loved that because it was a means to what he loved. This is neither love for Allah’s sake nor love for the beloved’s own sake. Most people’s love for one another is of this kind. They receive no reward for it in the Hereafter, nor does it benefit them. Indeed, it may lead to hypocrisy and insincere flattery, so that in the Hereafter they become close friends who are enemies to one another—except for the Allah-fearing.

What benefits them in the Hereafter is love rooted in devotion to Allah and offered solely for His sake. As for someone who hopes to receive benefit and support from a person, then claims to love him for Allah’s sake, this is among the soul’s hidden deceptions and the hypocrisy of speech. What benefits a servant is loving, for Allah’s sake, those of His creation whom Allah loves, such as the prophets and the righteous, because loving them draws one closer to Allah and to loving Him. These are the ones who deserve Allah’s love.

Our Prophet would give to those whose hearts were to be won over, while leaving others without gifts who were dearer to him than those he gave to, relying on the faith in their hearts. He gave to those whose hearts were to be won over because of the anxiety and impatience in their hearts, so that his gifts would draw their hearts toward loving Islam and thus loving Allah. His purpose was to call their hearts to love Allah, Mighty and Majestic is He, and turn them away from the opposite. Thus, he would give to some people for fear that Allah would cast them into the Fire on their faces, and through those gifts he restrained them from what