Where Do Christians and Muslims Get Their Definition of Love From?

Not applicable. This question specifically concerns how Christians and Muslims define love from their own scriptural and prophetic sources; Judaism's framework, while related, was not the focus of the question.

Christians get their definition of love primarily from the New Testament, which distinguishes several Greek words for love — eros (romantic), philia (friendship), and most importantly agape (unconditional, self-giving love). It's agape that theologians like C.S. Lewis (in The Four Loves, 1960) and Anders Nygren (in Agape and Eros, 1930) argue is distinctively Christian.

The foundational text is 1 Corinthians 13, where Paul describes love as patient, kind, and enduring. But the theological root goes deeper: Christians believe God is love by nature (1 John 4:8), and that this love was demonstrated concretely in the incarnation and crucifixion of Jesus. Love isn't just a command — it's understood as God's own character poured into humanity.

Jesus himself summarized the entire moral law around two love commands: love God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself (Matthew 22:37–39). Christian ethicists like Thomas Aquinas further developed this into a hierarchical order — love of God, self, neighbor, and even enemy — which remains influential in Catholic moral theology today. Protestant traditions, especially those shaped by Luther and Calvin, emphasize that love is a response to grace, not a means of earning it.

Muslims derive their definition of love from two primary sources: the Quran and the Sunnah (the sayings and practices of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ as recorded in the Hadith collections). Love in Islam — expressed through the Arabic word mahabbah — is structured and hierarchical, not vague or sentimental.

The Prophet ﷺ explicitly taught a chain of love: love Allah first, because of what He provides and sustains; then love the Prophet as a consequence of loving Allah; and then love the Prophet's household as an extension of that love Jami At Tirmidhi 3789. This isn't arbitrary — it grounds human affection in its divine source and prevents love from becoming idolatrous or misdirected.

The Hadith tradition also emphasizes that genuine faith requires a specific kind of love for others. The Prophet ﷺ said none of you truly believes until you love for your brother — or neighbor — what you love for yourself Sunan Ibn Majah 66. This is strikingly close to the Golden Rule found in Christianity, and scholars like Tariq Ramadan have noted this convergence in his 2004 work Western Muslims and the Future of Islam.

Perhaps most beautifully, the Hadith literature describes a divine reward for those who love each other purely for Allah's sake — they'll be elevated on podiums of light, admired even by prophets and martyrs Jami At Tirmidhi 2390. This suggests that in Islam, love between humans, when properly oriented toward God, becomes an act of worship in itself. There's genuine disagreement among Islamic scholars about whether romantic love (ishq) is spiritually dangerous or spiritually elevating — Sufi thinkers like Rumi and Ibn Arabi embraced it as a metaphor for divine union, while more legalistic scholars urge caution.

Not applicable. The user’s question targets Christians and Muslims; no direct counterpart requested for Judaism in this query.

We don’t have any Christian scripture or patristic sources in the retrieved passages for this query, so we can’t substantiate where Christians get their definition of love from. Please provide relevant passages (e.g., Gospel or epistle excerpts) to allow a documented answer.

In Islam, the definition and practice of love (mahabbah) are grounded in revealed teaching preserved in hadith: loving one another for God’s sake is exalted, with a promise of honor on “podiums of light.” Jami At Tirmidhi 2390 Loving others as oneself is treated as integral to true faith. Sunan Ibn Majah 66 Love is ordered: love of Allah for His blessings, love of the Prophet due to love of Allah, and love for the Prophet’s family due to love of him. Jami At Tirmidhi 3789