The lack of love that exists in the world today is manifest everywhere. Muslims, for one, do not seem to like to talk about love in the context of religion, in fear, perhaps, of sounding too much like Christians, who are keen on saying that ?God is Love.? We cannot ignore, however, that Allah is Al-Wadud, the Ever-Affectionate, the One Who loves those who do good and bestows on them His compassion. Nor can we ignore the fact that He is Al-Rahman, the Beneficent, the One Who gives blessings and prosperity to all beings without showing disparity. And how about At-Tawwab, the Sublime Relenting, the One Who grants repentance to whoever He wills among His creatures and accepts his repentance, time and time again?

Without love, quite simply there is no mercy. Without mercy, there is no forgiveness. Without forgiveness, there is no hope, and without hope, there is no salvation. We cannot even throw around the word ?mercy? itself, as we do in Islam so frequently?for example, in the name of Allah the Most Merciful, the Most Compassionate?without knowing that mercy exists because of love. The ahl tasawwuf (Sufis) say that the main ontological motivation for Allah?s act of creation is love, hubb. According to Ibn ?Arabi, love is the root of existence, since it is out of His love to be known that Allah creates His creation (Bashier). This is evidenced by the hadith qudsi, ?I was a hidden treasure that loved to be known, so I created creation so that I could be known.? As such, they say the ontological ?force? underlying creation itself is love. What else could it be really? We know Allah is above need of any kind, especially from His own creation. So what other motivation could there possibly be for Him creating and being known by His creation? In a word, love.

By Abdul Lateef Abdullah