Allah with love for Him and longing for Him. Hence one of the early generations said: “Whoever worships Allah through love alone is a heretic; whoever worships Him through fear alone is a Harūrī; whoever worships Him through hope alone is a Murji’ī; and whoever worships Him through love, fear, and hope is a believer.” Allah Most High brings these three stations together in His words:
“Those whom they invoke seek the means of nearness to their Lord, each seeking to be closest, and they hope for His mercy and fear His punishment.” [17:57]
Seeking the means of nearness is the love for Him that prompts one to draw close to Him. He then mentions hope and fear. This is the way of His servants and His close friends.
Worshipping Him through love alone may eventually lead a person to regard forbidden things as lawful, saying, “No sin can harm one who loves Him.” One of them even composed a work on this subject, citing a fabricated report: “When Allah loves a servant, sins cannot harm him.” This is unquestionably false and incompatible with Islam. Sins are inherently harmful to everyone, just as poison harms the body. Even supposing that this statement were authentically attributed to one of the shaykhs—as for the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him), Allah forbid that it be attributed to him—it could be understood as follows: when Allah loves a servant, that servant’s love for Him will not allow him to persist in sin, for persisting in sin is incompatible with loving Allah. If he does not persist in the sin but hastens to repent sincerely of it, its effects are erased and it does not harm him. Whenever he sins, repents, and turns back to Allah, the sin’s effects and harm disappear. This meaning is sound.
The point is that stripping love and remembrance of fear leads to these perils. When fear accompanies them, it keeps a person firmly on the path and brings him back whenever he strays. Fear is like a whip with which he urges on his mount lest it leave the path. Hope is like a driver whose singing urges it onward and makes the journey pleasant, while love is its guide and the rein that directs it. If the mount has neither whip nor staff to bring it back when it veers off the path, and is left to wander at random, it will leave the path and lose its way, failing to observe Allah’s limits and prohibitions.
Those who have drawn near to Him have done so above all through fear of Him, hope in Him, and love for Him. Whenever the heart is devoid of