The love under discussion is the love of ʿubūdiyya (servitude): a love that carries with it humility, submission, complete obedience, and the willing preference of the Beloved over all else. This love belongs to Allah alone; no one may be joined with Him in it.
Love, therefore, is of two broad categories.
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Exclusive love: the love of ʿubūdiyya that entails full humility and obedience toward the beloved. This is reserved solely for Allah—glorified and exalted be He.
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Shared love, which falls into three kinds:
a. Natural love, like the hungry person’s love for food.
b. Compassionate love, such as a parent’s love for a child.
c. Companionable love and affection, like the love of partners for one another or friends for their friends.
None of these three kinds of shared love involves veneration or abasement, nor is anyone held blameworthy for them. They do not compete with the exclusive love owed to Allah; yet that exclusive love must always take precedence.
The exclusive love—the love of ʿubūdiyya—is what Allah mentions when He says: “Among people are those who take equals besides Allah, loving them as they should love Allah. But those who believe are more intense in their love for Allah.”1
Imam Ibn al-Qayyim (d. 751 AH) commented on this verse: “Allah informs us that whoever loves anything besides Him with a love equal to the love owed to Him has taken rivals to Allah in both love and veneration.”
Ibn Kathīr (d. 774 AH) said: “Allah describes the state of the idolaters in this world and the punishment and humiliation awaiting them in the Hereafter: they have set up ‘equals’ to Allah—that is, counterparts and peers—‘loving them as they should love Allah,’ meaning they equate them with Allah in love and glorification.”