Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the Heart of Islam

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of love.16 The variation in this spectrum occurs not because Allah is withholding from us, but because of our forgetfulness and the veils that result from our misperceptions, false identities, and sins. Just as the sun doesn’t stop shining if we close our eyes, when we sin it is not that God hates us, but rather we who are closed off from experiencing His love.17 “Moonlight floods the whole sky from horizon to horizon; How much it can fill your room depends on its windows.” RUMI Allah loves and provides for whom He wills “without accounting” (3:37), so if we feel limitations, they exist in the containment of our receiving and not in the outpouring of His giving. Some linguists say that the word Allah is based on the word waliha, which translates to a love that is so passionate and ecstatic that it completely transcends the senses.18 This implies that to know God we have to surrender our minds, everything we are, and everything we know in exchange for love, because self-surrender to divine love is the only path to God. Unlike the angels, we have been given the gift of not only knowing of love, but becoming it. Since Allah is the origin of all love, to know Him you must drown in the essence of love. To know Him you must be empty of yourself entirely, for love leaves no witnesses. How can there be two with the One? We must stop trying to understand with our limiting minds what the heart already knows. As Rumi says, “I looked in Temples, Churches, and Mosques. But I found the Divine in my heart.” In this poem, Rumi reminds us that God is most brilliantly reflected in the mirror of the spiritual heart, which is the seat of consciousness. God Transcends the Human Mind God is limitless. It is our vision of God that is limited to the qualities we seek in the world and reflect within our own existence. Since we see the world through the filter of how we see ourselves, Although I'm still in the process of reading this book, it is very hard to keep it down. I literally have to force myself to put it down because every chapter, every sentence has some wisdom in it and you have to put it aside to take it all in. Funny thing is it's everything we know, everything we possess but the way the author of this book has eloquently penned down everything - who Allah is and who we are - is remarkable. Secrets of Divine Love takes you into a different world - a world that we all are meant to be in. It makes you see the world, the creation, the Creator and most importantly yourself, in a different manner/perspective. It makes you appreciate the beauty of Islam more and more.

of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the He… Secrets of Divine Love: A Spiritual Journey into the He…

Give Like the Sun Gives to the Earth Reflection: Reflecting Divine Light Chapter 9—Ramadan: The Holy Month of Fasting The Month of Endless Mercy Becoming Receptive to Divine Guidance The Spiritual Stages of Fasting The Outer Fast of the Limbs The Inner Fast of the Senses and Mind The Heart-Centered Fast Laylatul Qadr: The Night of Power The End Is the Beginning Only for the Sake of Allah Reflection: Observing the Illusion Chapter 10—Hajj: A Pilgrimage to God Prophet Abraham: The Father of Monotheism The Mysteries of the Kaaba Mystical Symbolism in the Rituals of Hajj Every Moment Is Hajj Reflection: What Is in the Kaaba of Your Heart? Chapter 11—The Spiritual Secrets of Death The Pricelessness of Time Losing a Loved One This Is Not Your Home Impermanence and the Hidden Mercy of God Death Unveils the Truth If You Fear Death, This Is Why I started this book sometime in November of last year and it took me a few months to finish it. It's the kind of book that you want to savour and keep in your life as long as you can. That is what I ended up doing. As long as our happiness is dependent on things we cannot control, we will never experience contentment."As long as your heart is beating, you have a purpose. God is intentional, so He does not keep anyone on Earth that doesn’t have to be here; if we are blessed with more life, it is because someone in the world needs us. If we are alive, it means that what we were sent to this Earth to create has not yet been accomplished.”

Secrets of Divine Love by A Helwa | Waterstones

God sends hope in the most desperate moments. Don't forget, the heaviest rain comes out of the darkest clouds."

The worst thing we can do is think that something we’re feeling is so wrong and horrible that we isolate ourselves from God, thinking we’re not worthy of being in His presence. We must remember that Allah doesn’t expect us to be perfect; after all, our sense of self-worth is not dependent on us, but on God. When we bring our poverty, our neediness, and our nothingness to God, He meets us with His generosity (Al-Karim), His ability to satisfy all needs (As-Samad), and His richness (Al-Ghaniy). Just as if you want light in your room you must open the blinds, if you want the shadows and dark places in your being to dissolve, you have to open your heart to the light of Allah. In essence, all of existence is just a reflection of the light of God’s grace manifesting into different forms.” Your task is not to seek for love, but merely to seek and find all the barriers within yourself that you have built against it." (Rumi). If we pray only when we feel like it, then we are not praying for God, but for our egos to feel a certain way.” READING WITH AN OPEN HEART W hen we open our hearts to the light of God the answers to our most bewildering questions begin to blossom. It is my hope that through reading this book with an open heart you will have an experience of God, instead of simply acquiring new information about God. There are many techniques and experiences that summon the opening of the spiritual heart. One of the ways of doing this is by taking a few deep breaths, placing your hand on your chest, and following your breath down to your heart. This may be followed by setting the intention to listen and read these words not just from your mind but with the eyes and ears of your heart. Even if our doubts span an entire ocean, the light of God’s wisdom can rise beyond the furthest horizons and illuminate our hearts with contentment. My deep prayer is that this book will give you a taste of this.

of Divine Love - A. Helwa Pages 1-50 - Flip PDF Secrets of Divine Love - A. Helwa Pages 1-50 - Flip PDF

The more you take time to express gratitude the more you will notice the abundant blessings God has given to you.Our work is not to change the world. Our mission is to serve and love the world, believing that when we serve God and His creations from a place of love, by the virtue of God’s mercy the world begins to heal. You do not need cell towers to reach God, you just need to plug into your heart because “He is with you wherever you are” (57:4), from the closest atom to the farthest star.” When I use the word “mystics” in the text I am referring to spiritual masters in the Islamic tradition that delved past the literalism of the religion and into the realm of the heart. A mystic is not someone who ignored the rules of the Qur’an and prophetic tradition, but someone who sought to learn the esoteric teachings of the faith from a place of love and joy. In fact, most of the utterances of Muslim mystics are directly inspired by the Qur’an and the Prophet , or inspired by the family of the Prophet and his closest companions. 7. I rely heavily on the profound wisdom of the seventh-century Islamic sage Ali ibn Talib, affectionately known by many as Imam Ali. The spiritual master Imam Ali, may Allah be pleased with him and grant him peace, was the cousin and son-in-law of the Prophet and the first person after the wife of the Prophet to convert to Islam. The Prophet Muhammad said of Imam Ali, “I am the city of knowledge and Ali is its gate.”1 Imam Ali is known to be a symbol of unification and peace, as Sunnis, Shias, and Sufis follow his guidance and adore his examples of bravery, leadership, and spiritual knowledge. I also rely on the beautiful contemplations of the Islamic theologian and poet Jalaluddin Rumi, whose most famous book, The Mathnawi, is a poetic masterpiece that was directly inspired by the Qur’an. 8. When words in Arabic could not properly be translated into English, I put the Arabic transliteration of the word in parenthesis as a point of reference. 9. Many of the quotes, spiritual stories, and teaching parables I have included in this book are not cited, as they are oral stories that have been passed down through different cultures and religions. I am forever grateful to all of my friends, teachers, and especially my grandfather, for taking the time to share these priceless stories with me so that I could in turn share them with you.