Al-Wadûd: The Loving

"But ask forgiveness of your Lord and turn unto Him in repentance for my Lord is indeed full of mercy and love" (11:90).

The Loving is Allah's quality which desires good for all humanity. Allah does good for them and praises them. In return, Allah is the only one worthy of love. The Loving is that quality which loves the well-being of Allah's creatures. It procures it for them gratuitously. The Loving refers to the attribute from which proceeds the praise Allah bestows on the believer and the reward which Allah gives him. This Divine Quality approximates the concept underlying the Merciful. However, mercy is related to some one or some thing in need. The deeds of the Loving do not require that. Indeed, acts of kindness from the outset belong to the products of love. Just as the meaning of the Merciful is Allah's desiring good for the object of mercy and Allah being sufficient to bring it about while remaining above the empathy usually associated with mercy, likewise the Loving is Allah's desire to honor and bless humanity. Allah's actual mercy and His grace transcend the feeling of love. Love and mercy are intended for the benefit of those who receive them and not because of empathy on the part of the one giving. Therefore, the heart and soul of mercy and love are for the benefit of the other. That is the conception of these two characteristics in respect of Allah. Whereas human mercy and love stem from an empathy in the heart of the one giving, which actually has nothing to do with the one being given to, the Loving is a sign of unconditional love.