Can Allah's love be forced or earned?
The Great Intercession and the Nature of Divine Love: Lessons from the Day of Judgment
Summary
Sh. Ali Mashhour continues his discussion of a prophetic narration about the Day of Judgment, specifically addressing the concept of intercession (shafaa'ah). He explains how the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) will be granted the greatest honor of interceding on behalf of all of humanity, a unique privilege among messengers. Sh. Ali Mashhour elaborates on the story of how people will approach various prophets—Adam, Abraham, and others—before finally reaching Muhammad. He discusses Abraham's special status as Allah's khalil (intimate friend), a unique honor shared only between Allah and Abraham, and between Allah and Muhammad, illustrating the profound nature of divine love.
Sh. Ali Mashhour then shifts to discussing the nature of love itself, emphasizing that Allah's love cannot be forced or obtained overnight but must be earned through consistent righteous deeds and building a relationship with Allah. He explains that love is something that must be experienced rather than defined, and draws parallels between divine love and human relationships, warning against extremism in both love and hatred. He cautions against those who display obsessive emotional patterns, loving or hating intensely without moderation, as this represents a spiritual sickness that leads people astray.
Note: This transcript was generated using YouTube's automatic captioning, with AI-assisted cleanup for readability. It may contain inaccuracies due to background noise, audio quality, or limitations of the transcription software — particularly during Arabic recitation. Listener discretion is advised; please refer to the original video for precise wording.
You hear that noise?
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That's what happened before.
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Alhamdulillah.
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Yesterday we began discussing a narration that is I mean this particular wording is from the narration of but as we mentioned before it's been narrated by many companions and it is found all across the books of Hadith and it is something which is as prolific and agreed upon amongst the Muslim as and the story with that it is one of those stories that is agreed upon across the board amongst all of the scholars of Islam and Muslim and this has filled the books of hadith and taps and history etc and it is the explanation of the statement of Allah subhanahu that promise that Allah gives the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that he will raise him up on the day of judgment and grant him a position a very praiseworthy position amongst humanity. And the prophet sallall.aii wasallam begins this and prefaces this by saying I am the going to be the most honorable amongst the people on the day of judgment. And then he goes on to explain and he is speaking about the great intercession. This is something that is specific to him. Prophets and messengers will intercede on the day of judgment for their for their nations, right? And our prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us that there are 70 nations including us. Each messenger will intercede on behalf of his nation and so forth. But the prophet Muhammad sallall.aii wasallam even though he is the last messenger and his nation is the last of nations he will intercede on behalf of all of the humankind and gankind. And so the people will be waiting on the day of judgment for Allah to arrive and commence judgment of the people and they will first come to Adam asking him to intercede so that Allah would come and and begin his judgment. And Adam will direct them to and will direct them to Ibraim will say myself. He repeats it three times meaning only myself. only myself. I am worried only about myself at this moment. Go to someone else. Go to Ibraim. Now notice when they say you can see that Adam before him when he it's just the first person that comes to mind. They just want the people to leave them be, right? They are overwhelmed themselves. And so the person a person may ask well if they all know this why didn't they just direct people directly to Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam from Adam from when they first went to Adam why didn't he directly point them to the prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihi wasallam and this is similar to the statement of Allah when Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala will ask the people on the day will ask the messengers what who has answered your call they will say we don't know why will they say they don't know because they are overwhelmed in the moment they are overwhelmed in the moment.
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So they will come to Ibraim and they will say, "Oh Ibraim, you are the prophet of Allah and his most beloved from the people of the earth. Intercede on our behalf with your Lord." Do you not see the state of our affairs? Do you not see what we're in? What's happening to us?
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Jews. And so they will mention two of his two of his virtues. They will say, You are the prophet of Allah and you are his most beloved from the people of the earth. Ahal in the Arabic language well is the highest level of love right and it's a difference amongst the scholars and the linguists as to the root of this word it could be from the root word.
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So is it is a difference amongst the scholars and the linguists with regards to the etmology of this word. Some say it's taken from which is to empty something out and it's as if the heart has been completely emptied of anyone else's love except for this person. This is your khal. Another another root of this word is a khal is someone whose love has mixed itself into the very heart and flesh of a person. So pickling something you know pickles pickles olives and the things that you pickle you put them in vinegar and you leave them for a very long time until they mix. This is called in the Arabic language. It's the same root word. But what they all agree on is that it is incorrect and inconceivable for a person to have more than one. This is something they agree on. They they don't say you can't say these two people are my that's wrong. Ahal is a spot in the heart reserved for just one person. And this is why it's unique for Allah because Allah has how many? Two. Ibraim and Muhammad sallallam. That's specific to him. As for the human being in the Arabic language, only one person. And so he is the of Allah. Allah says and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has taken Ibraim as a and the prophet sallall.aii wasallam has mentioned this and as much he says He says that Allah has taken me as his just as he has taken Ibraim as his. And he says also in the same narration and this was days before his death. If I were to have a khal from the people of the earth, it would have been of but his khal is who? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. And so this is a huge huge huge honor. I mean this is this and and this honor is love. This is love, right? This is the this is the greatest thing that any human being can ever endeavor. That's the that's the thing that makes a person valuable. How valuable are you? How valuable are you? How valuable am I in the grand scheme of things in the big picture in the life of this world and the hereafter? What dictates my value? How much Allah loves me. That's it. It's not even how much I love Allah. Everyone claims to love Allah. Everyone claims that. But it's actually that Allah love you back. Very few people achieve that. The prophet sallall.aii wasallam tells us how we achieve the love of Allah. It's a process. It's not something that is achieved overnight. He says for.
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And Allah The Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala says in the narration of in the he says and my servant continues to gain nearness to me over time by way of optional acts of worship until I come to love him. This is not something that can be forced. It takes time to build that relationship with Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. Love is a very interesting thing. If I were to say to you, what is love? Define it. The scholars have an entire group of words that they say attempting to define these words only makes them more obscure.
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Love is one of those things. Hate is one of those things. What does that mean? If I the more I try to identify and define what love is, the more obscure it becomes. I can identify its its its symptoms, right? I can identify its hallmarks. But what love is, it's trying to identify a color. How can I explain to you what a color is? Something you have to experience, right? And so the human being, we all know what love is. We don't have to identify it. But love is something that we can all agree on. Is something that cannot be forced. It takes time. And the more you try to force it, the less likely love is to occur. The more you try to force it, the less likely it is to occur. That's with human beings. You cannot swindle Allah's love. You cannot gain it overnight. It's not something that you can just reach out and grab. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala loves first and then he gives you his love. And so Ibraim he is a love is not something you can force. What do I mean by that? Let's say Usama here. I want him to love me. So, I just met him. I say, Usama, you know I love you so much. You just met me. This is bizarre. Why do you love me so much? You don't know anything about me. I'm going to give you all kinds of presents and I shower you with presents and I shower you with praise and are you going to love me or are you going to get more suspicious of me? What? Why does this man want this so bad? What's going on here? Right? It's creepy. Love is something that you cannot force. It takes time. It takes time to build a relationship. And that's why we will learn in some other stories of the prophet sallall.aii wasallam. The fastest person to love extremely is the fastest person to hate extremely. We will see in certain stories of the prophet sallallah.aii alaihi wasallam people will come they'll rise up shoot up amongst the amongst the companions they'll shoot up and then suddenly they'll turn into the worst enemies of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam they'll turn into his most bitter enemies why they came seeking something when they didn't get it they have no control over their emotions. They hate or they don't and they love or they don't. They just have two settings. All the way or none at all. Right? The prophet sallallah.aii wasallam says, "Love whoever you choose to love moderately because one day you may need to hate this person." ish. Yeah. And whoever you hate, hate moderately because one day you may need to love this person. And so it's bizarre, right, that love and hates are so close to each other even though they are opposites. But this is why when you see this phenomenon, someone comes and overnight and they love the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and they're giving him gifts and they're spending all their time and and then suddenly they turn away make hijra join his enemies and become his worst rivals. How can this happen? These people are sick. This is a disease, right? And this is why teaches us to be wary of people like this. As he tells us, you're not to love like a little child, nor are you to hate like a little child. that do not love a little child and do not hate in a toxic manner, a manner that makes you sick from your own hatred. You hate someone so much that you're the one that gets sick and do not love a small child loves, right? They can't imagine anything else. They become obsessed. They zero in. So, we will pick this up again tomorrow, inshallah. Subhanahu Wasam.