Foreword

FOREWORD but it would be an underestimation of the love of God if it is taken only in the sense of obedience. Obedience is only a legal description of the relationship with God, whereas love entails man’s entire existence being moulded in the remembrance of God. Man comes to acknowledge God in the perfect sense when it is with the whole of his being. Faith in God is for man to discover God to the extent of loving Him more than anything else. The Quran says that “those who believe love God most.” (2:165) One who loves God the most is one who has made God his object of worship. Real love for God will find expression in many ways. Even uttering such words as praise (hamd), thanksgiving (shukr), and remembrance (zikr), as we find in the Quran, is also an expression of our love for God. It would be right to say that Alham-do-lillah, praise be to God, signifies love for God (Alhub-bu-lillah). Praising God means loving God. Gratitude to God also means loving God. Remembering God also indicates a strong love and affection for God. What is Paradise? Paradise is another name for eternal life in the neighbourhood of God (66:11). In the world before death man lives in the neighbourhood of God at the level of mind and feeling. After death his living in the world of God will be a reality. God, without doubt, is the source of all virtues. That is why man can find true peace only in the neighbourhood of God. Anything short of that cannot become a source of real peace for him. The present world, in actual fact, is a selection ground for the right kind of people. Here those people are being selected who in respect to their virtues or character are worthy of being lodged in the neighbourhood