Q. What is the meaning of ‘making Allah happy’ or ‘Allah smiles at His creation’ or ‘making Allah angry’? Does He Most High display emotions and if so, does He Most High “cry” as well?
“The True is the refuge of the True, not the True itself”-Mansur al-Hallaj
A. Everything relating to this subject is in reality about Allah’s Manifest form, which is as Muhammad (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). On the Day of Judgment, when everyone will “behold” their Lord on the Throne, it is not about Allah’s Essence which cannot be compared to His creation nor is encompassed by it, but rather it is about His Manifestation (adh-Dhahir) as Muhammad (Maqam al-Mahmud). When the Companions were sitting in the presence of the Holy Prophet (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), at times, when he was speaking, it was hadith, on other occasions it was not him speaking, rather it was Allah’s own words being spoken through his medium-ship. For example, the Holy Qur’an says, “Wa ma yantiqu anil hawa…Wa maa ra maita, iz ramayta…innamau bayi uunallah” (“Nor does he speak of his own desire, it is only a revelation that is revealed”, “It is not you who slew them, it was Allah”, “And you (Prophet) threw not when you threw a handful of dust, it was Allah who threw”, “Lo! those who swear allegiance unto thee (Prophet), swear allegiance unto Allah, the Hand of Allah is above theirs”). In each of these instances, Allah’s Will was appearing as Muhammad’s (sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) actions. When the verse of allegiance was revealed regarding the Companions under the Tree, and they placed their hands in allegiance to the Messenger of Allah, and Allah’s ‘Hand’ was ‘above’ their hands, it appeared as the hand of Rasulullah to the Companions, they did not literally “see” Allah’s’ Hand’, even though the Holy Qur’an confirms the ‘Hand’ of Allah was ‘above’ theirs. Everything in creation is of and from Muhammad because it is creation, created from something i.e. the Nur i-Muhammad, which came from Allah. The dot of the Ba in Bismillahir Rahmanir Raheem (in Surah al-Fatiha) represents the realm of creation where the Divine is veiled but manifest through creation, namely where the Divine becomes “wal Batinu” (the Hidden) and appears (adh-Dhahiru) as Muhammad.