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Page:Al-Ghazzali - Some Religious and Moral Teachings of Al-Ghazzali (1921).djvu/128

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THE NATURE OF LOVE
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Let us now apply these causes and find out who may be the true object of love. First, man who is directly conscious of his own self in whom the love for continuity of the self is innate, if he deeply thinks on the nature of his existence will find that he does not exist of his own self, nor are the means of the continuity of his self in his power. There is a being, self-existent, and living who created and sustains him. The Quran says: "There surely came over man a period of time when he was not a thing that could be spoken of. Surely we have created man from a small life germ uniting. We mean to try him, so we have made him hearing, seeing. Surely we have shown him the way, he may be thankful or unthankful."[1] This contemplation will bear the fruit or love for God. For, how could it be otherwise when man loves his own self which is dependent on Him, unless he be given up to the gratification


  1. Quran LXXVI 1–3.