Love in Islam (Al-Hubb Al-Islam)

Every heart that is not aflame is no heart;
A frozen heart is nothing but a handful of clay.
O God! Give me a breast that sets ablaze,
And in that breast a heartand that heart consumed with fire.
In Islam, the concept of love is one of the most important concepts.
This fact manifests itself in Islamic philosophy, theology, mysticism
and ethics; indeed, in some aspects, it plays the crucial role. For
example, in defining the Islamic point of view on the relation between
God and Universe in general, and between God and Mankind in
particular, love has the most significant and profound place. Love is
so central in Islam that it is seep as"the firmest handhold of faith"
and "faith (Iman) isnothing but love for the sake of God and hate for
the sake of God".
Ibn Abbas reported that Messenger of Allah (Peaceand blessings of
Allah be upon him) said: "The strongest faith is to be sincere for the
sake of Allah, to hate for the sakeof Allah (Tabarra), to lovefor the
sake of Allah (Tawalla), and to discard for the sake of Allah."
There is a tendency among some people to think that there should be no
hate at all. These people assume that excellence and nobility
ofcharacter and "being sociable" consist of having all men one's
friends. Certainly Islam recommends Muslims to love people and
optimizecompassionate and sincere relationship with them, even if they
do not believe in Islam or in God. However, it is not feasible for a
person whohas principles in his life and has devoted his life to
realize sacred values to be indifferent to evil and oppressive deeds
of wrongdoers and make friendship with everybody. Such a
personcertainly will have some enemies, whether he likes it or not.
There are always good people in the society and bad people. Good and
bad are two opposite poles. Attraction towards the good is not
possible without repulsion from the bad.
When two human beings attract each other and their hearts wish for
them to be friends and companions with one another, we should look for
a reason for that. The reason is nothing other than similarity and
resemblance. Unless there is a similarity between these two persons,
they cannot attract one another and move towards friendship with each
other, as saying goes, Birds of same feather flock together.
Maulana Rumi in his Mathnavi mentions fine story that illustrate this fact.
The story relates to a wise man that saw a Raven who had formed
affection for a Stork. They perched together and flew together! The
wise man could not understand how two birds of two different species
that had no similarity either in shape or in colour with each other
could be friends. He went close and discovered that both of them had
only one leg.
The same idea is emphasized by Imams of the Household ( Ahlul Bayt )
of Prophet Muhammad (saw). For example, Fudayl ibn Yasar, a disciple,
asked Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (as) whether love and hatred derive from
faith (Iman). Imam Jafar al-Sadiq (as) replied: "Is faith anythingbut
love and hate?"
It is also narrated that Imam al-Baqir (as) , stated that: Religion
(Deen) is love and love is religion.
As these statements and traditions indicate, love plays an important
and significant role. Hence it deserves our close attention in order
that we may discover the real meaning of the concept of love in Islam.
First of all, some questions come to the mind. What is the kind of
love that has been emphasized by Islam? Who is the object of this
special kind of love? Why should the believers havethis kind of love
and what purpose does it serve?
Love in Islam can be broadly categorized into:Love for God, love for
Prophet Muhammad (saw) and his Household (Ahlul Bayt), and love for
the faithful.