The Ruling on the Asha'irah's Denial of Love for Allah

Question:
He says: Honorable Shaykh, may Allah grant you success, do the Asha'irah believe in the truth of the attributes of Allah the Exalted? What is their interpretation in denying this attribute?

Answer:
The Jahmiyyah deny love, saying that Allah does not love anyone, and no one loves Him. Likewise, those who follow them in this, who say that love does not occur except for a purpose, like the Asha'irah, who say that love does not occur except for a purpose, or for a connection, and there is no connection between Allah and His creation. And Allah does not act for purposes, as they say. They deny wisdom in the actions of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He). All of this is a defect and is not permissible, and it is refuted against the Asha'irah and others.
And they purify their Lord from this. The Jahmiyyah say that love does not occur except for a connection between the beloved and the lover, and there is no connection between Allah and His creation. The Asha'irah say that love does not occur except for a purpose, and Allah is free from purposes. All of this is false speech. "He does not love except for a purpose"—this is the affair of the created beings. As for the affair of Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He), He is not measured by His creation, Glorified is He. This is false speech. We affirm what Allah has affirmed for Himself and deny of Allah what He has denied of Himself. Our evidence is the Qur'an and the Sunnah. As for the explanations, these are refuted against their owners. The scholars have distinguished regarding the connection. They say the connection may be a connection of kinship and lineage, which is denied of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). Or it may be a connection of similarity and likeness, where it is said, "So-and-so is a relative of so-and-so," meaning he resembles him, and this is also denied of Allah (Mighty and Majestic), because there is nothing like Allah.
And the third, the third type of the types of connection is agreement. The connection in the sense of agreement, and this is established in the right of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He). The agreement between the Creator and the created in obedience to Him and His Shari'ah (Glorified and Exalted is He). So the believers agree with Allah in what He has legislated for them, and Allah (Exalted and Majestic is He) agrees with them in their obedience and in acting according to His Shari'ah. This agreement is established in the right of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and His love is for that, for the agreement. When they agreed with what Allah commanded and what Allah prohibited, He loved them (Glorified and Exalted is He). When they agreed with the commands of Allah and His prohibitions and His Shari'ah, Allah loved them for that. Is there a danger in this or not? There is no danger in the agreement. So the saying of the Jahmiyyah is refuted, and the saying of the Asha'irah is refuted: that love is for a purpose, and Allah is free from purposes. We say this is false; this is in the right of the created beings.