Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
Love of Allah, reverence for Him, and glorifying Him are among the greatest motives for worship. Indeed, love of Allah should be a great foundation in the believer’s heart, driving him to obey Allah and avoid disobedience. However, this does not conflict with hoping for Paradise and fearing Hell. Complete worship combines love, fear, and hope.
Allah, Exalted is He, deserves love and worship because of His perfection, majesty, names, and attributes. He is the Creator, Lord, and Bestower of blessings, and no one besides Him deserves worship.
Allah says:
“We never sent any messenger before you except that We revealed to him: There is no deity except Me, so worship Me.”
[Al-Anbiya: 25]
And He says:
“Indeed, I am Allah. There is no deity except Me, so worship Me and establish prayer for My remembrance.”
[Taha: 14]
Worship includes perfect love together with perfect submission and reverence for Allah.
Therefore, it is a beautiful and correct attitude for a Muslim to say: “I avoid sin because I love Allah, I feel shy before Him, and I revere His command.” This reflects a living heart.
The more a person knows Allah, the more he loves Him. He learns about Allah’s mercy, generosity, forbearance, forgiveness, wisdom, and reflects upon His visible and hidden blessings.
Hearts are naturally inclined to love those who treat them well, and every blessing a person possesses is from Allah.
Allah says:
“Whatever blessing you have is from Allah.”
[An-Nahl: 53]
However, the believer’s love for Allah is not based only on the blessings he receives. He also loves Allah because of His perfection, majesty, and beauty, and worships Him because He alone deserves worship.
It is not correct to regard fear of Hell as something deficient that a believer should try to eliminate.
Allah Himself informed us about Hell and warned us against it. The prophets themselves combined fear, hope, and love.
Allah says about them:
“Indeed, they used to hasten to good deeds and call upon Us with hope and fear, and they were humbly submissive to Us.”
[Al-Anbiya: 90]
Feeling shy before Allah is a great reason to avoid sin, and fear of His punishment is also a legitimate religious motive. There is no need to set one against the other.
When faced with sin, a believer may feel all of these at once: “I feel shy before Allah, I love Allah and do not want to disobey Him, and I fear His anger and punishment.” All of these are sound motives for obedience.
Seeking Paradise does not conflict with loving Allah. Paradise is not merely food, drink, and physical pleasures. It is the abode of Allah’s honor and pleasure, and among the greatest delights of its people are Allah’s pleasure, closeness to Him, and seeing His noble Face.
Allah says:
“Allah has promised the believing men and believing women gardens beneath which rivers flow, abiding therein, and pleasant dwellings in gardens of everlasting residence. But the pleasure of Allah is greater. That is the great success.”
[At-Tawbah: 72]
The words:
“But the pleasure of Allah is greater”
show that the believer’s greatest goal is not merely physical enjoyment, but the pleasure of Allah.
Thus, whoever truly loves Allah longs for His Paradise because it is the abode of His pleasure, honor, and closeness to Him.
The Quran frequently mentions believers asking Allah for Paradise and seeking refuge from Hell, and it never presents this as a deficiency in their sincerity or love for Allah.
Allah says:
“And among them are those who say: Our Lord, give us good in this world and good in the Hereafter, and protect us from the punishment of the Fire.”
[Al-Baqarah: 201]
If seeking Paradise or fearing Hell were contrary to perfect worship, Allah would not have praised His servants for doing so or guided them to it.
The most complete state for a believer is not to restrict worship to one motive, but to combine in the heart:
Love: worshipping Allah because one loves and glorifies Him.
Hope: hoping for His mercy, forgiveness, pleasure, and Paradise.
Fear: fearing His anger, displeasure, and punishment.
These meanings complement one another. Love draws the believer toward Allah, hope prevents despair and encourages good deeds, and fear prevents carelessness toward sins and disobedience.
If what is meant is that Allah deserves worship even if there were no reward or punishment, and that a person loves and worships Him because of His majesty and perfection, then this meaning is correct in principle.
However, if what is meant is that seeking Paradise or fearing Hell is blameworthy or contradicts love and sincerity, then this is incorrect. Allah Himself commanded His servants to hope in Him and fear Him, and He praised the prophets and righteous people for doing so.
The mistake is not in loving and glorifying Allah. Rather, the mistake is in using that love as a reason to eliminate the fear and hope that Allah Himself has prescribed.
A great motive for worshipping Allah is love, reverence, and glorification of Him. It is beautiful for a person to be prevented from sin by his shyness before Allah and his love for Him. However, the most complete state is to combine this with fear of Allah and hope in His mercy and Paradise.
There is no contradiction between loving Allah and seeking Paradise, for Paradise is the abode of Allah’s pleasure and honor, and its greatest delights include His pleasure and closeness to Him. Likewise, fear of Hell is not a deficiency in faith; rather, it is among the qualities of the prophets and believers.
Complete worship is built upon love, fear, and hope, without one cancelling out the others.
And Allah knows best.