Allah.” The expression “more jealous” is like the expression “loves more”: both occur in these hadiths. What is said about jealousy applies equally, or even more strongly, to love. For the love witnessed among human beings, such as passionate love and the like, is more intense than many forms of jealousy. It is therefore impermissible to reinterpret jealousy but not love. Love is affirmed in more than one passage of the Quran and in mass-transmitted hadiths. Allah willing, we shall discuss its reinterpretation.

The ninth response is that the Prophet (may Allah bless him and grant him peace) said in the authentic hadith narrated by Abū Hurayrah:

“Allah Most High is jealous, and His jealousy is aroused when a believer does what He has forbidden him.”

He presented this as an independent, unqualified statement, without adding any qualification contrary to its unrestricted meaning. Had he intended something other than what the statement signifies, this would not have been permissible. The same applies to his saying, “No one is more jealous than Allah.”

The tenth response is that if his statement, “Allah is jealous,” meant that Allah restrains and prevents, there would have been no benefit in expressing this meaning in these words and conveying it in this way. Indeed, it would have been closer to obfuscation than clarification. For every Muslim knows that Allah forbids, restrains, and declares things unlawful. Thus, if his statement, “Allah is jealous,” meant nothing more than that He forbids and restrains, he would have informed them