Verily, all praise is to Allaah, we seek Him, we repent to Him and we seek refuge in Him from the evil of our own souls. We ask Allaah subhana wa ta’aala to make us sincere to Him always and that He blesses our efforts. We also ask Allaah that whatever we learn here we can implement in our lives and in our heart and bring about a change in us for the better, Aameen.
We must have a deep love for Allaah’s Messenger rooted within out hearts. As the Prophet (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“None of you becomes a believer until I am dearer to him than his children, his parents and all mankind.” (Bukhari and Muslim)
So, it is clear from this hadeeth that in order to taste that sweetness of faith we must love Allaah and His messenger more than anyone or anything in this world. But our love for Allaah’s messenger isn’t enough, we have also been commanded to obey him (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam), as obedience to Allaah’s messenger is obedience to Allah azza wa jall.
“Say (to mankind O Muhammad), If you love God, follow me (and) God will love you…” (3:31)
The question is how much do you love Allah’s messenger?
Indeed, in order to love someone you must first know something about them. If I were to ask you – “Do you like a person named so-and-so?” you would probably ask, “Who’s that?”, only as I explain more about that person, would you develop a liking towards them. Therefore to increase in love for Allaah’s Messenger, you must first know about the person whom he was.Now, if I were to describe him to you now and go through all his qualities and characteristics, it would probably take me all day. Just to describe one thing about him – about his truthfulness; his honesty; the kindness he displayed towards the orphans and poor among his society; his behavior towards all people regardless of color, creed, rich or poor, Muslim or not; his treatment to his wives and how gentle he was towards children – all of that would take me longer this article has room for, and then I probably wouldn’t even do it justice at all because it would be without mentioning his achievements as a Messenger of God and his ability to inspire his companions, and indeed an entire nation, to carry the message of Islaam.
Therefore, I have taken a different approach as I think it would be effective for us to look at how much Allaah’s messenger loved us, for indeed he loved his Ummah very much (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam). So much so that he suffered tremendously for his people. The Quraysh taunted and ridiculed our beloved messenger. They put their efforts into degrading the Prophet as a man possessed by jinn or an insane person:
“And they say. O you (Muhammad) to whom the Dhikr (the Qur’an) has been sent down: ‘Verily you are a mad man’”. (15:6)
Eyes well up and hearts bleed at the thought of the atrocities committed against Allah’s messenger. It is reported that once while the prophet (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) was praying a man by the name of Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait placed the guts of a camel on the prophets shoulders while he was prostrating. SubhanAllaah, why did the prophet endure this kind of despicable treatment? Because he wanted the message of Islam to triumph over the kufr and shirk that was being committed by the people of that time and he wanted his Ummah, for the whole of mankind, to be free to worship Allaah, the one True God, in peace.
And he didn’t just care about the Muslims in his lifetime, no on the contrary, he loved the people of his Ummah regardless of if he saw them in his lifetime or if they came in the later generations. As he (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said:
“Glad tidings to the one who believed in me and saw me, and sevenfold glad tidings to the one who believed in me but did not see me.”
(Narrated by Ahmad)
The Messenger of Allaah cared so much about us that we made du’aa for us constantly. It is narrated from his wife A’ishah (may Allah be pleased with her):“Once, when I saw the Prophet in a good mood, I said to him: “O Messenger of Allaah! Supplicate to Allaah for me!”So, he said: “O Allaah! Forgive ‘A’ishah her past and future sins, what she has hidden, as well as what she has made apparent.” So, I began smiling, to the point that my head fell into my lap out of joy. The Messenger of Allaah said to me: “Does my supplication make you happy?”I replied: “And how can your supplication not make me happy?”He then said: “By Allaah, it is the supplication that I make for my Ummah in every prayer.”"
[as-Silsilah as-Sahihah (# 2254)]
And indeed this du’aa of his dosent stop there, for it is reported in Sahih Muslim that he (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) will continue to make du’aa for us even on the Day of Recompense. On that Day, when we will be up to our necks in our own sweat and the hearts will rise up to the throats with fear, even our own mothers will not help us, but he – the mercy to mankind - will be the only one caring about us. On that Day, people will get distressed with themselves and roam here and there, seeking an intercessor. They will go to Adam, Nuh, Ibrahim, Musa and Eesa (May the peace and blessing of Allah be upon them all) and get the same negative response. All the Prophets will answer in a similar fashion saying, “This high rank does not befit me, go to someone else”.So, finally after having been to all the Prophets, people will turn to the Seal of the Prophets, the Leader of all mankind, the intercessor of the sinners, the Mercy unto the entire creation (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam), he will answer, “I am for the intercession, I am for the intercession.” So, he will bow down in prostration to his Lord and his Lord the Supreme will proclaim, “O Muhammad! Lift up your head and speak, it will be heard! And seek, it will be granted! And intercede, for your intercession is acceptable!”
This is a great mercy from Allaah azza wa jall that on this Day when nobody will be caring about anyone else, the Messenger of Allah will be caring about his Ummah, about us. As Allaah subhana wa ta’aala said:
“We have not sent you (O Prophet) but as rahmah (mercy) to all the worlds.” (21:107)
And so selfless is he (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) that he has even saved his du’aa for us!
Abu Hurayrah said: The Prophet of Allaah (sallAllaahu `alayhi wa sallam) said: “There is for every Prophet a prayer which is granted, but every prophet showed haste in his prayer. I have, however, reserved my prayer for the intercession of my Ummah on the Day of Resurrection, and it would be granted, if Allaah so willed, in case of everyone amongst my Ummah provided he dies without associating anything with Allaah.” (Muslim)
The Messenger of Allaah (salAllaah alayhi wa sallam) would weep because of the depth of his fear for them and his compassion towards them.
It was narrated that ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr ibn al-‘Aas (may Allaah be pleased with him) said:
The Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) recited the verse about Ibraaheem (peace be upon him):
“O my Lord! They have indeed led astray many among mankind. But whoso follows me, he verily, is of me”
[Ibraaheem 14:36],
and the verse in which ‘Eesa said:
“If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them, verily, You, only You, are the All?Mighty, the All?Wise”
[al-Maa’idah 5:118].
Then he raised his hands and said:
“O Allaah, my ummah, my ummah.”
Allaah, may He be glorified and exalted, said:
“O Jibreel, go to Muhammad, although your Lord knows best, and ask him why he is weeping.”
So Jibreel (peace be upon him) went to him and asked him, and the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) told him what he said, although He knows best. Allaah said:
“O Jibreel, go to Muhammad and say: “I will make you pleased concerning your Ummah and not displeased.”
[Narrated by Muslim (202)]
So, now knowing how much love Allaah’s messenger has for us and how much he cares about his Ummah, it will insha’Allaah make us increase in our love for him also. But the real question remains: how do we show this love for him (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam)?
Firstly, we make du’aa for him
This can be done at any time but there is a special supplication that is recommended to make after the adhaan has been called:
Allaahumma rabba
hadhihi-d-da‘awati-t-tammati
wa-s-Salati-l-qa’imati,
ati Muhammadan il-wasilata wa-l-fadilata
wa-d-darajata-r-rafî‘ati wa-b‘ath-hu
maqamam mahmudan illadhi wa‘adtahu.
“0 Allah, Lord of this most perfect call, and of the Prayer that is about to be established, grant to Muhammad the favor of nearness (to You) and excellence and a place of distinction, and exalt him to a position of glory that You have promised him.”
Secondly, we send our salaams upon him
Meaning we invoke Allaah’s place and blessings upon him after his name is mentioned. This is a command from Allaah, Most High:
“Undoubtedly, God and His angels love glorify and bless the Prophet. O believers! You (too) love, glorify and bless the Prophet and salute him with all due respect.” (33:56)
But, why is it that we fail to do this tiny of tiniest good action? The Messenger of Allaah has done so much for this Ummah – the very least we can do is say ‘sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam’ after his name is mentioned – how easy is that? There Angels who are appointed by Allah subhana wa ta’aala all around the world waiting to carry a single invocation of peace upon him, and subhanAllah we even get rewarded for saying it…On the authority of Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) the Messenger of Allaah (sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam) said:
“For each time someone invokes salaah upon me, Allaah writes for him ten good rewards because of it.”
(An authentic hadith collected by Ibn Hibbaan in his Saheeh (#906, 3/187) Al-Albaanee declared it to be saheeh in Silsilatul-Ahaadeeth As-Saheehah (#3359, 7/1080).
Thirdly, we study his Seerah
We read more about his life and his manners and character because to know Allaah’s Messenger is to love him and studying the Seerah of our beloved Prophet is ibaadah in itself and it will increase your love for Allaah’s Messenger the more you find out about him.
Fourthly, we defend his honor
When his name is tarnished, we as his followers, should rise up to the challenge of defending him (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam), and I don’t mean by violent means as this is going against the sunnah of Rasulullaah. Instead we should write articles, books, talk about his person and about how he was the greatest human being ever to have loved. We should not be scared to mention his blessed name and be proud to say we follow Muhammad son of Abdullaah.
And last but certainly by no means least, we follow his Sunnah
If you truly love, him that will manifest in your action and you will follow his example and try to implement it in every sphere of your life. The people who do this are the true believers and it is those who get the highest success, as it is reported from Anas (radhiAllaahu anhu) that Rasulullaah (sallAllaahu alayhi wasallam) advised:
“Whoever cherishes my Sunnah, indeed he cherishes me and whoever loves me will be with me in Jannah.” (Sunan al-Tirmidhi Hadith2678; Ibid)
Therefore, if you follow Muhammad (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) you will never be disgraced. As Allaah says is
Surat at-Tahrim, Verse 8:
“O you who believe! Turn to Allaah with sincere repentance! It may be that your Lord will expiate from you your sins, and admit you into Gardens under which rivers flow (
Paradise) – the Day that Allaah will not disgrace the Prophet Muhammad and those who believe with him…”
Look at the Sahabah as an example of thisl (may Allaah be pleased with them all). They never hesitated to obey Allaah’s Messenger and to follow his example - Let us look to the best example of those who obeyed without hesitation – Abu Bakr (radi’Allaahu anhu). No one displayed their loyalty and allegiance to Allaah’s Messenger more than Abu Bakr As-Saddiq did; one beautiful hadith that illustrates perfectly this quality of his is the following in Abu Dawood: ‘Umar (radiAllaahu anhu) narrates: “The Messenger of Allah saws enjoined us to make a Sadaqah and I brought half of my money to him. When he asked me about what I had left for my family, I told him that I left for them the like of what I had brought. As regards Abu Bakr, he came with all that he had. The Messenger of Allah saws asked him what he had left for his family. He answered that he had left for them Allah and His Messenger. Then ‘Umar said: “I shall never compete with him in anything again.”Abu Bakr was also the first to believe in the Messenger of Allah (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) and ever since remained on the truth. The Prophet said: “I said: O you people! I am the Messenger of Allah to you all. And you replied: “You have lied! But Abu Bakr said: “You have said the truth!” (Al-Bukhari).So, what was the outcome for this unfaltering loyalty towards Allaah’s Messenger? The Prophet (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) said: “O Abu Bakr! You are the first person to enter
Paradise from my nation.” (Abu Dawood)SubhanAllaah, what more could you want than that? This is just one example of the Sahabahs loyalty to the Prophet. This, coupled with their unflinching love for the Prophet (salAllahu alayhi wa sallam) is what made them the best generation ever raised up from mankind.
So, know that you are not just following a great historical person; you are following the best of human existence. He was a father, husband, friends, statesman, neighbor, merchant, shepherd, warrior and the one whom Allaah chose to receive His divine revelation and convey that revelation to humanity. A revelation that if it had been reveled on a mountain it would have crushed it; yet Allaah, Most High, prepared the heart of Muhammad (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam) to receive such a power. You are following the life of the greatest. Michael H.Hart, in his book ‘The 100, a Ranking of the Most Influential Persons in History’, places our beloved Nabi at the top of this list. He writes:“My choice of Muhammad to lead the list of the world’s most influential persons may surprise some readers and may be questioned by others, but he was the only man in history who was supremely successful on both the religious and secular levels. Of humble origins, Muhammad founded and promulgated one of the world’s great religions, and became an immensely effective political leader…” So, if this is what a non-Muslim can say about the Prophet of Allaah, then we surely can say greater. Indeed, it is truly tragic that many human beings will not know this man and his legacy or if they do know about him, they so not follow his example. We, Muslims, must do our part in uncovering this great treasure – his life should be stamped upon our hearts and we must revive his Sunnah, wherever possible, and stick closely to it.
We ask Allaah to make us of those who truly love His Messenger, Muhammad (salAllaahu alayhi wa sallam), that He, azza wa jall, makes us of those who follow and implement his practices without hesitation, and of those who emulate his blessed character and defend his name in the best way. We also ask Allaah, subhana wa ta’ala, that He makes us of those who will be granted the intercession of the Rasulullaah and that we will be with him in the Firdous al a’la and able to drink from the river of al-Kauthar. May our Lord extol His peace and blessings upon Him, his family, his companions and all those who follow his righteous footsteps until the Day of Resurrection, Aameen.
“Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger (Muhammad) from amongst yourselves. It grieves him that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muhammad) is anxious over you; for the believers (he is) full of pity, kind, and merciful”
(al-Tawbah 9:128)
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