What is the ruling on loving disbelievers, and is it permissible to love a disbelieving mother or disbelieving relatives who do not pray or who believe in soothsayers?

Love is of two types: permissible love and natural love.

Permissible love: It is not permissible to love disbelievers and transgressors due to their disbelief and transgression. Rather, it is obligatory to hate them for the sake of Allah, even if they are relatives, as Allah Almighty says: "You will not find a people who believe in Allah and the Last Day loving those who oppose Allah and His Messenger, even if they were their fathers or their sons or their brothers or their kindred" (Al-Mujadalah: 22).

Natural love: such as a father's love for his child. A servant is not held accountable for this because it is an instinct that a person cannot repel. The Prophet (peace be upon him) loved Aisha more than his other wives, and he did not control that, and the evidence for this is the saying of Allah Almighty: "And you will never be able to do perfect justice between wives, even if you should [eagerly] desire it. So do not incline completely [toward one] and leave another hanging" (An-Nisa: 129). Likewise, Allah Almighty revealed regarding Abu Talib: "Indeed, you do not guide whom you like" (Al-Qasas: 56).

There is no harm in natural love for disbelieving parents or relatives, but permissible love for them is not allowed. It is obligatory to hate them because of their disbelief, and to treat them with kindness and filial piety in apparent dealings, even if they strive to make the servant associate partners with Allah, provided that they are not obeyed in disobedience, as Allah Almighty says: "But if they endeavor to make you associate with Me that of which you have no knowledge, do not obey them but accompany them in [this] world with appropriate kindness and follow the way of those who turn back to Me [in repentance]" (Luqman: 15). This ruling applies to those who abandon prayer and those who believe fortune-tellers.