The stances of love and hate are two extremely powerful forces within a person which can be a source of great benefit for the society on a whole and an individual on his own, and it is for this reason that Islam has placed a lot of attention on them, such that the Noble Prophet of Islam (S) has been quoted as saying:

هَلِ الإِيمَانُ إِلاَّ الْـحُبَّ وَ الْبُغْضَ

“Is true faith anything other than love and hate?!”1

Being endowed with the power of love and adoration and manifesting these traits vis-à-vis the person who is acting with goodness is the actual show of love of a person towards good itself; and this stance towards love is a cherished guide to assist a person in reaching towards perfection and spiritual happiness.

In the same vein, taking a stand and expressing abhorrence and aversion towards individuals who have sunk to the lowest levels of depravity in which they have permitted themselves to commit the most heinous of atrocities and reach the bottom levels of baseness, is in reality, the explicit confirmation of aversion to wickedness itself and keeping away from everything which will distance a person from God Almighty.

The noble companions who lived during the time of Prophet Muhammad (S), were fully aware of the life of the Noble Messenger (S) and in addition, because they possessed a special status, they managed to gain the attention of all of the believers – even though all of the companions were not at the same [spiritual] level.

Some of them were not able to remain firm on the path of true faith and some of them even ended up drifting away entirely from the path which they had chosen during the life-time of the Prophet(S).

It is due to this fact that today, it is necessary that those who brought about true faith during the life-time of the Messenger of God (S) and remained on the straight path until the end [of their lives] and the individuals who were led astray while traversing the straight path and performed actions which went against the ways of the Noble Prophet (S) and transgressed his commandments – need to be understood and distinguished from one another.

In regards to the first group, we must show love and affection; while in regards to the second group and their base actions, we must display our disgust and distance ourselves from their un-ethical deeds.

Therefore, according to the habit of God in the Qur’an, the Muslims must invoke the malediction of God and must seek aversion from that group whose atrocities and opposition to the orders and dictates of the Noble Prophet (S) reached such a critical level that it resulted in the misguidance of many other individuals.

• 1. Bihar al-Anwar, vol. 66, pg. 241