So what is the true nature of the relationship between Allah Swt and mankind?  Does he love man? Does he love Muslims? I mean really passionately LOVE Muslims?

First we all know about God's universal love which is Rahma / mercy ... that is obvious in his abundant giving in the creation of the environment in which we live in, i.e; every one on earth, a believer or not, a Muslim or not, even criminals, can enjoy God's Sun, air, food, water, fire, sons, daughters, health, money... But our focus is God's special love for certain groups of people...who are these people??

Allah SWT lists in the Quran those who he loves:
ALLAH loves: the charitable (2:195) إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُحْسِنِينَ
AND.... the righteous (3:76)  َإِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَّقِينَ
AND.... the steadfast (3:146) وَاللّهُ يُحِبُّ الصَّابِرِينَ
AND.... those who trust him (3:159) إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُتَوَكِّلِينَ
AND.... those who purify themselves (9:108) وَاللّهُ يُحِبُّ الْمُطَّهِّرِينَ
AND.... the just and equitable (5:42) إِنَّ اللّهَ يُحِبُّ الْمُقْسِطِينَ
AND.... those who fight in his cause (61:4) إِنَّ اللَّهَ يُحِبُّ الَّذِينَ يُقَاتِلُونَ فِي سَبِيلِهِ

AND Those who follow Sunnat Rasoul Allah
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ
If you want God to Love you, then follow my guidance..

So if you are one of the above, you earn God's love, and he will fill your heart with his love, not only that, he will even announce that in the heavens.. ‏عن النبي ‏ ‏صلى الله عليه وسلم ‏ ‏قال ‏ ‏إذا أحب الله العبد نادى ‏ ‏جبريل ‏ ‏إن الله يحب فلانا فأحببه فيحبه ‏جبريل ‏ ‏فينادي ‏ ‏جبريل ‏ ‏في أهل السماء إن الله يحب فلانا فأحبوه فيحبه أهل السماء ثم يوضع له القبول في الأرض

Another hadith that shows how loving God is:
Rasoul Allah "pbuh" said, Allah "SWT" Said:

‏‏ إذا تقرب العبد إلي شبرا تقربت إليه ذراعا وإذا تقرب مني ذراعا

تقربت منه ‏ ‏باعا ‏‏وإذا أتاني مشيا أتيته هرولة ‏

Tabaraka Raby wataqadas, you go one step towards Allah "SWT", He comes two steps towards you.. You go walking towards God, He comes rushing towards you...

Do we fathom what is going on here?

Allah.. The Greatest.. Allah The Creator of the Universe, will come two steps towards me if I go one step towards Him....
 
Me? The tiny helpless sinful creature? Allah, the possessor of might and glory.. will come rushing to me if I go walking to him? Who am I in Gods Kingdom?

Me and the Creation 

Have you ever compared yourself to any of God's creations?

Just compare yourself to planet earth, or compare planet earth to the solar system, or compare our solar system to our Galaxy, the Milky way.  Maybe you know that light takes 8 minutes to travel from the sun to earth.  But do you know that if you travel at the speed of light, you need 100,000 years to cross the Milky Way galaxy!  And the Milky Way galaxy is just one of billions of galaxies in the universe..  Our galaxy is like a tiny light bulb in a huge city compared to the universe.  We now know this because of NASA and the Hubble telescope...

Can you imagine how small and insignificant we are compared to the known universe which is only the first heaven, Al Samat Aldonya?  Almost 1400 years before Nasa and before the Hubble telescope Rasoul Allha "pbuh" said:

ما السماء الأولي في السماء الثانيه إلا كحبه في صحراء , وما السماء الثانيه في الثالثه إلا كحبه في صحراء ,وما السماء الثالثه في الرابعه إلا كحبه في صحراء, وما الرابعه في الخامسه إلا كحبه في صحراء , وما الخامسه في السادسه إلا كحبه في صحراء, وما السادسه في السابعه إلا كحبه في صحراء وما السابعه في العرش إلا كحبه في صحراء , وماالعرش في الكرسي إلا كحبه في صحراء , وما الكرسي في كف الرحمن إلا كجبه في صحراء

The entire universe as a grain in the desert, comparing the 7 heavens to the throne, and throne as a grain in the desert, comparing it to the seat, and the seat as a grain in the desert, in the Palm of ALLAH the most merciful.  

Who are we in Gods kingdom? We are pretty small, aren't we?

ويتودد رب السموات السبع ورب العرش العظيم الى عباده مخاطبأ داوود
(( يا داوود لو يعلم المدبرون عني شوقي لعودتهم ورغبتي في توبتهم لذابو شوقاً إلي ، يا داوود هذه رغبتي في المدبرين عني فكيف محبتي للمقبلين علي??

The servants and the king example

It is not strange to see servants show kindness to their master to win his heart, but it is so strange, actually mind boggling to see the king of kings shows kindness to his servants to win their hearts...

...Allah, with his infinite might and glory, will come rushing to you if you go walking to him... what kind of love is that??

This Hadith, is an example of how loving ALLAH is, and how sinful and ignorant man is:

The Prophet (PBUH) said that ALLAH SWT said:

إني والأنس والجن في نبأ عظيم اخلق ويعبد غيري
Talking to both the humans and the jin His Majesty said: I create and you worship others!
أرزق ويشكر سواي  I provide for you, and you thank others
خيري الي العباد نازل وشرهم الي صاعد
 My abundant good is going down to you, and your evil deeds are coming up to me

اتودد اليهم برحمتي وأنا الغني عنهم I show you kindness to attract you, and I don't even need you

 ويتبغضون الي بالمعاصي وهم أفقر ما يكونون إلي and you turn your backs on me with bad deeds, though you need no one the way you need me أهل ذكري أهل مجالستي فمن أراد ان يجالسني فليذكرني If you want to be in my Company? Remember me أهل طاعتي أهل محبتي Obey ME and you earn my love 

أهل معصيتي لا أقنطهم من رحمتي إن تابو الي فأنا حبيبهم If you refuse to worship me, I keep the gates of my mercy open to you, if you repent I accept you and fill your heart with my Love
الحسنه عندي بعشر أمثالها وأزيد  the Hasana is rewarded 10 times and I multiply والسيئة عندي بمثلها وأعفو the bad dead is written only one, or I forgive وعزتي وجلالي لو أستغفروني منها لغفرتها لهم
من أتاني منهم تائبا تلقيته من بعيد
ومن أعرض عني ناديته من قريب , أقول له , أين تذهب , الك رب سواي
All you need to do is just ask for forgiveness...
If you repent I welcome you from far, and if you turn your back on me I say to you: Where do you go, do you have another God but me

We are small in this vast universe, but we are capable of profoundly big things, we have been given the gift of free-will, and if  we use it right we will be able to earn God's special love and make him happy, and you can do that right now.

Another hadith about this, that is explained:

Imagine a man traveling on his Camel in the middle of the desert.  At the end of day, he is tired, hungry thirsty and sleepy..Then, he loses his camel along with all his provisions and food. 

When you repent from a sin, Allah is happier than that man finding his lost camel..

الله أفرح بتوبة عبده من أحدكم سقط على بعيره وقد أضله في أرض فلاة
 

Yes, you can earn God's love and make him happy right this minute; each and every one of us has his own sins, think of yours now, and repend.

GRETER THAN WHAT? 

A Muslim starts his prayer by facing the Kebla, he say Allaho Akbar and start praying:

Al hamdo lellahi rab al alamine.....

I can not believe the water bill this month is $378!!!!!

Something must be leaking!!!
Few minutes later, he does not know how many Rakaas he prayed

We pray a minimum of 17 rakaas a day, on average we should pray around 30 to 40 rakkas a day, repeating the same sooras over and over..

Repetition causes routine, and when the human brain goes through routine it switches into auto pilot, your tong is reciting Quran, your body is doing rokoo and sojood but your mind is wandering around...

If your heart is deeply involved with someone you hardly blink while you are with them, you focus, you want to enjoy every single minute of their company.

When we truly love Allah we should be looking forward to meeting him in prayer,

Let me share with you the reality of praying, what really goes on when you pray, I'm sure almost all of you heard this many times before, but I ask you to listen to it this time with an open heart and allot of imagination..

When you face the kebla and say Allaho Akbar,
Allah is the great name of the creator of everything,

Akbar, means greater:

GRETER THAN WHAT?

Do not tell me greater than everything, be specific and be honest..

Akbar than your work?

Akbar than your spouse? Is he Really?

Akbar than your kids?

Greater than your desires, dreams and wishes?

Do you really mean it when you say it?

Do you even think about it? Or you just say it..

Two words that are heavier than the Universe, Allaho Akbar...

The minute you say the Takbeer, you are in a meeting with Allah.

Remember when I told you we are very small but we capable of profound things,

You say Allaho Akbar.. and you are instantly in a meeting with Allah SWT.

The Prophet (PBUH) said:

Yokbelo Allah alaika be waghehy al kereem...

When you say:

Al-hamdu lillahi rabbi l-alamin (3), Allah (SWT) says:
My servant has praised Me

And when you say: Ar-rahmani r-rahim (4), Allah Swt says:
My servant has extolled Me,

you say : Maliki yawmi d-din (5), Allah says:
My servant has glorified Me

And you say: Iyyaka na budu wa iyyaka nasta in (6), He says:
This is between Me and My servant.
Then when you say: Ihdina s-sirata l- mustaqim, siratal ladhina an amta alayhim ghayril-maghdubi alayhim wa la d-dallin (7), He says:
This is for My servant, and My servant shall have what he has asked for.

Then Rokoo3

Then sojood

Wasjod waqtareb

You hands on the floor your knees, your nose

You put your highest points so low and say Al alla

Your eyes do not see anybody any more

This sagda scares Satan and torture him, he was ordered to do sojood and refused so he was dammed, but you were ordered to do sojjod and did..

Take advantage of the sojood, the Prophet (PBUH) said that the closest you are to Allah SWT is in Sojood, Ask for whatever you need, forgivness, blessing, help, .. JUST ASK..  and your loving God will Grant you what you ask for INshallah...

Do you see what is going on?

How many of us, the minute we meet Allah in prayer we just turn our backs to him and go?
That is exactly what we do every time we wander around with our minds while praying?

And I think that is because mostly we pray because we feel we have to.. not because we LOVE to.....Focusing 100% in prayers is very hard, that is why you need to ask Allah SWT for help.

We need to open our hearts, so God may fill them with his love, we need to train ourselves to take a break from everything in our life for few minutes while we are meeting Allah SWT...and we always need to remember, that for every step we take towards ALLAH SWT, he comes two... and if we go walking to him, he comes rushing.

So when you pray show God that you are praying because you love him, and honestly want to worship him..And remember, there is nothing Allah loves more than you praying on time, all five prayers, as long as you are committed to pray, Allah will bless every single thing you do. 

Br. Hasan Radi

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