Page 38 - Faith: The Way to Happiness

FAITH: THE WAY TO HAPPINESS

with it love of Allah and encourages the person to try harder to gain
His approval. The fear produced by ascribing partners to Allah is a
"malevolent" fear which discomforts a person and can send him to
Hell. In the Qur'an, Allah states that He will spread fear in the hearts
of these people who without authority from Him have associated
others with Him:
We will cast terror into the hearts of those who disbelieve
because they have associated others with Allah for which
He has not sent down any authority. Their shelter will be
the Fire. How evil is the abode of the wrongdoers! (Surah
Al ‘Imran: 151)
Another emotion which is wrongly directed in communities of
the ignorant is love. Love is a splendid emotion which Allah has
placed in people's hearts but if this emotion is not directed correctly
it becomes nothing but a source of worry and pain. So much so that,
because some people place their ambition for their own benefits
above all moral values, they also make love a vehicle for their own
advantage. They reach a point where they cannot love if their love is
not requited. In such an atmosphere people love one another for the
advantages they can obtain but because of this they suffer continual
harm. So long as love is shown in an ignorant manner in the wrong
places and to the wrong people, those who show it cannot be pro-
tected against disappointment.
The One Who deserves love and is to be loved is Allah, Who
possesses infinite might. It is Allah Who created people from noth-
ing, Who gives them everything, Who feeds, clothes and pro t e c t s
them and gives them a variety of beautiful things. Real love is that
which reflects Allah and His manifestations, the love of those who
adhere to the path to which they have been summoned by Him.

36