Him. 'Say: If ye love God, then follow me; God will love you, and forgive your sins, for God is Forgiving, Merciful. Say: Obey God and the Apostle; but if ye turn away, then verily, God loveth not the unbelievers.' ¹ ' And fight for the cause of God against those who fight against you: but commit not injustice by attacking them first: ² God loveth not such injustice.' ³ 'Give freely for the cause of God, and throw not yourselves with your own hands into ruin and do good, for God loveth those who do good.' ⁴ The expression 'the love of God' is thus seen to mean the approbation of God. That which God approves He 'loves'. The use of the verb to love in Arabic, both in and out of the Qur'an fully bears out this view that what is really meant by hubb (love) and ahabba yuhibbu (to love) is something different from what is meant in the New Testament by those words which are commonly translated in Arabic by Mahabbah (love) and ahabba yuhibbu (to love).

In the Qur'an, for instance, we see the verb used to express simply desire, choice, or preference. 'Thou truly canst not guide whom thou desirest (man ahbabta); but God guideth whom He will.' ⁵ It is used similarly in speaking of Abraham in the following: but when it set, he "said,' I love not gods which set:"' ⁶ and

disobeyed, after that the prophet had brought you within view of that for which ye longed.' ¹ 'Desire ye not (ala tuhibbuna) that God should forgive you?' ² 'O believers! make not friends of your fathers or your brethren if they love unbelief above faith.' ³ 'And as to Themoud, We had vouchsafed them guidance; but to guidance did they prefer (fastahabbu) blindness.' ⁴

This use of the word and its derivatives is seen most clearly in the following passage. 'But God hath endeared (habbaba) the faith to you, and hath given it favour in your hearts, and hath made unbelief, and wickedness, and disobedience hateful to you.' ⁵ God hath made the faith such that it is to be preferred, and hath then inclined their hearts to it, so that it is easily and naturally chosen.

With regard to the use of the verb (to love) in describing man's feelings and desires and affections, there is doubtless a trace at least of the thought that man's love for a thing expresses the fact that his affections are set on it; but there is ever present also the thought that his affections are set on it because of the supposed advantages to be derived from the object loved. Of disinterested and unselfish love there is no trace at all in the use of the word in the Qur'an. How the verb is used may be seen from the following passages. 'This, because they have loved the present life beyond the next, and because God guideth not the unbelievers ⁶