Our Greatest Benefactor: The Prophet's Concern For His Ummah

The Greatest Benefactor: Our Debt to Rasulullah ﷺ

They cannot even enumerate and mention the blessings of Allah Ta'ala upon us. Allah Ta'ala is so great that He will even overlook that — that man cannot even enumerate the blessings of Allah Ta'ala upon us.

Now, when I was thinking of the topic which I would speak about today — this was a few days ago — I was thinking about many different topics. And suddenly I saw a notification on my phone. And that notification was regarding the entrance of the new month in the Hijri calendar, which is the month of Rabi'ul Awwal — the month where Allah Ta'ala had sent His Beloved to us. It is the month wherein Nabi ﷺ was born. According to the majority of the scholars, Nabi ﷺ was born on the 12th day of Rabi'ul Awwal, which was a Monday.

Now, our greatest benefactor amongst the creation of Allah Ta'ala is none other than Rasulullah ﷺ. If it wasn't for the ihsan of Nabi ﷺ upon us, if it wasn't for the concern of Nabi ﷺ for us, if it wasn't for the sacrifices which Nabi ﷺ made for our sake, then this deen wouldn't have reached us. We wouldn't know the teachings of Allah Ta'ala to us. We wouldn't know the commandments of Allah Ta'ala upon us. We wouldn't know Allah. We wouldn't know who Allah Ta'ala is.

Rather, it is due to the sacrifices of Nabi ﷺ that we hold on to our greatest blessing — that the greatest bounty of Allah Ta'ala upon us which we dearly hold on to, it came to us through Nabi ﷺ. And that is the bounty of Iman. It is through Iman that one recognizes Allah Ta'ala. It is through Iman that one will gain entry into Jannah. May Allah Ta'ala allow us to preserve our Iman and hold on to it until we meet Allah Ta'ala.

The Constant Concern of Nabi ﷺ for His Ummah

Now, there is a hadith which comes to mind, which comes in the Shama'il:

(Al-Shama'il al-Muhammadiyyah of Imam al-Tirmidhi)

He had constant worry for the ummah and constant concern for the ummah. مُتَوَاصِلَ الْأَحْزَانِ — He was in worry for the ummah: what would be the outcome of my ummah? دَائِمَ الْفِكْرِ — He was constantly thinking and pondering upon ways this deen could reach the ummah. How can this deen reach every single man? لَيْسَتْ لَهُ رَاحَةٌ — Since the day that Nabi ﷺ received prophethood, since the first day of Islam, Nabi ﷺ did not have any rest.

Allah Ta'ala says in Surah al-Muzzammil:

That surely in the day you will have a very long swim — meaning that your journey will not be easy. Your journey will rather be a very hard one, which is to proclaim the deen, which is to spread the deen. So Rasulullah ﷺ was constantly concerned with how every member of his ummah can be saved from the hellfire.

The Parable of the Fire

Now there is a hadith in Sahih Muslim, narrated on the authority of Jabir ibn Abdullah رضي الله عنه, which mentions that Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 65)

Nabi ﷺ draws a parable between himself and the rest of the ummah. The example of me and the example of you all is like a man who has lit a fire. Now the different insects and moths and butterflies are going into this fire. They are attracted to the brightness of this fire. They are lured by the warmth of this fire. But the insects do not know what happens when you get too close to the fire.

Just like with our children at home — we don't let them come near the stove, we don't let them come near the iron. Why? Because we know that out of curiosity, they will touch it. They will put their hand in the fire of the stove. And what will happen? They will burn. So similarly, these insects are going towards the fire. They are lured towards this fire. وَهُوَ يَذُبُّهُنَّ عَنْهَا — And he is repelling the insects away to save them from burning.

And that is the example of Nabi ﷺ. He was constantly concerned that mankind is being drawn towards the hellfire, that he is lured by the attraction of sin. And Nabi ﷺ — his only concern was to push us away from the fire. He wasn't concerned with making money. He wasn't concerned with claiming a high status. No, Nabi ﷺ — his only concern was to repel us from the hellfire.

And now Nabi ﷺ says:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 65)

And I am grabbing you and I am holding you back from your waist — but you are slipping from my hands. That I am trying my best to hold you back. But man, due to his ignorance and due to his disobedience and him falling into sin, is running towards this fire. He is being lured by this fire. He is being attracted to this fire. And this is due to not knowing the outcome of sin.

That mankind is ever oppressive — oppressive upon himself for committing sin. جَهُولًا — But it is due to him not knowing. Man does not know the consequence of sin. So Nabi ﷺ — his constant concern was to hold us back from the hellfire. Nabi ﷺ cried for us. Nabi ﷺ sweat for us. Nabi ﷺ bled for us. There is no sacrifice which Nabi ﷺ did not make for us.

If we try to spend our entire life to repay our debts to Nabi ﷺ, we could try. We could spend our entire life trying. But we would never be able to repay Nabi ﷺ for his sacrifice towards us.

How We Can Repay Nabi ﷺ: Sending Salawat

So now the question comes: what should we do to at least try to repay Nabi ﷺ for his ihsan upon us? Dear friends, the rahmah of Allah Ta'ala is such that He has given us a way — He has even given us a way by which we can try to repay Nabi ﷺ for all of his sacrifices for us. Allah Ta'ala has bestowed upon us an action and a practice which we can inculcate within our lives, and by doing so we can try to repay Nabi ﷺ.

Now what is this action? It is the action of sending salutations and sending peace upon Nabi ﷺ — sending salawat and sending salam upon Nabi ﷺ. Towards the end of Surah al-Ahzab, Allah Ta'ala says:

Now the word that Allah Ta'ala uses is إِنَّ — which is a حَرْفُ التَّأْكِيدِ, used for emphasis. That surely, without a doubt, Allah Ta'ala وَمَلَائِكَتُهُ — and the angels — يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ — are sending peace and salutations upon Nabi ﷺ. Therefore, what is the command to us? يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا — O those who believe — صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ — send salah upon him — وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا — and send peace upon Nabi ﷺ. In Urdu, the word is دُرُود — send durood upon Nabi ﷺ.

Now, why are we sending durood upon Nabi ﷺ? Is it because Nabi ﷺ needs our salah and salam? No, Nabi ﷺ does not need our salah and salam upon him. Rather, this is for our own selves. This is for our sake. We do not send it because Nabi ﷺ needs it. No, we send it because we need it. This is our need. That is why we send salah upon Nabi ﷺ.

The True Miser

Now another hadith comes to mind, where Nabi ﷺ mentions — this hadith narrated on the authority of Ali رضي الله عنه:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3546; also recorded by al-Nasa'i and Ibn Hibban)

A true miser — a low life, a person of indignity — is who? مَنْ ذُكِرْتُ عِنْدَهُ — The one in whose presence I am mentioned. And now what does he do in turn? فَلَمْ يُصَلِّ عَلَيَّ — He does not send salah upon me. That how can you be such a miser? After all the sacrifices that Nabi ﷺ made for us, this person does not have the decency to even send salah upon Nabi ﷺ.

The poet says:

That whoever does not send salah upon Nabi ﷺ when his name is mentioned in his presence — فَهُوَ الْبَخِيلُ — then he is the miser. وَزِدْهُ وَصْفَ الْجُبَانِ — And increase in his quality is that he is a coward. How can it be that his greatest benefactor is mentioned in front of him but he does not have the decency to send salah upon him?

When the names of someone close to us who has passed on, when the name of a late scholar comes, when we mention the names of the Sahaba — seldom do we forget to say رَحِمَهُ اللَّهُ, or رَضِيَ اللَّهُ عَنْهُ. But why is it that when the name of Nabi ﷺ is mentioned — our greatest benefactor, the one through whose means Allah Ta'ala spread this deen to us — then we find ourselves lazy to send salah upon Nabi ﷺ?

The Du'a of Jibreel and the Ameen of Rasulullah ﷺ

Now another hadith comes to mind, narrated again on the authority of Jabir ibn Abdullah رضي الله عنه. He mentions a very special incident when Nabi ﷺ ascended the mimbar. Nabi ﷺ took one step upon the mimbar — the first step — and he said, Ameen. He took the second step and he said, Ameen. He took the third step and he said, Ameen.

So the Sahaba were confused. We didn't hear any dua. We didn't hear Nabi ﷺ make any dua. So why was he saying Ameen? So they asked Nabi ﷺ: what were you saying Ameen to? What was taking place was that when Nabi ﷺ was taking a step upon the mimbar, Jibreel عليه السلام was making a dua. Specifically, one dua that is mentioned is:

So Jibreel عليه السلام made the dua: wretched is the one — or in another narration, far from the mercy of Allah Ta'ala is the one — in whose presence you are mentioned but he does not send salah upon you. That is the meaning of لَعْنَة — it is الْبُعْدُ عَنْ رَحْمَةِ اللَّهِ — to be pushed far from the mercy of Allah Ta'ala. May Allah Ta'ala protect us from ever being in that state. May Allah Ta'ala allow us to constantly be showered with His rahmah.

Now look — who is making this dua? An angel. لَا يَعْصُونَ اللَّهَ مَا أَمَرَهُمْ — These angels are pure, clean, tahir beings. They do not disobey Allah Ta'ala. They don't have a single account of disobedience towards Allah Ta'ala. Such a being is making this dua. And who is saying Ameen? None other than Habibullah, Rasulullah ﷺ. For what? For not sending salutations upon him when his name is mentioned. So we see the severity and the significance of sending salat and salam upon Nabi ﷺ.

A Unique Virtue: Allah Himself Sends Salawat

Another virtue of sending salat upon Nabi ﷺ: this is one of the only actions which Allah Ta'ala Himself does. Allah Ta'ala does not pray. Allah Ta'ala does not fast. Allah Ta'ala does not go for Hajj. But what does He say in the Qur'an?

That Allah and the angels are sending salat — sending salutations — upon Nabi ﷺ. And the verb that Allah Ta'ala uses is a فِعْلٌ مُضَارِعٌ — a verb which carries the meaning of present and future tense. Meaning that Allah Ta'ala is sending salat now, and He will continue to shower His salutations and His rahmah upon Nabi ﷺ.

Now, someone can pose the question: when we do salawat — when we do durood — then we say:

O Allah, You send salutations upon Rasulullah ﷺ. But doesn't Allah Ta'ala command us to give our own salutations upon Nabi ﷺ? So why is it that we invoke Allah Ta'ala to send salah? Well, respected friends, the reality is that as human beings, we are full of deficiencies. الْإِنسَانُ مُرَكَّبٌ مِنَ الْخَطَأِ وَالنِّسْيَانِ — That mankind is a combination of mistakes and forgetfulness. We are deficient, we end up in sin and disobedience of Allah Ta'ala. We are not even worthy to send our own salutations upon Rasulullah ﷺ, who is pure, who is clean, who is tayyib and tahir.

So what do we do? We invoke that Being who is the most pure, the most tahir — Allah Ta'ala. We call on to Him: O Allah, You are the most pure — You send Your salutations upon Rasulullah ﷺ.

The Special Virtue of Friday and Salawat

Now, since today is Friday, we should make a habit of increasing our salutations upon Nabi ﷺ — increasing our salah, our salam, our durood upon Nabi ﷺ. There is a hadith in al-Bayhaqi, narrated on the authority of Abu Umamah رضي الله عنه, where Rasulullah ﷺ mentions:

(Shu'ab al-Iman, al-Bayhaqi)

The salutations of my ummah will be presented in front of me on every single day of Friday. فَمَنْ كَانَ أَكْثَرُهُمْ صَلَاةً عَلَيَّ — So whoever sends the most salah upon me — كَانَ أَقْرَبَهُمْ مِنِّي مَنْزِلَةً — he will be the closest to me on the Day of Judgment. That is, through sending salah upon Nabi ﷺ, our connection with Nabi ﷺ will grow. And not only that — we will be closer to Nabi ﷺ, not only in this dunya but also in the akhirah.

And sending salah upon Nabi ﷺ is a token of our love for Allah. Why? Because Nabi ﷺ is the beloved of Allah. And إِذَا أَحْبَبْتَ شَيْئًا أَكْثَرْتَ مِنْ ذِكْرِهِ — if you love someone, if you love something, you will continuously mention them. We will continuously mention Allah and we will continuously mention those whom Allah loves. If we love Allah, we will love those whom Allah loves as well. And by mentioning the name of Rasulullah ﷺ, we will constantly do salawat. So we see that by increasing our salawat, we can increase our love for Nabi ﷺ.

The Story of Mawlana Faydul Hasan Saharanpuri

Now, there is a story that comes to mind of Mawlana Faydul Hasan Saharanpuri رحمه الله. When he passed away, there was a great fragrance of musk which was emanating from his room. And the people around him were confused: why is this strong aroma of musk coming out of his room? And this aroma lasted for an entire month. So they were thinking: what was his amal, what was his practice, that Allah granted him such a blessing — that for an entire month, the smell of musk was emanating from his room?

So Mawlana Qasim Nanoti رحمه الله, who was a close friend of his, said that Mawlana Faydul Hasan رحمه الله had the habit that every Friday night — and every night of Jumu'ah refers in our time to Thursday night — he would spend the entire night making salah upon Nabi ﷺ. And in turn, Allah granted him this blessing of the smell of musk emanating from his room.

A Practice to Take Home

Now, to end off — it is very important that when we leave any lecture, when we leave any gathering, that we leave with something. That it's not that we attended Jumu'ah and we say, oh, that was a really good bayan, mashallah — but then when someone asks us what the imam spoke about, we can't really remember. Yes, it is good to have motivation, but it is important that we leave with something.

I'd like to end with an amal — a practice which, if we can inculcate into our lives, we will see the benefits of it. Rasulullah ﷺ is reported to have said:

(Recorded by al-Bayhaqi in Shu'ab al-Iman)

Whoever makes salah upon me, whoever sends durood upon me, every single day one hundred times — Allah Ta'ala will fulfill a hundred of his needs. Seventy of these needs will be in the akhirah. And respected friends, what greater need do we need fulfilled than our needs in the akhirah? Whatever can happen in this dunya can take place — but what's important is that on the Day of Judgment, we don't have any needs; rather, we are taken care of. By just what? Sending salah upon Nabi ﷺ a hundred times every day. Maybe we can do a hundred times in the morning and a hundred times in the evening. Then Allah Ta'ala will take care of a hundred of our needs — seventy in the akhirah, and thirty in this dunya as well.

And if we cannot even do that — if even that is hard — then Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned in a hadith recorded in al-Tabarani:

(Al-Mu'jam al-Awsat, al-Tabarani)

Whoever sends salutations upon me ten times when he wakes up and ten times when he goes to sleep — my intercession will reach this person on the Day of Judgment. And what greater blessing is there than to receive the intercession of Nabi ﷺ on the Day of Judgment?

On that day where no one's children and no one's wealth will benefit them — on that day we receive the intercession of Nabi ﷺ. So that is the practice which I advise first and foremost myself: that we begin to send salat upon Nabi ﷺ.

There are many more virtues of sending salat upon Nabi ﷺ. There is a book called الْقَوْلُ الْبَدِيعُ فِي الصَّلَاةِ عَلَى الْحَبِيبِ الشَّفِيعِ which mentions the virtues of sending salat upon Nabi ﷺ, written in Arabic. So if we have the ability to do so, then we should make sure we try to read this book as well and see the different virtues of sending salat upon Nabi ﷺ.

And one way we can inculcate this right now: right after we pray our sunnah, if there is some time, then instead of going on our phones, we can send salat upon Nabi ﷺ. May Allah Ta'ala grant us tawfiq to continuously remember Nabi ﷺ and inculcate all these practices into our lives.

Announcements

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Join us tonight after Isha — which is at 8:15pm — as Sheikh Hussain Abdulsattar will be addressing the community on the topic of the sunnah of sleeping: how we can inculcate the practice of Nabi ﷺ regarding sleep.

Saturday, Team Fajr will also be tomorrow. Fajr Iqamah is at 6am. We will have a special guest appearance — which is a surprise for Saturday morning. Stay tuned on our announcements chats for more info tonight. Community breakfast is also served after the Team Fajr program.

The monthly Sisters Only Dars will be taking place this Sunday at Masjid Darussalam with Mufti Azeemuddin Ahmed after Dhuhr — which is around 1:45pm to 2:45pm. Please reach out to the Sisters admin for more info.

Regarding our weekly programs: the Bukhari Dars continues every Monday with Mufti Munhajuddin after Isha Salah. All brothers and sisters are encouraged to join and invite their friends and family. Additionally, our Tuesday Tafsir is continuing with Mufti Azeemuddin — the surah we are currently doing tafsir of is Surah al-Anbiya. Be sure to join with your friends and family.

And as we just spoke about salawat and the virtues of sending salah upon Nabi ﷺ — every Thursday, we have an opportunity to do so with our weekly Salawat gatherings after Isha.

Insha'Allah, next weekend is Chicago's annual regional Ijtema, which will take place at Jamia Masjid on Devon starting on October 7th — which is a Friday — at Asr time, until Sunday, October 9th. The brothers are encouraged to join to at least spend some time to learn about how we can work on our Iman and Yaqeen.

There are some requests for dua. Please remember the Uyghur brothers and sisters in our duas. They are continuously afflicted by China's ongoing genocide, forced labor, and starvation.

Also, dua of maghfirah for sister Anwar Fatima who has passed away. May Allah Ta'ala grant her maghfirah and elevate her rank.

Additionally, one of our beloved teachers — Mawlana Yusuf, a teacher whom all of us students here are indebted to — his mother is very sick. I request, especially from my side and on behalf of Masjid Darussalam, that you keep his mother in your duas. May Allah Ta'ala grant her shifa. May Allah Ta'ala allow this to become a means of her sins being forgiven.