He who does his best to attain love of Allâhu ta’âlâ is called a Sâlih. He who has already attained this love is called an ’Ârif or Walî. He who is a means for others to attain love of Allâhu ta’âlâ is called a Murshid. These three people are called Sâdiq. It is purported in the thirty-first âyat of Sûra-t-u-Âl-i-’Imrân: “Tell them!: ‘If you love Allâhu ta’âlâ, adapt yourselves to me! For, Allâhu ta’âlâ loves people who adapt themselves to me.’ ” The symptom of loving Allâhu ta’âlâ is to adapt oneself to His Messenger. To adapt oneself (to His Messenger) means to obey His commandments and prohibitions. His commandments and prohibitions are called Ahkâm-i-islâmiyya. A person who claims to love Allâhu ta’âlâ has to adapt himself to Islam. A person who – 282 –has adapted himself to Islam is called a Muslim. Allâhu ta’âlâ has commanded Muslims to love one another, and not to love disbelievers, munâfiqs, and murtadds. Consequently, it has become an essential of îmân to love people who love Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is called hubb-i-fillah (love for the sake of Allah), and not to love enemies of Allâhu ta’âlâ, which is called bughd-i-fillah (hostility for the sake of Allah). A non-Muslim is called a kâfir (disbeliever, unbeliever). A person who reneges on Islam and becomes a non-Muslim is called a murtadd (renegade, apostate). An unbeliever who pretends to be a Muslim although he is a non Muslim is called a munâfiq. It is one of the essentials of îmân (being a Believer) to dislike these three people, all of them. It is purported in the hundred and twentieth âyat of the Sûrat-ut Tawba in the Qur’ân: “O Believers! Always, at all times be in company of Sâdiqs!” This âyat-i kerîma commands doing the râbita. It is declared in a hadîth: “All the blessings and nûr which Allâhu ta’âlâ poured into my heart, I have poured them into Abû Bakr’s heart.” Because Abû Bekr ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’ was ahead of all others in taqwâ and worshipping and because he realized better than anyone else did how great Rasûlullah was so that he himself was a mere nothing when compared with the Messenger of Allah, and because he won Rasûlullah’s love more than anyone else did, more fayds came to him than did to anyone else and he received all the fayds coming. As is understood from these and the like, our religion asks us to keep company with the Awliyâ, and to learn Rasûlullah’s path from them. Endless Bliss First Fasicle | Page 282-283