Commanded to Love: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI | Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV

We have been commanded to obey him; we have been commanded to respect him; but the key to both these things lies in the fact that we are commanded to love him. This love is more than just mere lip service; it is a love that should encompass our lives. Nothing on this earth should be more dear to our hearts than the blessed Prophet of Allah ﷺ (peace be upon him). This is not simply a recommended emotion; rather it is one that we must feel in our hearts. It is narrated that the Prophet ﷺ said: “None of you will believe until I am more beloved to him than his children, his father and all people.” (Bukhari)

There are many benefits that one can reap by loving Rasulullah (the Prophet of Allah) ﷺ, both in this life and the next.  The Messenger of Allah ﷺ told us that that there are three things which, if one was to take refuge in them, makes one experience the sweetness of faith. We all crave this sweetness, which grants an internal happiness that cannot be matched. This sweetness can be enjoyed in this life, and makes worshiping Allah and striving in His cause much easier and enjoyable. The first of these three things is that Allah and His messenger are more beloved to the believer than anything else (Bukhari). Another benefit that we may receive from wholeheartedly loving the Prophet ﷺ is His companionship in Jannah (paradise). A man came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked, “When will the last Hour come, Oh Messenger of Allah?” The Messenger ﷺ responded, “What have you prepared for it?” The man said, “I have not prepared a lot of prayer nor fasting nor charity for it, but I love Allah and His Messenger.” The Prophet ﷺ then said, “You will be with the one you love.” (Bukhari)

Simply reading the accounts of how the companions loved and expressed their love for the Prophet ﷺ cause one’s emotions to stir in yearning for that nearness of heart to him. It is through their stories that we can find motivation to get to know and learn about him so that we too may love him as they did. Of these stories is that of a man who went to the Prophet ﷺ and declared his love for him, as well as one of his biggest concerns. He said, “Oh Messenger of Allah, I love you more than my family and my possessions. I remember you and I cannot wait until I can come and look at you. I remember that I will die and you will die, and I know that when you enter the Garden, you will be raised up with the Prophets. When I enter it, I will not see you.” It was not enough for this man to just want Jannah; rather his immense love caused him to crave the companionship of his beloved at that time when he could have anything and everything he wanted. It was at this point that Allah revealed, “And whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger – those will be with the ones upon whom Allah has bestowed favor of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions.” (Qur’an, 4:69)

Another heart-gripping story is that of a woman who went to our mother, Aisha, and asked her for permission to see the grave of Rasulullah ﷺ. Aisha took her to the grave and the woman, simply seeing the resting place of the Prophet ﷺ, wept until she died. Allahu akbar (God is the Greatest).

Seeing the immense love of the companions for the Prophet ﷺ can, at times, make us feel discouraged, thinking that we can never reach this level of love having never met him. These are the whispers of Shaytan (Satan) trying to drag us away from one of the most rewarding feelings ever gifted to man. The Prophet ﷺ himself reassures us of this by saying, “Those in my community with the strongest love for me are the people who will come after me. Some of them would give their family and wealth to have seen me.” (Muslim, al-Bukhari)

May Allah cause us to be of those people who would give up our family and wealth to have seen him ﷺ.

Originally published in July 2011

Commanded to Love: Part I | Part II | Part III | Part IV | Part V | Part VI |Part VII | Part VIII | Part IX | Part X | Part XI | Part XII | Part XIII | Part XIV

It’s hard, living so far away from a man we love so much. It’s hard, not being able to see his blessed face ourselves, or smell the sweet smell that he was famous for emitting. It’s hard not having witnessed the epitome of human mercy. It’s hard not ever being able to hear his blessed voice reciting the Qur’an. But most of all, it’s hard not knowing—would he love me if he knew me? Take comfort, he loved you more than you could even imagine.

We know that the relationship between our beloved Messenger ﷺ (may the peace and blessings of God be upon him) and his Companions was a very unique relationship. They loved him greatly and it was easy to see that he loved them as well. They believed in the message he brought while many of his people mocked him and belittled him. They were by his side in the tough times, willing to sacrifice their very own lives for him. Often it is easy to wish and crave that we were in their shoes, loving the Prophet ﷺ whole heartedly and being loved.

Our beloved Messenger ﷺ, a few days before the greatest calamity, his very own death, was walking by his Companions (as at this time he had difficulty walking on his own) and uttered words that will fill any Muslim’s heart with joy and comfort. He said to them, ‘I wish that I could meet my brothers.’ At first glance it is easy to assume that he is talking about the previous Prophets or Messengers from the past. The Companions were also confused so they asked him, ‘Are we not your brothers?’ He replied, ‘You are my companions; my brothers are those who will believe in me, without having seen me.’

Allahu Akbar! (God is Great!)

He yearned to meet us. His heart was filled with true love for us: the ones who believe in him yet have not seen him, and if there is one thing we know about his love-it’s that it is not superficial love. There is no greater feeling in this world than to love and to be loved back, now imagine loving the best of creation, and knowing for a fact that he loved you right back. Wa alhamdulillah (and Praise be to God).

May we be included in those whom he speaks about when he says ‘my brothers are those who will believe in me without having seen me’ and may we drink from his blessed hands at the fountain on the Day of Judgment. And most of all, may we be blessed with his blessed companionship in Jannah (Paradise) and never again have to be separated from our beloved, sal Allahu alayhi wa salam.

As we’ve traveled through our journey in this series, we have covered the meaning of love, the necessity of love, and the description of the beloved himself ﷺ (peace be upon him). Now that this series has come to an end,  we should take the knowledge we have gathered and reflect upon it, brewing love in our hearts, and using this as encouragement to look further into the demeanor and characteristics of our beloved Muhammad ﷺ and use this knowledge to truly miss the man we never met.

It’s a strange concept for the mind to comprehend,
but the heart beats strong and aches with no amend,
Missing him, with every beat,
Craving his presence through every defeat.

Tears pour down, for this Beloved Soul,
I want you near me now, before I lose control–
The Man who helped those in need,
the Man who, by Allah’s will, guided people away from violence and greed–

He made everyone he met feel worthy of living,
Gave them hope in Allah, the Merciful and Forgiving.
He soothed the souls and cooled the eyes,
He wouldn’t tolerate behavior filled with deceit and hurtful lies.

Today I close my eyes, and imagine him near.

I’ve never seen his face, but his silhouette I can see clear.

What would He do today, if He was here with us
to witness the deceit–the lies–the human lives lead by lusts?

I ask Allah to forgive you and me tonight.
May He cause us to be of those who in His cause we fight­­–
not a fight with swords–guns and other weapons­–
the fight of a soul who is preparing to be reckoned.

It’s a strange concept for the mind to comprehend,
but the heart beats strong and aches with no amend,
Missing him, with every beat,
Craving his presence through every defeat.

Missing the man I never met–
But even that aching pain is a God-send.

We have often heard from our parents stories from their childhood that seem completely fantastic to us. The endless number of miles that they had to walk to get to school or the fact that they were given one pencil to use for the entire year and the unbelievable trouble that they would get into if they lost that one pencil! More fantastic than those stories of struggle and frugality were the times that we were informed about the degree of respect that they had for their parents. How they were not allowed to speak in the presence of most elders and the thought of talking back to a mother, or father, or grandparent never crossed their minds. Disobeying an adult, even a neighbor, was a punishable offence at home and completely unacceptable socially.

The stories seem so fantastic because the majority of parents now days seem to spend their time negotiating with their children and are plagued by the “why?” questions. On every little thing the kids seem to roll their eyes and ask: Why do I have to do my school work? Why do I have to do the dishes? Why do I have to make my bed? Why can’t I play on the Xbox for 20 hours straight? Why do I have to listen to you? But why? A question that got someone into eternal trouble when he asked, “Bow down! But why? I am better than him.”

Parents seem to be sweating under the blaze of these interrogating questions even as their homes and their hearts shake to the sound of slamming doors. This attitude of disrespect becomes truly dangerous when it is brought to compliance on religious matters. Then the question becomes why do I have to pray? Why do I have to fast? Why can’t I wear the super tight skinny jeans? The questions are sometimes driven by a sincere desire to understand and sometimes they are used as tools to chip away at the patience of the worn out parents. Some parents repeatedly buckle under the pressure of society that their child seems to have on his/her side.

Apart from teaching the ritual aspects of the religion, it is our responsibility to inculcate in our youth the love of Allah and His Messenger. The ability to obey Allah and carry out His commands comes only if this love is foremost in the heart. It cannot be created by bombarding them with lists of haram (forbidden) and halal (permissible) that they disregard because in the greater society almost everything is permissible.

“. . . But those who believe, love Allah more (than anything else) . . .” (Qur’an 2:165)

Say, [O Muhammad], “If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.” (Qur’an 3:31)

It is difficult to convey this emotion of love and reverence to a generation that is essentially being taught that respect to any authority figure is ‘un-cool.’ In order to reach across this generation gap we need to couch these terms in language and place them in contexts that they can relate to.  For example in most well known commentaries of Surah Al-‘Asr a quote from Imam Razi is mentioned. Imam Razi has cited a scholar as saying, “I understood the meaning of Surah AI-`Asr from an ice-seller, who was calling aloud for the attention of the people repeatedly in the bazar: ‘Have mercy on the one whose wealth is melting away!’ Hearing what he was crying I said to myself: this then is the meaning of Wal- asr-i innal-insana la-fi khusr-in. In order to contextualize this in modern terms you could take the name of the person who sells snow cones at the masjid (mosque) every time there is an event and ask your child how would Uncle so and so get his money if no one bought the snow cones and all his ice melted away. Our time is running out just like his ice is melting so we should also do good and tell others to do good or we will also be in loss. Br. Nouman’s Tafseer of Surah Al-Asr is outstanding, especially the analogy of the drowning man which he presents at the end of Part 1.

Abdullaah ibn Hishaam said: “We were with the Prophet ﷺ (May the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and he was holding the hand of ‘Umar ibn al-Khattaab. ‘Umar said to him: ‘O Messenger of Allah, you are dearer to me than everything except my own self.’ The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘No (that is not right), by the One in Whose hand is my soul, until I am dearer to you than your own self.’ ‘Umar said to him, ‘Now, by Allah, you are dearer to me than my own self.’ The Prophet ﷺ said: ‘Now (you are right), O ‘Umar.’” (Reported by al-Bukhaari, no. 6632)

This ideal of a profound love where Rasulallah ﷺ  is more beloved than even one’s own self was something that Hazrat Umar radi Allahu anhu (May Allah be pleased with him) initially found difficult to grasp. But at the Prophet’s gentle reminder he agreed that indeed he loved Rasulallah ﷺ more than he loved himself. Contrast this with the attitude of the Muslims today. There are those who take their reverence too far so as to almost deify him and then there are others who are completely apathetic towards his personality. There are those of our youth masha’Allah (God has willed it) whose hearts are imbued with the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta’ala (Glorified is He) and his Messenger ﷺ and, insha’Allah (God willing), we pray that Allah (swt) keeps them on guidance and they can lead us in the future. But there are others who flippantly pass judgment on his character or relegate him to a time 1400 years ago even though Allah (swt) called him a Mercy to all of Mankind. They make snide, disrespectful remarks about his family life as if they have the right to do so even though Allah (swt) warned the believers that were with him that the slightest hint of disrespect to the Messenger ﷺ could destroy their deeds:

O you who have believed, do not raise your voices above the voice of the Prophet or be loud to him in speech like the loudness of some of you to others, lest your deeds become worthless while you perceive not. (Qur’an 49:2)

Imagine that you are walking with a friend and someone holds the door open for you. You might smile at the person and say a polite thank you and move on. If it is your habit to pass comments on other peoples clothing you might say, “Did you see what he was wearing?”

Now imagine that you are hiking in a mountainous region with a group of people. The air becomes crisp as the altitude increases. You are enjoying the magnificent scenery when suddenly you lose your footing and begin to slide down the steep precipice. The person behind you lunges and grabs your hand and without a care for his own safety he hangs on to you, literally for dear life. (Yes, I know it sounds like a cheap movie but bear with me.) When they finally haul you up to safety you thank your savior profusely and say that you are indebted to them forever. No one would be so low as to pass comments about the appearance of the person who had just rescued them from near certain death. You would probably do something special to express you gratitude, possibly try to repay the favor by sacrificing something for their sake and developing a close relationship in the process.

We are also on the treacherous path of life and we are constantly losing our footing. The danger is not that we will fall to a certain death in some valley but the fear is that we will fall in the eternally blazing pit of hellfire. The Prophet ﷺ is the person who reaches out to save us. He has no selfish motives, no greed for recompense and no desire for gratitude. His only concern was to convey the message that Allah (swt) had entrusted him with so that he could save us from the hellfire. This was his one consuming concern even as he suffered persecution at the hands of his own people and was driven out of his beloved city.  Allah (swt) comforts him with the words:

Perhaps, [O Muhammad], you would kill yourself with grief that they will not be believers. (Qur’an 26:3)

I used the word “us” because he spoke of you and me to his companions:

Anas bin Malik (ra) narrates that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “I wish that I could meet my brothers.” The Sahabah (companions of the Prophet ﷺ ) asked: “Aren’t we your brothers?” He replied: “You are my Companions, but my brothers are those who will believe in me without having seen me.”
(This version is found in Musnad Ahmad and Al-Albani graded it saheeh in al-Silsilah al-Saheehah#2888)

He worried about us when he was on this earth and he will worry about us on the Day of Judgment when the people will plead with the Prophets to intercede so that the accounting can begin. Every other Prophet will cry ‘nafsi, nafsi’ (‘myself, myself’), only Muhammad al-Mustafa ﷺ will say ‘ummati, ummati’ (‘my people, my people’).

Abu Hurayrah reported that the Prophet ﷺ said, “All of my Ummah will enter Paradise except those that refuse.”

Those who were with him (the Sahabah) said, “And who will refuse?”

He ﷺ said, “Whoever obeys me will enter Paradise, and whoever disobeys me will have refused.” (Bukhari)

The Messenger of Allah ﷺ is still reaching for us as we travel through the slippery slopes of our existence. His words, deeds and his character, which were the embodiment of the teachings of the Qur’an, beckon to us through the ages. Maybe the ‘why’ question that we should be asking ourselves is, “Why do I not love the Messenger of Allah ﷺ more than I love myself? He cared so deeply for my well-being why am I not willing to sacrifice anything in his obedience? Why do I brush aside his example and clutch at the straws of culture and fashion as if they are going to save me from the fire? The truly fantastic thing is that salvation is within our reach and we are saying, “It’s ok, I don’t wish to be saved.”

May Allah (swt) fill our hearts with the love of Allah and his Messenger ﷺ and make us worthy of his company in Paradise.