Khālid ibn ʿAbd Allāh al-Qasrī in Wāsit on the Day of Sacrifice. He said:

“O people, offer your sacrifices—may Allah accept them—for I am sacrificing al-Jaʿd ibn Dirham. He claimed that Allah did not take Abraham as a close friend and did not truly speak to Moses. Exalted is Allah, far above what al-Jaʿd says!”

Then he stepped down and slaughtered him.

These people denied the reality of “close friendship” because close friendship is akin to love. They also denied the reality of “speaking,” interpreting it as something Allah creates in certain physical bodies, or as a kind of inspiration. Some groups among them even claimed that one of us might be spoken to just as Moses, peace be upon him, was spoken to—indeed, that he might hear the very same thing Moses heard. Yet Allah Most High has made clear that Moses was distinguished by this from the other prophets, let alone the rest of the believers and Allah’s allies. As He, Most High, says:

“Indeed, We have revealed to you as We revealed to Noah and the prophets after him. And We revealed to Abraham, Ishmael, Isaac, Jacob, and the Tribes”—up to His words: “And Allah spoke to Moses directly.”

He thus distinguished between revelation and speaking, just as He distinguished between revelation and speaking from behind a veil in His words:

“It is not for any human being that Allah should speak to him except by revelation or from behind a veil.”

He likewise made this distinction clear in His words:

“Those messengers—We favored some of them over others. Among them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in rank.”

Now, those who denied the reality of love could not deny the term itself, because it occurs in the Quran and Sunnah. They therefore interpreted love for Him as worshipping Him, obeying Him, and complying with His commands, or loving His allies, and other such