Love for the Holy Prophet [PBUH] is a Part of Faith

Muslims all over the world love Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] dearly. He is respected not only amongst the Muslims but many non-Muslims have also extolled him for his extraordinary qualities and the message he brought. But perhaps many are not aware of the fact that this love for the Prophet [PBUH] is in fact a necessary part of a Muslim's faith without which his very belief would be considered incomplete. We should first ask ourselves what kind of love the Prophet [PBUH] approved of and what expressions of love did he reject? Scholars have stated certain signs of the Prophet [saw]s love that can be summarized as follows: 1. To have a strong desire to see and to be in the company of the Prophet [PBUH] 2. To be ever-ready to sacrifice one's life and wealth for the Prophet [PBUH] 3. To obey what the Prophet [PBUH] commanded and abstain from what he forbade 4. To support and favour the Prophet's Sunnah and to defend the Shariah that was revealed to him True love, in the Prophet's [PBUH] eyes was therefore obedience to his Sunnah and following his path. Where is this obedience in our lives today in our lifestyles, our homes, our weddings, our festivals or deaths? Can we really think that the love Prophet [PBUH] wanted from us was to decorate mosques and buildings in Rabi-ul-Awwal, to hold gatherings of poetry in his honour once a year on his birthday and that's all? The Prophet [PBUH] had himself warned against such innovations, "Whoever has performed a deed which is not in the religion from its inception is rejected [not acceptable to Allah]. [Bukhari and Muslim] Love for The Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] is a measure of one's iman and our iman is completed and perfected only when our love for the Prophet [PBUH] exceeds our love for everything else in this world, including our own lives. The Holy Qur'an says: "The Prophet is preferable for the believers even to their own selves..." (33:6) This is a definitional sentence which tells us what it takes to be a believer: preferring the Prophet [PBUH] even to one's own life. In confirmation of this the Prophet Muhammad [PBUH] is reported in Hadith to have said: "None of you becomes a believer until I am dearer to him than his children, his parents and all mankind." (Bukhari and Muslim) Some versions add: "his life, his wealth and his family".

I want to explain the qualities of the beloved Prophet [PBUH], which makes him [PBUH] the best Ideal to be followed, till the Day of Judgment. We, as a Muslim, must maintain four types of relations with our Prophet [PBUH], in order to make our faith perfect and complete. If any relation or connection out of these four relations becomes weak, then our faith weakens. These four connections can be stated as follows. 1. We must love of Holy Prophet [PBUH] more than anything in this world, including our lives. 2. We must obey each and every commandment given by Holy Prophet [PBUH] 3. We must adopt all the acts practically demonstrated by Holy Prophet [PBUH], in our daily lives. 4. We must respect Holy Prophet [PBUH] more than anything else, within the entire creation of Almighty Allah. The best of believers, the suhaba (companions of the Prophet), did show such love for the Prophet, especially the noblest of them. Hazrat Ali, speaking on behalf of all the community of suhaba in Medina, is reported to have said:

"The Holy Prophet is dearer to us than our wealth, our children, our fathers, our forefathers, our mothers and cool water at the time of severe thirst."

The firmly established principle in Islam that our iman is as good as our love for the Prophet [PBUH] is fairly and accurately expressed by an Urdu poet when he says: "Without love for the Prophet it is difficult to find God; He who is not of the Prophet's cannot be of God. Without love for Muhammad faith cannot be complete; To be a Muslim it is not enough to believe in God. Daily prayers, charity, fasting and hajj are fine; But despite these I cannot be among the faithful. Unless I am ready to be sacrificed for the honour of Muhammad; God is witness - my faith cannot attain perfection."

Love of the Prophet [PBUH] breathes life into our practice of religion. Without it our religion reduces to an empty adherence to a set of dead rules and rituals.

THE MEANING OF THIS LOVE FOR THE PROPHET [PBUH]

At one level it seems clear why the faithful should love the Prophet [PBUH]: He is their teacher, guide and leader and it is impossible for him to teach, guide and lead them if they don't love him. But there is a deeper meaning in the principle that loves for the Prophet is essential for iman. Love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable and which the Prophet as al-insan al-kamil (the Perfect man) possessed in the utmost degree. Love for the Prophet [PBUH] means to acknowledge, cherish and glorify all the potential of goodness and greatness that God has created within Man. There are two closely interconnected sides of iman. One is divine and consists of recognizing God and being at peace with Him. The other is recognizing one's own self and being at peace with oneself. The two sides are like two sides of a coin, none of which can exist without the other. This is shown by numerous verses in the Qur'an and Hadith of the Prophet. For example, the Prophet is reported to have said that he who recognized his own self recognized his Lord. Approaching the same principle from the other direction, the Qur'an says: "That those who forget God are made to forget their own selves" (59:19). The word Islam means being at peace with God and this is linked in the Qur'an with being a self at peace with itself. The love of the Prophet [PBUH] represents the human side of faith as man the Prophet [PBUH] represents a believers own true self. His love for the Prophet [PBUH] means that he has recognized his own true self and is at peace with himself which in turn means that he has recognized his Lord and made peace with Him by surrendering to Him. Our love for the Prophet [PBUH] can be expressed by glorifying and blessing him. A verse in the Holy Qur'an mentions the three aspects under the single term salat `ala an-nabi. The Arabic phrase salat `ala has three meanings: 1) Turning to someone with love and affection. 2) Glorifying or praising someone. 3) Blessing or favoring someone.

In the above verse all three meanings can be applied so that the verse can be translated as follows: "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) How do God and His angels love, glorify and bless the Prophet and how can we do the same? The least way in which God loves the Prophet is that He makes His beloved anyone who follows him, as it is said in the Qur'an: "Say (to mankind O Muhammad), If you love God, follow me (and) God will love you..." (3:31)

Abu Hurayra reported the Prophet as saying: "I will be the leader of all the children of Adam on the day of judgment. My grave will be the first to open. I will be the first to intercede and my intercession will be accepted first." Some Muslims hesitate to declare the Prophet as the greatest of all the Prophets because the Qur'an says: "(The believers) make no distinction between any of His messengers." (2:285) But the Holy Qur'an also says: "Some of these messengers have We favored more than others..." (2:253) Allah complete and final Message has been conveyed to us through the Quran and the Sunnah. It is our duty to revive our knowledge of Allah's Message as exemplified by the holy Prophet [PBUH]It is really strange that while the knowledge of Allah's Message is available to one and all, we find an appalling diversity in our actions. How can our actions be different, when we are all beneficiaries of the same source of knowledge and guidance? It may be so because of our lack of sincerity and devotion in acquiring the true knowledge and translating it into practice. Although rain is equally beneficial to all regions of the earth, but practically that does not happen. The effect of rain on a region depends on the regions natural ability to absorb the rain and benefit from it. An arid terrain remains barren despite rain, as a closed heart remains void despite the guidance of Allah. It is true that we have made our hearts barren and unavailable for knowledge to enter them. Allah speaks of such people in the Quran: Allah has put a seal on their hearts, on their ears, and on their eyes is a cover. This is because of our wilful ignorance and negligence. Most of us were blessed to be born with the light of Faith, in Muslim homes, but our aversion to the path of Allah, as defined by the Sunnah of the holy Prophet [PBUH], has pushed us into ignorance. Consequently, in the guise of Prophet's Sunnah we have innovated unfounded customs and traditions that are diametrically opposite to the Sunnah itself. There is no scope of

innovation after the holy Prophet [PBUH] has clarified every matter through his personal example. It is therefore, our duty to revive the true Sunnah of our Prophet [PBUH] and give up innovations. This is the only way to secure the best in both worlds. Our waking and sleep, friendship and enmity, all affairs whether domestic or social, should be subservient to the Will of Allah. This is in fact the real success and honour, the glory of which cannot be perceived by our limited intellect.

The love for Allah is strongly emphasised in the Quran: Say, if you love Allah, follow me (the Messenger of Allah), then Allah will love you. It is mentioned in Hadith: No one among you can be a true believer, unless he regards me dearer than his father, sons and entire mankind. This implies that unless one loves the holy Prophet [PBUH] more than everyone else, one will not realise the truth of the Message conveyed by him [PBUH]. If someone loves his father, sons or friends more than the holy Prophet [PBUH], one is likely to place the advice of others over the Prophet's Message. The absolute love to be given to the holy Prophet-SAW is for the reason that he conveys to us the absolute Truth. It is time we find ourselves in the love of Allah through our devotion to the message brought to us by our beloved Prophet Muhammad [PBUH]. Let the love of Allah be the guiding factor in our lives and in all our deeds. Let our hearts be filled with Allah's pure love and our lives be governed by the example set by His Prophet-SAW for us. Let us seek the bounties of this world and learn to harness the resources and the forces of nature for our benefit. But this pursuit should only bring us closer to Allah and His Messenger [PBUH]. Let not the glamour of the worldly pleasures obscure the Truth from us. Hazrat Abu Huraira radhi-allahu-anhu relates that the Holy Prophet was once asked to curse the disbelievers (who were persecuting and torturing the Muslims severely) but the Holy Prophet replied, I have not been sent to curse; I was sent as a mercy and blessing. (Muslim) Hazrat Abdullah bin Umar radhi-allahu-anhu says, Whoever recites salat and salam upon the Holy Prophet once, Allah and His Angels send their blessings upon that person seventy times. (Mishkat)