Will you explain the hadith "A person will be with those whom he loves"?

- What is the state of two people who love each other but one of whom goes to Hell and one of whom goes to Paradise.

Dear Brother / Sister,

Bukhari and Muslim narrate the following hadith from Abdullah b. Mas’ud:

"A person will be with those whom he loves." (Bukhari, Adab: 96; Muslim, Birr, 165)

The love mentioned in the hadith is to love for Allah. It aims to encourage people so that they can be together with prophets and saints in Paradise. Even if a person goes to Hell, he will exit if he is a believer and then will be together with his beloved one in Paradise. The love shown to an unbelieving person is a wrong love; therefore, it is not included in the scope of the hadith.

The hadith invites believers to live in compliance with the consent of Allah and to love those who live in compliance with the consent of Allah.

A person is always with those whom he loves both here and there. Therefore, he who wants to be with prophets, veracious people and martyrs should love them first. In other words, those who will be with prophets, veracious people and martyrs in the hereafter are those who love them in the world and are together with them. The decree and meaning of the same hadith are also valid for those who represent bad deeds.

Thus, a hadith of one sentence expresses thousands of meanings and expressions so concisely that such a sentence can be uttered only by a prophet who is open to revelation and inspiration.  

Nuayman sometimes drank alcohol and the Messenger of Allah punished him as shari’ah ordered. What he did was a sin. When a Companion uttered a word that condemned him, the Messenger of Allah frowned and said,

"Do not help Satan against your brother. I swear by Allah that Nuayman loves Allah and His Messenger." (Bukhari, Hudud, 4, 5)

Loving Allah and His Messenger (pbuh) will cause a person to be with them; therefore, even if such a person commits sins, he does not deserve to be condemned with bad words because he loves Allah and His Messenger... That love is enough to be with the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) for a person who fulfills fard deeds and avoids major sins. For, a person will be with those whom he loves....

A person will be with those whom he loves.

Anas b. Malik, who started to serve the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) when he was about nine or ten years old after he migrated to Madinah, narrates an incident that took place in Madinah as follows: (Hayatus-Sahaba I, 406 ff, Sahabiler Ans. I. 408):

A Bedouin asked the Prophet (pbuh),

“O Messenger of Allah! “Matas-Saatu? (When is Doomsday)?” Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) said,  

“Ma adatta laha = What did you prepare for it?”

“Hubballahi wa Rasulihi = Love of Allah and His Messenger.”

Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah said:

“Ante maaman ahbabta = You are with those whom you love.” [Riyadus-Salihin p. 282. Bab 45; Hayatus-Sahaba II, 476; Jawahirul-Bukhari, p. 408; at-Taj V, 80; Tafsirul-Quranil-Azim II, 330 (related to al-Enfal, verse 74.)]

The text of the hadith is from Muslim.

The text that Bukhari and Muslim share has the following statement:

“I have not prepared a lot of fasting, prayer and charity for the Day of Judgment but I love Allah and His Messenger a lot.” [Riyadus-Salihin p. 282; at-Taj, V, 80; Jawahirul-Bukhari, .. 408 (Adab 96)]

According to what Anas narrates, a Bedouin Arab came to Madinah and the conversation above took place in the presence of a group of people. This man was not a person who claimed to love Allah and His Messenger and did not do any good deeds. As both Bukhari and Muslim state, it is understood that he performed prayers and fasting though he did not have many supererogatory (nafilah) deeds and that he loved the Messenger of Allah.  Otherwise, it is not enough to love Allah and His Messenger by just saying “I love them.”

The Messenger of Allah (pbuh) gives Anas the following advice: 

“...He who practices my sunnah is regarded to love me; he who loves me is with me in Paradise.” (Tirmidhi, Adab. 63)

What is essential in love is to try to be in the way of the beloved one and to try to live according to the beloved one. As it is stated above, a person will follow the religion of the person he loves.

For more information, click on the link given below;

How should we understand the hadith "A person will be with those whom he loves"?

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