"WHAT did you get this time from your boyfriend?” asked a friend of mine. The question raised an awkward silence for a moment, as I was framing the reply for the question in my mind. “Hmm…dude I don’t have one,” I said after breaking that horrible silence. For a minute or two I felt that same awkward silence again as I did before. “Hmmm…never mind, you know what? My boyfriend gave me a cell phone this time,” she said. “Oh good for you,” I replied with a pretty serious expression on my face.

After noticing my serious expression, she thought it was better to leave me alone than to relate her story to me. As I was passing by the school corridor after the exam, I could see cute little red gifts in every girl’s hand probably sent to them by ‘someone special’. Not to mention I could hear their ‘endless stories’ until I reached my house.

At home, the first thing I discussed about with my mother was ‘Valentine’s Day’. I narrated to her the bunch of incidents that took place that day in school. After observing me, my mother asked, “What’s with you?”

No longer able to keep the secret in my stomach, I said, “Mom, everyone in my school received gifts from their boyfriends, except for me”.

“Don’t worry, you’ll get it from your husband InshaAllah,” said mother. After staring blanking at mother for a while, I said “Ah, forget it”. I was sick inside the heart and could feel myself drowning in a river of sadness. After all what did she know about Valentine’s Day? As I was about to get up from my bed on which we lay talking, all of a sudden my mother stopped me and said, “Don’t worry Allah will gift you with something, which will definitely, be far better than receiving roses and chocolates from a bunch of fools”. And her last question forced me to think. “But for how long will they hide it from their parents?” Yes, my mom is right, how long can they hide it from their parents? Someday it will definitely be known, after all it is something that their parents are unaware of.

Mother’s words forced me to shed light upon them. As I was contemplating on her words, I recalled my past moments when Allah (SWT) had helped me in my difficult situations, when Allah (SWT) was always there for me in times of both my difficulties and ease. Allah (SWT) was my someone where there was no one, who granted me whatever I’d wished for in spite of my disobedience, who helped me to search for something I had lost, who protected me from all sorts of evils that I was unaware of and who blessed me with the gift of guidance.

How can I be so ungrateful? As Allah (SWT) says in the Noble Quran:

"They recognize the favors of Allah; then they deny them; and most of them are (creatures) ungrateful” (Surah Nahl…Verse-83)

Introspecting, I asked myself: “Why are we so ungrateful to Allah’s blessings? Even though, He deserves to be fully thanked.  Why do we seek gifts from our boyfriends/girlfriends? Even though there is someone waiting for us to ask so that He may grant it to us. Why do we search for ‘Haram’ love? Even though there is someone who loves us 70 times more than our mothers, someone who is closer to us than our jugular vein, someone who is always there for us, someone who is waiting for our love and repentance, someone who never leaves us despaired during our hardships and someone who we always turn to during our difficulties….“ALLAH”.

“Is there any person alive on this blue planet, who loves his/her lover more than he loves Allah (SWT)?”

As Allah (SWT) goes on to say in the Holy Qur’an:

“Yet there are some who take others as equal to Allah and love them as Allah should be loved…” (Surah Baqarah Ayah-164)

So what’s our duty now?

Love Allah more than anyone else and seek His love as He is the only one who deserves to be loved more than anyone else does.

How do I gain the love of Allah?

Ibn Qayyim mentioned ten causes that result in Allah’s love for His slave and the slave’s love for Allah. These ten are:-

Reciting the Quran while pondering over its meanings and what is meant by it

Getting closer to Allah by performing voluntary deeds after completing obligatory deeds

Continual remembrance of Allah under all circumstances, with one’s tongue, heart and actions

Giving precedence to what He loves over what you love when you are overtaken by your desires

The heart being avid of Allah’s Names and Attributes, and the heart roaming in that garden of knowledge

Observing Allah’s kindness, goodness, and bounties, both hidden and open

The heart being soft, subdued and meek before Allah

Being alone with Allah during the time when He descends during the last portion of the night while reading His book and ending that by asking forgiveness and repenting

Sitting with the beloved and sincere, benefitting from the most fruitful of their speech. And not to speak unless speaking is more beneficial and you know that it will improve your state and be beneficial to others

Staying away from every cause that comes between the heart and Allah

These 10 causes take the lovers to the station of ‘true love’ and bring them to their Beloved. So what are you waiting for? Let’s strive to join the exclusive club, the club of those who love and are loved by Allah (SWT)…

Thoughts to ponder over

• Love may last a life time for some but the love of Allah and for the sake of Allah will last for eternity.

• Love the people who deserve to be loved, not the people who don’t.

• It matters not who loves you if Allah does not love you and it matters not who dislikes you if Allah loves you.

  So what are you waiting for? Go, seek your love.