—so much so that the Jews and the Christians said, as Allah relates in al-Maʾidah, “We are Allah’s children and His beloved ones.” Among those who profess love one finds breaches of the Sacred Law that are not seen among people of reverential fear. For that reason Allah couples love with fear in His words: “This is what you were promised— for every penitent, heedful soul, who feared the All-Merciful in the unseen and came with a repentant heart. Enter it in peace; this is the Day of everlasting life” (Qaf 50:32-34).
The early shaykhs who wrote on the Sunnah used to state in their creeds that one should avoid those who make frequent claims to love and delve into it without fear, because of the corruption that befell certain groups of Sufis. The doctrinal and practical deviations found among them led some people to repudiate the Sufi path altogether, so that the deviants divided into two factions: one affirms both its truths and its falsehoods, while the other rejects both its truths and its falsehoods—an attitude shared by some scholastic theologians and jurists. What is correct is to acknowledge whatever in that path and in other paths agrees with the Book and the Sunnah, and to reject whatever in it and in other paths contravenes the Book and the Sunnah.
Allah the Exalted says in Al ʿImran: “Say, ‘If you love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your sins’” (Al ʿImran 3:31). Thus, following the Sunnah of His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) and adhering to his law both inwardly and outwardly is what secures Allah’s love, just as striving in His cause, befriending His allies, and opposing His enemies constitute its very reality. The hadith states, “The firmest bond of faith is love for Allah and hatred for Allah,” and another hadith says, “Whoever loves for Allah, hates for Allah, gives for Allah, and withholds for Allah has perfected love.”
Many who claim love are actually further than others from following the Sunnah, from commanding right, forbidding wrong, and striving in Allah’s path. Yet they imagine that theirs is the most perfect road to divine love, supposing that the way of loving Allah involves neither protective jealousy nor anger for His sake—an idea that flatly contradicts the Book and the Sunnah.
Accordingly, in the well-known hadith Allah the Exalted will declare on the Day of Resurrection, “Where are those who loved one another for My majesty? Today I will shade them in My shade, on a day when there is no shade but My shade.” His words, “Where are those who loved one another for the majesty of Allah,” draw attention to the reverence and veneration for Allah lodged in their hearts, and to their mutual love for His sake; through that they safeguard His limits, unlike those whose weak faith keeps them from guarding His boundaries. About such people the hadith says, “My love is due to those who love one another for My sake, those who sit together for My sake, those who visit one another for My sake, and those who give to one another for My sake.” The reports concerning those who love for Allah’s sake are numerous.
In the two Ṣaḥīḥs, in the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: “Seven types of people Allah will shade in His shade on a day when there is no shade but His: a just ruler; a youth who grew up worshipping Allah; and a man…"