They Loved Him ﷺ More Than Themselves | Jumu'ah Khutbah | Dr. AbdulRazzak Junaid

They Loved Him ﷺ More Than Themselves

I bear witness that there is none worthy of worship except Allah, and I bear witness that the best of creation is Muhammad ﷺ.

We send our salutations upon him, his family, his companions, and all those that follow them in goodness till the end of times.

The Condition of True Belief

The Prophet ﷺ has been reported to say:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 70)

None of you truly believes — that Iman is not complete — until I become more beloved to him than his own parents, his own children, and all people, all of mankind.

The Conversation Between the Prophet ﷺ and Umar رضي الله عنه

The Prophet ﷺ once was with Umar رضي الله عنه, and Umar رضي الله عنه came to him as a patient would go to a doctor, expressing his condition. He said, "Ya Rasulullah, I love you more than everything except myself."

The Prophet ﷺ he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 6632)

"No, Ya Umar. Not until I become more beloved to you than everything, including yourself."

And Umar رضي الله عنه paused, thought for a moment — how beloved Rasulullah ﷺ is to him, and how much he has been given from Rasulullah ﷺ. And he said: الْآنَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ — "Now I love you more than everything, including myself."

And the Prophet ﷺ said: "Now." — الْآنَ.

Love Must Lead to Action

Allah says:

Say that if you truly love Allah then follow me, follow the Messenger ﷺ. And so when we look at this clear ayah, Allah here sets a condition — that love is just not lip service. Love must lead to action. Love is just not with the tongue. Love must be expressed through action, must be expressed through following the way of Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Four Levels of Love

The ulema they mentioned that there are levels of love.

The first level — and this is the lowest — is just by lip service. To say "I love the Messenger ﷺ" and then do nothing about it.

The second level is when a person truly is inclined with their heart towards the Prophet ﷺ, but it has yet to be expressed through their limbs, through their actions. Where someone will say "I have love for Rasulullah ﷺ" but they don't follow his sunnah, they struggle with fulfilling the commandments of Allah. That's the second level.

The third level is the minimum level that we should strive to be as believers. And this is when that love transfers into actions — when we then actually follow the Messenger ﷺ.

And the fourth level — and this is what we're going to talk about today in the khutbah — was the love of the sahaba رضي الله عنهم أجمعين, was the love that the ulema salihin and the urafa and the awliya, the great scholars and the great imams, had for Rasulullah ﷺ.

And especially, especially of course, the sahaba رضي الله عنهم. Their love for Rasulullah ﷺ exceeded even how much we would love our own children, or how much our parents would love us, or how much we would love our parents. You think about Romeo and Juliet, you think about Layla and Majnun — that love is nothing, nothing, absolutely nothing, compared to the love that the sahaba had for Rasulullah ﷺ.

Three Stories of Profound Love

Story One: Bilal رضي الله عنه

I want you to imagine with me — I'm going to share three stories for this khutbah.

Bilal رضي الله عنه — Bilal, the muezzin of Rasulullah ﷺ — he could not bear to live in Medina after the passing of Rasulullah ﷺ. Because everywhere he went he saw the Messenger ﷺ.

Has anyone before gone back to visit their childhood home, or looked and gazed upon an old address that they used to live at, or come across going back to their childhood home — and when you go there you see your parents as they used to walk, you see where they used to sit, you remember your childhood memories, you remember all of those things? And sometimes it's too heavy on the heart, that nostalgia is too much sometimes for a person to bear.

And so Bilal رضي الله عنه — he could not live in Medina, so he went and migrated to Sham. And when he was in Sham and he got married there and he resided there, he saw in a dream Rasulullah ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ he told him:

He said: "What is this distance, O Bilal? What is this dryness, what is this distance, O Bilal? Isn't it finally time for you to come and visit us?"

And so Bilal رضي الله عنه woke up trembling and weeping, and he took the first caravan that he could find and he made his way to the Medina of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And again, our love for Medina is not because of just its city streets or because of the geographical location, but because of who used to live there. As the famous lines of Majnun of Layla go:

He said: "I pass by the dwellings of Layla and I kiss this wall and I kiss this wall, and it's not the love of those dwellings and those homes that have taken my heart, that have captured my heart — but the one who used to live there." And so Bilal loved Medina, and we all love Medina, because of Rasulullah ﷺ.

And when he got there, he went to the grave of Rasulullah ﷺ and wept and wept. And the sahaba, when they saw him, they said: "Please give the Adhan, please give the Adhan, ya Bilal." And he refused — he didn't want to give Adhan in the city of Rasulullah ﷺ when Rasulullah wasn't there.

Until Hassan and Hussain, the grandchildren of Rasulullah ﷺ, came. They greeted him, they hugged him, and then they requested — and how could Bilal say no to the grandchildren of Rasulullah ﷺ? So he went and he climbed onto the saqf, he climbed onto the roof, and he said:

And the sahabah and all those in Medina — they recognized the Adhan. Is Bilal رضي الله عنه here? Has Rasulullah ﷺ returned? Because they correlated the Adhan of Bilal to Rasulullah ﷺ. They were all coming out, flooding the streets, coming to the Masjid.

And when he said:

His voice — he could not control it. All of Medina was in tears. Bilal رضي الله عنه was in tears. This was the love that the sahabah رضي الله عنهم had for Rasulullah ﷺ.

And Bilal رضي الله عنه — when he spent his last days, when he returned back to Sham and he was on his deathbed — his wife was crying. She said: وَا حُزْنَاهُ — "What sorrow!" And Bilal رضي الله عنه said: "No!"

"What joy! Tomorrow we meet our beloved ones — Muhammad ﷺ and his companions!" This is how they loved Rasulullah ﷺ.

Story Two: Mu'adh رضي الله عنه

In one instance, when Mu'adh رضي الله عنه was going to be sent with the delegation that was coming from Yemen — to go back and be their teacher in Yemen — Rasulullah ﷺ was giving him his final advice. He was teaching him those very profound ahadith that I encourage you to look into after the khutbah. He was telling him that when you go there, the first thing you call them to is La ilaha illallah Muhammad Rasulullah. And if they obey you, then tell them about the salah. And if they obey you, then tell them about zakah.

And when Rasulullah ﷺ was bidding him farewell — and for those that know the pain of farewell — Rasulullah ﷺ took him to the outskirts of the city to say his final goodbyes. And when Rasulullah ﷺ looked to Mu'adh, he said to him: "Perhaps you won't meet me after this year. Perhaps you won't meet me after this year. And if you are to return, you'll find my masjid and you'll find my grave."

And Mu'adh رضي الله عنه wept at the farewell of Rasulullah ﷺ, because he knew he was saying goodbye to his beloved — he was saying goodbye to the one he loved most ﷺ.

When you look at the ahadith and you look at how much the sahaba loved Rasulullah ﷺ, we have to ask ourselves — what have we done? Do we really love Rasulullah ﷺ?

I ask Allah to forgive us of our shortcomings, ya Rabb al-'alamin.

أَقُولُ مَا تَسْمَعُونَ وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا وَنَبِيِّنَا وَحَبِيبِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ أَجْمَعِينَ

Story Three: Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه — The One Who Loved Him Most

My dear brothers and sisters and elders — from amongst the sahaba, the one who loved him the most was Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه.

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه — from the very beginning of Islam, he accepted. And from the very beginning of the message of Rasulullah ﷺ, he was there, always supporting the Messenger ﷺ.

I'm going to leave us all with just that final story — where the Prophet ﷺ once was surrounded by a mob, and they were trying to harm him, hit him, strike him, choke him. And none of the sahaba were coming forward to defend the Prophet ﷺ — except Abu Bakr.

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه ran in there. He said: "Will you kill a man really just because he said my Lord is Allah?" And he defended the Prophet ﷺ. And that mob then ganged up on Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه — they started to hit him, they took off their slippers and their sandals, and the bottom of them was wood, and they beat him and they beat him and they trampled him, to the point where they could not recognize his face رضي الله عنه.

And Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه — almost at the verge of death — is then taken to his home by his tribe. His mother is tending to him. Several hours later, he finally gains consciousness. They try to give him water, they try to give him food, they try to get him to take care of himself.

The first thing he utters when he wakes up — he says: "Where is Rasulullah? Where is my beloved? Where is Rasulullah ﷺ? Where is Rasulullah ﷺ?"

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه — the one that during the hijrah of Rasulullah ﷺ would walk in front of him, would walk behind him, would walk to the right of him, to the left of him. And when the Prophet ﷺ asked him why, he said: "I'm afraid that the enemy will come in the front, so I come in the front. I'm afraid that the enemy will come from the back, so I come from the back."

Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه was that companion that when they were in the cave together — ثَانِيَ اثْنَيْنِ — he chose to stay quiet and silent when he was stung in the cave, because he didn't want to wake up Rasulullah ﷺ. He didn't want to bother his beloved Rasulullah ﷺ.

And when the Prophet ﷺ once — Abu Bakr had come to him looking sad, and the Prophet ﷺ knew something was upsetting him. Abu Bakr came to Rasulullah ﷺ and told him: "Ya Rasulullah, there was a disagreement. I said things and Umar رضي الله عنه said things — there was a small dispute between us. I asked Umar رضي الله عنه to forgive me and he refused. I asked Umar رضي الله عنه to forgive me and he refused."

And the Prophet ﷺ calmed him down and said:

Three times. And when Umar رضي الله عنه felt that regret, he went to the home of Abu Bakr to get him — he didn't find him. Then he went to Rasulullah ﷺ. And when Rasulullah ﷺ saw Umar — Umar رضي الله عنه who was also beloved to the Prophet ﷺ, but he was not Abu Bakr — he stood up angry, he stood up upset, and he said to Umar رضي الله عنه:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3661)

"Will you not leave me to my companion? When I preached to you and I said I was Rasulullah, you all said to me 'kadhabta' — you lied. And Abu Bakr said 'sadaqta' — you told the truth. Leave me to my companion."

They were all his companions رضي الله عنهم أجمعين, but Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه had that special status — why? Because he sacrificed for the Deen of Islam. He sacrificed for Rasulullah ﷺ.

How to Cultivate Love for the Prophet ﷺ

We ask Allah to grant us also the love of Rasulullah ﷺ. We ask Allah also to grant us the ability to follow his sunnah. And that can only be done, my dear brothers and sisters, if we know who he was.

Allah said:

They didn't recognize who the Messenger was. As Muslims, it is incumbent upon us to study the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ — not once, not twice, but as an ongoing relationship with the study of who he was and how he was. And when we do this, we will then internalize the love of him ﷺ.

And the last thing — be concerned for the ummah, and be concerned for the mission of Rasulullah ﷺ. As he would cry out أُمَّتِي، أُمَّتِي — then let us also be those that care about his followers.

Du'a

We ask Allah to ease the situation of our brothers and sisters in Gaza. We ask Allah to ease the situation of our brothers and sisters in Sudan.

اذْكُرُوا اللَّهَ يَذْكُرْكُمْ، وَاشْكُرُوهُ عَلَى نِعَمِهِ يَزِدْكُمْ، وَاتَّقُوهُ يَجْعَلْ لَكُمْ مِنْ أَمْرِكُمْ مَخْرَجًا ۖ وَأَقِمِ الصَّلَاةَ