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The challenge: love and faith
The secret that the practice of fasting divulges to us is that the happiness that is the ultimate desire of all human beings is the happiness of faith. It is their true north, their lost treasure, whether they know it or not—and doubtless, most do not. Allah Says what means: “…Unquestionably, by the remembrance of Allah hearts are assured.” [Quran 13:28]
But the sweetness of faith—a sweetness that is beyond all, a happiness that exceeds all pleasures of this material body combined—is not easy. It is a bounty too great to be given to just anyone. It is given only to those who deserve it. It requires the ultimate sacrifice: To love God and what is God's more than you love yourself and what is yours!
“Three qualities” taught the Messenger of Allah 
"are such that if found in one, he shall have tasted the sweetness of faith.” Little wonder that each of these virtues has to do with love of Allah and, conversely, hatred of Godlessness: “That Allah and His Messenger become more beloved to one than all else. And that one loves his brother for naught save Allah. That one hates to return to disbelief more than one hates to be thrown into the fire.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]
"are such that if found in one, he shall have tasted the sweetness of faith.” Little wonder that each of these virtues has to do with love of Allah and, conversely, hatred of Godlessness: “That Allah and His Messenger become more beloved to one than all else. And that one loves his brother for naught save Allah. That one hates to return to disbelief more than one hates to be thrown into the fire.” [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]The message is clear: You have no faith, unless you love Allah Almighty and His Messenger . That is, your faith is not complete, holds no taste for you to savor, unless you love Allah Almighty and His Messenger more than you love your own selves.
. That is, your faith is not complete, holds no taste for you to savor, unless you love Allah Almighty and His Messenger more than you love your own selves.Yet the love of our own selves is deeply ingrained in us. It is the most natural instinct, the strongest drive. How can we overcome it? How can our love of Allah Almighty be greater than our love for ourselves?
The order is tall no doubt. That is why the reward is infinite. The reward is the everlasting pleasure of Allah Himself. He Almighty Says what means: “Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, wherein they abide eternally, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of perpetual residence; but approval from Allah is greater. It is that which is the great attainment!" [Quran 9:72]
Yet, as human beings, we constantly forget the reward, the punishment, the stakes, the purpose. We forget Allah Himself! But being human is no excuse for it: We are forgetful, but also deputies on earth, the most honorable of creations. Most just and compassionate, “Allah does not charge a soul except [with that within] its capacity....” [Quran 2:286] So He Almighty would not require us to love Him and His Messenger more than our own selves if it were not possible—indeed, not good—for each one of us. So when we fail, our failure is our responsibility, our loss, our error, and something that can be averted.
more than our own selves if it were not possible—indeed, not good—for each one of us. So when we fail, our failure is our responsibility, our loss, our error, and something that can be averted.Keeping this in mind, let us look at our love for Allah and for His Prophet and ask: Might our weakness of love for them be the reason why there are so many Muslims in the world yet so few believers? Might this be why we see so few driven by faith and so many driven by self-love disguised as faith and piety? Allah Says what means: “Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you not be reminded??” [Quran 45:23]
and ask: Might our weakness of love for them be the reason why there are so many Muslims in the world yet so few believers? Might this be why we see so few driven by faith and so many driven by self-love disguised as faith and piety? Allah Says what means: “Have you seen he who has taken as his god his [own] desire, and Allah has sent him astray due to knowledge and has set a seal upon his hearing and his heart and put over his vision a veil? So who will guide him after Allah? Then will you not be reminded??” [Quran 45:23]Might this also be why we have so many hatreds, enmities, animosities, and jealousies around us—so many wrathful outbursts, fights and feuds, broken relationships and broken hearts, unpleasant faces and unblessed gatherings, that we are among—even as we claim to believe in Allah and to follow the Sunnah of His Prophet ?
?Allah Almighty Says what means: "And present in [human] souls is stinginess. But if you do good and fear Allah – then indeed Allah is ever, with what you do, Acquainted.” [Quran 4:128]
Might this be why our lives are rarely blissful, even as we are incessantly gifted by Allah? Might this be why the blessings we are given turn into mere things, objects that soon turn into clutter and burden, to make our lives even more miserable?
Allah Almighty Says what means: “And whoever turns away from My remembrance – indeed, he will have a depressed life, and We will gather him on the Day of Resurrection blind. He will say, 'My Lord, why have you raised me blind while I was [once] seeing?' [Allah] will say, 'Thus did Our signs come to you, and you forgot them; and thus will you this Day be forgotten. And thus do We recompense he who transgressed and did not believe in the signs of his Lord. And the punishment of the Hereafter is more severe and more enduring'.”. [Quran 20:124-127]
Might this be why our food, Allah's gifts that sustain us, which come to us through daily miracles of the One who gives life to the dead, sends water to quicken the earth, and raises the cattle, become for us obesity and sickness, a curse rather than a blessing and miracle?
Allah Says what means: “And a sign for them is the dead earth. We have brought it to life and brought forth from it grain, and from it they eat. And We placed therein gardens of palm trees and grapevines and caused to burst forth therefrom some springs – That they may eat of His fruit. And their hands have not produced it, so will they not be grateful? ." [Quran 36: 33-35]
"Do they not see that We have created for them from what Our Hands have made, grazing livestock, and [then] they are their owners? And We have tamed them for them, so some of them they ride, and some of them they eat. And for them therein are [other] benefits and drinks, so will they not be grateful? But they have taken besides Allah [false] deities that perhaps they would be helped." [Quran 36:71-74]
Might this be why so few of us are grateful? Might this be why so many of us are ungrateful to Allah and to those around us? For the Prophet said: "Whosoever thanks not people, thanks not Allah." [Abu Daawood], which the Quran verifies: “And few of My servants are grateful..” [Quran 34:13]
said: "Whosoever thanks not people, thanks not Allah." [Abu Daawood], which the Quran verifies: “And few of My servants are grateful..” [Quran 34:13]How can we learn to be grateful, despite our self-love and the short-sightedness that accompanies it? Allah Almighty says what means:"Indeed, mankind was created anxious: When evil touches him, impatient, and when good touches him, withholding [of it], except the observers of prayer… .” [Quran 70:19-22]
