drawing near to Allah and seeking the means of approaching Him. They wish to give this a respectable name so that they will not be blamed for it, and thus call it jealousy. For when someone loves another person with a natural love—whether forbidden, such as love of things and of an unrelated woman, or permissible, such as love for a mother—it is human nature to feel jealous lest anyone else share in that love. They have placed their love for Allah on the same footing as this kind of love. This is among the greatest forms of ignorance and wrongdoing. Rather, love for Allah should lead the servant to wish that all creatures would share in it.

As the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“By Him in whose hand is my soul, none of you truly believes until he loves for his brother the good that he loves for himself.”

An example of this blameworthy jealousy is what a number of the early generations mentioned when they said, “The testimony of Quran reciters—or they said, jurists—against one another should not be accepted, because