Mālik, the Musnad of Ahmad ibn Hanbal, and other works, on the authority of Abū Hurayrah, may Allah be pleased with him, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said:

“When Allah loves a servant, He calls out in heaven, ‘O Gabriel, I love so-and-so, so love him.’ Gabriel then loves him. Then Gabriel calls out, ‘Allah loves so-and-so, so love him.’ The inhabitants of heaven then love him, and he is granted acceptance on earth.”

He said something similar concerning hatred.

The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, thus clarified the difference between Allah’s call and Gabriel’s call. Concerning Allah’s call, he said:

“O Gabriel, I love so-and-so, so love him.”

Concerning Gabriel’s call, he said:

“Allah loves so-and-so, so love him.”

This is what the language in which we have been addressed requires—indeed, what all languages require. The first-person pronoun is used only by the speaker himself, whereas someone speaking about another uses that person’s name and third-person pronouns.

They liken Allah’s call to a ruler’s proclamation, saying, “One may say, ‘The ruler proclaimed,’ when he commanded someone else to make the proclamation.” This is like what the thoroughgoing Jahmiyyah said concerning Allah’s speaking to Moses: “He commanded someone else to speak to him; He Himself was not the speaker.”

They should be told: When a ruler commands someone else to make a proclamation, speak to another person, or address him, the herald calls out, “O people! The ruler has commanded such-and-such,” or “has decreed such-and-such.” He does not say, “I myself have commanded you to do that.” Were he to say this, people would treat him with contempt and say, “Who are you to command us?”

Yet the One who calls out every night says:

“Who will call upon Me, that I may answer him? Who will ask of Me, that I may give him? Who will seek My forgiveness, that I may forgive him?”

This is just as in His call