ahbāb (Sufism Glossary)

There is no fixed number for the ahbāb. Sometimes they are many, sometimes few. Allah, Exalted is He, says about them: "Then Allah will bring a people He will love and who will love Him" (al-Māʾida 5:54). Because they are muḥibbūn (those who love), He subjected them to the trial of love (ʿishq); after succeeding in this trial, they became maḥbūbūn (those who are loved). Once they became maḥbūbūn, Allah chose and distinguished them. This group is divided into two categories: the first are those whom He loved from the beginning; the second are those whom He enabled to obey the Messenger of God (peace be upon him). Their obedience to Allah, Exalted is He, bore for them the fruit of maḥabbatullāh (love of Allah). (Nebhānī, I, 48)