Loving and glorifying the Sunnah – I

Do you truly love the Messenger of Allaah ? A fundamental of our religion, and a tenet of our faith, is to love him.

Allaah Says what means: “Say [O Muhammad]: ‘If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allaah and His Messenger and Jihaad  in His cause, then wait until Allaah executes His command. And Allaah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people.” [Quran 9: 24]

Al-Fudhayl ibn ‘Iyaadh  said: “This verse is enough of an evidence to prove the obligation of loving the Prophet  because Allaah dispraised in it those whose wealth, family or children are dearer to them than the love of Allaah and His Messenger describing them as defiantly disobedient at its conclusion.”

Love of the Prophet  branches from Allaah’s love of him; our love of the Prophet  is due to the fact that Allaah loves him, and because Allaah sent him to us as His Messenger, as well as the fact that Allaah instructs us to make him dearer to our hearts than our own souls. He Almighty Says what means: “The Prophet is more worthy of the believers than themselves…” [Quran 33: 6]

This means that the believer should love the Prophet sallallaahualayhi wa sallam more than he loves his own self.

This love entails full obedience, submission and acceptance; it also entails favouring the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam over oneself, one’s family and one’s wealth, and to surrender to theProphet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam the controlling direction that one has over himself.

The influence that the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam should have over us is greater than that which a master has over his slave, or a father has over his child. We should have no control over ourselves except in acting in accordance with the way he directed us to.

It is for every Muslim to prove his love for him, which can be determined according to the following narration of the Prophetsallallaahu alayhi wa sallam: “There are three qualities; whoever has them will taste the sweetness of faith: To love Allaah and His Messenger () more than anyone else…" [Al-Bukhaari & Muslim]

One will never taste the sweetness of faith except after achieving this, as he  said in another narration: “I swear by the One in whose Hand my soul is! None of you will truly believe until I become dearer to him than his child, his father and all of mankind." [Al-Bukhaari & Muslim]

This love is not simply an emotion that is confined to the heart, but rather it has implications and effects. This love makes the slave achieve a rank that he would not otherwise achieve by means of his bodily deeds, as in the narration of Ibn Mas`ood  who said: “A man came to the Messenger of Allaah  and said: ‘O Messenger of Allaah! When will the Hour (i.e., the Day of Resurrection) come?’ He  replied: “What have you prepared for it?” The man said: ‘Only my love of Allaah and His Messenger.’ The Messenger of Allaah then said: “You will be with those whom you love.”” [Al-Bukhaari & Muslim]

It is not as important to know when the Hour will occur as it is to prepare for its arrival, and this is the reason why the Prophet drew this to the attention of the man by asking him that question.

Anas  said: “After being blessed by embracing Islam, we never rejoiced at anything as much as we did about this answer of theProphet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam to that man. I love Allaah, His Messenger  Abu Bakr and ‘Umar  and hope to be with them (in the Hereafter) even if I cannot perform the good deeds they did.” [Al-Bukhaari & Muslim]

The Companions  had great love for the Prophet sallallaahualayhi wa sallam, to the extent that they would face arrows that were being fired in his direction to shield him. They would risk their lives for him and sacrifice everything for his rescue. ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas  said: “There was no one dearer to me or more glorified than the Prophet ; I could never look him directly in the eye due to the extent of my glorification, and if someone were to ask me to describe him, I would not be able to, as I never looked at him for long enough to be able to describe him.” [Muslim]

When Abu Sufyaan  was still a disbeliever, he asked Zayd ibn Thaabit  who was taken as a hostage and being brought out by the people of Makkah to execute: “Do you not wish that Muhammad was in your place and that we killed him instead, while you could go to your family and be with them?” He  replied: “I swear by Allaah! I would rather be here facing this than have him even being pricked by a thorn.” Upon hearing this, Abu Sufyaan  said: “I never saw a people who love a man more than the companions of Muhammad love him.” Such incidents greatly affected the disbelievers and caused many of them to embrace Islam.

A man from the Ansaar  came to the Prophet  and said: “You are dearer to me than myself, my child, my family and my wealth, and I feel as if I am dieing when I do not see you.” Then he began to cry. The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam asked: “Why are you crying?” The man replied: “I remembered that we will die and you will die, then you will take your place in Paradise with the other Messengers and Prophets, while we, if indeed we do enter Paradise, will be lower in rank than you, and thus we will not be able to see you in Paradise.”

Note how much they loved him; they were worried about not seeing him, despite the fact that they may also be in Paradise.

The Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam did not comment on his words until Allaah revealed the following verses which mean: “And whoever obeys Allaah and the Messenger – those will be with the ones upon whom Allaah has bestowed favour of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions. That is the bounty from Allaah…” [Quran 4: 69-70] Thereupon the Prophet sallallaahu alayhi wa sallam summoned him and said: “Glad tidings to you!” [Al-Bayhaqi]

Once, a female companion was waiting at the approach to Al-Madeenah for the return of the Muslim army from the battle of Uhud. She was informed that her husband, brother and father were killed, but her only reply was: “What happened to the Prophet?” They told her that he  was fine and unharmed, but she insisted to seeing him so that she would be sure that he was truly safe. When she did see him, she remarked: “Any affliction, after seeing that you are safe, is minor.”

Loving and glorifying the Sunnah – II

Loving and glorifying the Sunnah – III