Page 18 - Perfected Faith

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PERFECTED FAITH

The love the people of perfected faith have for other created beings
is in direct relation with the love they have for Allah. The criterion for
loving people depends on the extent to which they exhibit the good
morals that please Allah. Believers nurture a great love for those peo-
ple who pay attention to the commands and prohibitions of Allah and
strive hard to live by good moral standards. The main reason why
they love these people is the deep love they feel for Allah and their
commitment to take Him as their sole friend.
True faith makes believers genuinely grasp that all beauty, wisdom
and the faculties they see in this world belong to Allah. When believ-
ers meet a good-looking, wise and talented person, for instance, they
derive great pleasure from these qualities, remembering that Allah is
the Creator and Giver of all these traits. For this reason, the pleasure
they take in these qualities is not a pleasure apart and distant from the
love they feel for Allah. On the contrary, it is a source of profound
love and respect for Allah.
Those who have no deep faith have no great love for Allah. These
people, in actuality, know that it is Allah Who gives them life, guards
them at every moment, bestows upon them countless blessings and
forgives them. However, for the greater part of their lives, they forget
these facts or simply disregard them. Assuming that the living things
Allah created possess a power independent from Him, they feel a sep-
arate love towards these created beings. In the Qur'an, the situation of
these people is stated as follows:
Some people set up equals to Allah, loving them as they should
love Allah. But those who have faith have greater love for
Allah… (Surat al-Baqara, 165)
In another verse, the difference between these people and people of
perfected faith is explained as follows:
Allah is the Protector of those who have faith. He brings them
out of the darkness into the light. But those who disbelieve
have false gods as protectors. They take them from the light