3:31 Aal-i-Imraan (The Family of Imraan)

وهذه الآية فيها وجوب محبة الله، وعلاماتها، ونتيجتها، وثمراتها، فقال { قل إن كنتم تحبون الله } أي: ادعيتم هذه المرتبة العالية، والرتبة التي ليس فوقها رتبة فلا يكفي فيها مجرد الدعوى، بل لابد من الصدق فيها، وعلامة الصدق اتباع رسوله صلى الله عليه وسلم في جميع أحواله، في أقواله وأفعاله، في أصول الدين وفروعه، في الظاهر والباطن، فمن اتبع الرسول دل على صدق دعواه محبة الله تعالى، وأحبه الله وغفر له ذنبه، ورحمه وسدده في جميع حركاته وسكناته، ومن لم يتبع الرسول فليس محبا لله تعالى، لأن محبته لله توجب له اتباع رسوله، فما لم يوجد ذلك دل على عدمها وأنه كاذب إن ادعاها، مع أنها على تقدير وجودها غير نافعة بدون شرطها، وبهذه الآية يوزن جميع الخلق، فعلى حسب حظهم من اتباع الرسول يكون إيمانهم وحبهم لله، وما نقص من ذلك نقص.

هذه الآية الكريمة حاكمة على كل من ادعى محبة الله وليس هو على الطريقة المحمدية فإنه كاذب في دعواه في نفس الأمر حتى يتبع الشرع المحمدي والدين النبوي في جميع أقواله وأفعاله كما ثبت في الصحيح عن رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم أنه قال "من عمل عملا ليس عليه أمرنا فهو رد" ولهذا قال "إن كنتم تحبون الله فاتبعوني يحببكم الله" أي يحصل لكم فوق ما طلبتم من محبتكم إياه وهو محبته إياكم وهو أعظم من الأول كما قال بعض العلماء الحكماء: ليس الشأن أن تحب إنما الشأن أن تحب. وقال الحسن البصري وغيره من السلف: زعم قوم أنهم يحبون الله فابتلاهم الله بهذه الآية فقال "قل إن كنتم تحبون الله فاتبعوني يحببكم الله" وقد قال ابن أبي حاتم: حدثنا أبي حدثنا علي بن محمد الطنافسي حدثنا عبدالله بن موسى بن عبدالأعلى بن أعين عن يحيى بن أبي كثير عن عروة عن عائشة رضي الله عنها قالت: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم "وهل الدين إلا الحب في الله والبغض في الله"؟ قال الله تعالى: "قل إن كنتم تحبون الله فاتبعوني" وقال أبو زرعة: عبدالأعلى هذا منكر الحديث. ثم قال تعالى "ويغفر لكم ذنوبكم والله غفور رحيم" أي باتباعكم الرسول صلى الله عليه وسلم يحصل لكـم هذا من بركة سفارته.

Allah's Love is Attained by Following the Messenger

This honorable Ayah judges against those who claim to love Allah, yet do not follow the way of Muhammad . Such people are not true in their claim until they follow the Shari`ah (Law) of Muhammad and his religion in all his statements, actions and conditions. It is recorded in the Sahih that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said,

«مَنْ عَمِلَ عَمَلًا لَيْسَ عَلَيْهِ أَمْرُنَا فَهُوَ رَد»

(Whoever commits an act that does not conform with our matter (religion), then it will be rejected of him.)

This is why Allah said here,

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ

(Say (O Muhammad to mankind): "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you...") meaning, what you will earn is much more than what you sought in loving Him, for Allah will love you. Al-Hasan Al-Basri and several scholars among the Salaf commented, "Some people claimed that they love Allah. So Allah tested them with this Ayah;

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ

(Say (O Muhammad to mankind): "If you (really) love Allah, then follow me, Allah will love you..."). "

Allah then said,

وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ

("And forgive you your sins. And Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.") meaning, by your following the Messenger , you will earn all this with the blessing of his mission. Allah next commands everyone,

قُلْ أَطِيعُواْ اللَّهَ وَالرَّسُولَ فإِن تَوَلَّوْاْ

(Say: "Obey Allah and the Messenger." But if they turn away) by defying the Prophet)

فَإِنَّ اللَّهَ لاَ يُحِبُّ الْكَـفِرِينَ

(then Allah does not like the disbelievers.) thus, testifying that defiance of the Messenger's way constitutes Kufr. Indeed, Allah does not like whoever does this, even if he claims that he loves Allah and seeks a means of approach to Him, unless, and until, he follows the unlettered Prophet, the Final Messenger from Allah to the two creations: mankind and the Jinn. This is the Prophet who, if the previous Prophets and mighty Messengers were to have been alive during his time, they would have no choice but to follow, obey him, and to abide by his Law. We will mention this fact when we explain the Ayah,

وَإِذْ أَخَذَ اللَّهُ مِيثَـقَ النَّبِيِّيْنَ

(And (remember) when Allah took the Covenant of the Prophets) 3:81, Allah willing.

When they said ‘We only worship idols out of our love for God that they might bring us close to Him’ the following was revealed Say O Muhammad (s) ‘If you love God follow me and God will love you meaning that He will reward you and forgive you your sins; God is Forgiving as regards the sins committed previously by one who now follows me; Merciful to him.

Sequence

In previous verses, there was affirmation of Allah's Oneness and the condemnation of disbelief in it. Affirmed now is the belief in prophethood as well as the necessity of following the Messenger so that we stand informed that the rejection of prophethood or refusal to obey the Prophet ﷺ is also an act of disbelief (kufr) like the rejection of the Oneness of Allah.

Commentary

Love is something secret. Whether or not a person loves another person, or loves less or more, are questions which cannot be answered precisely. There is no measure or yard-stick to determine the truth of the matter except that one makes an educated guess based on visible conditions and dealings, for love leaves traces and signs which could help in recognizing it as such. Now, in these verses, Allah Almighty tells those who claimed that they loved Allah and hoped to be loved by Him above the real criterion of His love. In other words, if a person living in the world of today claims that he loves his Creator and Master, then, he must test it on the touch-stone of his obedience to the Messenger, that is, match it against the frequency and quality of where and how he has been following him. Once this is done, the genuine and the fake of it will be exposed right there. How much true a person turns out to be in his claim will be visible from how much he makes it a point to follow the noble prophet (علیہ السلام) ، using the guidance brought by him as the guiding force in his life. The same test will show that the weaker a person is in his claim, so equally weak he shall be in his obedience to the Prophet ﷺ .

The Holy Prophet ﷺ has said:

He who obeyed Muhammad ﷺ obeyed Allah and he who disobeyed Muhammad ﷺ disobeyed Allah. (Tafsir Mazhari)

Say: If you love God, follow me; God will love you and forgive you your sins. In terms of the Haqiqah this verse has another intimation and another taste. He is saying: “Who- ever has fervor in his breast because of these words, say to him: 'Come out in my tracks, for all the work has been made ready in my footsteps. Do not bind your heart to intellect, for intellect is a watchman, not a leader to whom the reins should be given. It is not a road that you should set out in. Do not seek what you are seeking from intellect, seek it from prophethood. Intellect carries the saddle-cloth of the religion's ruling. The exalted magnificence of the religion does not fit into the scales of intellect, nor does it come under the confines of substance and accident.'” Our religion is the same as the religion of the 124,000 prophets and messengers. The testi- mony of the Qur'an contains these words, for He says, “He has set down for you as the religion that with which He counseled Noah” and so on [42:13]. That which holds up the level of our religion is two things: “God said” and “God's Messenger said.” If everything that is the basis of the religion of the innovators-the substances, accidents, and specific differences of the Kalam experts and the determinations of their intellects-suddenly ceased to be in creation, came to nothing, and entered into the concealment of nonexistence, not an iota of deficiency would reach the threshold of the religion's exaltedness or the gate of the Sun- nah's tremendousness. By the decree of good fortune this address has come from the Exalted Lord to the folk of the Sunnah: “Today I have perfected your religion for you and I have completed My blessings upon you” [5:3]. Here there is no room for the Kalam of the theologians and the med- dling of the philosophizers, nor for their explanations of substance and accident. The path of Kalam is the path of shadows, and the worst shadows are the shadows of Kalam. You should take the road of the folk of Hadith- it is enough to have MuṣṬafā as imam. Put away confusion, for this is “the religion of old women.” You should have that, and the religion of servants.