(182) It is related by Sahl bin Sa'ad that [once] a man came to the Prophet and said, “O Apostle of God! Tell me something on doing which I may be loved by God as well as His bondmen.” The Prophet replied, “Cultivate detachment to the world and God will begin to love you, and cultivate aloofness towards what people possess and men will begin to love you.”
-Tirmidhi and Ibn-i-Maja
Commentary.-Fundamentally, it is the attachment to worldly possessions which persuades a man to do things that make him unworthy of the love of God. The way to win the love of God, therefore, lies in self-denial. When the fondness for the material world will end, the heart will open up to Divine love and the bondsman will find it easy to submit to the will of God and to carry out His commands, and, thus, he will become the favourite of the Lord.
Likewise, when people will be convinced that he is not envious of their wealth nor has he any desire for worldly goods or position, they will come to like him.
A Zahid (Ascetic) is not a man who practises self-denial for the reason that he is not in a position to indulge in material enjoyment, but one who has a full opportunity to gratify his inclinations and desires and yet refuses to do so and cares nothing for worldly gain or comfort. It is reported about Abdullah bin Mubarak that when someone called him a Zahid, he retorted, “Zahid was Omar bin Abdul Aziz who, in spite of being the Caliph of the day, shunned personal gain and worldly pleasure.”