True, as the Quran says “If your fathers and your sons and your brethren and your mates and your kinsfolk and property which you have acquired and trade, the dullness of which you fear, and dwellings which you like, are dearer to you than Allah and His apostle and striving in His way, then wait till Allah brings about His command, and Allah does not guide the transgressing people.”[82] A man came to the Prophet and said: “I love thee, O Apostle of God”. “Be ready for poverty.” replied the Prophet. “And I love Allah”, said the man. “Prepare to face tribulations”[83] replied the Prophet. The following tradition is narrated by the Khalif Omar: The Prophet one day saw Masah, son of Umair coming to him with a lambskin round his loins. “Look” said the Prophet to his companions, “how God has illumined his heart. I have seen him living in ease and well provided by his parents but now the love of Allah and His apostle has wrought a change in him.”[84] The Prophet used to pray thus: “My God, give me thy love and the love of him who loves thee and the love of that action which will bring me nearer to thee and make thy love sweeter than cold water to the thirsty”.[85] “Verily Allah loves those who repent and those who purify themselves.”[86] Say “If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah will love you and forgive you your faults, and Allah is forgiving, merciful”.[87] We have said before that love means yearning towards a desired object and that beneficence and beauty, whether perceived or conceived, equally attract our hearts. But in using the word love for God, no such meaning is possible as it implies imperfection. God’s love towards men is the love of His own work. Someone read the following verse of the Quran: “He loves them and they love him” in front of Shaikh Abu Said of Mohanna, who interpreted it saying: “He loves Himself because he alone exists. Surely an author who likes himself; his love is limited to his self.” God’s love means the lifting the veil from the heart of His servant, so that he might gaze at Him. It also means drawing him close to Himself. Let us give an illustration. A king permits some of his slaves to approach his presence, not because he requires them but because the slaves possess or are acquiring certain qualities which are worthy of being displayed before the royal presence. This privilege, this lifting of the veil, brings us nearer to the conception of God’s love. But it must be remembered that approaching the divine presence should entirely exclude the idea of space, for then it would imply change in Him, which is absurd. Divine proximity means the attainment of godly virtues by abstaining from the promptings of the flesh and hence it implies approach from the point of view of quality and not of space. For example, two persons meet together either when both of them proceed towards each other or one is stationary and the other starts and approaches him. Again a