Imam Sadiq (a.s.) says:

هل الدین الا الحب! ان الله عز و جل یقول: قل ان کنتم تحبون الله فاتبعونی یحببکم الله

Is religion anything save affection and mercy?! (Then he reasons: because) The Almighty God says: If you love God, obey my instructions (Prophet (s.a.)) to be loved by God.(13)

That is to say, the motive for obeying divine instructions is love and affection to God.

We read in another narration from Imam Baqir (a.s.):

الدین هو الحب و الحب هو الدین

Religion is affection, and affection is religion.(14)

Sometimes intellectual reasoning is man’s motive for doing something, and once love and affection makes him to do something. Are these two motives similar?

God sets love between the spouses for continuation of human generation. If logic and intellectual reasoning served to be man’s motive for survival of its generation, and for instance if he thinks:

“One  shall marry for survival of its generation to have offspring and bear all the related troubles and difficulties”; or “Since I need a help for when I become old and weak, and need someone to help and support me, then, I shall marry to have children”.

If one’s motive for marriage is any of above intellectual reasoning, one per hundred undertook to marry and bear the numerous hardships, problems and failures of matrimony and breeding?

However, the sexual attraction and love leads humans towards marriage despite of all its problems so that they accept and bear all hardships voluntarily, and rather, spend their entire life for their children to bring up them and help them to learn walking and talking. Right! The motive of love and affection causes such strange and amazing power.

It is applicable to the religious programs too, and for this reason the above narrations have stressed on love and affection. If you are a lover, you will be led to divine obedience and will undertake its hardships. If you are a lover of Imam of Time (a.s.), it will be easy for you to obey his orders and fight with vices and evils. Right! Love and affection facilities tasks. Is the religion and doctrine which the motive of its followers is affection and love and introduces religion equal to love and affection, the religion of violence?!