The Legal Criterion for Loving Allah and His Messenger

Question:
This one says, may Allah bless you. The questioner says: Allah the Exalted said: He asks, may Allah bless you: What is the legal criterion for loving Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) and loving His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)?

Answer:
And blessings and peace be upon the Messenger of Allah, and upon his family and all his Companions. Loving Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He) is the greatest type of worship. As al-Hafiz Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said in *al-Nuniyyah*: “And the worship of the Most Merciful is the ultimate goal of His love, along with the humility of His worshipper. These are two poles, and upon them revolves the orbit of worship. It revolves until the two poles stand firm, and its orbit is by the command of the command of His Messenger, not by desire, the self, or Shaytan.” So worship is the ultimate goal of love combined with the ultimate goal of humility. This is the foundation of worship. And the believers love Allah with pure love.
As for the polytheists, they love Allah and they love others along with Him. So it is a polytheistic worship because it is shared; they made it shared between Allah and His creation. . Among the polytheists, is there anyone who loves Allah (Mighty and Majestic) more than the polytheists love their idols? Yes.