Analysis of the Concept of Al-Hubb in the Thought of Zainal Arifin Abbas (1911-1977)

. This article seeks to explore Zainal Arifin Abbas' conceptualization of al-Hubb (Love). It poses two central questions: firstly, what is Zainal Arifin Abbas' interpretation of the concept of al-Hubb, and secondly, how does he construct the foundational framework for interpreting al-Hubb? This qualitative research relies on both primary and secondary data sources. The primary data comprises Zainal Arifin Abbas' writings in Tafsir Al-Qur'an al-Karim and Ilmu Tasawuf. Concurrently, secondary data, including articles, dissertations, and supporting information, is incorporated. The data is subjected to content analysis. The findings reveal that al-Hubb serves as a fundamental determinant of behavior, guiding individuals towards peace, security, and a devout faith in brotherhood. Zainal Arifin Abbas imparts a message of love in his works, emphasizing that love originates from knowledge, familiarity, and the reception of goodness.


INTRODUCTION
Humanity today is not looking its best.The world is full of hatred, hostility and unending wars.Freedom and human rights are nothing more than slogans to oppress the weak and dominate the weak.This savagery has been nurtured for hundreds of years.The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, for example, has entered a protracted phase of hatred and hostility that does not seem to want to end.As of this writing, more than 3,000 people, including 1,500 Hammas fighters, have been killed and thousands injured in Gaza and Israel since the conflict erupted in just a few days (Republika.co.id, 2023a).
The humanitarian problems displayed in various world news today indicate a chronic crisis.Republika in its report, reported, "The scale of the massacre carried out by Israel in the Gaza Strip this year is increasingly far beyond their previous atrocities.In the week since the bombardment began under the pretext of retaliating against the Hamas group, at least 724 Palestinian children have died in Gaza (Republika.co.id, 2023b).Al-Jazeera reported, "Al-Ahli Arab Hospital was a gruesome sight the morning after the massacre in its courtyard -blood stains on cement, grass and tattered beds, shards of glass glittering beside shattered paving blocks and the twisted, burnt remains of cars.Three thousand survivors of missile attacks in other parts of Gaza came to take refuge in al-Ahli, where they slept on the lawn of the park and on the upper floors of the hospital building.Those who were not among at least 500 people killed in Tuesday night's attack walked around in a daze, collecting items that could still be used or helping to pick up bodies and body parts.(Aljazeraa, 2023).
Based on the problems experienced by society today, this article wants to provide an alternative offer as a problem solving to the current problems, with the al-Hubb (Love) approach, to complement the idea of dialogue in the writings of (Zhafir, 2022), (Zaelani, 2023), and (Sahdin, 2020), or the idea of a diplomatic approach in his articles (Mudore, 2019) and (Hamonangan & Assegaff, 2020).Al-Hubb is the foundation of behavior, which can lead humans to peace, security, and holy faith and brotherhood.These good qualities will lead humans to perfection.Love, in the language of Ibn Qayyim al-Jauziyah, is the direct and indirect cause for the motion of the universe (Al-Jauziyah, 1438).For a believer, love is a feature of spiritual life in faith in his life, religion, social and belief.There is nothing that exhilarates the Muslim after the word of monotheism, such as the exhilaration of the word of love (Ash-Sharīf, 1992: 13).
In response to this, there are several studies that have also presented their views, both oral and written.Malik explains that the Islamic understanding of peace shows that justice is the overriding principle and should transcend any considerations of religion, enmity, race, or creed.(Malik et al., 2016) In another paper, Rashied Oemar offers the concept of positive peace which Johan Gantung proposes as a deepening of the traditional meaning of peace from simply the absence of war (negative peace), to recognizing that there are conditions under which societies, despite the absence of actual violence, contain the possibility of lethal conflict (Cole, 2023: 3).
This paper aims to highlight the message of love (al-Hubb) of a tafsir expert and Muslim scholar from Indonesia named Zainal Arifin Abbas.As a charismatic scholar who is quite active in producing works, the thoughts of Zainal Arifin Abbas are expensive pearls that need to be explored and explored more deeply.Without wanting to drag on the accusation of the decline of the ummah caused by some Sufi groups, he invites readers to relay the values of al-Hubb in accordance with religious teachings; both in the relationship between human life and its creatures and also their relationship with Allah SWT.In his interpretation, this paper finds that al-Hubb, which is part of the teachings of Sufism, is one of the discussions presented fairly by Zainal Arifin Abbas by returning it to the practice of the early generations and the formulations of scholars such as al-Qusyairī or Imam Ghazāli.
Studies that take Zainal Arifin Abbas's thoughts as material objects have been carried out by previous researchers.The research can be mapped into three broad concepts.The first is a study that explains the biography of Zainal Arifin Abbas (Dahlan, 2020).The article tries to trace the position of Zainal Arifin Abbas among scholars in the archipelago.Second, the study of Zainal Arifin Abbas' methodology and style of interpretation in the book Tafsir al-Qur'an al-Karim (Umar al-Hamidy, 2009).Umar explained that the interpretation used by Zainal Arifin Abbas, et al. combines tafsir bi al-ma'tsur and bi al-ra'yi with adab al-ijtima'i style.Third, studies that thematically explain the views of Zainal Arifin Abbas, et al. in their works (Arif, 2021;Harahap et al., n.d.;Nadzrah et al., 2021;Sayuti, 2020).Rizki in his article tries to reveal the relationship between religion and the state in the view of Zainal Arifin Abbas (Harahap et al., n.d.).From some of the above studies, there is still no specific research that explains the offer of the concept of al-Hubb according to Zainal Arifin Abbas.
This study aims to trace the concept of al-Hubb (love) according to Zainal Arifin Abbas in his tafsir and writings.To see this concept, this research asks two fundamental questions, first, what is the concept of al-Hubb according to Zainal Arifin Abbas?Second, how is the basic construction of the interpretation of al-Hubb according to Zainal Arifin Abbas?These two questions aim to see the relevance of the current problems.This research is a qualitative method in which this article uses two data, namely primary and secondary.The primary data used are Tafsir Al-Qur'an Al-Karim and Sufism.While the secondary data uses articles, theses, dissertations, and encyclopedias related to related research.To analyze the research data using content analysis.

Biography of Zainal Arifin Abbas
His name is Zainal Arifin Abbas.Born in Kampung Lalang, on March 12, 1911/1330 H coinciding with 23 Rabiul Awal which is now Lalang Village, Sunggal District, Deli Serdang Regency, North Sumatra Province.He was born to parents who came from Mandailing families.His father was named Muhammad Abbas Hasibuan and his mother Rajiah Binti Abdullah Lubis.
Zainal's early education began in 1919 when he was 7 years old.At that time, he entered formal education as a student at Methodist Boy School Binjai.However, he had to move to Anglo Chinese School Medan in 1920.And even that did not last long; due to the school's connection with the issue of his father's dismissal.After his dismissal, Zainal Arifin Abbas continued his education at Arabiyah School Binjai which was led by prominent scholars at the time; K.H Abdul Karim Tamim and Sheikh H. Abdul Halim Hasan.
At this school, Zainal Arifin Abbas studied from morning to evening.In the afternoon, he studied at the Islamic Madrasah of Bandar Senembah Binjau, led by Abdul Wahab Musa.After four years of education, he finally received an ibtidaiyah level diploma from Arabiyah School (M et al., 2018: 85).In addition to his formal education, Zainal Arifin Abbas also attended the scholars of his time to study with them.Among his teachers were Shaykh Abdul Halim Hasan to study the books Bidāyah al-Mujtāhid and al-Asybah wa al-Nazāir.Another teacher was Shaykh Hasan Maksum, who studied books such as Tafsīr Jalālain, Minhāj al-Thālibīn, Fath al-Mubīn, and other books.
Zainal Arifin Abbas has become a community and national figure who has contributed a lot to the nation and religion.This started from the preindependence period, post-independence until the end of his life.Here, we describe some of the careers that Zainal Arifin Abbas has achieved and carried out, both in the fields of Social, Politics, Education and even religion, such as being on the staff of the Military Governor of Aceh, being the general chairman of the Indonesian Muslimin Party (PARMUSI) of North Sumatra, being a member of the Advisory Board of the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) Center, and many others.

His Works
His activities as a scholar, teacher and also a community and political figure did not prevent this figure from struggling with his pen and mind.From the many writings he produced, both in the form of writings in several magazines and also books, it can be concluded that Zainal Arifin Abbas is one of the scholars who is very productive in terms of writing.Among his works are: This tafsir was written together with his teacher Sheikh Abdul Halim Hasan and also his friend Abdurrahman Haitami.At first, the publication of this book was in the form of a magazine published once month with as many as 20 manuscripts.This publication began in April 1937.And after being published, this tafsir is known as Tafsir Tiga Serangkai, referring to the three authors.

Ilmu Tasawuf
The first printing of this book was published by Firma Maju Medan in 1969.Previously, this book had been printed in Malaysia in several editions published by Pustaka Amani Press.This book is titled Ilmu Tasawuf, with the minor headings of its definition, the history of its development, the madhhab loved throughout the world, the various opinions surrounding this great science and a brief history of eleven great Sufi Imams.This book was written in the hope of providing the basics of real knowledge about the science of Sufism (Abbas, 1966: 3).

Perkembangan Fikiran Terhadap Agama
The book was completed on July 3, 1950.The book is a philosophical study -the references used are books by Muslim philosophers or Western philosophers of the 2500 BC era.The main idea in this book is related to the development of thinking about religion in the 2500 BC era until the time the book was written.
This book questions the factors that should be contained in the conception of religion, starting from the highest point, namely God, the creator of all nature, to the last point, namely the question of the afterlife, the place where the fate of everyone who has lived up to the mini style, and also about the important factors contained among the human capital of religion in this world, namely reason and spirit, as a tool that connects humans with the two points mentioned earlier (Abbas, 1951: 7).

Kitabus Shalat
The book consists of 673 pages and was first printed in 1962.The book consists of 6 chapters, namely: The meaning of prayer, the times of prayer, the makrooh times of prayer, the call to prayer according to Imam al-Rafi'i, and the conditions of prayer.In general, this book compiles the views of the imams of the school of thought regarding prayer from several master books of the Shafi'i school of thought.

The Concept of Love (Al-Hubb) Zainal Arifin Abbas
The following are some of the concepts of love (Al-Hubb) brought by Zainal Arifin Abbas, seen from his interpretation in Tafsir Al-Quran al-Karim and Tasawuf Science.This can be an overview of the message of love brought by Zainal Arifin Abbas.Among the concepts he came up with are as follows:

Love is born from an introduction and knowledge
How love is born because there is a process of recognition, finding out about it and studying it.After that process, there is a feeling of liking, love.Then it continues the effort to love.Like a young man who wants to marry a woman, who before deciding to marry the woman, comes to meet her parents and the woman, seeking knowledge about them.His knowledge of her good points, strengths and some of her weaknesses makes him fall in love with her and hope for a good marriage.The introduction planted the seeds of love between the two.
How knowledge is the basis of all good attitudes and traits.And how many bad things are based on ignorance or ignorance of something.Allah explicitly compares those who are knowledgeable with those who are ignorant.This comparison is not only in terms of their stage of knowledge, but also their judgment in the sight of Allah SWT.Allah SWT condemns the disbelievers who denounce the believers as stupid while in the sight of Allah SWT. they are the stupidest because they prioritize lust over truth.(Ismail & Zahrin, 2019) The concept of love described by Zainal Arifin Abbas begins with knowing and knowing each other, he said: "Banyak yang tidak mengetahui mengasihi sesuatu setelah lebih dahulu diketahuinya, kemudian baru cintanya, kemudian baru dicintainya, dan akhirnya baru diasyiinya.

Love requires sacrifice
For someone who claims to love something, it is not enough for him to say it with his tongue.The claim of love needs to be proven by actual actions.Often, it takes the form of great sacrifice; giving up wealth, family and even life.Love requires sacrifice to make itself recognized in existence.The decision to love is tied to the happiness, security, and serenity of the loved one.The commitment of love demands active attention and willingness to listen in order to avoid objectifying relationships (Timothy Adi Priono, 2022, p. 13).From this, Zainal Arifin Abbas mentioned that it is not hidden in general knowledge that everyone who loves will get up to defend his beloved when disturbed by others or get up to help him when he needs help (Hasan et al., 1957).
He gave an example as someone who loves his fiancée, if disturbed by someone, of course he will continue to defend his fiancée with all the strength and strength that is in him.
In the context of a servant's love for Allah, Ma'rifatullah which is human nature in its longing for the One Who created it perfectly has led a servant to total servitude.The servitude of a salik carried out with a soul that is spared from al-nafs al-ammarah will bring him to the highest spiritual degree of ma'rifatullah.This maqam mar'rifatullah will then lead the servant to mahabatullah with the maximum condition of love for Him (Ihsan & Permana, 2021).

Love is the inspiration for man
Love is not passive or mere imagination and feeling.It is a clear spring, a vortex of goodness that continues to water from its goodness.In this regard, Zainal Arifin Abbas revealed that love is not just calm and content, but it illuminates everything with the light of its conscience.With its good inspirations, it inspires the solemn believer to get closer to his Lord, and it creates new manners in the human mind, as well as giving birth to good movements of the heart, giving birth to deep contemplations about the malakut of Allah throughout the heavens and the earth, publishing important investigations into the secrets of everything that Allah has made in this secretive world and so on.These musings then turned into new knowledge, gave birth to various philosophical opinions, gave birth to various feelings of the heart which became more and more full, submitting before God Almighty (Abbas, 1966).
In his life, man needs an impetus to keep him moving, doing and struggling.With the love that God has given him, he does these things and creates extraordinary things.This can be seen in a father who loves his children.With that love, he is compelled to give them the best; his livelihood, his education and his time.
With that love he is moved to build a family that is sakinah, mawadah and rahmah.Loving both parents, loving family and relatives, loving friends, loving food, loving everything that is beautiful, and loving whatever is loved, if all of that is done because, for, and for the love of Allah, will make that love eternal and everlasting (Ihsan & Permana, 2021).

The beginning and end of love for Allah is worship of Him.
In relation to God and man's efforts to earn His love, a Servant must not fail to submit and surrender in obedience to Him.Because worshiping God is our beginning to God and worshiping God is also the end of love for God.Worship is an outward act accompanied by an inward one, the value of which can be raised continuously (Abbas, 1966).
This love keeps man from losing the ultimate goal of his creation.He is always introspective to make all his movements only for Allah who created, cared for and loved him since he was in his mother's womb.Being aware of the purpose of life is part of a servant's love for his Lord (Q.S. Adz-Zarriyat:56).That love does not make them sad if they lose what is entrusted to them.Because they believe that everything belongs to Him and will return to Him (Q.S. Al-Baqarah: 156).
Love of Allah is the highest level of servitude.Once a servant reaches his love for Allah, there is no other level of servitude above it, except that it is the fruit of love for Allah, such as longing, tranquility and pleasure."(Alfiyah & Nufus, 2023).

Love Is not just a word
As proof of the pledge of love for Allah, there needs to be concrete evidence for it.And anyone who has gained love for Him will not stop his attitude and behavior showing love for Him.Because in essence, according to Zainal Arifin Abbas, affection and love for Allah is not just in his mouth, with his tasbih, tahmid, takbir and tahlil.But it continues to spread into every drop of blood that flows in him, running through all the feelings of his senses, flowing into his subtle feelings, accompanied by his meek nature, but knows self-esteem, as a human being who remains in contact with Allah who is the Almighty, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful, but also the Most Courageous and the Most Prosecutor of Defense and the Most Tormentor where necessary (Abbas, 1966).In fact, the worship of God is not just a confession from the mouth.However, it must be followed by the Prophet's behavior, carrying out his directives, and practicing his manhaj throughout daily life (Ulfatunaimah, 2022).

The kindness we receive is the source of our love for Him
In a human being, many of Allah's kindnesses and favors flow: both in what he sees, hears and feels.All these things come from none other than the Almighty.All of His creations are our strongest motivation to love Him.So, what we love about these things, Allah is our first love.For it is from the wellspring of His power that we enjoy beauty, beauty that bitterness and pain.
Love itself has a positive definition, where it is said that love itself is difficult to explain because it relates to human emotions rather than logic.As explained earlier feelings of love can affect human thinking towards loved ones because when a person loves, the hypothalamus area of his brain produces euphoric compounds that reduce negative assessments of the person or object he loves (Wariati, 2020).Quoting the opinion of the philosopher Ibn Arabi, Zainal Arifin Abbas said that if we love something ihsan (goodness or virtue), then we should love the source of ihsan, namely Allah, because all ihsan comes from Allah SWT.If we love something beautiful, it means that we love Allah Swt. because God is the Most Beautiful, and all beauty comes from Allah Swt.(Abbas, 1966).

Increase in love for Allah with increase in faith in Him.
The grains of faith in Allah are the particles that will make the mountain of love for Allah higher.In matters that are beyond our ability and effort, surrender to Him is born from the belief that all that comes from Him is good; the joys and sorrows, the bitter and sweet.Relying solely on one's own efforts will only breed arrogance and haughtiness.For the believers, their love for Allah is nurtured by faith in what is His decree.In this case, Zainal Arifin Abbas states that every time a person's faith increases, his love for Allah also increases.When his love for Allah increases, his relationship with Allah becomes closer and more numerous, and his relationship with others than Allah becomes less and less.At that time, the more he realizes the secret of this life, the more he understands what the purpose of this life is, what its purpose is and what his task is in this world.He is no longer confused.He does not ask questions anymore.If he asks, it is to God that he directs his questions, and later through his pure heart, which knows God.Thus he has found the guidance of life, has known the essence of life, and his life has had a purpose that exists for him for God the Living, the Eternal, who even if we do not obey He will still defend and love us in a short time in this world (Abbas, 1966).
The application of monotheism in order to achieve the pleasure of Allah swat by believing in Allah, which means recognizing, believing or believing that Allah exists, and is characterized by all good characteristics and is holy from all bad characteristics.It is not enough just to believe in the existence of Allah, but at the same time it must also be followed by worshiping or serving Allah in everyday life, whose realization is in the form of practicing all the commands of Allah and avoiding all the prohibitions of Allah (Azhar, 2022).The birth of feelings and attitudes like this is the fruit of a servant's love for His Lord.

Loving His Servant is one of the signs of faith and love for Him
The Messenger of Allah (saw)  When interpreting (Q.S. Al-Baqarah:177), Zainal Arifin Abbas relates this to the subject of faith, namely believing in Angels and Prophets and the lightness of a servant to give what is loved in the form of property to the 6 groups mentioned in the verse: relatives, orphans, the poor, ibnu sabil, beggars and slaves.This is a consequence of his faith in Allah.It can be understood that faith in Allah is closely related to the good deeds done by a servant to his fellow man (Hasan et al., 1957).
The Messenger of Allah reported in a Qudsi Hadith that Allah's love is poured out on His servants who love each other for His sake, love each other for His sake.
"Allah Ta'ala has said: 'Indeed have earned My love those who love each other for My sake, and indeed have earned My love those who close ranks for My sake, and indeed have earned My love those who visit each other for My sake, and indeed have earned My love those who sacrifice (to help others) for My sake, and indeed have earned My love those who help each other for My sake.'"(H.R. Ahmad).
The human tendency to love and be loved is an entity created from the very being of al-Haqq.This means that every human being who loves everything that is his creation is actually loving his own God.The beauty and universality of love is the beauty of God.Nature is a representation of this essential form of love (God) (Budiantoro, 2021).