Maulana Wahiduddin Khan I The Sunday Guardian I November 23, 2014

Love means strong affection. Love is a natural phenomenon; an elevated kind of positive response towards someone you feel is loveable. Love cannot be created in a vacuum; it requires a strong base of affection.

Love of God is this same kind of strong affection. The basis of this love is quite natural when one discovers that one was created by God and that it was God who has given us, human beings such bounties as planet earth, the life-support system, oxygen, water and food, for instance.

All these things were not created by humans. They are precious gifts bestowed by someone else. When one discovers this fact, one naturally becomes a lover of God. Thus, love of God is the outcome of one's discovery.

Every sincere person reaches a stage in life when he faces some basic questions such as, how did I come into existence, how is it that I find myself in a world that is extremely favourable to me? One realises that this compatibility between man and the rest of the universe is so unique that science has observed that the universe has been custom-made for man. Love is in fact an acknowledgment of this. When we endeavour to acknowledge our super-benefactor, we call it love of God.

Although love is an inner feeling, it comes naturally to us to give it an external expression. It is said that man is a social animal, so it is but natural that one's inner love should also find some expression in terms of social relationships.

It is this social expression of one's inner feeling that is called peace. For God, love is a psychological acknowledgment of the Creator, and in terms of society, love is manifested in peaceful living among other members of society.