A high level of Love

In the Name of God the Most Compassionate the Most Merciful,

I stumbled upon a facebook picture of Mohammed Ali that says:

“I don’t smoke but I keep a match box in my pocket. When my heart slips towards a sin, I burn a match stick and heat my palm. Then I say to myself: ‘Ali You can’t bear even this heat, how would u bear the unbearable heat of Hell?’"

Had I come across this picture say 3 years ago, I would have been amazed by this quote and thought "What a great reminder!" However, when I came across it I thought that it wasn't a very high level of faith to only obey God in fear of hell or in love for paradise. It's something I've been pondering on for a while now...I believe that we're supposed to aim for higher levels; we're capable of reaching much higher levels than we think, but we're satisfied with simply refraining from haram and hope for paradise. Imagine abstaining from haram (unlawful) things and doing halal (lawful) completely, if one does this with neither fear of hell nor hope of paradise but out of love for God because He is worthy of it, one will start seeing God in everything. Every breath you take will be praising God (:


Peace,
S.