Introduction to The Love of Allah

An excerpt from Ibn al-Qayyim's monumental work Madarij al-Salikin (Stations of the Wayfarers), focusing on the highest and most essential station of the heart: love of Allah. Ibn al-Qayyim considered love of Allah, along with fear and hope, to be the three foundations of the heart's relationship with its Creator — but love is the most exalted and the root of all spiritual stations.

The book covers: the signs and fruits of true love for Allah; the causes that produce love (following the Sunnah, reciting Quran, dhikr, contemplating Allah's names and blessings); the degrees of love from mawaddah (affection) to khullah (intimate friendship, reserved only for Ibrahim and Muhammad, peace be upon them); the relationship between love, obedience, and following the Prophet; and the devastating harm of loving anything above Allah.

This is considered one of the finest Islamic treatments of love for Allah and represents Ibn al-Qayyim at his most spiritually profound. It demonstrates how the Athari tradition encompasses deep spiritual insight without falling into the Sufi deviation of negating the divine attributes or abandoning the Sunnah.