On the Causes of Spiritual Abandonment and the Measure of Loyalty to the Ahl al-Bayt

✳️ Question
What are the reasons for disappointment or abandonment (khudhlān) in your view, especially in these days? Are there means that you see as influential in a person’s going astray, such that you would advise us to abandon them so as not to be led by them?

— And how do I recognize my loyalty to the Family of Muhammad? How do I know the extent of my love for the Ahl al-Bayt and the essence of the Message?

↕️ Answer
Its causes are negligence in obeying God and being lax regarding disobedience to Him, even if it is minor.
If God grants a Muslim success in repentance, then he should be extremely diligent in performing what God has made obligatory upon him and in abandoning acts of disobedience to God, both minor and major. Whoever does so will be granted, by God, divine success, assistance, increased insight, and … as the Exalted says:

“If you are mindful of God, He will grant you a criterion (of discernment).”
“And those who are guided—He increases them in guidance and grants them their God-consciousness.”

— Loyalty to the Ahl al-Bayt is manifested in following them and being guided by their path.

Answered by the esteemed Scholar and Mujtahid, Muhammad bin Abdullah Awad (may God preserve him).