Wadood" because He loves His servants and they love Him; He says the following in Surat al-
Ma'ida: "O you who believe! Whoever among you turns back from his religion, Allah will
bring people whom He loves and who love Him, who are humble before the believers and
mighty against the unbelievers...." (Qura'n, 5:54).
The condition of true love is that it does not increase on account of loyalty, nor does it
decrease on account of aversion. Al-Wadood ever tries to show His love for His friends by
manifesting His knowledge to them. The "wadood" person is one who prefers you over all
others, who removes from your heart any desire to notice or to love anyone else but him. Al-
Wadood very much loves His servants, Who tries to be loved even by the sinners through His
forgiveness, and by all His creation by sustaining them and granting them sufficiently. Allah's
righteous servants love Him due to their knowledge of His perfection and the perfection of
His qualities, and due to His readiness to forgive.
For all these reasons, al-Wadood is the Loving and the Beloved One. If a servant of Allah
dives deeply into the depths of the knowledge of Allah's perfection, the perfection which
causes a servant of Allah to love his Lord more and more, his knowledge will be crystallized,
and he will find a great deal of contentment while worshipping Him accordingly. His
knowledge of Him will then bear good fruits, and he, the servant of Allah, will turn to be the
one who loves Him. He may also be understood to be the One Who loves His servants and the
love for Whom bears good fruits according to the degree of love in the heart of each one of
those who love Him. If someone sees through his heart his Lord to be self-Sufficient,
Gracious, Honoured, Omnipotent, everyone is in need of Him while He does not need anyone
or anything, yet He loves His servants and wishes the best for them and even tries to get
closer to them by granting them His favours..., such a person will surely have been blessed
with true vision and a clear sight.
One who tries to fashion his conduct according to the inspiration of this Attribute ought to
know that he should love all those whom Allah loves such as the prophets, successors of the
prophets, and the scholars. He should love everything Allah loves and with which He is
pleased such as acts of righteousness, piety, good deeds and exemplary conduct with others.
Such a person should be compassionate towards all people: He loves to see the disobedient
returning to their Lord obediently, the righteous remaining firm in their righteousness. He
becomes compassionate towards all servants of Allah, forgiving those who abuse them, being
kind to all people especially his family and kin. It is recorded that the holy Prophet has said to
Imam `Ali, "If you wish to surpass those who are close to Allah, then join your ties with those
who have cut them off from you, grant those who deprived you, and forgive those who wrong
you." The attribute "al-Wadood" deserves from the servants of Allah that they wish one
another what they wish for their own selves, and even more so! They should prefer others
over their own selves. A righteous man once said, "I wish to be a bridge over the fire
whereupon people pass [to heaven] unharmed."