• The wonder is not in His words, “they love Him” (5:54); the true wonder lies in His words, “He loves them” (5:54).

• Nor is it strange that a destitute pauper should love the one who shows him kindness; what is truly astonishing is that the benefactor should love the destitute pauper.

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The Quran is Allah’s own speech, and in it He manifests Himself to His servants through His attributes.

At times He appears clothed in awe, majesty, and grandeur; necks then bow, souls are humbled, voices fall silent, and arrogance melts away like salt in water.

At other times He reveals Himself through the attributes of beauty and perfection—perfection of the Names, beauty of the attributes, and beauty of the acts that point to the perfection of the Essence. In proportion to a servant’s awareness of that beauty and those perfections, love for Him draws every last reserve of love from the heart until it is emptied of everything but Him. Should anything else attempt to lay claim to that love, the heart and its innermost being flatly refuse, as one has said:

They would have my heart forget you,
yet its very nature defies the courier. (1)

Thus love for Him remains second nature rather than an affected pose.

When He discloses Himself in the attributes of mercy, beneficence, gentleness, and generosity, the servant’s hope is awakened, his expectancy expands, his aspiration grows strong, and he journeys to his Lord while the herald of hope urges on the mounts of travel. Whenever hope waxes strong he redoubles his work, just as