those whom he desires. This is so as long as some love for Allah remains in him. Yet he may shed that love altogether and descend into ta‘tīl (negation of the divine), like Pharaoh and his kind, whose condition is worse than that of the Arab polytheists and others like them.

Thus, these people love without knowledge and hate without knowledge. Knowledge is what the Messenger brought, as Allah says:

“Then whoever disputes with you concerning him after the knowledge that has come to you”

This is the revealed law. Hence, spiritual masters endowed with knowledge would often counsel their disciples to follow knowledge and the revealed law. We have cited some of their statements elsewhere. For when love and aspiration are not guided by knowledge and the revealed law, they are of the same kind as the love and aspirations of the disbelievers.

These spiritual wayfarers and aspirants—the Sufis, those embracing poverty, the ascetics and worshippers who have taken the path of love and aspiration—must follow the revealed law and the knowledge inherited from the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, loving what Allah and His Messenger love and hating what Allah and His Messenger hate. Otherwise, their path will lead them into branches of disbelief and hypocrisy.

Faith and love for Allah are not complete without believing the Messenger in what he conveyed and obeying him in what he commanded. Believing what he conveyed includes believing in the attributes with which Allah described Himself and with which His Messenger described Him. Whoever denies these attributes has rejected what he conveyed as false. Believing in what he commanded includes doing what he commanded, abstaining from what he prohibited, loving good deeds and hating