Gifts of Knowledge

“Imām Ibn al-Qayyim said, ‘No. 2. Loving Allaah ﷻ. So a person leaves sinning against Him out of love for Him, because ‘A lover obeys his beloved.’ And this is because the best [kind of] abstention is the type carried out by someone doing it out of love, just like the best [kind of] obedience is the type done out of love—for there lies a huge chasm between the abstention of a lover and his obedience and that of someone who does so out of fear of the punishment.’

Explaining the above, al-Badr said, ‘The second incentive: the love of Allaah ﷻ. As He said, ‘… but the ˹true˺ believers love Allah even more.’ [2:165]

So when a servant keeps his heart busy with Allaah’s Love it diverts him from falling into things that anger Him ﷻ, since acts of disobedience and sins cause a servant to miss out on his share and portion of Allaah’s Love for him in proportion to the sins and mistakes he falls into. And because true love of Allaah requires and demands obeying His Orders and keeping away from what angers Him, as He said, ‘Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allaah, then follow me, Allaah will love you and forgive your sins.’ [3:31]

And that is why it was said:

You disobey the Lord while feigning his Love
How preposterous, [utterly] unprecedented an analogy
If your love were true you would have obeyed Him
For indeed a lover submits to his beloved.’”
Bawāʿith al-Khalāṣ minadh-Dhunūb, pp. 10-11.