Badges mark quoted or attributed material (Qur'an, hadith, another author, an opposing view). Unbadged passages are Maulana Wahiduddin Khan's own words.
Sacred Narration p. 64
When a servant of God loves and remembers God, then God loves him from this world to the next and that servant becomes the recipient of divine mercy. p. 64
The wordings of one Hadith Qudsi (sacred narration), attributed to God are: “God said that when one of my servants finds meeting Me the most cherished thing, (then) for Me also meeting him becomes the most cherished thing.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 7504) p. 64hadith
There is nothing mysterious about this. It is an expression of a known reality. It is an event of discovery by man and the response to, and appreciation of this discovery by God. p. 64
The truth is that when a servant of God thinks deeply, the result is that he discovers God and when he remembers God and His boundless blessings, it is but natural that he should start having feelings of boundless love for God. God loves such a servant from this world to the next world, and that servant becomes the recipient of spiritual divine mercy. p. 64
When a servant of God has love in his heart for Him, when he discovers God as the real Benefactor, acknowledges the Benefactor as well as His blessings; then he becomes a servant who is desired by God. He is a servant who will be fortunate enough to be able to meet God. This is the servant who will be eternally lodged in the neighbourhood of God. This eternal neighbourhood of God is another name for Paradise. p. 65
The source of loving God is the discovery of God’s blessings. It is owing to this discovery that the door to the great blessings of the Hereafter is opened to him. It is through this discovery that sublime feelings of gratitude and feelings of acknowledgement of God are produced in a person. It is this sublime feeling of acknowledgement which is another name for the love of God. The love of God by man is the result of discovery, and the love of man by God is the result of His appreciation of this discovery. p. 65
The Concept of Incarnation p. 40
The concept of unity (wahdat) does not exist between God and man, but in Islam the concept of the nearness between God and man is valid in the perfect sense: “Prostrate yourself and come near” (96:19). p. 77original + quote
Some religions subscribe to the concept of incarnation, which is also known as hulool. Hulool means embodiment in flesh or vahdate-wajood (monism). Hulool or tajseem (incarnation) has been expressed thus: “God’s embodiment in human form.”
The concept of incarnation is originally a philosophic construct. The ancient philosophers held that there was a God of this universe, but that God was a kind of spirit, without corporeal form. When this God wanted to manifest Himself, he took human form. It is this which is called “avtarvaad” in the Hindu religion. According to this concept, God is essentially an impersonal God, but in different periods of history he has taken some human form. This is called taking an avatar in the Hindu religion.
This concept of hulool or incarnation, is totally baseless. Some Sufis have introduced this concept in the form of monism into Islam, but it is certainly without foundation, and has no room in Islam.
The Quran says, “Prostrate yourself and come near” (96:19). This shows that the incidence of nearness between God and man does take place but God and man do not become one entity. Rather what happens is that when the servant becomes a true sajid (one who prostrates himself before God), at a psychological level, he experiences nearness to God. He comes in contact with God. He whispers to God. In the words of the Hadith, he begins to worship God as if he were seeing God. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 50) The concept of unity (vahdat) does not exist between God and man, but in Islam the concept of the nearness between God and man is valid in the perfect sense.original + quote