You will not find a people who believe in God and the Last Day loving those who oppose God and His Messenger, even were they to be their fathers…He [Sahl] said:No person whose faith is sound enjoys the company of the innovator (mubtadiʿ), nor does he comply with him, eat with him, drink with him or keep his company. Rather, he shows him hostility and loathing from himself. On the other hand, whoever fawns over an innovator will have the sweetness of [following] the Prophet’s ways (sunan) removed from him by God, and whoever shows love for an innovator, seeking honour in this world and some ⸢worldy⸣ gain (ʿaraḍan ⸢minhā⸣), will find that God humiliates him with that honour and impoverishes him through that wealth. Moreover, whoever jokes with an innovator will find that God removes the light of faith from his heart. As for the one who doubts this, let him try it for himself.His words, Exalted is He: …[For] those, He has inscribed faith upon their hearts and reinforced them with a spirit from Him…He said:God has inscribed faith upon the hearts of His friends in lines (suṭūran). The first line is the profession of God’s oneness (tawḥīd), the second, gnosis (maʿrifa), the third, veracity (ṣidq), the fourth, rectitude (istiqāma), the fifth, confidence (thiqa), the sixth, reliance (iʿtimād) and the seventh, trust (tawakkul). Furthermore, this writing is the work of God (fiʿl Allāh), not the work of the servant (fiʿl al-ʿabd). The work of the servant with regard to faith is in the outward aspect of Islam, and what outwardly appears from him, whereas its inner [reality] is the work of God, Exalted is He.He also said:The inscription on the heart is the gift of faith (mawhibat al-īmān) which God bestows upon them before creating them in loins and wombs. Then He reveals a glimpse of the light in the heart, and then He lifts the veil from it, so that through the blessing of that writing (barakat al-kitāba) and the light of faith (nūr al-īmān) they can behold things of the unseen (mughayyabāt). And he said:The life of the spirit (ḥayāt al-rūḥ) is in the remembrance [of God] (dhikr), the life of remembranceis in the one who remembers (dhākir), and the life of the one who remembers is in the One who is remembered (madhkūr).
