8. Secretly and privately serving Allah during the last third of the night

by offering supererogatory prayer, reciting the Qur'~, asking Allah's forgiveness and repenting of sins. 9. Accompanying righteous people who strive to be near Allah, and benefiting from what they say. 10. Avoiding any cause, leading the heart to be occupied with matters, which avert man's heart from Allah. Among the consequences ofman's attachment to Allah is to love His Messenger (PBUH). Al-Bukhad and Muslim narrated on the authority of Anas Ibn Malik (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah (PBUH) said: "None ofyou will have (a complete) faith until he loves me more than hisfather, his children and all mankind." Therefore, man can never attain perfect beliefuntil the Messenger ofAllah (PBUH) becomes dearer and nearer to him than his own self and all other people. Love for Allah's Messenger (PBUH) is adjacent to man's love for Allah. Whosoever loves Allah's Messenger should follow in his footsteps. Thus, anyone who claims that he loves the Messenger while obeying heretics and deviant scholars or those retaining false allegations, he is not true with regard to what he claims; the true lover always has affection for the ones whom he loves. Therefore, those who innovate acts in the religion which contradict the exemplary Sunnah of the Prophet (PBUH), such as commemorating the birthday of the Prophet or going beyond legally permitted limits of praising him (PBUH), are liars. Similarly, those who invoke the Prophet (PBUH) seeking support and relief from him are heretics. They allege their love for the Prophet, though it is dearly false. They are the ones depicted in the Qur'anic verse, which states: "But they [i.e., the hypocrites] say, eWe have believed in Allah and in the Messenger, and we obey'; then a party ofthem turns away after that. And those are not believers." (Quran: An-Nu.r: 47) Although the Prophet (PBUH) has prohibited all such Bid'ahs (matters innovated in religion), those claiming his love still perpetrate these Bid'ahs.