I love you in Arabic can be translated in many ways, the most common being the one in classical Arabic: "uhibbuk". This impulse of the heart expressed between two people is translated in several ways depending on the country of origin, just as one can learn to say it in so many languages throughout the rest of the world. Fus-ha, literary Arabic, is the original language of the revelation of the Holy Quran, which is why we will dwell on the different types of love mentioned in it and will seek to find out whether I love you in Arabic exists in the Quran.
Meaning of I love you in Arabic
Uhibbuk, the term translating the English "I love you" or the Spanish "te quiero", comes from the common noun love, which in Arabic is said "hub". This feeling "hub", in other words the love that human beings feel for one another, is only one of the 14 degrees of love, each expressed, in classical Arabic, in a totally different way, so rich and living a language is Arabic.
While in the French language one is obliged to add an adjective or a common noun to intensify or weaken the expression of the love felt, Arabic offers a multitude of specific words with varied degrees.
Thus, to cite only these in increasing order, Al Shaghaf expresses the passion that one declares or wishes to declare, while Al Shawq is the amorous desire for the beloved, the attachment to one's lover. And finally, Al Wud is pure and delicate love, blending love and friendship, so much has the amorous relationship reached a high stage, a maturity.
I love you in Arabic cannot be a banal, outdated word, for it is a phrase with such strong values that it is today difficult for Arabs to use, except in dialectal speech. Our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, nevertheless did not hesitate to testify in public to his love for his Companions, may Allah be pleased with them... but also for his wife Aisha, our Mother, may Allah be pleased with her. He is, indeed, the one who pronounced nothing under the influence of passion and was not afraid of tarnishing his manliness by revealing his feelings. The values of love were not only proclaimed by the poets of the pre-Islamic period. On the contrary, the Word of Allah and the exemplary conduct of the Prophet of Islam, peace and blessings be upon him, are until the End of Times the model to follow in order to understand the importance of love in marriage, but also within families and at the very heart of the whole community.
Uhibbuk is the most correct way, though not the most used, of saying I love you to someone in Arabic, to which the answer will be: wa ana uhibbuk aydan: I love you too.
This is why different variants exist depending on the country of origin.
Translation of I love you in Arabic
"Uhibbuk" is the verbal form conjugated in the simple present, and in the first person singular, including the suffix "k", which is the direct object pronoun.
In reality, the more appropriate way of saying I love you in Arabic must take into consideration the sex of the person one is addressing:
To a man, I love you in Arabic is said " uhibbuka "
To a woman, I love you in Arabic is said " uhibbuki "
This expression for testifying one's love to a person or one's spouse is a very conventional way of speaking, for it comes from classical Arabic. Each country of the Arab world has seen literary Arabic undergo a transformation over time to become a dialect specific to each territory of the Arab-Muslim world.
I love you in Algerian Arabic will give completely different declarations from those used, for example, in Moroccan Arabic.
In Algeria, I love you will be said: "nhebbek", "ken chtik"
I love you in Arabic will be said in Morocco rather like this: "ken bghik"
I love you in Egyptian Arabic : bahebbek
All these usages are pronounced without taking into consideration the feminine or the masculine, unlike literary Arabic.
Other illustrations of one's attachment make for a real declaration of love, such as the use of this phrase, among all the known expressions:
"Ken mout alik" literally meaning "I die for you!"
Are the words I love you found in the Quran ?
The verb to love is very present in the Book of Allah and illuminates the heart of the believer when he reads and meditates upon it.
Hub: this feeling is the most commonly used in the Book of Allah, not in the sense of a sensual love between partners but in the relationship between Allah and His Creatures, and in the expression of what the Most High prefers.
V165 S 2 Al Baqara
Surah Al Maidah V54
Wadda (to love, to wish intensely) is the verbal form of this intense degree of love Al Wud, which is found in the Quran each time all the evil that the disbelievers would like to do or to see in the believers is mentioned.
"If they overcome you, they will be enemies to you and will stretch out their hands and their tongues against you with evil; and they would love for you to become disbelievers.
إِن يَثْقَفُوكُمْ يَكُونُوا۟ لَكُمْ أَعْدَآءًۭ وَيَبْسُطُوٓا۟ إِلَيْكُمْ أَيْدِيَهُمْ وَأَلْسِنَتَهُم بِٱلسُّوٓءِ وَوَدُّوا۟ لَوْ تَكْفُرُونَ " (verse 2 in Surah 60 THE WOMAN TO BE EXAMINED / AL-MUMTAHANAH)
But also a wish, an intense hope: as here in Verse 96 of Surah 2
Shaghaf (to be passionate) It is in Surah Yusuf that one finds the expression of the passionate love that one being feels for another.
S 12 V30
"And in the city, women said: "the wife of Al-'Aziz is trying to seduce her servant! He has truly made her madly in love. We certainly find her in evident error.
۞ وَقَالَ نِسْوَةٌۭ فِى ٱلْمَدِينَةِ ٱمْرَأَتُ ٱلْعَزِيزِ تُرَٰوِدُ فَتَىٰهَا عَن نَّفْسِهِۦ ۖ قَدْ شَغَفَهَا حُبًّا ۖ إِنَّا لَنَرَىٰهَا فِى ضَلَٰلٍۢ مُّبِينٍۢ " (verse 30 in Surah 12 JOSEPH / YUSUF)
We can also list the verses specifying all the actions or the types of people whom our Lord does not love, but also a list of all that He loves, to Him the Glory and the Majesty, and therefore of all the qualities that the believers must seek to develop.
Allah loves:
- The doers of good
- Those who put their trust in Him
- Who purify themselves
- Those who judge equitably
- The pious
- The just
Allah does not love :
- The transgressors
- The sowers of disorder
- The arrogant one
- Those who are wasteful
- The unfaithful
- The unjust
- The traitor and the sinner
- The traitors
- The proud
- The arrogant
- The corrupters
- The presumptuous one full of vainglory
Although we do not find the phrase " I love you in Arabic " in the Quran, we also find the expression " I do not love " when, in verse 106 of Surah Al An'am, the prophet Ibrahim is quoted saying that he does not love the things that disappear.
76 When the night enveloped him, he observed a star, and said: "There is my Lord!" Then, when it disappeared, he said: "I do not love the things that disappear."
Or again, we find that God addresses our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, in these terms:
"You [Muhammad] do not guide the one whom you love: but it is Allah who guides whom He wills. He knows best, however, the well-guided.
إِنَّكَ لَا تَهْدِى مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ وَلَٰكِنَّ ٱللَّهَ يَهْدِى مَن يَشَآءُ ۚ وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ بِٱلْمُهْتَدِينَ " (verse 56 in Surah 28 THE STORY / AL-QASAS)
Conclusion
The love toward which one should strive is that of Allah, our Creator, who informs us in the Quran :
"Say: "If you truly love Allah, follow me, Allah will then love you and will forgive you your sins. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ " (verse 31 in Surah 3 THE FAMILY OF IMRAN / AL-IMRAN)
This is an imperative for every heart smitten with a sincere love for the One who created it and toward Whom it aspires to draw closer.
Let us declare each day our love for Allah, azza wa jal, and let us ask Him with sincerity to grant us His Love and that of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, salla Allah alayhi wa salam. And of course, let us strive to follow as best we can each day his Sunnah in order to deserve the Love of Allah.
May He cover us with His Mercy.