Love for God is the expansion of the heart, and all actions that come from the lover of God are virtues; they cannot be otherwise.
Hazrat Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Related Material by Pir-o-Murshid Inayat Khan
Compiled by Wahiduddin Richard Shelquist – wahiduddin.net
The Sufis establish their relationship with God as the relationship between themselves and the Beloved. Their worship of God is the expansion of the heart. Their love for all beings and for every being is their love for God. They cannot find anyone to love except God, because they see God in all. If their love is shown in devotion to parents, to spouse, to children; if it is shown to neighbors, to a friend or in tolerating enemies, the Sufis consider this as an action of their love towards God. In this way they fulfill in their life the teaching of the Bible, ‘We live and move and have our being in God.’
( from the Sufi Message Series, Volume IX – The Unity of Religious Ideals, Part VI: The Universal Worship )
Jesus Christ not only told us to love our friends, but also, he went as far as to say we should love our enemies; and the Sufis tread the same path. They consider their charity of heart towards their fellow humans to be love for God; and in showing love to everyone, they feel they are giving their love to God.
Love for God is the expansion of the heart, and all actions that come from the lover of God are virtues; they cannot be otherwise. There is a different outlook on life when the love of God has filled a person’s heart. The lovers of God will not hate anyone; for they know that by doing so they will hate the Creator by hating The Creation. They cannot be insincere, they cannot be unfaithful; for they will think that to be faithful and sincere to everyone is to be faithful and sincere to God. You can always trust the lovers of God, however impractical or however lacking in cleverness they may appear to be, for simply to hold strongly in mind the thought of God purifies the soul of all bitterness, and gives humanity a virtue that could be obtained nowhere else and by no other means.
Commentary by Murshid S.A.M. (Sufi Ahmed Murad)
Samuel L. Lewis
That love for God is the expansion of the heart is a truth; in fact, it is the truth, for the heart delighted with itself, the heart which does not sympathize with others, is no heart, it is a stone. When the heart expands, it moves in sympathy with all the spheres, so that its activities are in harmony with the Universe. This is what the Buddha called “Right Action,” which springs from Compassion. Out of this all virtues arise, for all are of the nature of Compassion but are considered as so many different virtues by the cognizing mind. [ In Sufi terms this is ar-Rahman and ar-Rahim, the solar and lunar, expressive and receptive manifestations of Compassion and Mercy, out of which all of the other Names and Qualities arise. — Muiz ]