Affectionate and Loving

“And your Lord has decreed that you not worship except Him, and to parents, good treatment… “Qur’an 17:23

In the verse, “Do not direct your eyes longingly to what We have given certain of them to enjoy. Do not feel sad concerning them. And take the believers under your wing,” (Qur’an, 15:88) Allah calls on Muslims to be affectionate and loving. The state of mind described in the words “…take the believers under your wing” makes it clear that the affection of Muslims must be an ethical model that covers not just certain specific events, but every moment of life.

Mother’s Love

A mother is highly attentive and loving toward her defenseless child, which is of course quite unaware of all the dangers around it. Allah protects people from the moment they become alive by means of this feeling of love He bestows on mothers. The feeling of affection is a manifestation of Allah’s name of the compassionate and merciful.

Allah has created this intense feeling of love that mothers have for their offspring in animals, too. Science is amazed by the self-sacrifice that animals display in defence of their young. Of course Allah also creates various lessons in this behaviour of animals.

There is much wisdom behind this affection that Allah inspires in the human heart. An entity with no knowledge of the world it will live in, nor of right and wrong or good and bad, that is totally unable to defend itself and to meet its own needs when it first opens its eyes is placed under total protection by Allah through this “mother’s love.”

This is an important indication of the affection that believers need to show one another. The way that a mother shows her defenceless infant concern and affection, not pulling back to help it “learn to look after itself,” but always puts that infant above everything else, represents the ideal conception of affection. The way that a mother makes unconditional sacrifices for her infant and puts its comfort and well-being and needs above all else shows the kind of affection that people need to show one another. The compassion between people must be as strong as that of a mother who makes not the slightest concessions on her affection and care, even under the most difficult conditions, and no matter how tired, sleepless, weak, sick or busy she may be.

This “maternal affection” seen in believers is an important sign of the love that believers feel for one another. Only someone who loves for Allah’s sake alone with no expectation of advantage can exhibit such a lofty virtue. This virtue being shown to Muslims on a constant basis, with no discrimination between people, is at the same time evidence that the person doing so is a true believer.

The true source of all affection is love of Allah. A person’s love of Allah causes warmth in his heart for all the entities He has created. A person who loves Allah will feel a direct love and affection for His creations. Because of that powerful love for our Lord, Who created him and all other people, he will behave virtuously toward people as commanded in the Qur’an. True compassion appears when one fully abides by these commandments in the Qur’an because the most accurate definition of true compassion and what a compassionate person must do comes from the Qur’an.

The unbeliever’s friendship lasts only so long as it is in their interest. Enmity starts where advantage ends: Patience and affection are the essence of being a Muslim.

‘Fear of Allah’ Must

Allah guides mothers by inspiring this affection for their offspring in them. However, in order to be able to preserve that concept of affection throughout one’s life and to feel the same compassion for all people, one has to be someone who fears Allah and abides by the moral values of the Qur’an.

People who do not believe can only display powerful compassion and affection to those whom it is to their advantage to do so; in other words, to people they think it will benefit them to do so. And even then, they can only manage to do so for a limited amount of time.

With believers, on the other hand, being affectionate and compassionate is part of their characters throughout their lives. They also adopt the “mother’s love” that Allah points to as a role model as a character trait. They are even more protective and watchful over the believers around them than a mother is to her infants. They love their Muslim brothers and sisters as brothers and sisters, friends and relatives, and their service toward them is never wanting or deficient. They are scrupulous about showing affection, in the same way that a mother thinks of her infant’s wants and needs without being told to do so. They put other Muslims’ problems, needs and troubles before their own. Even under the most difficult of conditions, they make no concessions regarding protecting and watching over their Muslim brothers.

The only way for a society to live a comfortable, happy life is for people to live by the true concept of affection revealed in the Qur’an. If people fail to abide by that model revealed in the Qur’an, then no matter how much they try, they will still be unable to avoid injustice and unease; wickedness prevails where there is no affection. The model that emerges in a society where wickedness prevails inflicts the most serious material and psychological harm. Harun Yahya 

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