and hatred: do these conform to the command of Allah and His Messenger—the guidance Allah revealed to His Messenger—so that this love and hatred are commanded, without his putting himself ahead of Allah and His Messenger? For He has said:

“Do not put yourselves before Allah and His Messenger.”

Whoever loves or hates before Allah and His Messenger command him to do so is, to some extent, putting himself ahead of Allah and His Messenger. Love and hatred are, in themselves, personal inclinations; what is forbidden, however, is following one’s love and hatred without guidance from Allah. For this reason, He says:

“Do not follow your own desire, lest it lead you astray from Allah’s way. Indeed, those who go astray from Allah’s way will have a severe punishment.”

He thus tells us that whoever follows his own desire will thereby be led astray from Allah’s way: the guidance with which He sent His Messenger, and the path leading to Him.

To clarify this, enjoining what is right and forbidding what is wrong are among the most binding, virtuous, and excellent deeds. The Exalted has said:

“That He may test you as to which of you is best in deeds.”

This means, as al-Fudayl ibn ‘Iyād—may Allah have mercy on him—said, the most sincere and the most correct. For if a deed is sincere but not correct, it will not be accepted until it is both sincere and correct. Sincerity means that it is for Allah, and correctness means that it accords with the Sunnah. A righteous deed must therefore be done seeking the Face of Allah Most High, for Allah Most High accepts only deeds done seeking His Face alone. As reported in the Sahih, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Allah says: ‘I am wholly self-sufficient and have no need of partners. Whoever performs a deed in which he associates another with Me, I am free of it, and it belongs entirely to the one he associated with Me.’”