Say: 'If you love God, follow me, and God will love you: because the Prophet is His beloved and every person who claims love [of God] is required to follow him [the Prophet, for the beloved of a beloved is beloved, which is why love of the Prophet becomes obligatory. To love him [the Prophet] entails following him and wayfaring along his path in words, deeds, character, [spiritual] state, way of life and beliefs. The claim of love can only be in this manner, for he [the Propher] is the pole of [divine] love and the locus of its manifestation; his path is the talisman of [divine] love. The one who enjoys no share in his [the Prophet's] path has no share of [divine] love. If, on the other hand, he follows him sincerely, his inward aspect, his inmost consciousness, his heart and his soul will correspond to the Prophet's inward aspect, inmost consciousness, heart and soul, and since he [the Prophet] is the locus of manifestation of the [divine] love, by such a correspondence, that follower will necessarily enjoy a portion of God's love commensurate with his share of the following. God then casts His love upon that person and the light of that [divine] love travels from the inner aspect of the Prophet's spirit to him and he becomes a beloved of God and loving of God. If that person should not follow him, then his inward aspect will be in opposition to the inward aspect of the Prophet and he will then be far removed from the qualifications of [divine] love and love will be removed from his heart instantly, since if God does not love that person, he will not be loving of Him; and forgive you your sins, just as He forgave his beloved [Prophet] where He said: So that God may forgive you what is past of your sin and what is to come [Q. 48:2]. His [the Prophet's] past sin is his essence, while his sin to come is his attributes. Likewise is the case with the sins of the followers, just as God, exalted be He, says: '[My] servant does not cease to approach Me …' to the end of the [divine] ḥadīth. God is Forgiving, erasing the sins of your attributes and essences, Merciful, endowing you with existence and attributes deriving from [Him] the Truth that are better [than those sins]. He then descends from this station, since it is more difficult [to secure] than red sulphur, and He calls them to a more general station than the station of love, namely, the station of will, saying:
