LOVE AND BROTHERHOOD

Love for one another and friendship and brotherhood for one another is the best way for nearness to God. We shall describe in this chapter (1) love and friendship for God and its conditions and rules, (2) duties of companionship and its rules and (3) duties to the Muslims, relatives, neighbours and rulers.

SECTION 1

MERITS OF FRIENDSHIP AND BROTHERHOOD Know, 0 dear readers, that friendship is the result of good love for one another and bad conduct is the root of hatred, envy and enmity. The result of good conduct is praise worthy. The merits of good conduct in religion are not secret. God praised His Prophet : You are certainly upon a sublime character-68:4. He said :. Attributes which will take the majority of people to Paradise are God-fear and good conduct. Hazrat Osamah-b-Sharik reported : We asked : 0 Messenger of God, what good attribute has been given to man ? He said : Good conduct. The Prophet said : I have been sent to perfect good conduct. He also said : What will be heaviest in the Balance will be good conduct. He said : God has not made the conduct constitution of people such that fire will burn them. In other words, Hell-fire will not be able to burn one whose character and constitution are beautiful. The Prophet said : 0 Abu Hurairah, you should take to good conduct. Abu Hurairah asked : 0 Messenger of God, what is good conduct ? He said : Keep the tie of relationship with one who cuts it off, forgive one who oppresses you, give charity to one who deprives you.

Some traditions have come in praise of friendship. When the tie of friendship is love God, its merits are high as seen from the Quran and traditions. God says after showing kindness over the entire creation : If you spend everything what is in the earth, you cannot create love in their minds, but God has placed love in their hearts-3:102. He said : By His grace, you have been united in brotherhood. He condemned separation and disunity by saying: Hold fast to the rope of God unitedly and be not separate-3:102. The Prophet said : One who is the best of you in good conduct is 2:87nearest to me. The Prophet said : A believer loves and is loved.

There is no good in one who does not love and is not loved. The Prophet praised brotherhood among the Muslims and said : God gives a friend to one whose good . He intends. If he forgets, he reminds him. If he does not remember, he helps him. The Prophet said : If two brothers meet with each other, they are like two hands one of which clear the dust of the other. If two believers meet with each other, God gives benefit to one from another. To give encouragement of friendship for God, the Prophet said: If a man makes brotherhood for God, God will increase his rank in Paradise and will not reduce anything from his actions. Hazrat Idris Khaolani said to Hazrat Muaz : I love you for God. He said It is good. I heard the Prophet say : Chairs will be placed round the Throne for one par_ ty of men. Their faces_ will be b like full moon. The people will be afraid, but they will not be afraid. The people will be perturbed, but they will not be perturbed. They are the friends of God and they will not have any fear or sorrow. The Prophet was asked : 0 Messenger of God, who are they? He said : Those who. love one another for God. The Prophet said : There `are pulpits of light around the Throne. A party of men will be seated therein. Their dress will be of light. They are not Prophets or martyrs but the Prophet and martyrs will envy their rank. They asked . 0 Apostle of God, narrate to us their qualities. He said : They love one another for God, they sit together in an assembly for God and meet one another for God. The Prophet said of the two men who love each other for God The mare beloved of God is one who loves his friend more. God says : I shall make their children attached to them and nothing will be reduced from their actions. The Prophet said that God says : My meeting becomes sure for those who meet one another for Me. My love becomes sure for those who love one another for Me. My help becomes sure for those who help one another for Me.

The Prophet said: God will say on the Resurrection Day Where are those who loved one another for Me ? There is no shade to-day except My shade. I will give them My shade. The Prophet said : On the day when there will be no shade except the shade of God, He will place seven persons under His shade-(1) a just ruler, (2) a young man engaged in divine service. (3) a man who is attracted towards the mosque after he comes out of it, (4) two persons who love each other for God, meet each other for 2:88God and keep company with each other for God (5) one who remembers God in loneliness and as result his eyes shed tears, (6) a man who does not respond to the evil temptation of a beautiful woman coming from a respectable family and says : I fear God, and (7) a charitable person who keeps his charity secret, so much so that his left hand does not know what his right hand gives. The Prophet : If a man meets another for love of God and hoping to meet Him, an angel proclaims from behind him : You are blessed, your foot steps are blessed, paradise for you is blessed. The Prophet said : Once a man wished to meet his friend for God. God sent secretly an angel to him who asked him : What do you intend? He said: I intend to meet my brother. He asked him: Have you got any necessity to him ? He said : No The angel said : Has he done any _be_nefit to-yo_u ? He__said :_No.. The angel said -Then why are you going to meet him ? He said : I love him for the sake of God. The angel said : God sent me to you with this news that 'He loves you as you love him and that Paradise is sure for you. The Prophet said : Love for God and hate for God are the firmest faith. For this reason, a man should have enemies so that he may hate them and should have friends so that he may love them.

Once God revealed to a Prophet: You have hastened the happiness of Paradise for you for your renunciation of the world, You have got honour near Me for having renunciated the world to come to Me. Have you done enmity for Me or have you made friendship for Me ? The Prophet said : 0 God, let no sinner do any benefit to me, as my love may grow for him. God revealed to Jesus Christ: If you do alone the divine services of the inmates of the heaven and earth but do not love for Me and hate for Me, it will do no benefit to you. Jesus Christ said : Be dear to God by having enmity against the sinners and be near to God by keeping away from them and seek pleasure of God by displeasing them. They asked him : 0 the Spirit of God, with whom shall we keep company? He said : With such people who remind you of God if you see them, whose words increase your actions and who arouse eagerness in your mind for the actions of the next world when you see them. Once God revealed to Moses : 0 son of Imran, if your heart is awake, seek friends for you . The friend who does not meet you with My pleasure is your enemy.

God revealed to David: 0 David, why are you in loneliness after giving up the society of men ? He said : 0 God, I have 2:89adopted loneliness for Thee. He said : 0 David, beware seek friends for you and do not take those friends who do not help you for My pleasure, they are your enemies. They will make your heart hard and keep you farthest from Me. David once said to God : 0 Lord, how is it possible that all the people will love me and obey the message of religion ? It was said : Treat with the . people according to their nature and make good what is between you and Me. In another narration. Treat with the people of the world with the nature of the world and treat with the inmates of the next world with the nature of the next world. The Prophet said : Those people those people among you are dearest to God who love and are loved, and those people among you are dearest to God who love and are loved, and those people among you are objects of greatest hatred of God who roam with slanders and create disputes among brethren.

The Prophet said : There is an angel of God whose half-body was created of fire and half of ice. He says : O God, as Thou hast created tie between fire and ice, crete love in the hearts of Thy pious servants. He said : If a man makes friendship for God, He creates for him a rank in Paradise. The Prophet said : The mutual lovers of God will live on the long pillars of red emeralds. There will be seventy thousand rooms on that pillar. From them, they will peep at the inmates of Paradise. The brilliance of their look will illuminate the inmates of Paradise. The brilliance of their look will illuminate the inmates of Paradise as the rays of the sun illuminates this world. The inmates of Paradise will say to one another . Take us to see those who loved one another for God. On their foreheads, it will be written-Lovers of God.

WISE SAYINGS

Hazrat Ali said You should take to friends . They will be counted in this world and in the next. Have you not heard about the inmates of Hell-1-1. We have got no intercessors or bosom friends? Hazrat Abdullah-b-Omar said : By God, if I fast all days and pray all nights, spend all my wealth in the way of God without account and if I die on the day with no love for those who obey God and with no hatred for those who do not obey God, it will be no use to me. Hazrat Hasan Basari said : 0 children of Adam, let not the following word deceive you-He who loves one will be with him, because you cannot earn the rank of the pious people without doing their actions. The Jews and the 2:90Christians love their Prophets, but they do not act according to their injunctions. This shows that only love without actions will be of no use. The sage Fuzail said in one of his sermons: It is strange that you wish to live in the Paradise of Firdous and in the neighbourhood of the Merciful with Prophets, truthfuls, martyrs and pious men. but what actions you have done for it, what passions you have given up for it, what tie of relationship you have united after it was severed, what faults of your brother you have forgiven, and what distant persons you have brought near for God.

God revealed to Moses: What actions have you done for My pleasure ? He said : 0 Lord, I have prayed to Thee, kept fast, paid charity and Zakat. He said : Prayer is a clear proof for you, fast is a shield for you, charity is your shade, zakat is your li ht, but what actions have you done For Me? Hazrat Moses said : 0 Lord, show me such an action which will be only for Thee. God said : 0 Moses, have you taken any friend for Me and have you made any enemy for Me ? Then Moses came to know that the best action is love for God and hatred for God. Hazrat Hasan Basari said : To hate the sinners is a means of nearing God. A man once said to the sage Ibn Wase : I love you for God. He said : He loves you for whom you love me. Then he said : 0 God, I seek refuge to Thee from a persons who loves me for Thee, as I do not know Thy love. Hazrat Omar said : When one of you gets love from his brother, let him stick to it. Such a man is rarely found. The sage Muzahed said : When two lovers meet with each other and and express gratefulness, their sins drop down from them as the leaves of trees drop down in winter season The sage Fuzail said : If a man looks to his brother with affection and kindness, it becomes his divine service.

DISTINCTION BETWEEN LOVE FOR GOD AND LOVE.FOR WORLD

Know, 0 dear readers, that love for God and hate for God are secret. What we will discuss will lift the curtain therefrom. This friendship is of two kind-(1) love for God and (2) love for the world. It is not love for God if there is love for a neighbour, love for reading together, for trading in the same market or travelling together in a journey. But if there is there the intention of love for the sake of God, it will be love for God. There is no doubt that there is not merit unless a work is done willingly, and love he gets from willingness.

2:91Loves has got two conditions. Firstly, a thing is loved for its merits and not to reach the beloved by its help or for no other object behind it. Secondly, it is loved to reach the goal by its help. This object also is not confined to this world only but is connected with the next world or with God. In this way, love is of four kinds.

(1) First kind: A man is loved for his own merits. It is possible that a man can become an object of love of another in a natural way, when he sees him, knows him and thinks him good after seeing his character and conduct. Everything beautiful is an object of pleasure to a man who loves beauty. There is another thing for love. That is the internal qualities. The Prophet said Souls are the arrayed soldiers. Out of them, those who know one another love one another and those who do not know one anot er ave got erences o opinion. The cause of difference is absence of knowledge of one another and the cause of love is knowledge of one another. Love grows out of acquaintance. In another narration the Prophet said : Souls are arrayed soldiers, one soul meeting with the other soul in the horizon becomes near. Some learned men explain it by saying that God, after creating souls, let them off in the air and they are roaming round the Throne. The souls which know one another in the air meet one another in the world and love one another. The Prophet said The souls of two believers meet with each other from a distance of one day's path though one soul has not seen another soul. The Prophet said : When a believer enters an assembly of one hundred hypocrites and only one believer, he will sit near the believer. If a hypocrite enters an assembly of one hundred believers and of one hyporcrite he will sit near the hypocrite. It is seen from this that the same nature attracts one another though they have got no acquaintance. The sage Malek-b-Dinar said : Out of ten persons, two cannot agree, but if the nature of the two is the same, they agree. This proves that a man loves another man of the same nature not for gaining any benefit, not for acquiring wealth, but for their nature being the same and for their internal qualities being the same.

(2) Second class: A man loves another for gaining the love of a third person. The thing which becomes the means of a dear thing becomes also dear. For this reason, gold and silver are dear to men although they have got no attribute of their own, as they cannot be eaten, nor used as clothes but they are the means of getting these 2:92things. These are men among the people who are loved like gold and silver, as they become the means of reaching the destination or gaining the goal and by their help, wealth, name and fame are earned.

(3) Third class: A thing is not loved for its sake, but for another thing which is not for good of this world but for good of the next world. It is open and not secret, as for instance, to love a spiritual guide who becomes the means of gaining spiritual knowledge. His object is to get success in the next world. Jesus Christ said : He who acquires knowledge, acts according to it and teaches it to others is termed noble in the spiritual world. Knowledge is not complete without students. So student are the means of the teacher for perfection. The teacher loves the students as a father. It is a step towards progress. He who spends ,his wealth for his friend, dresses him with cloth, maintains him with food, keeps him in a house to live in and helps him in all affairs and whose object in doing these things is to give him leisure for divine service is an object of love for God. In days of yore a party of rich men used to supply food to the religious men and loved them. He who marries with the object of getting such a son who will pray for him and for that loves his wife, is also an object of love for God. For this reason, there are ample rewards for spending money for the members of the family, even for a morsel of food which a husband lifts up to the mouth of his wife. Jesus Chirst said in his invocation : 0 God, don't allow my enemies to become pleased with me, don't create trouble in the way of my religion, don't make the world a great object of my anxiety and remove the pleasure of my enemies from the wealth of the world. He did not pray : Don't make the world the root of my anxiety. Rather he said : Don't make the world a great object of my anxiety. The Prophet said in his invocation : 0 Got, I pray for Thy mercy, so that I may gain the glory of Thy honour in this world and in the next. He also prayed: 0 God, save me from the calamities of this world and the next.

This world and the next world mean two conditions of which one is nearer than the other. So if a man does not love the happiness of to-day, how can he love the happiness of to-morrow? Surely he should love the hapiness of tomorrow as to-morrow will turn into a lasting condition. So it is necessary to enquire into the lasting condition. The pleasures of this 2:93world is of two kind: -(1) One kind of pleasure is opposed to the pleasureofthenextworld and isa stumbling block. TheProphets and friends of God were careful of this kind of pleasure. (2) Another kind of pleasure is not opposed to that of the next world and this was not prohibited for them, such as marriage, lawful eating,etc.

(4) Fourth class-Love for God and hate for God.

It is self-less and disinterested love. This is the highest kind of love, most secret and subtle. Love of this kind is possible, as if this love surpasses beyond limit, it spreads towards the things which have got connection with the beloved. A lover even loves the things of the beloved and he even loves those whom the b loves those who praise and glorify the beloved and try to please him. Baqiah-b-Walid said : When a believer loves a believer, he even loves his dog. The lover Majnu, therefore, sang:

When I went to the house of Laila, I kissed its wall.

Love is not for the wall, But for its owner.

If love is strong , it spreads more. Love for God is similar. When love of God envelopes the heart, it rules the heart and it even spread over everything The lover then sees His power in everything. He who loves a man loves his handicrafts, his letters and all his actions. For this reason, when a fresh fruit was brought to the Prophet, he placed it upon his eyes, honored it and said : It has become with the help of my Lord. Lover reduces the pangs of lover. The love of a party of men reaches such height that they say : We don't distinguish between sorrow and happiness as all come from God. We feel happiness at His pleasure. The sage Samnun said I am happy at Thy pleasure, I have got none near or distant, So do to me what Thou art pleased with.

He who loves a king, loves also those persons whom the king loves and even his servants. A sage said : When pain gives pleasure, can there remain the pangs of wound ? The proportion of love for a man is known in proportion to the giving up of dear 2:94things for him. The reason is that when love for a person envelopes his entire heart, love of other things does not remain in his heart. Therefore, a friend of God gives in charity to please God everything he has got. For this reason, Hazrat Abu Bakr left nothing for his family when the Prophet called for charity. Even he sacrificed his little daughter for the Prophet.

Hazrat Ibn Omar said : Once the Prophet was seated with Hazrat Abu Bakr who put on long shirt tied on the chest with a bell. Gebriel got down and said to the Prophet : 0 Prophet of God, why shall I see Abu Bakr covered with a long shirt? He said Because all his wealth he gave in charity before the Conquest. Gebriel said : Tender salam to him from God and tell him that his Lord is saying to him : Are you satisfied or dissatisfied on 7 id 0 Abu Bakr, he is Gebriel. He tendered you salam from God on account of your want. He said : Then Abu Bakr wept and said : I am satisfied with my Lord.

HATRED FOR GOD

He who loves God has got no alternative but to hate for God, because one who loves a man for any of his good works hates him for any act contrary to it. These two things, love and hatred, are connected with each other and cannot be separated,. When these two things are expressed in words, they are named friendship and enmity. God said to Moses : Have you made friends and enemies for My sake ? You love one whose nothing is disclosed to you except allegiance and you hate one whose nothing is disclosed to you except sin and bad conduct. Different conducts are united in a person for some of which he is loved and for others he is hated . He is loved for one reason and hated for a different reason. A beautiful wife who is a sinner is loved for her one attribute by her husband and hated for anothe%. A Muslim can be loved for his religion Islam and can be hated for his sins.

Hate is to be expressed by words and actions. If hate is expressed by words, you stop talking with a sinner and sometimes use harsh words. If hate is expressed by action, you sometimes harm a sinner and destroy his evil design. That occurs in proportion to his sins. When he-is repentant, you keep his sin secret. When you love a persons, you hate him also for his fault in these ways-you protest against his evil actions, you go away 2:95from him, you do not look at him, etc. These are modes so far action is concerned. One stops his help and sympathy and another tries to destroy his necessary works, so that he may not commit any sin. Mostah-b-Asasah once spread a slander against the character of Hazrat Ayesha. Hazrat Abu Bakr used to help him by giving him charity. When it reached his ear, he stopped his help with a promise that he won't help him further. Then this verse was revealed : Those who possess wealth and sufficient means among you should not swear that they would not give in charity to their near relations, the poor and the refugees in the way of God but let them forgive and pardon. Don't you like that God should forgive you ? 24:22. Though the sin of Mostah was great, yet Hazrat Abu Bakr felt restless in his mind for that event. It is the habit of Siddiq to forgive one who oppresses. r ers an ea men wi em: ere are two classes of sines, either (1) they have got no faith or (2) they commit sins in their actions and deeds. Those who have got no faith are either unbelievers or innovators. Innovators are of two classes-one class call towards the views opposed to Shariat and another class remain silent. Those who remain silent are compelled to do so or dot it willingly. So there are three classes of sinners in the matter of faith.

(1) Unbeliever. If he is at war with the Muslims, he can be killed or made a slave. There is no other punishment except these two for him. A Zimmi (one who has been give protection) cannot be given trouble, but if he protests against Islam, he can be given trouble. To make him humiliated is to make his livelihood narrow, not to salute him first, not to mix or to carry on trade with him, not to make enjoyment with him like friends. God says:. You will not find a'people who believe in God and the next world to make friends with those who oppose God and His Prophet even though they may be their parents, children, brothers or relatives-58.22. The Prophet said : 0 those who believe, don't take my enemy and your enemy as friends.

(2) Innovators Innovators call towards innovation. If innovation leads towards infidelity, its law is more severe than that of a Zimmi as he cannot be given the advantage of a Zimmi. If it does not lead to infidelity, its law is lighter. The innovator calls the people towards misguidance as he believes his views to be correct. So his evil is also unlimited. The best way to express 2:96hate for him is to give up his company and rebuke him for his innovation. The Prophet said : God fills up the mind of a man with peace and faith who rebuke an innovator. God will keep one safe on the most grievous day who disgraces an innovator.

(3) Ordinary innovator: If the people do not follows him or hie is unable to bring them to his views, his affairs is easy. It is better to treat him harshly at the very beginning. It is better to advise him first with humility. If it is not effective, it is better to turn away from him.

(4) Sinners: The sinners' who disobey the injunctions of God by their, actions and not by their faith are of two kinds-a sinner who gives trouble to another by his actions, such as oppression, misappropriation, false evidence, slander, back- biting, etc. and a sinner who does not give trouble to another by%uch a,-tions. Such a sinner also has got two conditions-(a) either he invites others towards sinful acts or (b) he does not invite others towards sinful acts, for example, a man drinks wine but does not call other to drink it. Thus there are three kinds of sinners. (1) The actions of the first kind of sinners are, injurious to a great extent, such as back-biting, false evidence, oppression, etc. It is better not to mix with them and not to transact with them. They are of three classes-(1) those who murder men, (2) those who take movable properties of men by oppression, and (3) those who take immovable properties of men by oppression. It is better not to mix with them. The greatetthe guilt, the greater the punishment.

(2) The second class sinners create the causes of disturbance and make easy its different paths to the people. They do not give any trouble in the mundane affixirs of the people but injure their religion by their actions. Such as sinner is to be humiliated and his connection should be cut off..

(3) Third class sinner. He who commits a great sin by drinking wine, by giving up compulsory duties or doing unlawful things has got light, measure. If a man sees him to commit these sins, it is compulsory on him to prohibit him, be it by beating him or by taking other measure, because it is compulsory to prohibit an evil action. If he is habituated to do it, he should be given advice if there is possibility for him to give up those actions. If there. is benefit in treating with him harshly it should be done. If it is useless to give him advice, one should be 2:97led by his consience to take a suitable measure against him. It has been narrated that a drunkard was beaten several times before the Prophet but still he did not give up drinking wine. One of the companions said : God's curse on this drunkard. The Prophet said : Don't be a helper of the devil regarding your brother. This means that the devil is sufficient for the man. You should not rebuke him.

CONDITIONS OF FRIENDSHIP

Know, 0 dear readers, that every man is not fit for friend, ship, The Prophet said : 'A man is upon the religion of his friend. So let him look with whom he befriends/' Make friendship havin a look to a ' condition to get benefit, of their qualities of your friend and search to get temporal and spiritual benefits. Wealth, name and bargain are the temporal benefits. This is not our object. The benefits of religion are the following (1) to get education and learn action, (2) to get benefit of saying oneself from name 'and fame which cause anxiety of mind, (3) to gain wealth to maintain oneself, (4) to seek help in necessary actions, in dangers and difficulties and in many other actions of life, (5) to get blessings of the invocations of a friend, (6) to hope forgetting intercession of a friend in the next world. A certain sage of yore said: Increase the number of friends, as every believer has got the right of intercession, and you may hope to fall in the intercession of your friend. God say : Those who have faith and do good works will seek intercession and He will increase His favours on them. To explain this verse, there is a Hadis that believers will make intercession for their friends and God will admit them in Paradise along with them. It has also been said in explaining it that when a man is forgiven, he will get right of intercession for his friends.

There are*some conditions of these benefits which we shall describe now. The man with whom companionship is to be kept should have five qualities in him-intellect, good conduct, not to be a sinner, not to be an innovator, not to be a worldly addicted man.

(1) Intellect: It is the root of wealth and there is no good in the company of the fools and the illiterate. Hazrat Ali said in poem:

2:98Keep no company with the fools.