He who loves the Holy One;
Must purify himself in order to find Him.
Every people claims that there are many among them who love God Almighty, but what needs to be known is whether God loves them or not. The proof of God’s love is that first He removes the veil that prevents a person from believing with certainty in the existence of God. Because of this veil man admits the existence of God with dark and blurred understanding and very often at the time of trial denies His existence altogether. The removal of this veil cannot be achieved except through converse with God. A person drinks of the fountain of true understanding on the day when God addresses him and conveys to him the good news: I am present. At that stage man’s understanding does not remain confined to conjecture or argumentation. He comes so near to God as if he sees Him. It is entirely true that perfect faith in God is achieved only when He informs a person of His Own existence.
The second sign of God’s love is that He not only informs those dear to Him of His existence, but manifests especially to them the signs of His mercy and grace, by accepting their prayers concerning matters which are apparently beyond hope and informing them of it through His revelation and His speech. This reassures them that their God is Powerful Who hears their prayers and informs them of it and delivers them from difficulties. They then understand the mystery of salvation and are convinced of the existence of God. By way of awakening and warning, other people also might occasionally have the experience of true dreams, but the experience of the converse of God is something entirely different. It is vouchsafed only to those who are His favourites. When such a one supplicates God Almighty He manifests Himself to him with His glory and causes His spirit to descend upon him and intimates to him the acceptance of his prayer in His loving words. He who has this experience very frequently is called Prophet or Muhaddath.
Note: This excerpt is taken from the book “The Essence of Islam Vol 1 pages 145–146”
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