a King to impress. We will never waste effort appealing to the servant for our need, while the King is
the One in control. Even if the King had given some authority to the servant, we’d know very well that
the power to give and take rests ultimately with the King—and the King alone. This knowledge comes
only from knowing and seeing the King. And this knowledge completely transforms how we interact
with the servant.
Seeing the Real thing transforms the way we love. Ibn Taymiyyah (RA) discussed this concept when
he said: “If your heart is enslaved by someone who is forbidden for him: One of the main causes for
this miserable situation is turning away from Allah, for once the heart has tasted worship of Allah and
sincerity towards Him, nothing will be sweeter to it than that, nothing will be more delightful or more
precious. No one leaves his beloved except for another one he loves more, or for fear of something
else. The heart will give up corrupt love in favor of true love, or for fear of harm.”
One of our greatest problems as an ummah is as the Prophet told us in a hadith: wahn (love of
dunya and hatred of death). We’ve fallen in love with dunya. And anytime you are in love, it becomes
next to impossible to get over that love or separate from it—until you are able to fall in love with
something greater. It is next to impossible to dislodge this destructive love of dunya from our hearts,
until we find something greater to replace it. Having found a greater love, it becomes easy to get over
another one. When the love of God, His messenger and the Home with Him is really seen, it
overpowers and dominates any other love in the heart. The more that love is seen, the more dominate
it becomes. And thereby the easier it will be to really actualize the statement of Ibraheem (AS):
“Say, ‘Indeed, my prayer, my service of sacrifice, my living and my dying are for Allah, Lord of the
worlds.’” (Qur’an, 6:162)
So in letting go, the answer lies in love. Fall in love. Fall in love with something greater. Fall in love
with the Real thing. See the Mansion.
Only then, will we stop playing in the dollhouse.