As for the great majority of theologians, jurists, hadith scholars, and Sufis, they distinguish between the two categories. This is the position of the leading jurists among the followers of Abū Hanīfa, Mālik, al-Shāfi‘ī, Ahmad, and others. [It was also the position of those who affirmed divine decree before al-Ash‘arī, such as Ibn Kullāb, as related by Abū al-Ma‘ālī al-Juwaynī (1)] (2). The revealed texts (3) explicitly state that Allah is not pleased with disbelief, wickedness, or disobedience and does not love them, even though all events come to pass by the will of Allah, Most High.
Interpreting this to mean (4), “He is not pleased with these things when committed by believers” (5), or, “He is not pleased with or does not love them (6) as religion”—meaning, “He does not will them”—would entail saying: “He is not pleased with faith,” meaning, “from a disbeliever” (7), or, “He does not will it in any sense other than the religious one.”
Allah, Most High, has stated that He hates acts of disobedience in His words:
“The evil of all these is hateful to your Lord.”
[Surah the Night Journey: 38]
The Prophet—peace and blessings be upon him—said:
“Allah, Most High, dislikes three things for you: idle talk, excessive questioning, and wasting wealth.” (8)
(1) A and B read: “Those who affirm divine decree, such as al-Ashʿarī, as he stated.”
(2) The text in square brackets is omitted in N and M.
(3) A and B read: “Thus, the revealed texts.”
(4) “Meaning” is omitted in A and B.
(5) N and M read: “He does not approve of them for the believers.”
(6) ʿAyn reads: “or does not love them and is not pleased with them”; N: “and does not love them and is pleased with them”; M: “or does not love them and is pleased with them.”
(7) B reads: “It is said that He is pleased with faith from everyone”; A: “It is said that He is pleased with faith—that is, from the disbeliever”; ʿAyn: “It is said that He is not pleased with faith from the disbeliever.”
(8) The hadith, with variations in its wording, is narrated from al-Mughīra ibn Shuʿba—may Allah be pleased with him—in al-Bukhārī, 2:124, Book of Zakat, chapter “The Words of Allah Most High: ‘They do not beg people persistently’”; 3:120, Book of Loans, chapter “The Prohibition against Wasting Wealth”; Muslim, 3:1341, Book of Judicial Decisions, chapter “The Prohibition against Excessive Questioning”; and al-Musnad, al-Halabī ed., 4:246, 249, 254. A hadith with the same meaning is narrated from Abū Hurayra—may Allah be pleased with him—in al-Musnad, al-Maʿārif ed., 16:144, no. 8316; 16:292–293, no. 7803; and al-Muwatta, 2:990, Book of Speech, chapter “What Has Been Related concerning Wasting Wealth.” In al-Muwatta, it begins: “Indeed, Allah is pleased with three things for you…” to the end of the hadith.