Of God, love, and Sheryl Crow

By Hesham Hassaballa

Sheryl Crow sings a song entitled, "Light In Your Eyes," and I recently downloaded (legally, thank you very much) the song and burned it on a CD. I absolutely love it. I have lost count the number of times I have listened to the song, and it frequently brings a tear to my eyes as I drive back and forth from the hospitals at which I work. It is such a wonderful, uplifting, and soothing song.

In it, she says: "You gotta talk to the One who made you/Talk to the One who understands/Talk to the One who gave you...All the light in your eyes." It is a very important message: the One who made us is the One who understands us the most, the One who knows fully the hypocrisy of the human condition, the One who sees through our outward decorations and peers directly into our hearts, minds, and souls. There is no one better to talk to than Him, and the great thing is, He loves to listen to our ramblings.

My absolute favorite line of the song, however, is when Ms. Crow sings: "You gotta talk to the One who loves you..." That line in particular has made me cry time and again. God loves us, all of us. Yet that is not something I have always known throughout my life on earth. When I was growing up, my mother (bless her heart) raised me to always be fearful of God's punishment. She would always tell me that if I sinned, God would punish me here and now (and then let her find out about it). And those words proved to be prophetic quite a few times for me.

I remember how incessantly the "Long Arm of God's Justice" was stressed to me when I was growing up. The Shaykhs, Imams, and Khateebs I heard would stress the fear of God and His punishment. They would stress such attributes of His as: "the Mighty," "the Subduer," "the Abaser," "the Humiliator." They reminded me how God destroyed 'Ad, Thamud, Pharoah, and Sodom. They told me that God is the "sternest of punishers." A hurricane, or tornado, or earthquake was "God's punishment" for the sins of man. I do not remember being told about God's love.

Moreover, this is highlighted as a "flaw" of Islam by some Christian detractors of the faith. In the book, Unveiling Islam: An Insider's Look at Muslim Life and Beliefs, the Caner brothers (ex-Muslims) write: "God loves you! This is the brash claim of Christianity...Yet in the Qur'an, no such statement is to be found." They later write, "In Islam, it is hoped that salvation is earned through one's good works (surah 3:31). One must love Allah in order for Allah to love that person in return. In Christianity, God loved people first in order to secure their salvation. There is no security for the believer of Islam. One is left wanting and waiting for the will of Allah to be accomplished."

The continual stress on the fear of God and His punishment can conjure up an image of a distant, vindictive, and spiteful God who continually waits in the wings for us to sin so He can slap us down with His mighty stick of justice. It is as if He is happy when we mess up - which is something we humans are bound to do - so that He can punish us and show us how "powerful" He is. It is, perhaps, the most harmful image of God one can have, and it can be devastating to the faith of a young Muslim being raised in the West.

Yet, the question is a valid one: is there a tradition of God's love in Islam? Does God love us, just because? Of course, and we need to know this for ourselves and tell others about it. When I examine the discourse of God and man in the Qur'an, it is a discourse - to me - that has love at its very core.

The Qur'an states: "Say (O Muhammad): "If you do love God, Follow me: God will love you and forgive you your sins: For God is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful" (3:31). It also says, "O my Servants who have transgressed against their souls! Do not despair of the Mercy of God. For God forgives all sins: for He is oft-forgiving, most merciful" (39:53). God, through the speech of Jacob (pbuh) to his sons, says: "...never give up hope of God's Soothing Mercy: truly no one despairs of God's Soothing Mercy except those who have no faith" (12:87). Also read: "Say (O Muhammad): 'To whom belongeth all that is in the heavens and on earth?' Say: to God. He has decreed upon Himself (the rule of) Mercy..." (6:12).

If the Lord decreed upon Himself to be Merciful to His creation; if He says, "My Mercy overpowers My Wrath," as reported to us by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh); if God tells us not to despair of His "soothing mercy," is this not out of love for us? Reading further into the Qur'an, one finds: "When My servants ask you (O Muhammad) concerning Me, I am indeed close (to them): I listen to the prayer of every suppliant when he calls on Me: Let them also, with a will, Listen to My call, and believe in Me: That they may walk in the right way" (2:186). In another verse, the Lord decrees: "It was We Who created man, and We know what dark suggestions his soul makes to him: for We are nearer to him than (his) jugular vein" (50:16). God is an "up-close and personal" God, closer to us than our jugular veins, which reside in our neck, draining blood from the brain. Is this not out of love for us?

The Hadith literature is full of references of God's limitless Mercy and Compassion. One of my favorites is this one: "A prostitute was forgiven by God, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, God forgave her because of that" (Bukhari). In another hadith, the Prophet (pbuh) told the story of a serial killer who was also forgiven by God because he intended to repent for his horrifying crimes. Is not forgiving a prostitute and a murderer a manifestation of God's love for them, and by extension the rest of humanity? God told us - in a "Sacred Hadith" of the Prophet (pbuh) - if we walk towards Him, He will run towards us. Is this not because He loves us?

This is not to dismiss the fact that God is indeed stern in punishment and retribution. There is a reason the Lord described the torments of Hell in the Qur'an. Yes, God is "the Mighty," "the Subduer," "the Abaser," "the Humiliator." Yes, we are supposed to protect ourselves and our families from "fire whose fuel is human beings and stones, over which are (appointed) angels stern and severe, flinching not (from executing) the commands they receive from God and doing (precisely) what they are commanded" (66:6). But, there must be balance; the Lord is also " the Most Compassionate," "the Most Merciful," "the Gentle," "the Forbearing," "the Forgiving," "the Pardoner," and - lest we forget - "the Loving One" (al Wadud). The Lord Himself has "decreed upon Himself (the rule of) Mercy..." (6:12), so why don't we start to see God through the lens of love?

And it is so wonderful when we do so. When I went on my Hajj in 2003, I could not help but be cowered and humbled by the Awesome Power of God in Mecca at the Sacred Mosque. Yet, this soon went away; the Lord reached out His Gentle Hands to me, helped me get up off my knees, and became a Loving Friend. He listened to me the whole time, and He never brought up all the sins I committed; He never said, "Yeah, but, you have disobeyed me so many times!" No. He told me, "It's OK, Hesham, I'm here for you. I'll always be here for you." He became my Best Friend, and I lean on that friendship very often now, especially when the harsh realities of life come my way at full steam.

When we live in the love of God, we can't bear to disobey Him. We can't fathom being the types of people He does not like. Whenever we sin, we feel bad because we let down our Beloved Lord, we fell short of what He wants of us, and thus we run to Him to repent. It is such a fulfilling existence. When the A'isha (r) asked the Prophet why he prayed to the point of hurting his feet, he replied, "Should I not be a grateful servant?" This was a statement out of love for God, not fear of being punished. Yes, we must fear God and His punishment, but we must never forget that God loves us, and living in His love is a most wonderful thing.

I try to teach this to my own two daughters. I never stop telling them that God loves them. I must admit, it felt weird at first, but with each time, it feels more and more normal. I want them to always know God to be a Gentle, Kind, and Loving God Who loves them always. I want to tell them over and over, "God loves you," so that - when they have their own children - saying "God loves you," will feel as natural as the clear blue sky.

When I was growing up, whenever God and love was mentioned, I would be told, "That's a Christian thing." In Egypt - the land of my ancestors - many Christian shopkeepers display signs in their shops that read, "God is love." I remember quite a few Muslims who would chuckle when they read that and say: "Christians! All they talk about is God and love." Well, I've got news for you: "God is love" is not just a "Christian thing." It is a Muslim thing, too.

Hesham A. Hassaballa is a Pulmonary and Critical Care physician currently practicing in the greater Chicago area. He has written extensively on a freelance basis, and his commentaries have been published in BeliefNet, the Chicago Tribune as well as other media around the country and around the world. He is the co-author of the forthcoming book, The Beliefnet Guide to Islam, to be pubished by Doubleday. In addition to writing, Dr. Hassaballa helped found the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) and is co-chair of the Media Relations Committee of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago. Make sure to visit Hesham;s blog at hassaballa.org.