The Quran

ذٰلِكَ الَّذي يُبَشِّرُ اللَّهُ عِبادَهُ الَّذينَ آمَنوا وَعَمِلُوا الصّالِحاتِ ۗ قُل لا أَسأَلُكُم عَلَيهِ أَجرًا إِلَّا المَوَدَّةَ فِي القُربىٰ ۗ وَمَن يَقتَرِف حَسَنَةً نَزِد لَهُ فيها حُسنًا ۚ إِنَّ اللَّهَ غَفورٌ شَكورٌ

Ali Unal

That it is of which God gives the glad tidings to His servants who believe and do good, righteous deeds. Say: “I ask of you no wage for it (for conveying God’s Religion to you, which will bring you this favor), but (I ask of you for) love for my near relatives (on account of my mission).”¹ Whoever scores a good deed, We increase him in good in respect of it. Surely God is All-Forgiving, All-Responsive (to gratitude).

All love is essentially for God, and all other loves should be on account of Him; and even love for the Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, is essentially on account of God. Otherwise, love for any other being, without considering God or that being’s relationship with God, may lead to perdition, like the love of many Christians for Jesus, upon him be peace, which has caused them to deify him, and the inordinate love of many Shi’ites for ‘Ali, may God be pleased with him, which has led many of them, tragically, to disparage the majority of other Companions and his beloved wife, Āishah. The reason why God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, asked his community to love his near relatives, including his household in particular (‘Ali, Fātimah, Hasan and Husayn – the latter two being his grandsons from Fātimah and ‘Ali) was because of the great service they and their descendants would provide for Islam until Judgment Day.