Chapter VI: Love, Longing, Contentment
Once the Prophet Jesus Christ was passing by some lean and thin men. They said : We fear Hell and hope for Paradise. He told them : You then fear created things and hope for created things.
He passed by another group of persons and they said : We worship God as we love Him and His glory. He said : You are then the real friends of God. I have been order to live in our company. The saint Abu Hazem said : I feel ashamed to worship God to get rewards and to ward off punishment. In that case, I shall be a dishonest servant, as a dishonest labourer does not work if he does not fear. The Prophet said : Nobody amongst you should be a dishonest labourer. If he does not get his wages, he does not work.
(5) Fifth reason. Love begets among persons of similar nature and habits. So you find that one boy loves another boy, an old man loves another old man. There is a proverb that birds of feather flock together. The Prophet said : The souls are regulated army. The souls which agree with one another love one another, and those souls which have no agreement differ. Ignorance of one another's nature is a cause of disagreement. This reason also shows path to the necessity of love for God. The Prophet said :
Imbue yourselves with divine attributes. This injunction is only for following the good attributes, such as acquisition of knowledge, honesty, showing kindness, to do good to the people, to enjoin them good, to show them right path and to prohibit them from evils. These subject take to the nearness of ^God. This does not mean that these attributes will take you to a fixed place, but they will take you near His attributes. Man has been endowed with a special thing which has been prohibited to be mentioned in details. God says : They ask you about soul. Say, soul is an order from my Lord — 17 : 85. The reason is that spiritual matters are outside the comprehension and intellect of man. The following verse is to this effect : When I fashioned him and infused in him from My spirit — 15 : 29. For this reason the
256 LOVE AND ATTACHMENT Vol-IV