Arsalan Majeed

Dear brothers and sisters, Allah says in the Quran:

O believers, be mindful of Allah as He deserves and make sure that you do not die except in a state of submission to Him.

And Allah says in the Quran:

O people, be mindful of your Lord who created all of you from one soul, and from this soul He created its mate, and from the two He spread countless men and women on this earth. Be mindful of Allah, the one in whose name you demand your rights and make requests from one another. Be aware of cutting off your ties of kinship. Surely Allah is always watching your actions.

And Allah says in the Quran, dear brothers and sisters:

O believers, be mindful of Allah, and when you speak, speak truthfully, justly, and with good purpose. If you do so, He will rectify and bless for you your actions, your deeds, and He will forgive for you your sins. And whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger in this life, will achieve a great achievement in the Hereafter.

The most truthful of speech is the Book of Allah, and the best of guidance is the guidance of Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him. The worst of affairs attributed to the religion are those that are introduced in it without any evidence or precedence. Every such introduced religious affair is a religious innovation. Every religious innovation is a type of misguidance, and every misguidance leads to the Hellfire, which we seek refuge in Allah from.

The Love of the Messenger of Allah

Dear brothers and sisters, one of the greatest signs of a true believer is his or her immense love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And in fact, loving the Messenger of Allah ﷺ is not simply a sign of iman, but it is a requirement for iman. In other words, for a person's iman to be valid and to be acceptable in the sight of Allah, one has to love the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, peace and blessings be upon him, with utmost sincerity. And this is the topic of my khutbah today, loving the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And subhanAllah, this is a topic that never gets old.

All of us, alhamdulillah, inshaAllah, we love Allah's Messenger ﷺ. So this will be a good reminder for us, how we can revive or increase that love for him ﷺ. But first, let's go over to sahaba's love, the companion of Allah's Messenger ﷺ, their love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. They loved him immensely. They loved him very strongly. And they loved him so much that they wanted the blessings of this love to continue to the next life.

The Companions' Love for the Prophet

Just like they had his companionship in this world, they also wanted his companionship in paradise in the hereafter. And it is narrated that some of the companions, they were worried that they would not have the companionship of Allah's Messenger ﷺ in the hereafter. One such narration, Imam al-Qurtubi, rahimahullah, he mentions in his tafsir of Thawban, radiyallahu anhu.

He says that the Prophet ﷺ one day saw him hazin. He saw him in a state of sorrowness, in a state of sadness, in a state of grief. And he asked him, Ya Thawban, what is wrong with you? Why are you upset? Why do I see you distressed and concerned? And Thawban, he said to the Prophet ﷺ, Ya Rasulullah, if I don't see you, I become very sad.

I become very distressed and concerned. And I don't find comfort and peace until I see you again and until I'm in your company. And when I think about the hereafter, I think about your rank, O Messenger of Allah, it will be in the highest levels of paradise.

But as for my rank, I have not done that many good deeds. And I am not at your level, so I will not have your rank in the hereafter. So I am afraid that I will be deprived of your companionship in the hereafter, O Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And I don't want to be separated from you.

I've enjoyed the blessings of your companionship in this world, and I want those blessings to continue to the hereafter. Notice his love for Allah's Messenger ﷺ. And so the Prophet ﷺ, he stayed quiet. He did not respond and he did not say anything.

And later Allah revealed the ayah:

The translation of this ayah is that whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger ﷺ, then he will be in the company of the Prophets. Allah will bless him with the company of the Prophets, the Siddiqeen, the truthful, the highly truthful believers, the shuhada, the martyrs, and the righteous people. And what a great and excellent company that is.

In another narration, a companion by the name of Rabi'at ibn Ka'b al-Aslami. He used to serve the Prophet ﷺ a lot. In other words, he would take care of the needs of the Prophet ﷺ. And one day, he brought water for the Prophet ﷺ to do wudu with.

And the Prophet ﷺ saw his khidmah, saw his service that he would give to him. And he said to him, ask. In other words, ask me what you want, I will ask Allah to grant you that.

And so this companion, he said to the Prophet ﷺ, أسألك مرافقتك في الجنة. I ask for your companionship in paradise. And so the Prophet ﷺ said, أغير ذلك.

Do you want anything else besides this? Or are you sure you want this only? And so he said, هو ذاك. This is all I want. And so the Prophet ﷺ said to him, فأعني على ذلك أو على نفسك بكثرة السجود.

Then help me in achieving this goal, by prostrating to Allah frequently. In other words, perform obligatory prayers. Perform a lot of nawafil, voluntary prayers. And inshallah, you will have what you are asking for. And again, the point of evidence, the point of benefit from the hadith is, out of all the things that this companion could have asked for, he asked for the companionship of the Prophet ﷺ. This is the love that they had for Allah's Messenger ﷺ.

The Priority of the Prophet's Guidance

Allah says in the Quran:

Surely the Prophet has a greater claim over the believers than they have over each other.

Ibn Abbas commenting on this ayah, he said, what does it mean that the Prophet ﷺ has a greater claim over the believers? It means, إِذَا دَعَاهُمْ إِلَى شَيْءٍ وَدَعَتْهُمْ أَنفُسُهُمْ إِلَى شَيْءٍ كَانَتْ طَاعَتُهُ أَوْلَى مِن طَاعَةِ أَنفُسِهِمْ If the Messenger of Allah ﷺ calls them to something, and their souls, they call them to something else, they desire something else, then it is befitting and more appropriate for the believers to follow the command and the guidance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, than what their own desires have.

And this is in accordance with another hadith, the Prophet ﷺ said that:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15)

None of you will truly believe until he loves me more than he loves his parents, he loves his children, and he loves him more than all of mankind. In other words, the love of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ should take precedence, and should be given preference over the love of someone else, if there is any clash between that love.

The True Test of Love

What does it mean to truly love Allah's Messenger ﷺ? What is the litmus test for the love of Allah's Messenger ﷺ? That litmus test, that barometer is to follow the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, to implement his guidance inside of our lives. Allah says:

If you love Allah, and by extension, if you love his Messenger, then a sign of that true love is that you follow the guidance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And notice Allah, He uses the word اتَّبِعُونِي, اتَّبَعَ means to repeatedly follow, not simply to follow once, but to implement his guidance repeatedly inside of our lives, in all aspects and areas of our lives.

And Allah says:

In the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, you have an excellent example for whoever hopes in Allah and the last day, and remembers Allah often.

Ways to Increase Our Love

How do we increase our love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ? One of the simple actions that we can do is say الصلاة والسلام على النبي ﷺ, is to frequently ask for Allah's blessings upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

Ibn Al-Jawzi has an interesting quote. He says, إِذَا أَرَادَ اللَّهُ لِعَبْدِهِ خَيْرًا يَسَّرَ لِسَانَهُ لِصَّلَاةِ عَلَى النَّبِي ﷺ When Allah wants goodness for His slaves, He makes His tongue habituated to saying peace and blessings upon the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And this is a علامة, this is a sign of goodness, when a person he frequently invokes blessings upon the Prophet ﷺ.

Another way we show that love and increase that love, is when we have due respect for His ahadith and guidance and narrations inside of our lives. When we have due respect for His guidance inside of our lives.

So for example, when the ahadith are being narrated and recited, we respect those gatherings, we show the proper etiquette in those gatherings. Allah says:

O believers, don't raise your voice above the voice of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. For us, the implementation of this ayah is by respecting His sunnah and His narrations, and showing proper etiquette when they are being read.

And also the way we show respect and love for Allah's Messenger ﷺ, is as I mentioned to follow His sunnah, and when we have any dispute, what do we resort to for judgment in those disputes? We resort to the sunnah and the guidance of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ.

May Allah increase our love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And I want to remind you that these actions that I've mentioned, saying salah upon the Prophet ﷺ, implementing His guidance, so on and so forth.

These are cyclical, in the sense that the more you do them, the more you will love Allah's Messenger ﷺ. And the more you love Allah's Messenger ﷺ, the more you will do them. So they reinforce one another.

I say what you have heard. I ask Allah to forgive me and you and all Muslims. So ask Him to forgive you. Indeed, He is the Forgiving, the Merciful.

Second Khutbah

I ask Allah to forgive me and you and all Muslims.

So as a brief recap and summary of the khutbah, today we spoke about the love of Allah's Messenger ﷺ. And how the sahabah, they had immense love for the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And what it truly means to love the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, it means to implement his guidance. And how we can increase that love inside of our lives by frequently mentioning him, by implementing his guidance, by defending him and his companions, and by resorting to his sunnah when we have disputes.

May Allah grant us that love.