The human being is a social creature and in need of connecting with others in order to survive. Nevertheless, he should secure his prosperity and salvation in this world and the next by selecting a worthy friend and keeping the friendship moderate, away from all exceeding of the limits or breaking Allah's (swt) laws.
Love denotes the highest level of affection for a person or thing and can be categorized into three types:
1) True Love; a love that lays deep inside the heart and begins and ends with Allah. There are other terms that are used for this type of love, such as ‘The Great Love’.
2) Metaphoric Love: Love whose subject is things in this world created by the Lord, such as the love one may have for another person and his virtues, this love is also called ‘The Smaller Love’.
3) False love: This love originates from lust and carnal desires and allows the nafs ammarah to take control, and leads to the domination of lust over one’s mind, resulting in one’s corruption and decline.
Any love for other than Allah (swt) and the infallibles is false.
The ways to prevent such friendships or free oneself of them can be counted as the following:
a) Being careful when choosing friends and observing Islamic laws (gender-wise) in the process.
b) Paying attention to the negative outcomes of excessive friendships.
c) Strengthening one’s true love (love of Allah (swt)) because if this love grows in the individual, other loves which contradict the love of Allah will fade away.