Say: “If you love God follow me and God will love you and forgive you your sins; God is Forgiving Merciful. You love God is a separation farq and God loves you is a gathering jamʿ. You love God [with a love] mixed with cause ʿilla but God loves you without cause; rather He is the reality of communion. The love of the ser- vant for God is a state of subtle kindness laṬīfa that he finds within himself and this state brings him into conformity muwāfaqa with [God's] com- mand out of [his own] pleasure riḌāÌ without any feeling of aversion. This state necessarily involves his preferring [God] سبحانه over everything and everyone. The precondition of love is that there is no worldly concern ḥaẓẓ in any state. One who has not been entirely annihilated from his worldly concerns possesses not even a sliver of love. The love of the Real for the servant is in His desire irāda His benefi- cence iḥsān and His kindness luṬf to him. It is a desire irāda to bestow favor which may be [seen] in [the servant's] praise and commendation of Him سبحانه or it may be [seen] in [God's] favoring [the servant] which would be [understood as] coming from the attributes of His acts. It is said that the precondition of love is your entire effacement from yourself because you are consumed in your beloved. The one who spoke for them said: What is love until the eye is exhausted by weeping and you lose your ability to talk so that you cannot answer one who calls you. There is a difference between the beloved al-ḥabīb and the friend al-khalīl. The friend [Abraham] said “so whoever follows me verily belongs with me” minnī [14:36] and the beloved [Muḥammad] said “fol- low me and God will love you.” The follower of the friend belongs with him minhu in the favor conferred [on both of them by God] while the follower of the beloved is loved by the Real سبحانه-this suffices as a station of nearness and state. It is said that for those who submit themselves He cuts off their long- ing for anything other than their model and leader of the first and the last-Muḥammad ﷺ. It is said that this verse alludes to the fact that love is not an effect maʿlūl and is not brought about by obedient acts or the avoidance of bad things because He said “God will love you and forgive you your sins.
