Can You Stop Sinning out of Love for Someone?

Stop sinning out of fear of Allah only

Refraining from sin will only save a person if it is done out of fear of Allah , may He be exalted, and veneration of Him.

Allah, may He be exalted, says (interpretation of the meaning):

{But as for he who feared the standing before his Lord and prevented the soul from [unlawful] inclination, then indeed, Paradise will be [his] refuge.} [an-Nazi‘at 79:40-41]

Can you refrain from sin out of love for Ahl al-Bayt?

As for refraining from sin out of respect and love for any created being, this is a type of shirk, and it is not permissible for a person to intend to do that, because refraining from sin is an act of worship, and worship cannot be directed to any except Allah, may He be exalted.

Ibn al-Qayyim (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Refraining from sin is of three types:

1. For which one will be rewarded.
2. For which one will be punished.
3. For which one will be neither rewarded nor punished.

The first type is when a person is aware of the prohibition and refrains from doing it for the sake of Allah, when he is able to do that thing.

The second type is when a person refrains from it for the sake of someone other than Allah, not for the sake of Allah. He will be punished for giving it up for the sake of someone other than Allah, just as he would be punished for doing something good for the sake of someone other than Allah. For this refraining is an action of the heart, and if he does that as an act of worship for anyone other than Allah, he deserves to be punished.” (Shifa al-‘Alil, p. 942)

Ibn Rajab (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“Thinking of doing bad deeds without actually doing them, according to the hadith of Ibn 'Abbas, will be recorded as one complete good deed. Similarly, according to the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, Anas and others, it will be recorded as a good deed. According to the hadith of Abu Hurayrah, the Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) stated that Allah said: “He only gave it up for My sake.”

This indicates that what is meant is the one who was able to do the sin of which he was thinking, but he refrained from it for the sake of Allah, may He be exalted. There is no doubt that this will be recorded for him as a good deed, because refraining from sin with this intention is a righteous deed.

As for the one who thinks of committing a sin, then refrains from doing it for fear of people, or to show off to them, it was said that he will be punished for refraining from it with this intention, because giving precedence to fear of people over fear of Allah is forbidden.

Similarly, intending to show off to people is haram, so if that is accompanied by refraining from sin for that purpose, he will be punished for refraining in that case.” (Jami‘ al-‘Ulum wa’l-Hikam, 2/321-322)

So what he must do is refrain from sin out of love for Allah, may He be exalted, and fear of Him.

For more, please see these answers: 45887 , 13220 and 100 .

And Allah knows best.