Question: What do hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah mean?
ANSWER
They mean loving whom you love only for the sake of Allahu ta’ala and feeling enmity only for the sake of Him. It is declared in the following hadith-i sharifs:
(The most valuable worship is loving someone for the sake of Allah and disliking someone for the sake of Allah.) [Abu Dawud]
(In the Hereafter, everybody will be with the one they loved in the world.) [Bukhari]
(If your acts of worship were equal to those of Jabra’il “alaihis-salam,” neither your acts of worship nor your good deeds would be accepted unless you love Believers for Allah’s sake and unless you consider disbelievers to be evils for Allah’s sake.) [Ey Oğul Ilmihali]
Allahu ta’ala asked Hadrat Musa (Moses ‘alaihis-salam):
“O Musa! What have you done for Me?”
“O my Lord! I have performed salat, fasted, given zakat, and made remembrance (dhikr).”
“O Musa! The salat you have performed is incumbent on you and a means for your attaining Paradise; the fast you have observed protects you from Hell; the zakat you have given gives you shade during the Judgement Day; and the remembrance (dhikr) you have made gives you light in the darkness of the Day of Reckoning. That is, all of them bring benefits to you alone. What have you done for Me?”
“O my Lord! What should I have done for You?”
“Have you had love for My friends and have you stayed away from My enemies only for My sake?”
Thereupon, Hadrat Musa understood that the best of all good deeds and worships performed for Allah was loving for the sake of Allah (hubb-i fillah) and feeling hostility (bughd-i fillah) for the sake of Him. (Maktubat-i Ma’thumiyya)
Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani states:
For adapting oneself to Muhammad alaihis-salam, one needs to love him completely and without defect. The symptom of complete and perfect love is to bear hostility against his enemies and to dislike those who dislike him. Love cannot include sloth. The love for two opposites cannot settle in the same heart together. To love one of two opposites entails enmity towards the other. (First Volume, 165th Letter)
The symbol of true iman’s existence is to bear hostility against disbelievers and not to do the things that are peculiar to them and that are the symptoms of disbelief because Islam and kufr are opposites, antonyms of each other. To esteem one of them means to insult and to blame the other. Allahu ta’ala commands Hadrat Muhammad, His beloved Prophet (sall-Allahu ’alaihi wa sallam), to wage war against disbelievers and to treat them severely. Allahu ta’ala declares that disbelievers are His and His Prophet’s enemies. To love the enemies of Allahu ta’ala and to cooperate with them draws one towards being hostile against Allahu ta’ala and His Prophet. One thinks of oneself as a Muslim, expresses the word tawhid, and says “I believe” and performs salat and every kind of worship, but on the other hand, cooperates with disbelievers. Yet one does not know that these loathsome actions of one’s (for example, not loving the friends of Allah or loving the enemies of Allah saying “They have such and such good deeds”) will extirpate one’s being a Muslim and iman. (First Volume, 163rd Letter)
Hadrat Muhammad Ma’thum states:
Love necessitates that you love the friends of your darling and be at odds with the enemies of the darling. This love and this enmity are not within the power of faithful lovers; they cannot help themselves. Unless people who say that they love keep away from the enemies of their darlings, they are not regarded as people of their word. They are called liars. Love necessitates that you love all things of the darling. Our superiors declared, “If you are not offended by the one who offends your master, a dog is better than you are.” It causes one to be away from Allahu ta’ala if one loves His enemies. Unless there is enmity, there will be no love. Not to love disbelievers is commanded clearly in the Qur’an al-karim, and it is fard for us to obey the Holy Qur’an. (First Volume, 29th Letter)
Some Qur’anic verses making it haram to love disbelievers says (what means):
(O you who believe! Do not take Jews and Christians for friends; they are friends of each other (in their animosity towards Islam). He who takes them for friends is one [a disbeliever] of them. Allahu ta’ala does not guide the (ones who have become) unjust (to themselves by taking disbelievers for friends) people.) [Surat-ul-Maida 51]
(O you who believe! Do not take My enemies and yours for friends! Do not love them.) [Surat-ul-Mumtahina 1]
Allahu ta’ala praises the Ashab-i kiram: “They are hard against disbelievers but compassionate among themselves” (Surat-ul-Fath 29).
One day, some people said to Caliph ’Umar: “There is a Christian from the people of Hira here. He has a very strong memory and beautiful handwriting. He will be very useful for you if you employ him as a secretary for yourself.” He refused and said, “I cannot make friends with a non-Believer,” quoting the verse below.
Hadrat Abu Musa al-Ash’ari narrates:
One day I said to Hadrat ‘Umar: “I have a Christian secretary. He is a great hand.”
The Caliph chided me saying, “Why don’t you employ a Muslim secretary? Haven’t you heard the verse that says (what means) ‘O Believers! Do not like Jews and Christians’”?
“His religion is his and his service as a secretary is mine,” I said.
Upon this, the Caliph retorted, “Do not honour a person degraded by Allahu ta’ala! Do not cherish a person scorned by Him! Do not get close to a person repelled by Allah!”
“I am administering (official matters of) Basra with his help,” I explained.
He commanded, “Now do what you would do if the Christian died! Replace him immediately!”
Our religion commands us not to love disbelievers, but at the same time, Islam makes it haram [prohibited] to harass them and hurt their feelings. In fact, disliking them and hurting them are two different things. We can conduct commerce with them, but we cannot deceive them or do any harm. It is necessary to treat them well as it is necessary to treat all people. What is more, it is permissible to invoke du’a upon them in order for them to find the right path and become Muslims.
In Islam, there is no superiority of one race over another. As a matter of fact, a hadith-i sharif says, “All people are equal (in being a human) like the teeth of a comb” (Ibni Lal).
For this reason, it is not permissible to deem yourself to be superior to others, be they disbelievers because a disbeliever may become a Muslim and thus attain endless bliss. As for a Muslim, on the other hand, they may fall into disbelief and consequently go to Hell. May Allah protect us against being so!
Everybody will be together with whomever they love
Question: Since, in the Hereafter, everybody will be together with whomever they love, if one loves both good people deserving Paradise and evil ones deserving Hell, where will one go in such a case?
ANSWER
Loving the good and the evil means mixing something clean with something dirty. The mixture, as a result, becomes dirty. If one loves both our Master the Prophet and the creed of Abu Jahl, one will go to Hell.
When a person said, “I love Allah and His Messenger,” our Master the Prophet stated:
(In the Hereafter, you will be with whom you love.) [Muslim]
If one loves a pious Mu’min, has a credal state like his/hers, tries to perform acts of worship as (s)he does, and regards the friends of Allah as friends and the enemies of Allah as enemies, then one will be in Paradise with the person one loves.
On the other hand, if one likes Muslims, but at the same time, if one likes non-Muslims and their credos, in such a case, one will go to Hell with non-Muslims. The meaning of “Everybody will be together with whomever they love” is not that one will reach the grade of the person one loves, but that one will be with the good people in Paradise on account of one’s love for them. All people will be in different grades that are in accordance with their luster and strength of iman. (Maktubat-i Rabbani, Hadiqa)
In order to be with pious people in the next world, it is necessary to love and to be with them in this world and to follow the path guided by them. It is related in hadith-i sharifs:
(In the vicinity of ‘Arsh, on the seats made of nur will be people shining like nur. Prophets and martyrs will yearn to be like. They are are those who love one another for the sake of Allah, who meet one another for the sake of Allah, and who visit one another for the sake of Allah.) [Nasai]
(Allahu ta’ala declares: Those who visit one another for My sake earn My love; those who love one another for My sake deserve My love; those who spend in charity for My sake merit My love; those who help one another for My sake attain My love.) [Hakim]
(Of the two friends who love each other for the sake of Allah, the better in the sight of Allah is the one whose love for his friend is greater.) [Hakim]
Hadrat Isa said, (Earn Allah’s love by bearing hostility against the enemies of Allah! Become close to Allah by keeping away from them! Seek Allah’s love by getting angry with them! Take those for friends who remind you of Allahu ta’ala when you see them, who lead you to increase your good deeds with their speech, and who guide you to goodness!)
Allahu ta’ala declared to Hadrat Musa:
(If a friend of yours does not urge you to My love, he is a foe of yours.)
(Allahu ta’ala stated: I love those who love one another for My sake, who gather together and disperse for My sake, who visit one another for My sake, and who provide one another with food and drink for My sake.) [Imam-i Malik]
(One of seven types of people who will be under the Shade of ‘Arsh on the Day of Resurrection are those who love each other for Allah’s sake and meet for His sake and depart from each other for His sake.) [Bukhari]
Is it possible to have such a love for Allah?
Question: Some people claim that they love Allah, but at the same time, they become intimate with atheists without feeling any discomfort at it. Is it possible to love Allah in such a manner?
ANSWER
It is stated plainly in the Qur’an al-karim and in hadith-i sharifs that Allahu ta’ala is hostile against disbelievers. Is it possible for a person who sympathizes with His enemies to love Him? If disbelievers were not enemies of Allahu ta’ala, bughd-i-fillah [enmity for Allah’s sake] would not have been wajib. It would not have been the most superior way to make one attain Allahu ta’ala’s pleasure and the most effective cause of perfection of iman.
A person who loves should love whomever the darling loves and hate whomever the darling hates. This state of love and hostility is not within one’s will. It is a consequence of love. In this case, will and acquisition, which are necessary in other sorts of behavior, are not needed. It is an involuntary state. Friend’s friends will look amiable. And friend’s enemies will seem unlovely. If one claims love for someone, one will not be believed unless one estranges oneself from the darling’s enemies. If one does not do so, one will be called a hypocrite. Shaikh-ul-Islam ‘Abdullah-i Ansari says: “I do not like Abu-l-Hasan Sam’un because he annoyed my master Hidri. If a person annoys your master and you are not upset by this, you must be lower than a dog.”
The fourth verse of Surat-ul-Mumtahina says (what means):
“Take lessons from the statements made by Ibrahim and those Believers who were with him! They said to the disbelievers: ‘We are far from you and your idols. We dislike your religion. There is enmity between you and us until you believe in Allahu ta’ala.”
And the verse following it says (what means), “These statements of theirs contain lessons for you and for those who wish the Consent of Allahu ta’ala and the blessings in the Hereafter.”
Hence, this tabarri [keeping away] is necessary for those who wish to attain the Consent of Allahu ta’ala. Allahu ta’ala says (what means), “To love disbelievers means not loving Allahu ta’ala. One could not love both of two opposites.” If a person claims to love someone and at the same time does not keep away from that person’s enemies, this claim will not be believed. The twenty-eighth verse of Surat-u Al-i ’Imran says (what means): “Allahu ta’ala threatens those who love disbelievers with His torment.” This grave threat shows how critical the offense is. (Maktubat-i Ma’thumiyya, volume 3, letter 55)
In order to have a valid and correct iman [belief], some essentials are as follows:
1. To take a middle path between khawf [fear] and raja’ [hope], that is, one must have fear of Allahu ta’ala’s punishment as well as hope of His Mercy.
2. To have iman before the soul reaches to the throat and also to have iman before the sun rises in the west.
3. Not to use and say things that are symptoms of kufr [disbelief].
4. To love someone or not to love someone only for the sake of Allah. It is an act of kufr to take disbelievers for friends.
5. To correct your belief in accordance with the credal tenets of Ahl as-Sunnat belief. (Riyad-un-Nasihin)
The condition for belief in Allah
Question: It is written in the book Endless Bliss, “It is one of the fundamentals of iman to love Muslims and not to love disbelievers.” Is this really included in the six fundamental principles of iman?
ANSWER
Of the fundamental principles of belief, what ranks first is to believe in Allah. However, in order to have belief in Allah, it does not suffice only to say “Allah exists.” It is a condition to love Allah as well. Loving for the sake of Allah (hubb-i fillah) and feeling hostility for the sake of Allah (bughd-i fillah) are two conditions of this love. As is seen, six fundamentals include loving Allah, loving those whom Allah loves, and not loving His enemies. A Qur’anic verse says (what means)
(Those who believe in Allahu ta’ala and the Day of Resurrection do not like the enemies of Allahu ta’ala and of His Prophet, even if those disbelievers are the fathers, brothers and other close relatives of Muslims.) [Surat-ul-Mujadala 22]
Allahu ta’ala declared to Hadrat Isa: (Even if you do acts of worship that equal those done by all creatures on the earth and in heavens, it will be of no value unless you love whom I love and unless you feel hostility towards My enemies.) [Kimya-i Sa’adat]
It is stated in hadith-I sharifs:
(The basis and the most dependable symptom of iman is hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah, that is, loving for the sake of Allah and feeling hostility for the sake of Allah.) [Abu Dawud, I. Ahmad, Tabarani]
(Din is to love for the sake of Allah and to feel hostility for the sake of Allah.) [Abu Nu’aym, Hakim]
(Three things intensify the flavor of iman:
1. To love Allah and His Messenger more than everything else,
2. To love for the sake of Allah a Muslim who does not love you,
3. Not to love disbelievers [even if they love you].) [Tabarani]
Question: It is narrated that when some people asked a scholar what he learned from his master, he gave this answer: “I learned hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah, that is, I learned whom I would love and whom I would not love.” Is it a matter of utmost importance?
ANSWER
It is a matter of utmost importance. Being one of the fifty four fards, it is the essence and basis of belief and acts of worship. Hubb-i fillah means loving and making friends for the sake of Allah and bughd-i fillah means feeling hatred, keeping away and not loving for the sake of Allah. Some hadith-i sharifs on this matter are as follows:
(He who loves and feels hatred for the sake of Allah has a perfect iman.) [Abu Dawud, Tirmidhi]
(The basis of iman is to love Muslims, that is, the friends of Allah, and not to love disbelievers, that is, the enemies of Allah and of Islam.) [I. Ahmad]
It is necessary to love more a Believer who is way ahead in acts of worship, piety and ikhlas than a Believer who is not so. To love means to be in their path and to be imitating their ways. It is necessary not to love more the disbelievers who rebel more and who spread indecency and disbelief. Among the ones which are necessary to dislike for the sake of
Allah, a human’s own nafs comes first.
Calling bad people good
Question: We are learning from various sources the evil conduct of some people who lived during the last period of the Ottoman Empire, such as Enver Pasha, Talat Pasha and Djemal Pasha. Of them, is it appropriate to praise well-known freemasons by saying “They were good soldiers”?
ANSWER
Praising a mason by saying “He was a good soldier” causes a feeling of love to germinate. However, it is from iman not to love disbelievers. It is dangerous to attribute goodness (by saying “He was a good soldier”) to freemasons of Union and Progress Party.
In the past, Islamic scholars did not let their disciples go to perform ‘umra [minor pilgrimage] lest they harbored a love for Wahhabis as a result of admiring the countries held by them. When their disciples set out to perform hajj [major pilgrimage which is fard] in the countries concerned, the scholars forewarned them not to be impressed by the edifices of Wahhabis and not to love their works even if they were worldly.
Question: What is the importance of loving a friend for the sake of Allah?
ANSWER
Loving someone for the sake of Allah alone is the basis of iman.
It is stated in hadith-i sharifs:
(On the Day of Resurrection, Allahu ta’ala says: “Today when there is no guardianship, I will guard under My mercy those who love one another for My glory.”) [Muslim]
(Allahu ta’ala elevates a person who befriends someone for Allah’s sake to a high position in paradise which he cannot attain with any of his deeds.) [Ibn Abi-d-dunya]
(On the Day of Resurrection, thrones will be built for those whose faces shine like full moon. They will be calm while everybody wails. They will not be upset though everybody is in terror and horror. They are those who love each other for Allah.) [Hakim]
(Beautiful mansions of Paradise are for those who love each other for Allah’s sake.) [Abu-sh-shaikh]
Allahu ta’ala said, “O Dawud, do not make friends with the one who does not follow you in loving Me because they are your enemies. They blacken your heart and try to keep you away from Me.” (Imam-i Ghazali)
Allahu ta’ala says in a hadith-i qudsi:
(Those who love each other for Me, on the day of Resurrection, they will be on such pulpits made of nur that the righteous, martyrs, and prophets will envy their status.) [Tabarani]
Wishing for yourself
Question: In a hadith-i sharif written in Bukhari, it is stated, “He is not a true believer if he does not love for his brother what he loves for himself.” Then think of a bad man who loves gambling, drinking, playing musical instruments, and committing haram. Then can he not be a true believer until he loves for his brother what he loves for himself?
ANSWER
Hadrat Imam-i Rabbani says about this matter, “It should be known that a rule stated without a condition in fact contains conditions.” The hadith-i sharif mentioned above contains some conditions. First of all, it is about a Believer.
The Believer wishes good things for themselves e.g., being a martyr, entering Paradise, leading a healthy life, having halal, pure and good property. They wish for their Muslim brothers as well what they wish for themselves. They cannot be true Believers if they do not. Likewise, they do not wish for their Muslim brothers either what they do not wish for themselves. In a hadith-i sharif, it is stated that another meaning of hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah is loving for others as well what you love for yourself and not loving for others what you do not love for yourself. That is, a true Believer should want for Allah’s sake whatever they want and should not want for Allah’s sake whatever they do not want. They should wish for other Muslims as well what blessings they wish for themselves. Likewise, they should not wish for other Muslims what disasters they do not wish for themselves.
Loving and faith
Question: What is meant by the hadith “You will not have faith until you love each other”? Is disliking a Muslim disbelief?
ANSWER
We must love a Muslim just because he/she is a Muslim, which is hubb-i fillah, that is, loving for Allah’s sake. If we do not love a Muslim brother because he may mistreat us, not pay his debt or do bad deeds, it does not harm our iman because what is not loved is his bad conduct, not his iman. Loving our Muslim brothers and being in company with them is a sign of iman.
The sign of love
Question: How can it be understood that one loves Allah, His Messenger, Islamic scholars, and one’s murshid?
ANSWER
A person who obeys Allahu ta’ala’s commandments and avoids His prohibitions loves Allah. Whoever does not observe His commandments and prohibitions does not love Him. For example, it is a lie to say “I love Allahu ta’ala” while one omits salats and other acts of worship, drinks alcohol, and commits other prohibited acts.
So is the love for the other persons you have mentioned. Suppose that you do not observe sunnat acts and not follow what the Messenger of Allah said. How can you claim that you love him?
Likewise, if you do not like the rulings in the Hanafi Madhhab and not follow them, then does it carry any weight to say that you love Hadrat Imam-i A’zam or other scholars in the Hanafi Madhhab? Though one follows a madhhab, if one does not accept the other three madhhabs as true and not follow them in case of necessity or considers their rulings wrong, can one say that one loves those scholars?
Claiming love for one’s spiritual guide but at the same time feeling dislike for his students is nothing but vain words. In summary, the following five conditions are necessary for love:
1. If there is obedience, then there is love, too. If there is no obedience, there is no love, either.
2. The lover mentions their beloved much and wants others to mention the beloved much as well. They always remember and think of the beloved. They praise the beloved by the tongue and body. They spend their wealth in the way of the beloved.
3. The lover always prays for the beloved. They feel upset if the beloved is upset or feel happy if the beloved is happy.
4. The lover likes those who like the beloved and dislikes those who dislike the beloved.
5. Everything the beloved does seems good. If even the dogs in the village where the beloved lives are not dearer than the dogs of other villages, there is not sincerity in this love.
The religion of a person is like the religion of their friend
Question: The hadith “The religion of a person is like the religion of his friend. Then be careful about whom you befriend” seems contrary to my thought. If I befriend an atheist or a Jew, will I be like them? Or will they be like me? Is it impossible for each of us to follow our own religion?
ANSWER
You should first ask the explanation of the hadith, so it is inappropriate to say that it is contrary to your opinion. The TV you watch, radio you listen to, websites you visit, newspapers and books you prefer are a friend each. If they are bad, they corrupt both your worldly and otherworldly lives because morality is contagious; both good and bad morals are transmitted. Therefore, one who cannot choose a good friend is doomed to destruction. A friend is like a mirror. “Tell me your friend, and I will tell you who you are” is a well-known statement.
A good friend is a pious person whose religion and aim is the same as ours and who is loved for the sake of Allah. One sacrifices one’s wealth and life for them. A good friend does not mean one’s colleagues. A good person cannot love an evil person, and a Muslim cannot love a disbeliever. A good person and an evil person, fire and water, or fire and gunpowder cannot be friends. One harms the other. Fire burns gunpowder, and water extinguishes fire. Therefore, if a Muslim befriends a Christian, either the Muslim deserts Islam or the Christian becomes a Muslim.
A Muslim can never love an irreligious or a non-Muslim person. If they can, either their faith is weak or they themselves are irreligious, too. Everybody befriends the one they like. If a Muslim loves the disbelief of a disbeliever, they go out of the fold of Islam. In our religion, there is hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah. That is, love or hatred must be for Allah. A Muslim is an enemy of whoever is an enemy of Allah and is a friend of whoever is a friend of Allah. An irreligious person may be a colleague or a person traveling with us, but cannot be our best friend.
Love and faith
Question: During a Friday khutbah, our Master the Prophet was reported to have said, “You will not enter Paradise unless you have faith. You will not have faith unless you love each other.” What is the relation between love and faith? I do not like some of my Muslim friends. In this case, am I without faith
ANSWER
If you do not like your Muslim friends not because of their being Muslim but because of their corrupt deeds, then it is not disbelief. However, it is a condition that you love a Muslim just because of the fact that he/she is a Muslim, which is termed hubb-i fillah, that is, loving someone for the sake of Allah. Not loving disbelievers is termed bughd-i fillah. If one does not love Hadrat Umar or Hadrat Ali but loves Abu Jahl or Firawn, one becomes a disbeliever because it is necessary to love those whom Allah loves and not to love those whom Allah does not love.
Likewise, those who do not love any of the Ashab-i kiram (Blessed Companions) become disbelievers too because Allahu ta’ala explicitly states in the Qur’an al-karim that He loves them and they are people of Paradise. Not loving even an ordinary Muslim causes disbelief because Allahu ta’ala loves a Muslim. However, if we do not love a Muslim because maybe they oppress us or they do not pay off a debt or do other corrupt deeds, it does not harm our iman, for what we do not like is their evil deeds, not their faith. It is a sign of iman to love our Muslim brothers and spend time with them.
Those whom Allahu ta’ala loves are loved
Question: Some people say, “We should love those who mock Islam and insult Muslims just because of the fact that they are humans.” Should we love them or take pity on them?
ANSWER
Loving them is different from taking pity on them, which should not be confused. Hadrat Imam-i Ghazali says in his book Kimya-i Sa’adat about those whom should be loved and whom should not be loved:
Our Master the Messenger of Allah said, “The basis and strongest sign of faith is to love Muslims and not to love those who show enmity to Muslims.” Allahu ta’ala revealed to Isa (‘alaihissalam), “Even if you did the acts of worship of all creatures in the heavens and on earths, it is of no avail unless you loved My friends and bore enmity to My enemies.”
We should not love those who are the enemies of Allahu ta’ala but love those who obey Islam. We should make this visible in our words and actions, so we should not befriend sinners and strongly avoid those who are cruel and maltreat Muslims.
We have written that it is necessary not to love those who are against Islam and feel animosity towards Muslims. The last verse of Surah al-Mujadalah says (what means): “Those who believe in Allahu ta’ala and the Day of Resurrection do not love the enemies of Allahu ta’ala and His Messenger, even if those disbelievers and hypocrites were Believers’ mothers, fathers, sons, brothers or other relatives. I will make such Believers enter Paradise.”
A person will be with the one they love
Question: If a person does not perform the commandments of Islam or abstain from what is prohibited, will they attain salvation only by saying “I love Allah and His Messenger”?
Answer: The following is written in the book Hadiqa:
Our Master the Messenger of Allah stated: “A person will be with the one they love.” According to a report by Muslim, our Master the Prophet answered as follows when a person asked him about the Resurrection:
“What have you prepared for the Resurrection?”
“I have prepared the love of Allah and His Messenger,” he answered.
“You will be with the ones you love” he said.
Hadrat Imam-i Nawawi explained it:
“This hadith-i sharif points out the value and benefit of loving Allahu ta’ala, His Messenger, the pious people, and benefactors, dead or alive.”
Loving Allahu ta’ala and His Messenger means performing their commandments and abstaining from their prohibitions and being well-mannered and respectful to them. In order to benefit from pious people only by loving, it is not necessary to do what they do because if one does what they do, then one is considered one of them. It is stated in hadith-i sharifs:
“One loves a jama’ah but is not one of them.” Being with them does not mean rising to their degrees. It is stated in a hadith-i sharif: “One who loves a jama’ah is resurrected among them.”
When Hadrat Abu Zar Ghifari asked what would happen if one loved a jama’ah but did not do what they did, he stated:
“O Aba Zar, you will be with those you love.”
Hadrat Hasan-i Basri said:
Do not let these hadith-i sharifs mislead you because you can reach good people by only doing their good deeds. Though Jews and Christians love their prophets, they will not be with them as they are not like them.
Hadrat Imam-i Ghazali said about it:
Unless you do some of or all of their good deeds, you cannot be with them only by loving them.
One will be with those one loves
Question: When one loves a group of people, will one be of them? Will they be together in the hereafter?
ANSWER
One who loves a group of people may be included in one of these three categories: 1. One has acquired all of the deeds and morals of those one loves. 2. One has not been able to acquire any. 3. One has done some of them and has not done the others or done the opposite actions. One who has done all of them is considered one of them and will be with them. The love one feels for the loved has made one like them. One has ascended the highest degree of love and certainly become one of them. However, one who does not follow those one loves or is not alike them in any way is not of them. One’s love comes to nothing and cannot penetrate into one’s heart. This kind of love is only in words, so it cannot be termed love. It is not true to say “I love them.” As for the person who can follow only some of the good deeds of whom they love, then they are not considered one of them if they do not follow them in faith. Then it is not true in any way to claim love. There is no love but enmity toward them in such a person’s heart. No enmity is stronger than the enmity toward the religion. An example of this is that Jews and Christians claim to love prophets. If one believes in the same way one’s loved ones believe but cannot fully carry out the acts of worship they do, it is of no avail again and one cannot be together with one’s loved ones if one cannot follow them because one does not like them. If one cannot fully perform the acts of worship they do out of incapability or shackles of the nafs, then it is not an obstacle to togetherness. The hadith-i sharifs point out this case. They are addressed to a person who loves a jama’at but cannot fully succeed in being like them. The hadith-i sharif related by Hadrat Abu Dhar explicitly shows it.
Disliking does not necessitate mistreating
Question: Do not loving and behaving in a bad way toward disbelievers and sinners mean distressing them?
ANSWER
Every Muslim must try their hardest to protect their iman and also not to love those who disbelieve Allahu ta’ala and His Messenger. However, they should not behave badly towards those whom they do not love; instead, they should advise disbelievers and bid’at holders with kind words and smiling face. They should do their best to save them from disasters and to make them attain happiness. Hadrat Mazhar-i Jan-i Janan stated:
We are commanded not to love disbelievers, bid’at holders, and those sinners who continue to commit sins openly. We must not talk to them, not go their home or their gatherings, not give salutation, or befriend them. If there is necessity or extreme necessity, these prohibitions are permitted as much as necessary. In such times, though it is permitted to meet them, we should not love them in our heart again.
Crossing with someone for the sake of Allahu ta’ala
Question: Is it Islamically appropriate to cease from being friendly or to cross with those who commit sins?
ANSWER
Hijr means to ban, to cease from being friendly, or to cross with someone. It is permissible and even mustahab, to perform hijr to a sinning person for the purpose of giving them a lesson. It is a methodical isolation imposed for the sake of Allahu ta’ala. It is stated in a hadith-i sharif: “The best of deeds and acts of worship is hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah.” Hubb-i fillah means loving someone for the sake of Allahu ta’ala. Bughd-i fillah means dislike and separation for the sake of Allahu ta’ala. Allahu ta’ala asked Musa ‘alaihis-salam:
“What have you done for Me?”
He answered, “O my Lord, I performed salats, fasted, gave zakat, and often mentioned Your name for You.”
Allahu ta’ala said, “The salats are a proof for you, and they protect you from doing evil deeds. The fasts you observed are a shield that will protect you from Hellfire. The zakat you paid will give you shade during the Judgment Day. The dhikr you made will give you light during the Day of Reckoning at the gathering place. What have you done for Me?”
He begged Allahu ta’ala to reveal to him what he could do for Him.
“O Musa, have you had love for My friends, and have you stayed away from My enemies?”
Thereupon Musa alaihissalam knew that the best of all good deeds and worships was hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah.
It is permissible to apply hijr for an extended period of time to a person who commits sins. It is well known among Muslims that Hadrat Imam Ahmad bin Hanbal stayed away from his paternal uncle and first cousins because they had accepted a present which they knew had come to them via prohibited means. Also the Messenger of Allah applied hijr to three people because they had failed to join the Holy War of Tabuk.
The good love the good
Question: Can a person love and befriend only the one whose character is similar to his or hers?
ANSWER
A hadith-i sharif says, “Everybody loves the one who gives blessings to them. This love is inherently exists in a human.” People who follow their nafses love the ones who help them attain the desires of their nafses. However, wise and intellectual people love those who help them become civilised people. In short, the good love the good. The bad love the bad. For this reason, by examining one’s friends we can understand what kind of a person one is.
Question: Can we harbor love for those who introduce changes to our religion?
ANSWER
Our religion orders us to dislike ahl al-bid’ah and to belittle them. It is haram to respect them. The following is written in Sharh-i Maqasid:
“It is necessary to dislike, to belittle, and to refute them.” A hadith-i sharif says:
(Whoever respects ahl al-bid’ah, praises them, the dead or alive, holds them in high esteem, he has helped the demolition and annihilation of Islam from the earth.)
Question: Does becoming an enemy of Islamic knowledge and scholars harm one’s iman?
ANSWER
Making fun of Islamic knowledge and Islamic scholars is an act of disbelief and in this case iman leaves a person. A person who swears at an Islamic scholar and speaks ill of him becomes a renegade. A person who is known as a scholar should not be loved because of the sins and bid’ah he commits. However, disliking Islamic scholars due to worldly considerations is a sin. So is the case with disliking pious Muslims. It is stated in hadith-i sharifs:
“Three things increase the taste of belief: loving Allahu ta’ala and His Prophet more than everything else; loving a Muslim for the sake of Allahu ta’ala though he may not love you; and disliking enemies of Allahu ta’ala” and “The most valuable worship is hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah.”
It is necessary to love more a Believer who performs more worship than a Believer who performs less worship. It is necessary to dislike more the disbelievers who rebel more and who spread sinning and disbelief. Among the ones which are necessary to dislike for the sake of Allahu ta’ala, the human’s own nafs comes first.
To love means to be on their path and to follow them. The sign of belief is hubb-i fillah and bughd-i fillah. It is stated in a hadith-i sharif:
(Allahu ta’ala has some slaves, but they are not prophets. Prophets and martyrs will envy them on the Day of Rising. They are Believers who live far away from each other, but they love one another for the sake of Allahu ta’ala even though they do not know each other.) In another hadith-i sharif, it is stated:
(In the Hereafter, a person will be with the one whom they love in worldly life.) If they do not follow the path guided by those whom they claim to love, their love is not true.
Jews and Christians say that they love their prophets. However, since they are not following their path and, instead, following wrong paths concocted by themselves, they will not be together with their prophets in the Hereafter.
Lofty souls attract people they love up toward spiritual heights. Conversely, lower spirits attract them down to lower levels. A person can understand where their souls will go after their death according to the people they love.
A person loves another person either because of their nature or because their reasoning (aql) requires them to love them or on account of the kindness they received from them or for the sake of Allahu ta’ala. Souls of people who love each other in the world attract each other. Similarly, they will also attract each other in the next world. Those who love disbelievers will go to Hell with them. One cannot help following the path guided by a person one loves. The strongest sign of one’s loving someone else is to love what they love and to dislike those things they dislike.
