What is our position regarding Al-Mu'tasim Billah, who tortured scholars for not asserting the creation of the Quran, and what about the issue of loving him? Does loving him entail being resurrected with him, due to the Prophet's (ﷺ) saying: "You are with whom you love"?

The Muslim's stance towards a disobedient person or an innovator balances loyalty and love to the extent of their faith, and enmity and hatred to the extent of their disobedience. Thus, a believer must be shown loyalty, even if they commit injustice, and an unbeliever must be shown enmity, even if they do good. If a person combines good and evil, they are shown loyalty in proportion to the good and enmity in proportion to the evil.

Love for someone who openly practices innovation or فسق (transgression/immorality) is not entirely condemned unless it is for the sake of their innovation. However, loving them for their faith is legitimate, and natural love (like kinship or nobility) is permissible.

One cannot definitively determine the fate of Al-Mu'tasim or others in the afterlife, as that rests with Allah. One should not testify that a specific individual is in Hell, as there might be impediments or conditions unknown to us. However, whoever loves him for his injustice and innovation is blameworthy.

Yazid ibn Mu'awiyah and those like him are neither to be cursed nor loved with the love reserved for the righteous. This is because they were kings, and Ahl al-Sunnah (the People of the Sunnah) do not approve of cursing a specific Muslim.