and with God. That is why Allah says: “that you may dwell in tranquility.” Hawa is the opposite.
Hawa will make you miserable. And just like a drug, you will crave it always, but never be satisfied.
You will chase it to your own detriment, but never reach it. And though you submit your whole self to
it, it will never bring you happiness.
So while ultimate happiness is everyone’s goal, it is often difficult to see past the illusions and
discern love from hawa. One fail-safe way, is to ask yourself this question: Does getting closer to this
person that I ‘love’ bring me closer to—or farther from—Allah? In a sense, has this person replaced
Allah in my heart?
True or pure love should never contradict or compete with one’s love for Allah. It should strengthen
it. That is why true love is only possible within the boundaries of what Allah has made permissible.
Outside of that, it is nothing more than hawa, to which we either submit or reject. We are either slaves
to Allah, or slaves to our hawa. It cannot be both.
Only by struggling against false pleasure, can we attain true pleasure. They are by definition mutually
exclusive. For that reason, the struggle against our desires is a prerequisite for the attainment of
paradise. Allah says: “But as for he who feared the position of his Lord and prevented the soul from
[unlawful] inclination, then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.” (Qur’an, 79: 40-41)