“The heart is like a bird: love at its head and its two wings are hope and fear.”

بِسْمِ اللهِ الرَّحْمنِ الرَّحِيمِ
 السلام عليكم

“The heart is like a bird: love at its head and its two wings are hope and fear.” 

(Ibn Al-Qayyim,Madarij al-Salikin)

Can you imagine a bird without one wing, or worse still, without its head? Such a bird would be considered incomplete and devoid of all good. So too are our acts of worship. The lack of any one of the three motivational factors: Love of Allah, Hope in His Mercy and Fear of His Punishment would leave our acts of worship devoid of much good.

Ibadah has three pillars [ 3 motivational factors to worship Allah (SWT)]:

We worship Allah (SWT) because we love Him, we are afraid/scared of His anger, and we hope for His mercy and pleasure. These are the three emotional pillars our Ibadah is based on. We will dicuss each and every one of them, and include the evidences and conditions for them:

1) Al Baqara ayah 165, “Yet there are men who take (for worship) others besides Allah, as equal (with Allah): They love them as they should love Allah. But those of Faith are overflowing in their love for Allah. If only the unrighteous could see, behold, they would see the penalty: that to Allah belongs all power, and Allah will strongly enforce the penalty.”

Loving Allah (SWT) is the sign of believing in Him. Remember the famous hadith by Anas bin Malik (raa) reported: The Prophet (saw) said,“There are three qualities whoever has them, will taste the sweetness of Iman: To love Allah and His Messenger (saw) more than anyone else; to love a slave (of Allah) only for (the sake of) Allah; and to abhor returning to infidelity after Allah has saved him from it as he would abhor to be thrown into the fire (of Hell)” (Al-Bukhari and Muslim).

Love is of many types:

a) Love of the Divine [Hubb Illah]: We love sthing like a god, the divinity. This love must be exclusively for Allah (SWT) and hence servitude must be unique to Allah (SWT). It is not shared by anyone or anything.

b) Love for the sake of the Divine: We love some being because Allah (swt) asked us to, because it brings us closer to the Divine. The highest is the Prophet/s, angels, pious people, the Qur’an, good deeds. The first two are religious loves that we are required to love. Note that we have put the love for the Prophet (saw) i a different category than Allah (SWT), unlike Christians.

3) Natural love [hubb]: Is love that we humans naturally have and is of many types. As a human we love many things: money, spouse, parents, children, etc. But those who have ‘Ihsan’ can convert natural love into love for the Divine. Eg. it is human nature to love parents, but the Muslim, Mu’mins, Muhsin uses his love for the Divine to dedicate service to parents. That magnifies  love for the Divine.

What if a natural love conflicts wtih love for the Divine?

Like love for money for instance can cause a person to embezzle, cheat, lie, deceive, even kill. Love for the opposite sex, crush, can turn into a passionate embrace and even further than that. In these two examples we have taken natural love and used it to disobey the divine, this is not love for the Divine. This is not Shirk, but rather sin. It’s that type of love, that has caused a person to be blinded to Allah’s message.

When is love Shirk, let’s call it Shirki Love?

It would be if you have:

a) Love for other than Allah (SWT): Such as love for Brahma, Krishni, Jesus  Christ, in that manner as if they were gods, or sons of god, or whatever trinitarian mysterious love.

b) Love that causes you to reject category one: Reject love of the divine, such as Hercules who rejected loved his power and wealth , Abu Talib loved his culture and ancestry, Qaroon his wealth and privilege. So, it is valuing something over the love of the divine.

Note!!! A drunkard for instance acknowledges Allah (SWT) and his drinking problem does not negate  his love for Him. No doubt he is sinning but it does not negate it all together.

2) Fear of incurring Allah’s wrath and anger (Khawf): In Surat Al Imran 175, “It is only the Evil One that suggests to you the fear of his votaries: Be ye not afraid of them, but fear Me, if ye have Faith.” Also in Surat Al Ahzab ayah 39, “(It is the practice of those) who preach the Messages of Allah, and fear Him, and fear none but Allah. And enough is Allah to call (men) to account.” Once again fear is of types and categories:

a) Religious fear: Fear of a supreme deity that has control over you, that can cause you distress. This is only for Allah (SWT). A woman from Thaqeef was asked, “Are you not afraid of Al Laat?” She said, “I only fear Allah.” It is the belief that only Allah (SWT) who can protect you . It’s a fear of the real supernatural.

b) Natural fear: Fear that people have of things that are part of this world, they are not supernatural. Such as for instance a snake in a house. Yes, it is natural to be scared, indeed healthy for an adrenalin rush which makes a person more acute and aware to get out of the situation. Natural fear varies from person to person and gender to gender. If people are afraid of certain things, you can accuse them of being cowardly but not Shirk.  So, if a strong person is scared of small minuscule person, then we say he is a coward. It does not seem natural. But if someone at gun point wants to steal from you–then it is natural.

What does a believer do with this fear? Convert the natural fear to the religious. The more eman you have the stronger your ability to overcome the natural fear like the companions. It is said that a companion came across a lion, and without skipping  a heartbeat said to the lion, “You are under the command of Allah as I am.” The lion left. Fear of Jinn starts bordering on the religious fear, this paranoia and giving them powerful characteristics is not a good sign of Eman.

3) Hope (Rajaa): Is the third emotion hope is another sign of eman. It is to think the best of Allah (SWT) and to hope in Allah (SWT) . In Al Imran ayah  135  Allah (SWT) says, “And those who, having done something to be ashamed of, or wronged their own souls, earnestly bring Allah to mind, and ask for forgiveness for their sins,- and who can forgive sins except Allah?- and are never obstinate in persisting knowingly in (the wrong) they have done.” And in Al  Baqara ayah 218, “Those who believed and those who suffered exile and fought (and strove and struggled) in the path of Allah,- they have the hope of the Mercy of Allah: And Allah is Oft-forgiving, Most Merciful.” So, a believer is always optimistic. 

A believer desires two things, and  both are religion:

a) Religious: This is regarding the acceptance of good and forgiveness of evil, which both should be hopes directed to no one other than Allah (SWT). So, when you perform a ritual the reward should be hoped from Allah (SWT). You should not want another deity to accept it from you.

b) Natural: To hope for some good of a person for a natural reason. Such as a a raise from your boss, a cure from the doctor. You are not ascribing divinity to your boss, or doctor but hoping  that the doctor has the knowledge to help you out, and your boss has the privilege to give you a raise.

Caution !!! Unchecked natural hope can lead to Shirk. Hope must be controlled more than the other two emotions. Remember a boss or doctor cannot give you anything without the will of Allah (SWT). the true beleiver is able to convert all natural hope to religious. So the person stops expecting and yearning from any human being other than Allah (SWT).

What is the percentage that you think you should have of each of the three emotion?

Ibn Al Qayyim answered the question for us, ““The heart is like a bird: love at its head and its two wings are hope and fear.” (Ibn Al-Qayyim,Madarij al-Salikin)

So, the primary emotion is indeed love. Why? Love of Allah and for Allah should be the motivational factor. The other two emotions stem from love of and for Allah, it brings about a fear–element of fear in love.Love is the base emotion that overrides the other that are subsidiary/secondary. “ “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned” (William Congreve, The Mourning Bride 1697).

Love is like the  heart of a bird , and fear and hope are its wings. The percentage of fear and hope, depends on the circumstance, whatever will propel you forward takes precedence . In Surat Al Fatiha these three emotions are evident.

What happens if one of these emotions is missing?

Using Ibn Al Qayyim’s analogy, the bird will not fly straight. Historically speaking all of these  emotions are either over-emphasized or under-emphasized. Some have emphasized love and side-lined fear and hope, so love becomes exclusively important. Others have under-emphasized love to such a degree that fear and hope become idolatrous [so a person is doing them only for Jannah]. Another group over-emphasized fear, like being obsessed wtih the fire of hell. Extremist and/or militant groups have Khawarejite mentality, see themselves as vanguards of Islam. If you listen to their forums, their obsession is not falling into sin. There is no talk about mercy at all. They just love to speak of deviant group–pass a ruling and verdict on  this group as correct and that group as not. Then there are other groups, like the Christians for instance, who over-emphasize hope, without fear. So, it become not big of a deal to drink, Allah (SWT) is forgiving. This results in a flippant attitude, there is lack of Eman. Another extreme is just to dismiss love and fear, a arrogantly so, and the focus is on hope. To emphasise one over the other leads to deviance.

Surah Al Israa Ayah 57 combines all three pillars, “Those whom they call upon do desire (for themselves) means of access to their Lord, – even those who are nearest: they hope for His Mercy and fear His Wrath: for the Wrath of thy Lord is something to take heed of.” This ayah really helps to correct the shirk of another Muslim, or Non-Muslim group. A classic example is that Jesus (as) was trying to come closer to Allah (SWT), and he wants Allah’s mercy, and hopes to please Allah. How can you worship a being who has these three pillars? As do the angels or righteous men? The true believer combines all of these three pillars.

To re-iterate: Rububiyyah necessitates Uluhiyyah. It is in fact the primary message of the entire quran–1000 verses are aboout this simple understanding starting with Surat Al Fatiha. Shaytan manages to convince people through perverted arguments to prevent people from Ulihiyyah. If you acknowledge that Allah is the Rab, then the natural result is that you worship Him (SWT).

How about believing in the concept of Al-Asmaa and Al-Sifaat [Allah's perfect names and attributes]?

If you believe in the them then you are acknoledging a perfect Rab. most of mankind falls short of this, for instance the Christians and Jews say what is not befitting of Allah (SWT). If you use your common sense and your rationality He has to be all perfect, and has to have divine attributes and names. If you affirm this, then you have to worship Him alone. If you know that only Allah can hear you wherever you are, then why call to anyone but Him. Therefore, our Kalimah which consists  of Uluhiyyah  automically implies Rububiyyah and Asma wa Al-Sifaat. You cannot get to the top except by taking these two ladders.

more : http://lamyaalmas.wordpress.com/2011/02/24/3rd-day-of-light-of-guidance-with-sh-yasir-qadhi/