Nor do we go to extremes in loving any one of them, and we never disavow any of them.

Excess here means exaggeration: we do not exaggerate in our love for any Companion, just as the Rāfiḍah do in their claimed love for ʿAlī—although outward appearances suggest they do not truly love him, nor Muslims in general. They took their veneration so far that some of them, during ʿAlī’s own lifetime, alleged that he was Allah Himself. In defense of Allah’s rights, ʿAlī dug trenches for them and burned them with fire. Exaggeration is forbidden, whether with regard to the Companions or anyone else. Allah the Exalted says, “People of the Scripture, do not exaggerate in your religion beyond the truth” (al-Māʾidah 77). The Prophet ﷺ said, “Beware of exaggeration, for those before you were only destroyed because of exaggeration.” (1)

We therefore love the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, but we do not exaggerate until we make them partners with Allah, invoking them instead of Him, as the Rāfiḍah and the grave-worshippers do. Such behavior is not genuine love for the Companions; true love consists in following them, emulating their example, and supplicating that Allah be pleased with them.

This passage also alludes to the Rāfiḍah, who renounce the Companions—especially Abū Bakr, ʿUmar, and ʿUthmān—indeed declaring many of them disbelievers. That attitude is negligence. We must not be negligent in loving them, for negligence means abandoning their love.