Hi Reuben,
I will try to offer my humble understanding.
The passages are essentially saying that all our love is bestowed on us by the grace of God, and this love will manifest itself in a manner that we will love our enemies as God has loved us.
Hope that provides a simplified summary
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Thanks. There is no right or wrong on understanding scriptural verses unless it is truly glaring.
So it is your understanding and therefore your opinion only, or rather, your interpretation.
I am interested on Islamic teaching on love because it is the point of contention of this thread. As for our personal interpretation of scriptural verses, it do not make a teaching of the religion, as there can be hundreds of different personal understanding of it.
The Quran, like other holy books, do not interpret itself, but its word can be used as teaching by those who are in authority to interpret it. Muslims have to depend on who their authorities are. They can be their imams or other religious scholars or even themselves. That is why there are different interpretation.
ISIS have their own teaching from the same Quran while other sects have their own respectively.
Let’s see the verses you quoted:
*60:7 It may be that Allah will grant love (and friendship) [mawadda]
between you and those whom ye (now) hold as enemies. For Allah has power (over all things); and Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful
3:103 And hold fast, all together, by the Rope which Allah (stretches out for you), and be not divided among yourselves; and remember with gratitude Allah’s favor on you; for ye were enemies and He joined your hearts in love, so that by His Grace, ye became brethren; and ye were on the brink of the Pit of Fire, and He saved you from it. Thus doth Allah make His Signs clear to you: That ye may be guided.
5:57 O ye who believe! If any from among you turn back from his Faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love [hubb] as they will love [hubb] Him, – Lowly with the Believers, Mighty against the Rejecters, Fighting in the Way of Allah, and never afraid of the reproaches of such as find fault. That is the Grace of Allah, which He will bestow on whom He pleaseth. And Allah encompasseth all, and He knoweth all things.*
From how I see it, 60:7 says that Allah may grant love and friendship (I am depending on your given translation) between a person and his enemy so that there will be forgiveness.
To me it is significant that Allah can make two enemies to love each other but ONLY on Allah’s decision to do so. This could mean that if Allah does not grant it, the two will be still enemies and do what enemies do to each other.
So why does Allah not grant enemies to love each other since He can grant it?
3:103 speaks about the example of those that Allah has granted his love and now they become brothers and so to keep it that way.
5:57 speaks about the people who Allah will love.
Frankly speaking, I mean speaking as a Christian, I find those verses troubling. Allah can do but He may not do it and He will only love certain people, not all people.
Explain to me like you are explaining to a person who do not know what the verses mean.
