Dear brothers;

We spoke last speech about the second lesson of the story of creation, which is the purpose of creation. We said that we are created just to worship Allah and this is the main job in our life. Allah says: (I have created the Jinn and men only to serve Me)

We mentioned that testifying that Allah is present and is the creator of everything is not enough for men to be true servants to Allah. We mentioned that the Arab disbelievers were testifying this fact , however they refused to say there is no god but Allah. Allah says: (If you asked them who created the heavens and the earth and subjected the sun and the moon (to his law), they will certainly reply: Allah).

We said the true worship necessitates that you testify that Allah is the only one deserving worship, so we should do some things;

We mentioned that the first one is the complete worship to Allah.

Do what He wants you to dodo not do what He warned you against doing.

You should not take other gods who change the lawful to unlawful and vice versa even if this god is your own desire.

We mentioned that Allah says in Surat Al-Ahzab: (it is not fitting for a believer, man or woman, when a matter has been decided by Allah and His Messenger, to have any option about their decision)

So, the true believer and servant to Allah does not leave his wife and daughters uncovered while Allah has forbidden this.

 The true servant to Allah can not deal with riba while Allah has forbidden this.

The true servant to Allah does not hurt his brothers and neighbors while Allah has forbidden this.

So, this is an important fact we should conclude:

To be true servants to Allah, you should obey Him completely in every matter.

Today, we will discuss another issue that is complementary to the first one.

Love of Allah:

To be true se servant to Allah, you should love Him, and to make this love greater than any other love.

A man may obey someone but he does not love him, this is not worship.

A man may love someone but he does not obey him, again this is not worship.

So, in the true worship, you should have complete obedience and complete love at the same time.

U who believe! If anyone among you turn back from his faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love, as they will love Him). So this is an important matter that Allah wants the believers to love Him, and thus He will love them.

Look to the believers and disbelievers in the following verse: (yet, these are men who take other besides Allah as equal, they love them as they should love Allah, but those of faith are overflowing in their love for Allah).

So, my brother;

Even if you love someone as you love Allah, you actually make him as equivalent to Allah. So, you should love Allah stronger than anybody else.

Look at this Hadith which reads: (Whoever practices the following three, will taste the sweetness of faith: loving God and His prophet more than any other one, loving people just for the sake of God, and detesting blasphemy, after having been saved from it by God, just as one detests falling into fire.)

As we said in the previous khutba that it is not enough to just testify with your tongue that Allah is the only one deserving worship and then obey another one.

Also here, we say that it is not enough to say with your tongue you love Allah and His Messenger more than anything in the world.

So, a proof for this love is required that you love Allah and His Messenger more than your own family , your money , your job, and your house.

See the following verse: (say: if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your mates, your kindred, your wealth that you have gained, the commerce that you fear a decline, or dwelling or houses in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in the cause of Allah, then wait until Allah brings about His decision, and Allah does not guide the rebellious)

So, in this verse Allah wants us to make His love and that of His Messenger and jihad more than the love of family, wealth, commerce, and houses.

So, if there is a contradiction between the love of Allah and the love of any other thing from these things, you should put the love of Allah first and put the love of any other thing behind it.

So, it is not fitting for a true servant of Allah to make the love of money, for example, more than Allah.

You know that Allah wants you to spend money in his way  on the poor and to assist Jihad in many Islamic countries, building mosques, schools, and in many aspects of charity.

However, if loving to money prevents you from this spent, so you make the love of money greater than the love of Allah, and this is a defect in the worship.

Also, if you make loving money push you to earn it from the unlawful gains such as riba, wine, or pork, so you make the love of money greater than the love of Allah and this is a defect in the worship.

Apply this example also to your family.

If your love to your wife pushed you to disobey Allah as going outside uncovered, so you make the love of your wife greater than the love of Allah, and this is a defect in the worship.

With this concept, we can understand the verse reading: (o you who believe, truly among your wives and your children are enemies to yourselves; so beware of them)

It is very strange! How wives and children are enemies for us?

Yes, my brothers, they can be brother, if their demands conflict with the commandments of Allah. When their love exceeds the love of Allah, this will defect your worship, and this is indeed a manifest loss.

 So, the first sign of your love to Allah is to give something in His way, to give time, effort, money, yourself, to make jihad.

And then will be an examination, you can't enter paradise without examination. Look to this verse: (do you think that you would enter paradise without testing from Allah to know those of you who fought and are remained steadfast)

So, Allah wanders: how you imagine that you will enter paradise without testing.

Certainly, there will be a test.

You should proof that you truly love Allah more than any other love.

Another sign indicating that you truly love Allah is to follow the prophet Muhammad in all his sunnah, Allah says: (say: if you love Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins).

See, my brothers: the verse is clear; if you truly love Allah, then follow His Messenger. So, doing worship and dealing with people as the prophet was doing is a proof that you truly love Allah.

Actually, there are many people who have a defect in this concept, they believe that the actions of the prophet just a sunnah, not obligatory, hence doing it is as not doing it.

We say No, my brothers;

The sunnah is an indication that you love Allah, so you should keep on them as you can.

You should imitate the prophet in prayer, fasting, before and after eating, on travelling, on rain, on visiting patient, on different situations, and all other acts of worship.

You should imitate the prophet in the manner he was dealing with other people, or you can say: you should love the prophet more than any other one, even yourself.

Look to Umar ibn Al-Khattab, he tried to be honest with himself, and with the prophet, he said: o prophet of Allah! By lord, I love you more than anything except myself . what was the reply of the prophet? Did he accept from him this great love? Umar prefers himself only on the prophet.

The prophet did not accept this incomplete love, the prophet said to Umar: no Umar, there will be no faith except if you love me even more than yourself.

Then, umar thought in the problem, he found himself actually loving the prophet more than himself. He wants to scarify himself to protect the prophet. So, umar said: by lord, I love you more than myself.

The prophet replied: now, o Umar, now your faith is completed. Now you satisfy Allah an His Messenger.

My brothers: there is no contradiction between the love of Allah and the love of the Messenger.

As we mentioned, the love of Muhammad is a sign to the love of Allah. Also, your obedience to the prophet is apart from your obedience to Allah. Allah says: (who obeys the Messenger, obeys Allah)

Dear brothers: I ask Allah to facilitate to us his obedience and to make our desires in the following of the prophet. Allah has power over all things.

Dear Muslim brothers:

The worship of Allah is a critical issue, we should make it the main issue in our life.

To conclude;

It is not enough to be true servant to Allah, to just testify that Allah is present and he is the creator of every thing, but you should testify that Allah is the only one deserving of worship.

This necessitates some things;

The first of which is the complete obedience to Him, and we spoke about that in the last khutba

The second is to making His love more than any other love.

This love has signs; one of which is jihad in the way of Allah, another is following the prophet Muhammad.

So, my brother;

What you have done to support jihad, what you gave from your money, time, effort, and self?

Look also my brother; do you the prophet more than yourself?

Do you follow the prophet in what he said and what he did?

If you found that, so praise be to Allah, but if you did not find these signs, then you should take care and increase your effort to achieve these criteria.

But how to increase the love of Allah in your heart, this is the subject of the next khutba, inshallah.

https://en.islamstory.com/en/artical/3407712/Story-of-creation