ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Perspectives on the Concept of Love in Islam Divine Love Love as the Highest Reason for Creation In early kalam (Islamic theology), a heated debate started on the purpose behind God's creations and acts.

Some theologians thought that the attribution of reason or purpose to His deeds leads to the assumption that God is in need of His creatures and He creates them to meet some needs, just like a human being who, say, works to earn money, or studies to learn. However the dominant view, especially among those who have had a more rationalistic approach like Nasir ul‑Din al‑Tusi has always been that God is the Wise (hakim), so whatever He does is for some exactly and carefully pre‑studied purposes.

He never does something arbitrarily or in vain. It is asserted in the Qur'an that, " What! Did you then think that We had created you in vain...? " (23:115) Of course, it is clear that God Himself does not gain anything from His creatures, nor from His act of creation. This is not only because He is completely free from any sort of need, but also because it is logically impossible that a given effect would have any type of influence on its (existential) cause.

Whatever the effect has is received from the cause and it would be circular to suppose it otherwise. God has not created the universe to make some benefits for Himself, but rather to give benefits. A popular Persian poem says: "I have not created the creation to get some benefits, I have created people to show them my generosity." There is a famous divine saying (hadith qudsi) which can probably be found in all books written about the goal of creation in Islam.

According to this hadith, God says: "I was a hidden treasure; I loved to be known. Hence I created the world so that I would be known."(My translation) The Arabic original term for "loved" is derived from the root hubb, which means to like or to love.

In other words, hubb is a general concept that can belong to simple things such as preferring some types of food (which in English could be translated as 'would like') or to the most important things in one's life such as the intensive desire for someone or some ideals as the beloved to the extent that one might even be ready to be destroyed in order to please the beloved or secure it. Hubb in such cases can be translated into 'love'.