Our Distinction Is Not the Ability to Hate

In the midst of discussing loyalty, disassociation, and the schemes of enemies, we Muslims, especially those of us who are keen on the purity of the methodology, may appear as if our call is one of hatred: hatred of polytheists, hatred of hypocrites, hatred of rulers who nullify the Sharia and their supporters, hatred of sinners and spreaders of sedition, hatred of soft-spoken callers and scholars of the sultans, and others. In our speech to people, our words may revolve around these concepts, making us appear to the listener as if our hearts are hard and our souls are dry, or even as if we truly are like that! We must realize that our greatest distinction is not our ability to hate! Nor is it to be poor in emotions! Rather, our greatest characteristic is: Love of Allah and His Messenger. This is the core of our lives; this is the essence of our call. Rather, we hate whom we hate because of the purity of our love for Allah and His Messenger. Yes, we hate. But we hate because we love! We love with sincere love, without hypocrisy or weakness, so we hate what tarnishes it or steals it from us. Otherwise, the believers must be the most tender-hearted and most loving of people, and we are not primarily callers to hatred. This concept greatly helps us in our call, as we do not begin with people by speaking of hatred, but with love. If we help people to love Allah and His Messenger with sincere love, it will then be easy for us to urge them to fulfill obligations and deter them from prohibitions. - You may see a young man imitating the disbelievers in his appearance, wearing a shirt with the image of a wrestler, a singer, or a symbol of the disbelievers. At that moment, the difference is between saying to him: These are disbelievers; it is not permissible to love them, imitate them, or resemble them. - And saying in contrast: Do you love the Messenger of Allah? He will say: (Yes). You say: (Who is more precious to you, the Messenger of Allah, peace be upon him, or your father?) He will say: (Rather, the Messenger of Allah). You say: If someone insults your father, would you love him, put his image on your chest, and walk around with it? He will say: No, of course not. You say: The one whose image you put on your chest, does he believe that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah or does he deny it? Here, when I reach this question, the one I ask usually gets confused because he understands the meaning, hesitates, stumbles, and may say: (I don't know)! - You may see a young man looking at what is not permissible, so you say to him: These are forbidden glances, and you should hate what this girl is doing in terms of disobedience... and this is true. But try, in contrast, saying: (Do you not love Allah and His Messenger?) He will say: Yes. You say: Remember that: ((Allah has not placed two hearts in one chest)). Your heart is a vessel. If you fill it with pure liquid (love of Allah), then you introduce a drop that tarnishes it with the forbidden glance, this drop will not remain isolated but will contaminate the pure liquid. Will you accept that this tarnishes your love for Allah and His Messenger? ((Do you exchange what is worse for what is better?))? Therefore, Allah has legislated lowering the gaze for you to preserve purity: ((Tell the believing men to lower their gaze and guard their chastity. That is purer for them))... meaning: purer and cleaner. And when calling people, this should be the introduction. So, one of them, while defending against sedition, feels that he is not only awaiting a reward in the Hereafter, but he is also defending a great pearl in his chest and fears that people or Satan will steal it from him. It is: love of Allah and His Messenger. When Yusuf (peace be upon him) was called to a great temptation, he said: (May Allah forbid it! He is my Lord and has made my abode good), so his love and recognition of Allah's favor prevented him. And similarly, we say to those who love the nullifiers of the Sharia, we present to them the reality that these two loves cannot coexist. And see how Allah forbade His servants from taking the disbelievers as allies:

1. He endeared Himself to them: ((Those who believed and emigrated and strove in the cause of Allah with their wealth and their lives are greater in degree with Allah. And those are the successful (20). Their Lord gives them good tidings of mercy from Himself and approval and gardens in which is enduring pleasure (21), wherein they will abide forever. Indeed, with Allah is a great reward (22)).

2. Then, after Allah, the Exalted, has stirred in you feelings of love, He comes with the prohibition of what tarnishes this love: ((O you who have believed, do not take your fathers or your brothers as allies if they preferred disbelief over belief. And whoever does so among you - then it is those who are the wrongdoers (23)).

3. Then He clarifies that His love must surpass all love: ((Say, [O Muhammad], if your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, a business whose prosperity you fear may decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and jihad in His cause, then wait until Allah comes with His command. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people (24)). Therefore, we are not primarily callers to hatred. Rather, we are callers to great, true love, and we hate what tarnishes it or steals it from us. Ibn Taymiyyah, who is an imam of the imams of loyalty and disassociation, said in his treatise (The Servitude): (The heart, if it has tasted the sweetness of worshipping Allah and being sincere to Him, will not find anything sweeter, more delightful, or more fragrant than that. And a person does not leave a beloved except for another beloved that is more beloved to him, or out of fear of something disliked. The corrupt love is only turned away from the heart by the righteous love or the fear of harm. Allah says about Yusuf: ((Thus do We avert from him evil and immorality. Indeed, he was one of Our chosen servants)). So Allah turns away from His servant what harms him from inclination towards the image and attachment to it, and He turns away the immorality by his sincerity to Allah). And we supplicate with the supplication of our Prophet, peace be upon him: ((I ask You for Your love, the love of those who love You, and the love of deeds that bring me closer to Your love)).