This is the last part of Ghazali’s chapter on love. He already mentioned that the senses are our gateway to pleasure and we love everything that is pleasurable to our senses. However there is something else we love, but that is not experienced through our senses and that is the love of Allah, which we experience in our heart. Allah stated in the Qurah that He did not create man and Jinn except to worship Him, liyabudun. Mujahid (the student of Ibn Abbas) said that to worship means to KNOW Allah (liyarifun) the best pleasure is to know Allah. وَمَا خَلَقۡتُ ٱلۡجِنَّ وَٱلۡإِنسَ إِلَّا لِیَعۡبُدُونِ And I have not created the jinn and mankind except to worship (know) Me. (51:56) The greatest pleasure in the world is to know Allah. And the greatest pleasure in the akhirah is to see Allah. Some scholars commented on how deprived those were who left the dunya without knowing Allah. Ghazali dissected physical and spiritual pleasures – spiritual pleasure is felt in the heart and in order to experience it you need a pure heart, ready to receive knowledge of Him. The less clear the heart, the darker and hazier its perception of Allah.   In order to achieve a sound heart one needs to apply the mechanism of continuous tawbah and istighfar (repentance) and dhikr of Allah. This is what makes the heart sound and ready to receive light and knowledge from Allah. If one does not clear the heart and purify it, one cannot become close to Allah. When one becomes close to Allah, one experiences pleasure that is greater than any pleasure of the dunya, greater than any pleasure you have known in your life. We saw this in the story of Abu Dhar al Ghifari who was so elated when … Continue reading Ghazali on love (part 3) – The pleasure of seeing Allah and the signs He loves you