46 - الْوَدُودُ

[Bint e Aisha]

الْوَدُودُ

 

 

Translation

 

الْوَدُودُ is translated as The Loving-Kindness and The Most Affectionate.

 

It has the meaning of both, the one who is loved and the beloved, so the Muhibb (lover) and Mahboob (Beloved). It comes from the root word وُدُّ which means pure love therefore وَدُود has purity in it. 

 

Allah ta’ala loves His friends and the pious and the people who do good deeds. Allah ta’ala is The One Who deserves to be loved the most because of His abundant blessings on us. Both, Allah ta’ala being Beloved and His loving us are found in this name. It is very similar to Al-Habeeb so some Scholars say they are both the same. 

 

In the Qur’an

It is mentioned twice in the Quran.

 

Love & Mercy

Surah Hood: 90

وَاسْتَغْفِرُوا رَبَّكُمْ ثُمَّ تُوبُوا إِلَيْهِ ۚ إِنَّ رَبِّي رَحِيمٌ وَدُودٌ

Seek forgiveness of your Rabb and turn to Him in repentance; for my Rabb is indeed Merciful, Affectionate. 

 

Mercy and love go together i.e. when you love someone, you will feel merciful towards them.

 

Surah Room:21

وَمِنْ آيَاتِهِ أَنْ خَلَقَ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ أَزْوَاجًا لِتَسْكُنُوا إِلَيْهَا وَجَعَلَ بَيْنَكُمْ مَوَدَّةً وَرَحْمَةً ۚ إِنَّ فِي ذَٰلِكَ لَآيَاتٍ لِقَوْمٍ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ

And of His signs, another one is that He created for you mates from among yourselves that you may find comfort with them, and He planted love and kindness in your hearts; surely there are signs in this for those who think about it.
مَوَدَّةً comes from the same root word and here both words are used together. When people are young their emotions are intense i.e. passion, and a person will do things out of love and they are moved by feelings of the heart much more. When people are older, the emotions are not so intense and then there is 
رَحْمَةً and a person will do things out of mercy. So Allah ta’ala has put both  مَوَدَّةً and رَحْمَةً  in a relationship between husband and wife, and both are needed to make a relationship last.

 

In the same way Allah ta’ala is describing Himself in the verse of Surah Hood, that He is رَحِيمٌ  and  وَدُودٌ – Merciful and Loving.

 
Love & Forgiveness

 

Surah Burooj: 14

وَهُوَ الْغَفُورُ الْوَدُودُ - He is the Forgiving, the Loving,

This verse shows that when we love someone we are forgiving towards them and we see this when some women say they still love their husband and will forgive them even after the husbands have done terrible things to them. Also children mistreat parents but due to the parents’ love for the children they forgive them. Therefore these two Sifaat of being merciful and forgiving are especially connected to love. The more a person loves someone, the more mercy and forgiveness they will show the loved one and it is the same with Allah ta’ala.

 

Developing Love for Allah ta’ala

Imam Qurtubi (Rahimahullah) said a person needs to have certainty (Yaqeen) that Allah ta’ala loves His creation without any need. His love for us is pure. He does not need us and he does not get anything if we love Him back but it is for our benefit that we love Him. Allah ta’ala does not need our love and He does not need to love us either.

 

Love is a powerful force and one of our main emotions. It can lead to the greatest happiness or extreme sadness in life. 

 

Connection to Allah ta’ala

This is something we all want and it is the result of two things:

•    Obedience to Allah ta’ala
•    Love for Allah ta’ala

 

These two things are the key factors to the connection with Allah ta’ala. 

 

We see people over one edge or another. There are those people who are just obedient in terms of prayers and focused on attaining Jannah and safety from Jahannam which is fine but the concept of the Love for Allah ta’ala is side lined. Then there are those who are so focused on the love of Allah ta’ala that they do not care about the commands of Allah ta’ala i.e. I love Allah ta’ala but I just cannot cover my head. While being obedient we do make mistakes but that is different to intentionally not following commands again and again without any remorse or effort to rectification.  True obedience shows true love. When a person loves someone they do what the beloved wants.  

 

Love for the Sake of Allah ta’ala

 

The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam said:

 

رَجُلًا زَارَ أَخًا لَهُ فِي قَرْيَةٍ أُخْرَى فَأَرْصَدَ اللَّهُ لَهُ عَلَى مَدْرَجَتِهِ مَلَكًا فَلَمَّا أَتَى عَلَيْهِ قَالَ أَيْنَ تُرِيدُ قَالَ أُرِيدُ أَخًا لِي فِي هَذِهِ الْقَرْيَةِ قَالَ هَلْ لَكَ عَلَيْهِ مِنْ نِعْمَةٍ تَرُبُّهَا قَالَ لَا غَيْرَ أَنِّي أَحْبَبْتُهُ فِي اللَّهِ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ قَالَ فَإِنِّي رَسُولُ اللَّهِ إِلَيْكَ بِأَنَّ اللَّهَ قَدْ أَحَبَّكَ كَمَا أَحْبَبْتَهُ فِيهِ

A man set out to visit his brother from another town and Allah sent an angel to him. When the man met the angel, he was asked: Where are you going? The man said: I am visiting my brother in this town. The angel said: Are you returning a favor? He said: No, only that I love him for the sake of Allah the Exalted. The angel said: I am a messenger from Allah to tell you that Allah loves you as you love him. [Muslim]

Therefore loving the right people for the right reason is a way to attain Allah ta’ala’s love. 

 

Allah ta’ala loves His creation, even animals because our Deen teaches us not to hurt or abuse animals and even the slaughtering of an animal should be humane.

Ways of increasing love for Allah ta’ala:

•    Tilaawat of the Qur’an with understanding and depth
•    Nawaafil Salaah
•    Dhikr
•    Sacrificing our beloved things for Allah ta’ala
•    Understanding the Asmaaul Husnaa
•    Tahajjud Salaah and Du’a in the night

 

Therefore A’amaal are required to attain the love of Allah ta’ala. A person who has true love for Allah ta’ala will also make Du’a for his enemy. The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam made Du’a for Hidaayah even for those who hurt and injured him. Therefore when we have love for Allah ta’ala, we will have love for His Makhlooq as well even if they are disbelievers. 

 

Du’a 

The Prophet sallallaahu ‘alayhi wasallam has taught us the following Du’a:

 

اللَّهُمَّ إِنِّي أَسْأَلُكَ حُبَّكَ وَحُبَّ مَنْ يُحِبُّكَ وَالْعَمَلَ الَّذِي يُبَلِّغُنِي حُبَّكَ
 

O Allah! I ask You for Your Love, the love of those who love You, and deeds which will cause me to attain Your Love.

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