Ibn ʿAbbās (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “Most people nowadays form their friendships for worldly purposes, and such ties will bring their owners no benefit at all.”

This kind of love endures in both this world and the Hereafter, whereas love tied to worldly gain will come to an end and even turn into enmity in the Hereafter: “Close friends, that Day, will be enemies to one another—except for the righteous” (Q 43:67).

You also detest a person for Allah’s sake—not because he has wronged you personally, but because he is an enemy of Allah. This is the creed of Abraham (upon him be peace): loving and hating solely for Allah. Allah says: “Indeed, there is for you an excellent example in Abraham and those with him when they said to their people, ‘We disown you and whatever you worship besides Allah; we have rejected you, and between us and you hostility and hatred have appeared forever, until you believe in Allah alone’ ” (Q 60:4).

Among the seven whom Allah will shade in His shade on the Day when there is no shade but His is “two men who loved one another for Allah’s sake: they met upon that love and parted upon it.” (1) Loving and hating for Allah is therefore of great moment, for it is the criterion that separates truth from falsehood: “O you who believe, if you fear Allah, He will grant you a criterion” (Q 8:29). A believer thus possesses this criterion, enabling him to distinguish between one matter and another.