Saying "I love you for the sake of Allāh" to everyone — Shaykh Sulaymān ar-Ruḥaylī

بعض الناس كلما لقي إنسانا، قال [له]: "أحبك في الله". ولم يعلم سببا يقتضي حبه لله وفي الله.

Some people, whenever they meet someone, say [to him], "I love you for the sake of Allāh", even though they know of no reason that would warrant loving him for the sake of Allāh and in Allāh.

هذا غلط.

This is a mistake.

الحب لله وفي الله حب يقر في القلب،

Love for the sake of Allāh and for His sake(1) is a love that becomes firmly established in the heart,

لوجود سببه، لصلاح هذا الرجل، لاتباعه للسنة، لذبه عن السنة.

because of a reason that gives rise to it—such as this man's righteousness, his adherence to the Sunnah, or his defense of the Sunnah.

فإذا وجد الحب لله في القلب حقيقة، شرع للمرء أن يخبر أخاه بأنه يحبه لله، لتزداد المحبة بين المؤمنين.

So when [genuine] love for the sake of Allāh is truly present in the heart, it is then prescribed for a person to inform his brother [in faith] that he loves him for the sake of Allāh, so that love may increase between the believers.

(1): The Arabic expression "الحب لله وفي الله" combines two synonymous idioms. Here, 'في' carries the sense of causation ("for the sake of") and is used interchangeably with 'لـ' in the Sunnah. The shaykh's use of both expressions is a deliberate rhetorical reinforcement, not a distinction between two types of love. The translation therefore preserves the emphasis by rendering both with the same English expression rather than by translating the prepositions literally.