Although they attend to their food at the time of taking their meals...

Although they attend to their food at the time of taking their meals, pay attention to their physical needs, meet their friends, go to parks for walking and perform miscellaneous acts, yet all the time the centre of their interest is one and the same. As soon as they are free from their immediate engagements, they return to the question which is the object of their love. As for the double grade love, it is found in the hearts of the Prophets and the Imams.

You all know Imam Ali ibn Abi Talib, in the vicinity of whose tomb we live (Najaf Ashraf, Iraq). This great man has said: "I never saw a thing but I saw Allah before it, after it and along with it." In fact, it was so because love of Allah occupied his great heart and conscience in such a way that it concealed everything else from him. Even when he saw human beings, he saw Allah. He looked at them as Allah's bondmen. When he looked at Allah's bounties, he remembered Him.

This bond with Allah was always present before his eyes, for it was Allah alone whom he truly loved and to whom alone his hopes and aspiration were directed. He never allowed anybody to divert his attention from Allah and thus all the time he saw only Allah. These two grades of love are applicable to love of this world also, the love of which, in the words of the Holy Prophet, is the root-cause of all errors.' There are two grades of love of this world.

The first stage of this love is the concentration of one's activities, hopes and trends on seeking worldly gains. A person having this love moves when his personal interest demands so and stops when it does not. Whenever he deems it fit, he devotes himself to the worship of Allah and when he does not, he does something else. Thus this world is his first consideration, although sometimes he ignores it and engages himself in some noble acts also. He sometimes offers prayers and keeps fast.

But before long he returns to his main interest. This is the single grade love of worldly gains. Even this state of love of this world is a dangerous malady. But the double grade love of worldly gains becomes fatal, when one totally closes one's eyes and ears. Exactly what Imam Ali, the Commander of the faithful said in connection with love of Allah, applies to the double grade love of this world also. The Imam used to say that whatever he saw, he saw Allah before it, after it and along with it.