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Some Manifestations of Allah`s Love for Humankind
Author : Dr. Hassan Abu_Arqoub
Date Added : 25-03-2025

Some Manifestations of Allah`s Love for Humankind

 

Anyone who examines the noble verses of the Quran and the honorable Hadiths will find an abundance of love in them, proving that Islam is a religion of love. This stands as a refutation of the extremists of our time who perceive religion as hatred, enmity, killing, and destruction. The true essence of Islam follows a completely different path and never aligns with such a distorted understanding. This article is an attempt to clarify that Islam is indeed a religion of love.

The Holy Quran has guided us in several verses to the manifestations of Allah’s Love and honored mankind. As mentioned literally in the following verse: "And We have certainly honored the children of Adam and carried them on land and sea, and provided them with good things, and preferred them over much of what We have created, with [definite] preference." [Al-Isra/70].

Among the manifestations of this honor, which encompasses all human beings, is that mankind has been given authority over other creatures, including plants, birds, animals, and inanimate objects—the entire universe has been subjected to human service. Additionally, humans have been distinguished with a beautiful form, an appealing appearance, intelligence, and the ability to invent and create.

Therefore, Allah The Almighty Created everything on earth for the benefit of humankind so that they may utilize its creatures and resources. Allah Says (What means): "He is the One who created for you all that is on the earth. Then He directed Himself to the heaven and fashioned it into seven heavens, and He has perfect knowledge of all things." [Al-Baqarah/29]. The purpose is not only for worldly benefit but also for spiritual and eternal guidance. These creations serve as signs pointing to The Existence and Oneness of Allah. Thus, human benefit from these creations extends to both this world and the hereafter.

Moreover, Allah, The Almighty, has detailed some of these blessings that He intended for humankind to benefit from in His Saying (What means): "Indeed, in the creation of the heavens and the earth, the alternation of the night and the day, the ships that sail in the sea for the benefit of people, what Allah sends down from the sky of water—giving life thereby to the earth after its death and dispersing therein every moving creature—and the directing of the winds and the clouds controlled between the sky and the earth are signs for a people who use reason." [Al-Baqarah /164].

The creation of The Heavens and the earth and everything within them is for the benefit of humankind. Allah, The Almighty, details these blessings in a manner that highlights His favor upon His servants. The alternation of night and day is among the greatest blessings—night provides rest and tranquility, while the day is for work and livelihood. Ships sailing through the sea allow humans to travel and benefit from the bounties of the ocean. Rain sent from the sky nourishes the earth, providing water for drinking, growing crops, and sustaining livestock. The presence of various animals serves multiple purposes—some for carrying loads, others for swift travel, and some for food. Clouds bring rain and provide shade from the heat. All these blessings were created for humankind to live happily on this earth. They are clear signs of Allah’s love for humanity, as well as undeniable proof of His existence, oneness, and absolute power.

Anyone who reflects on the verses concerning the creation of Adam (peace be upon him) will clearly see manifestations of Allah’s love for humanity. Allah Honored Adam by making him a vicegerent (Khalifah) on earth, a status not given to any other creature. Allah Says (What means): "And [mention] when your Lord said to the angels, ‘Indeed, I will make upon the earth a successive authority (Khalifah)." [Al-Baqarah /30]. Moreover, Allah Granted Adam immense knowledge that even the angels could not attain. He taught Adam the names of all things, demonstrating the superiority of human intellect and learning, as stated in the following verse (What means): "And He taught Adam the names—all of them. Then He showed them to the angels and said: "Inform Me of the names of these, if you are truthful." They said, 'Exalted are You; we have no knowledge except what You have taught us. Indeed, it is You who are the Knowing, the Wise." [Al-Baqarah/31-32] This noble knowledge was then passed down to Adam’s descendants. Furthermore, Allah, The Most Exalted commanded the angels to prostrate before Adam in honor of him and his offspring. All the angels obeyed except Iblis, who refused out of arrogance, as stated in the Holy Quran (What means): "And [mention] when We said to the angels, ‘Prostrate before Adam’; so they prostrated, except for Iblis. He refused and was arrogant and became of the disbelievers." [Al-Baqarah/34]. Thus, Allah’s selection of Adam for vicegerency, the gift of knowledge, and the command for the angels to prostrate before him are all clear indications of His immense love and honor for humankind.

The published article reflects the opinion of its author

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Summarized Fatawaa

What is the ruling of Islamic Law on a fictitious marriage for the purpose of obtaining citizenship?

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.
There is no such thing in our noble sharīʿah as a "nominal" or "fictitious" marriage or divorce. Marriage and divorce are among the sacred ordinances of Allah, and it is not permissible to manipulate them or use them as a stratagem to obtain worldly gains.
The foundational purpose of a marriage contract is the permanence and continuity of the relationship between the spouses — to establish a family, and to bring forth righteous offspring. So sacred is this bond that Allah the Almighty Himself described it as a solemn covenant (mīthāq ghalīẓ), saying {what means}: "And if you wish to replace one wife with another and you have given one of them a great amount of wealth, do not take any of it back. Would you take it in injustice and manifest sin? And how could you take it while you have gone in unto each other and they have taken from you a solemn covenant?" [Al-Nisāʾ/ 20–21]
Accordingly, it is not permissible to resort to manipulation and deception in contracts that Allah, Mighty and Majestic, has described as a "solemn covenant" — all for the sake of material and worldly benefit. Marriage is built upon permanence and does not admit of a fixed time limit. If a time limit is stipulated in the contract, the contract is rendered invalid by the consensus of the jurists. Similarly, marriage is impermissible when there exists a mutual, concealed intention to limit its duration — even if no time limit is explicitly mentioned in the contract — for this constitutes a form of unlawful circumvention of the sharīʿah. This is to say nothing of the lying and deception that such conduct involves, the prohibition of which needs no elaboration. Lying, deception, and fraud for the purpose of obtaining worldly gains are among the gravest of sins.
If, however, the marriage contract is first concluded in a valid sharʿī manner and then registered civilly, it is sound and fully valid. And Allah the Almighty knows best.

When does the time for the Fajr prayer begin?

Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
 
The time for the Fajr prayer begins once the Mu’adhin starts the second Adhan (Al-Adhan al-Thani), and not after the first Adhan. And Allah the Exalted knows best.

What is the ruling on performing the night prayer (*qiyām al-layl*) between the first and second adhān of Fajr? And which is better: delaying the prayer until shortly before the Fajr adhān, or performing it earlier than that?

 

All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our master, the Messenger of Allah.
The time for night prayer (qiyām al-layl) begins after the Maghrib prayer and lasts until the second adhān of Fajr. The best time for it is the last third of the night, and best of all are the fourth and fifth sixths of the night. If the night is divided into two halves, the latter half is better.
Whoever intends to pray at night is encouraged to delay the Witr until he has prayed the night prayer. If he knows that he will not wake up, it is better for him to pray and perform Witr before sleeping, so that he does not miss both the night prayer and the Witr.
It is stated in Mughnī al-Muḥtāj (Vpl.1/p.462): “I say: The voluntary prayer of the night, that is, the absolute voluntary prayer (al-nafl al-muṭlaq), is better than the absolute voluntary prayer of the day, because of the report in Muslim: ‘The best prayer after the obligatory prayer is the night prayer.’ In another narration of his: ‘In the night there is an hour that no Muslim man meets while asking Allah for any good of this world and the next except that He gives it to him, and that is every night.’ It is also because the night is a time of heedlessness. I restricted the voluntary prayer to the absolute kind following the commentator, although what the ḥadīth and the underlying meaning require is that the night rawātib be preferred over the day rawātib, since the jurists preferred the two rakʿahs of Fajr over everything except Witr. The middle of the night is better than its two ends if it is divided into thirds, because heedlessness is greatest then and worship is hardest. If he wishes to pray during some third, the best is the fourth and fifth sixths, based on the ḥadīth in the two Ṣaḥīḥs: ‘The most beloved prayer to Allah the Exalted is the prayer of Dāwūd: he would sleep half the night, stand for a third of it, and sleep for a sixth.’ Then the latter part is better than the first if he divides it into two halves, because of the saying of Allah the Exalted: ‘And in the hours before dawn they would ask forgiveness’ [al-Dhāriyāt: 18], and the report of the two Shaykhs: ‘Our Lord, Blessed and Exalted, descends,’ meaning His command descends, ‘to the lowest heaven when the last third of the night remains, and says: Who calls upon Me, that I may answer him? Who asks of Me, that I may give him? Who seeks My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?’”
It is also stated in ʿUmdat al-Sālik (p. 60): “It is better to perform it [the Witr] immediately after the sunnah of ʿIshāʾ, unless he has tahajjud, in which case it is better to delay it so that he performs Witr after it. If he performs Witr and then wishes to pray tahajjud, he prays two rakʿahs at a time and does not repeat the Witr, nor does he need to cancel it with a single rakʿah before the tahajjud. It is recommended that he not deliberately pray after it.”
Qiyām al-layl is a term applied to any prayer performed at night. Tahajjud, on the other hand, refers to the night prayer that follows sleep, whether it is prayed after Maghrib or after ʿIshāʾ, or the prayer performed after ʿIshāʾ without sleep. On this basis, the Witr is also called tahajjud, since it is only prayed after ʿIshāʾ.
It is stated in al-Majmūʿ (Vol.4/p.84): “The sound position, as stated in al-Umm and al-Mukhtaṣar, is that the Witr is called tahajjud.”
It is stated in Nihāyat al-Zayn (Vol.1/p.114): “Among the absolute voluntary prayers is qiyām al-layl. If it is performed after sleep, even during the time of Maghrib and after having prayed ʿIshāʾ early (taqdīman), it is called tahajjud.”
And it is stated in Ḥāshiyat al-Bujayrimī ʿalā al-Khaṭīb (Vol.1/p.418): “His statement: ‘(the night prayer)’: the genitive construction (iḍāfah) carries the sense of fī, meaning a prayer in the night. His statement: ‘(it would be more fitting)’: the reason it is more fitting is that the night prayer includes both tahajjud and other prayers.” And Allah Almighty knows best.

What are the key differences between the 'aqīqah and the uḍḥiyyah?

 All praise is due to Allah, and may peace and blessings be upon our Master, the Messenger of Allah.
The following are the key differences between the 'aqīqah and the uḍḥiyyah:
First: The 'aqīqah is slaughtered as an act of drawing closer to Allah the Almighty and expressing gratitude for the blessing of a newborn child. The uḍḥiyyah, on the other hand, is slaughtered as an act of drawing closer to Allah and expressing gratitude to Him specifically during the days of slaughter (ayyām al-naḥr).
Second: The 'aqīqah is performed on the seventh day from the birth of the newborn, whereas the uḍḥiyyah is performed on Eid al-Aḍḥā and its time extends for three days after the Eid.
Third: The 'aqīqah is performed once in a lifetime for the newborn, whereas the uḍḥiyyah is recommended every year for the one who is financially capable to offer it.
Fourth: It is Sunnah for the one intending to offer the uḍḥiyyah to refrain from cutting his hair and nails until after he has slaughtered. This is not a Sunnah for the one intending to perform the 'aqīqah.
Fifth: It is Sunnah for the 'aqīqah to be cooked and distributed to the poor in its cooked form. The uḍḥiyyah, by contrast, must be distributed as raw meat. And Allah Almighty knows best.

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