. Allah places you in the station in the Hereafter as you place Allah in your priorities in this life.

Circles of Association

One of the neglected Sunnas of our religion is visiting the scholars and the righteous for Eid.  This is a prophetic practice. The Prophet’s house was open for visitation (Allah bless him and give him peace). The days of Eid are days of visiting. Visiting circles of family, friendship and the circles of those who are exemplars: the scholars and the righteous. 

There are four key circles of association that we need to connect with. They are family, friends, exemplars (the people of knowledge and the people of righteousness), and community. One should participate in each of these four social circles by visiting them and inviting them over. 

For them to come over is that you are there to show respect but also to get some time with them so you can seek some advice for your religious practice, your children’s religious practice, etc. Likewise, in visiting them you observe some of the Sunna that they practice. Benefit from them.

Purpose in Life

 It is related from Rabi‘ah al-Adawiyyah (a female scholar) that on the day of Eid, Utbah al-Ghulam came to her, dressed in the best of clothes. She asked him, “Why are you dressed so fancy?” Utbah said to her, “How can I not rejoice when He is truly my Master and I have become truly His servant?” Rabi‘ah was pleased with that answer. It was not worldly rejoicing.

Utbah was rejoicing because he, by turning to Allah, had come to the faithful realization that Allah is his Master. Allah is his purpose. “Allah is my joy.” And he realized who he truly is: a servant of Allah. “My purpose and pleasure in life is in my devotion and devotedness to Allah.” 

The way to attain this joy and this rejoicing is to take the means of drawing closer to Allah. The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) relates in the Hadith Qudsi, Divine words inspired to the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace), that Allah Most High tells us, “My servant draws close to me by nothing more beloved to me than what I have made obligatory upon him. And my servant continues to draw close to me through voluntary works until I love him.”

Attain Allah’s Love

The way of attaining the love of Allah is first through fulfilling one’s obligations and then through going above and beyond that by doing the recommended and voluntary acts. One does them seeking to attain the love of Allah and that is where one finds joy, happiness, and rejoicing. Our acts of devotion are acts of seeking Divine love, seeking to find happiness, and reaching the station of rejoicing. That is the joy and that is the rejoicing. No happiness is found in the fleeting because it will not go with you to the grave. 

In that Hadith Qudsi,  Allah tells us, “And when I love them, I become the eyes by which they see, the ears by which they hear, the hand by which they grasp, the feet by which they walk.” In one narration it says, “I become them,” meaning that Allah becomes one’s primary object of awareness. One is more aware of Allah than one is aware of one’s sight, hearing, abilities, and strength because Allah created them. Allah is the one who has created you and He is sustaining you and all your faculties. Allah should come first in our consciousness. 

When the servant, through their acts of turning to Allah and drawing closer to Allah, reach that station of closeness and love, they reach presence with Allah and consciousness of Allah. They are with Allah and that is where they find the station of immovable contentment and joy. They find that all besides that is otherness that keeps what keeps one away from Allah, from their beloved. Rather, such a faithful servant finds their happiness in Allah Himself, in what is bounty and mercy from Allah, and all that makes them present with their beloved: Allah.

From Allah to You

Such a servant seeks the love of Allah. And he seeks the love of Allah’s righteous servants because the love of the righteous servants is a means by which one can draw close to Allah. Ibn Ataillah al-Sakandari said in his Hikam, “Do not rejoice in the act of obedience because you did it. Rather rejoice in the act of obedience because it is from Allah to you.” This is a subtle and critical matter.

It is not that one rejoices in the act of worship because one did something. – “I prayed and I fasted and I recited Quran and I stood in prayer and I went to the Mosque and I learned and I taught, etc.” – You rejoice in the Divine act and gift to you and not in yourself. 

The people who know Allah behold all their acts of devotion, all good, and all matters as being from Allah to them. Everything in their life becomes from the bounty and mercy of Allah. When they attain true realization of that, then all their times and moments become moments of rejoicing. This is why the poet said, “My day of celebration is when I behold You. My true joy is when I wipe away any sense of I.”

Rejoice in the Everlasting

The scholars said, “Whoever attaches themselves to the fleeting is deluded.” How could you be truly happy with something that is not going to last? Prophet Ibrahim (upon him be peace) said:

لَاۤ أُحِبُّ ٱلۡـَٔافِلِینَ

“‘I love not those that disappear.’” [Quran, 6:76; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

This is why Allah tells us:

قُلْ بِفَضْلِ ٱللَّهِ وَبِرَحْمَتِهِۦ فَبِذَٰلِكَ فَلْيَفْرَحُوا۟ هُوَ خَيْرٌۭ مِّمَّا يَجْمَعُونَ

“Say, ‘In this bounty of Allah and mercy of His, in that let them rejoice; It is better than all they amass.’” [Quran, 10:58; tr. Keller, Quran Beheld]

The faithful servants of Allah rejoice in the eternal and everlasting Allah. They rejoice in all that draws them closer to Allah, for the sake of Allah. And they learn how to detach themselves from the perishing and fleeting. May Allah honor us with this reality and make our day of rejoicing continual.