for Allah’s sake is part of the completeness of love for Him. Loving others alongside Him, however, is the love of the polytheists, who love their rivals to Allah as they love Allah. When a created being loves for Allah’s sake, that love draws him toward loving Allah. When two men love one another for Allah’s sake, meeting and parting on that basis, each draws the other toward loving Allah, as the Most High said:

“My love is assured for those who love one another for My sake; My love is assured for those who sit together for My sake; and My love is assured for those who give generously to one another for My sake. Indeed, Allah has servants who are neither prophets nor martyrs, whose closeness to Allah will be the envy of prophets and martyrs. They are people who love one another through Allah’s mercy, without wealth they exchange or ties of kinship they maintain. Their faces will surely shine with light, and they will be seated upon seats of light. They will not fear when people fear, nor grieve when people grieve.”

When you love someone for Allah’s sake, Allah is the One loved for His own sake. Whenever you picture that person in your heart, you picture someone beloved to the True One, and so you love him, and your love for Allah increases. Likewise, when you remember the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, the prophets and messengers before him, and their righteous companions, and picture them in your heart, this draws your heart toward loving Allah, who bestowed His blessings upon them and through them—provided that you love them for Allah’s sake.

Thus, the person loved for Allah’s sake is drawn toward loving Allah. When someone who loves for Allah’s sake loves another person for His sake, Allah is the One he loves, so he wishes to draw that person toward Allah Most High. Both the one who loves for Allah’s sake and the one loved for His sake are drawn toward Allah. The same applies when love is for something other than Allah, as when each of two people loves