Assalamaulikum wa rahmatullahi wabarakaatuhPeople claim that Allah said, "Hate the sinner and not the sin"Is this true? If so, could kindly quote the reference.

All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and that Muhammad is His slave and Messenger.

This is not true; rather, what is true is the opposite. It is an obligation on every Muslim to hate the sin in terms that it is a disobedience to Allah.

As regards the sinful person, he is loved for the good things that he does and he is hated only for his disobedience to Allah.

Ibn Al-Jawzi said in his book At-Tabsirah: “Abu Ad-Dardaa’ passed by a man who committed a sin, and the people were insulting him, so he said to them, “Do you see if he fell into a well, would you not take him out of it (i.e., rescue him)?” They said: “Yes, we would.” He said: “Hence, do not insult your brother and thank Allah Who spared you from what he did.” They said: “Do not you hate him?” He said: “I hate his action; if he abandons it, then he is my brother.” [End of quote]

Allah knows best.