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1、True LoveAs love is an innate need, we love delicious foods and fruits; our parents, spouse, children, friends, and companions; pious people, Prophets, and saints; life and youth; the season of spring, beautiful things, and the world. When all of these things and people either abandon us, due to the
2、ir absence, whether temporary or permanent, or cause us to suffer, due to their own sufferings (e.g., illness, death, old age) that touch our hearts, we cannot help but ask: “Since I cannot stop myself from loving them, can I love them in a way that will not cause me any pain?“ Is there a recipe for
3、 painless love?By means of the will, loves face may turn from one object of love to another. For example, when a beloved displays some ugliness or shows that he or she is a veil or mirror to another beloved, who is truly worthy of love, and then loves face may be turned from the metaphorical beloved
4、 to the true beloved. There is a similar example of this in the Islamic literatures. Majnun set out for his love of Laila, but he finally reached the love of God.Is there a recipe for painless love? Love may cause pain due to ones separation from the beloved, the beloveds decline, or the beloveds la
5、ck of response. In order to experience painless love, then, the subject of our love must be everlasting, immune to decline, and sure to respond. Only God, Who is eternal and everlasting, does not decline, and always answers our love for Him, has these attributes. Therefore, the recipe for painless l
6、ove is to dedicate our true love to God and to love everything for His sake. It is unreasonable to expect a person not to love that which he or she loves. But it is possible to love them for God Almightys sake and in the name of His Love. How?Love of delicious food: The love of delicious food and lu
7、scious fruit can be changed to a love for Gods sake by seeing them as the bounties of God Almighty, the All-Merciful and Compassionate One. In this way, our love for them becomes a love of His Names, the All-Merciful and the Bestower of Bounties. Love of parents: Love and respect for ones parents, f
8、or the sake of the Divine Wisdom and Mercy that compassionately entrusted you to them and caused them to bring you up with tender care, pertain to God Almightys love. The sign that this love, respect, and compassion are for Gods sake is that when they are old, useless, and troublesome, we become eve
9、n more loving, kind, and compassionate toward them. The Quranic verse: Your Lord has enjoined you to worship none but Him, and to show kindness to your parents. Should one of them, or both, attain to old age in your care, never say to them a single word of contempt, nor rebuke them, but speak to the
10、m kind words (17:23), exemplifies this attitude. Being kind to parents also is mentioned in Quran 2:83, 2:215, 4:36, 6:151, 17:23-24, 19:14, 19:32, 29:8, 31:14, 46:15, and 71:28. Gods Unity and not associating any partners with Him is the Qurans most important message. Yet in the Quran 2:83, 6:151,
11、17:23, 31:14, treating ones parents with kindness is ordered right after this most important principle. This demonstrates how important our parents rights are, and how ugly it would be to show any ingratitude to them.Parents deserve their childrens utmost love and compassion. In an authenticated pro
12、phetic tradition, it is reported that a man came to the Prophet (pbuh) and said, O Messenger of God! Who among the people is the most worthy of my good companionship? The Prophet said: Your mother. The man said, Then who? The Prophet said: Then your mother. The man further asked, Then who? The Proph
13、et said: Then your mother. The man asked again, Then who? The Prophet said: Then your father. (Bukhari, Muslim). Even more importantly, the mother deserves the highest degree of everyones love and respect. It is also reported in the prophetic tradition that Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) says: “Paradise li
14、es beneath the feet of mothers“ (Ahmad, Nasai). Love of children: The love and protection of children with complete compassion and tenderness pertain to God when we see them as gifts of the All Compassionate and Generous One. The sign indicating that this love is for Almighty Gods sake is the displa
15、y of patience and thankfulness when they die, rather than crying out in despair. It is to say: “He/she was a lovable little person created and owned by my Creator, Who entrusted him/her to my supervision. Now that His wisdom requires it to be thus, He has taken him/her from me . to a better place. I
16、f I had one apparent share in that little person, 1,000 true shares belonged to his/her Creator.“ It is to submit by saying: “All authority is with God.“Love of friends: As for friends and acquaintances, if they are friends of God Almighty due to their belief and good works, according to the meaning of “love for Gods sake,“ that love also pertains to God.Love of spouse: Love between spouses is for Gods sake when it
