Heavenly Affection: Living the Love of Al-Wadūd

Abstract

Most theistic religions, including Islam, affirm love as one of the divine attributes of God, our Creator. It is considered a virtue by many people to selflessly love others for God’s sake, or to love others as oneself. However, a common criticism we hear against Islam today is that Muslims allegedly worship an angry, vengeful, cold, distant, and unloving god who teaches them to hate all non-Muslims (we seek refuge in Allah from this misguided claim). In response to this accusation, we as Muslim believers must answer the following question: What is the proper understanding of Allah’s love in Islam? And how does Allah’s love inform the behavior of Muslim believers?

This article will elaborate on Allah’s name al-Wadūd (The Affectionate) as mentioned in the Qur’an. Allah’s love will be looked at from the following angles: Allah’s general love for His creation, Allah’s specific love for the believers, the believers’ love for Allah, and the believers’ love for His creation. Then, the meaning of ‘hatred for the sake of Allah’ will be explained in the context of Allah’s love.