then they will draw him towards themselves and take hold of him, as in the case of the wife of al-ʿAzīz and her love for Joseph. The strength of “Joseph,” his love for Allah, his sincerity and his fear of Him were greater than the beauty and loveliness of the wife of al-ʿAzīz and his love for her. This concerns the case in which someone loves him for his physical appearance, even though the attraction here is strong on both sides. In such circumstances, only those whom Allah protects are safe. Otherwise, when love is mutual, some wrongdoing generally occurs between people. For this reason, the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said:

“Let no man be alone with a woman, for Satan will be the third.”

They may also love him for his knowledge, religious devotion, kindness or something else. The temptation in this case is greater, unless he possesses strength of faith, fear of Allah and complete devotion to Allah alone. For knowledge, status and physical beauty are sources of temptation for all who succumb to temptation.

Moreover, they seek to have him fulfil their aims. If he does not, their love diminishes, or some hatred develops. This may grow, or lead them to cease loving him altogether, so that he becomes hated after having been loved. A person’s friends like to enlist his service and employ him for their own purposes until he becomes like a slave to them, while his enemies strive to hurt and harm him. Those friends seek to benefit from him even when this harms him and corrupts his religious commitment; they give no thought to that. Few of them are grateful.

In reality, neither group seeks to benefit him or protect him from harm; rather, they only