All praise is due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Muhammad. 

Scholars have differed regarding the ruling on describing a servant as loving Allah, the Exalted, with passion. There are two main opinions: 

The first opinion: It is permissible to use this expression; because "ʿishq" (loving with passion) in the Arabic language, as defined in "Al-Qamus" , means "the lover`s deep admiration for the beloved, or an excess of love." Al-Tha‘ālibī also stated in "Fiqh al-Lugha"  that it is "a name for that which surpasses the level of ordinary love."

Therefore, if the term is used in relation to a servant’s love for Allah and is intended to signify an intense love for Allah The Almighty, while maintaining Allah's transcendence from any negative connotations that this word might imply in human relationships, then there is no harm in using it.

Therefore, the usage of this term in the works of scholars should be understood in light of this. As Imam Al-Ghazali (may Allah have mercy on him) says: “Know that whoever truly knows Allah will inevitably love Him, and the more one's knowledge of Allah is strengthened, the more one's love for Him is intensified. When love becomes extremely intense, it is called ‘ishq (passionate love). Thus, ‘ishq simply refers to a deep and overwhelming love. For this reason, the Arabs said, ‘Indeed, Muhammad has become passionately in love with his Lord,’ when they observed him isolating himself for worship in the Cave of Hira.” This is mentioned in Ihya Ulum al-Din  .

 

The second opinion: It is prohibited to use the term "ishq" (passionate love) in reference to Allah, on the grounds that it implies an excessive and destructive form of love that corrupts one’s natural disposition. As Imam Al-‘Izz ibn Abd al-Salam (may Allah have mercy on him) explains: “It is not permissible to attribute ‘ishq to Allah or say that He experiences or inspires it, because ‘ishq is an excess of love that corrupts the natural state. Physicians have said it is a melancholic and obsessive condition brought upon by excessive contemplation of beauty and features. Whoever uses this term to describe their love for Allah should be reprimanded, and applying it to Allah's love for His servant is even worse and more serious. The punishment for this is greater because Allah is only described with attributes of perfection and majesty, as established by the Shari‘ah. Some scholars argue that one should not describe Allah’s essence or attributes with anything other than what has been used in the sacred texts. Others say it is permissible as long as there is no explicit prohibition in the Qur’an or Sunnah, citing examples such as using the terms ‘Allah knows’ and ‘Allah is aware’ interchangeably.”

The difference between ‘ishq (passionate love) and mahabbah (love) is that ‘ishq is a kind of corrupted love that makes the lover imagine the attributes of the beloved to be greater than they actually are. This cannot be conceived in relation to Allah, who sees things and knows them as they truly are. Likewise, ‘ishq is not used to describe the love a servant has for their Lord, because it implies imagining the beloved to possess more perfection than is real. As for Allah, no one surpasses Him in perfection, and it is impossible to imagine anything above His perfection." (End of quote from Fatawa al-‘Izz ibn ‘Abd al-Salam , Fatwa No. 192). And Allah The Almighty knows best.