Flavour of Faith

It is related by Abbas bin Adbul Muttalib that he heard the Apostle of
God say: "He tasted the flavour of Faith and experienced its sweetness
who agreed with a truthful heart to accept God as His Cherisher, Islam
as his religion, and Muhammad as his Prophet." [Bukhari]
Commentary:
Just as all delicious foods posses a flavour but can beperceived only
when one'sfaculty of taste has not been lost or become perverted due
to illness or any other cause, there is also a special sweetness in
faith which can be enjoyedby those alone who have, willingly and
earnestly, made Allah their Lord and Master, Muhammad (PBUH)their
prophet and guide, and Islam their religion and way of life, and
whosehearts have bowed in submission to God and yielded in obedience
to the prophet and assented to be the adherents of the path of Islam.
In other words, their bond with God, the prophet and Islam is not
merely formal,hereditary or intellectual but real, sincere and
genuine.
Anas related to us that "Only he will taste the sweetness of faith who
has these three qualities: the love of God and the prophet that comes
to himbefore everything else, he loves whom he loves solely for the
sake of God, and the idea of going backto apostasy after he has
embraced Islam is as repugnant to him as beingthrown into fire."
[Bukhari and Muslim]
Commentary:
The subject matter of this tradition is almost identical to that of
proceeding one. It says that the sweetness of faithcan only be
perceived by him whose love for God and the Apostle is strongerthat
for anyone or anything else in the world,so much so that when he loves
somebody, it is wholly for the sake of God,and who is so deeply
devoted to the Islamic faith that the very idea of leaving it and
reverting back to the apostasy is as painful to him as being cast into
fire.