EPIC Masjid, Imam Nadeem Bashir, Do we really love Prophet(pbuh)

Do We Really Love the Prophet ﷺ?

In the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah. Praise be to Allah, Who guided us to this. And we would not have been guided if Allah had not guided us.

As for what follows, Allah, the Exalted, said in the Glorious Qur'an, after seeking refuge from the accursed Shaytan:

Indeed, there is in the Messenger of Allah a good example for those who hope for Allah and the Last Day.

And Allah, the Exalted, said in another place, in Surah At-Tawbah:

Say: If your fathers and your sons and your brothers and your wives and your kinsmen and the wealth that you have acquired and the trade that you fear will decline and the dwellings that you are pleased with are more beloved to you than Allah and His Messenger and striving in His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His decision. And Allah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people. Allah, the Exalted, has spoken the truth.

And the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said in a hadith:

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

By the One in Whose Hand my soul is, none of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his own self, his wealth, his children, and all of mankind.

The Context: Responding to Attacks on the Prophet ﷺ

Respected brothers and sisters in Islam, a few months ago, we came across an attack that was made on the Prophet ﷺ. And you all are very well aware of the cartoons that were made against the Prophet ﷺ. In defense of the Prophet ﷺ, there were many people who stood up and they spoke on behalf of the Muslims. There were people who had voices and they spoke on behalf of the Muslims. People who did not have voices did express that they were very much hurt by the people disrespecting the Prophet ﷺ.

And I say to that: may Allah reward us for that, and may Allah continue to protect the dignity and the status of the Prophet ﷺ. But being really honest, Allah has already taken a promise, and He has confirmed this with the Prophet ﷺ, that:

That He will elevate your status, regardless of what happens. There may be a few who may disrespect him, but overall, if you look at the number of those people who believe in the Prophet ﷺ, and those who have respect for the Prophet ﷺ, they are far greater than those who are his enemies. And we see this — subhanAllah — the name of the Prophet ﷺ is so amazing in the sense that imagine that every single Adhan, no Adhan can be complete without saying:

And imagine that at every single place around the entire world, there is some country, some city, some suburb, some small town, some small village, where the Adhan is being called out for Salat, and the name of Muhammad ﷺ is being mentioned in it. Which means that throughout the 24 hours, the name of Muhammad ﷺ is being called out somewhere on the face of this earth.

What True Love of the Prophet ﷺ Really Means

However, the reason I'm bringing all this up is because I want to take the opportunity to talk about the love of the Prophet ﷺ. What happens is that when people deliberately attack the Prophet ﷺ, we get worked up, and we get upset — and that is good. To show other people that we are upset, that is good. But when we take wrong action, that is not good. Like you see in some places, they go and they're burning houses and cars and different places. That's not something that we learned from the Prophet ﷺ. But nonetheless, just to show that we are upset — that's a sign of our Iman.

However, respected brothers and sisters, this is not the only expression of love for the Prophet ﷺ. This is not all that the love of the Prophet ﷺ is. When we analyze and when we study the lives and the seerah of the Sahabah, we really come to understand what it means to have the love of the Prophet ﷺ.

First of all: why do we have to love the Prophet ﷺ? And when I say we love the Prophet ﷺ, I'm not just talking about loving him for who he was, what he did for all of us, and what he will do inshallah for us on the Day of Judgment — and may Allah make us amongst those who receive the shafa'ah and the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ. But at the same time, when we talk about the love of the Prophet ﷺ, we're talking about giving preference to Muhammad ﷺ even over ourselves. Even over ourselves.

Because to love the Prophet ﷺ is a different kind of love. To love the Prophet ﷺ means to come closer to Allah. Because when we say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, what we are saying to Allah is that there is none worthy of worship, that everything happens by the will of Allah, and that success lies only in the way and the path of the Prophet ﷺ. Every other path will lead a person to destruction and failure. The only path that leads us to Jannah is the path of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Story of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and Completeness of Iman

The Prophet ﷺ, one time — and I want to share this with you — 'Umar ibn al-Khattab came to the Prophet ﷺ and said: "O Prophet of Allah ﷺ, you are more beloved to me than everything else except for myself. I love you, I give you preference over everything in my life — my spouse, my children, my family, my parents, anyone who has any kind of connection with me — you supersede everyone. However, I love myself more than I love you."

What did the Prophet ﷺ say? He said: "'Umar, your Iman is not complete."

So 'Umar came back after a while and said: "O Prophet of Allah ﷺ, now you are more beloved to me than my own self." What did the Prophet ﷺ say? "Now, 'Umar, your Iman is complete."

What do we see in the Qur'an? We have heard this ayah before — that if anything associated with you, whether it's your family, your business, your houses, your property, your wealth, if they are more beloved to you than Allah and the Prophet ﷺ, then He says:

Then just wait until the decision of Allah comes upon you.

So what we learn from this is: I'm not saying that you cannot love your spouse. I'm not standing here saying you cannot love your parents. I'm not standing here saying you cannot love your children. But when we say that the love of Allah and the love of the Prophet ﷺ supersedes all other loves in this world, it means that we give more preference to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ over anything else. We give preference to the life of Muhammad ﷺ over anything else. That is what it means.

And that's why the Prophet ﷺ says:

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

He swears by the One Who controls his life that a person cannot become a complete believer until I become the most beloved to him. أَحَبَّ here is the superlative form — the most dearest, the most beloved. More than نَفْسِهِ — his own self; وَمَالِهِ — his wealth; وَوَلَدِهِ — his family; وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ — and everyone else.

So when we look at the love of the Prophet ﷺ, it is not just an option — something we can choose to have or not. This is what is required from us. And this shows that our Iman is not complete until we love the Prophet ﷺ.

How Do We Express Our Love for the Prophet ﷺ?

But then the question is: how do we show our love for the Prophet ﷺ? If I understand now that to love the Prophet ﷺ is a part of Iman and faith, then how do we express that love?

1. Implementing the Sunnah in Our Lives

First of all, the most important thing we can do to show our love for the Prophet ﷺ is to implement the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in our life. Respected brothers and sisters, there are so many books of hadith. Islamic history has never seen this many books written. Islamic history has never seen this many resources available online. So many books written on the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

How did the Prophet ﷺ enter the masjid? How did he leave? With what words? How would he enter the restroom? How would he leave? What did he say when he began to eat? What did he say after eating? What did he do when he heard bad news? When he heard good news? When he wanted to praise Allah? When he wanted to thank Allah? What did he say when someone sneezed?

What do we teach our children? That if you see someone sneeze, what do you say? "Bless you." "Bless your heart." What should we teach our children? That when you hear someone sneeze, you say:

Why? Because that's the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. And we need to really bring the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ into our lives. It is time that we leave this lip service that we have been doing. "I love the Prophet. I love the Prophet. I love the Prophet." But wallahi, we are not in a position to point the finger at anyone else. We need to stand in front of the mirror and look at ourselves and ask: how much of my life resembles the life of Rasulullah ﷺ? That's the question we need to ask.

That person who gave his entire life for us. That person who went through so many sacrifices. That person in front of whom his two daughters were divorced — why? Because he only said:

"O people, say لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ and you will be successful." Just because of this, his two daughters were divorced in front of him. What other sacrifices did the Prophet ﷺ not go through? The books of Seerah are full of them. And today, is this how we give back to the Prophet ﷺ?

Honestly, ask yourselves. Bring this environment, establish an environment in your homes. When you see your children breaking the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, do not just let them go. Do not leave them off the hook. Hold them accountable for it. So that's why the very first thing we need to do in order to bring the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ in our life is to take it more seriously — and that means when there are people in our family who abandon the sunnah, when there are people breaking the sunnah, we hold them accountable right away.

Now I will say this: in order to bring the sunnah in our family, there are small steps you can take. I'm not saying that you go home and become the policeman. But within your family, bring the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ slowly and gradually — but with the intention: I want to bring the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ within my own household.

2. Sending Salat and Salam upon the Prophet ﷺ

What does Allah say regarding this?

Allah and the Malaikah send blessings and salutations upon the Prophet ﷺ. This is one way that we can earn the love of the Prophet ﷺ and earn his intercession on the Day of Judgment — by saying more and more salat and salam on the Prophet ﷺ. And there is no better day than the Day of Friday to do that. The Day of Friday is the day where we should, in excess, send durood and salat and salam upon the Prophet ﷺ.

3. Honoring the Name and Title of the Prophet ﷺ

The second thing that we can do to bring the love of the Prophet ﷺ in our life is that whenever we hear the name of Muhammad ﷺ, it is compulsory upon us that we say ﷺ. Not only that, but we should speak the name of Muhammad ﷺ with the most beautiful reverence. We see that in the Qur'an, Allah says:

Many scholars interpret and explain this verse by saying: the way you call each other out, do not do that with the Prophet ﷺ. I hate to say this, but I came across something and it hurt me very much. I know that the students who did this may have had another intention, but it really hurt me when I saw it. There was an MSA that one time wanted to show everyone how amazing the Prophet ﷺ is, and they printed out shirts that said: "Muhammad is my homie." "Muhammad is my homeboy." That's what the shirt said.

When people asked me whether the shirt was right or wrong, this is the ayah I referenced. When you talk about the Prophet ﷺ, do not refer to him like "Muhammad is my homie" or "Muhammad is my homeboy." Do not talk about the Prophet ﷺ like that. When we talk about the Prophet ﷺ, think of the most beautiful names and titles. Have respect for the Prophet ﷺ.

The Example of Imam Malik and His Reverence for Hadith

Something else that we learn — and this comes from the Tabi'een — is the example of Imam Malik. He had so much love for the Prophet ﷺ. As many people call him, he is known as the Imam of Madinat al-Hijrah — the Imam of the place to which the Prophet ﷺ made Hijrah. Imam Malik spent most of his life in Madinah and had a special love for the Prophet ﷺ.

It is said that whenever he would sit down to begin to read hadith, he would make wudu, wear brand new clothes, apply perfume, sit with utmost respect — and then take the book of hadith and read it. You know how we read hadith today? Lying on the bed, taking the iPad, scrolling through hadith here and there, lying down, leaning on one hand. That's how we read hadith nowadays — the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ. What we learn from Imam Malik is that when you read any other book, that is fine, but when it comes to the Book of Allah and the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ and any book of hadith, we should sit up and read it with the utmost respect.

And also — some people may disagree — but even when I see people putting the book of hadith on the floor, or the Qur'an on the floor, it hurts. Yes, there may not be a specific hadith that says you cannot. However, this is the Book of Allah. This deserves the highest and most elevated place in the room. So when we read the Qur'an, we should try to ensure that we don't place something so precious, so valuable, and irreplaceable on the floor — because it shows we are disrespecting it.

People walk on the floor. If you value something, why don't you leave a $100 bill on the floor and just let it be there? We have so much value for $100 — or even $5 these days with this economy. Leave $5 on the floor and just walk away. It's not easy. So please, when it comes to the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, whenever we want to study the seerah, study hadith, or read the Qur'an, we should sit up and read it with full respect.

The Scorpion and Imam Malik: A Story of Unparalleled Reverence

Now let me tell you about Imam Malik teaching hadith. 'Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak says: one time I was sitting in a gathering receiving a dars on hadith from Imam Malik. He said: while I was there studying from Imam Malik, I noticed that the color of his face changed 16 times. It became red, then normal. Then red again, then normal. Again red, then normal — like that, 16 times.

So the students of Imam Malik went to him and said: "Teacher, we noticed something we have never ever seen you do before — the color of your face changed 16 times." Then he said: "Come around," and told them: "Lift up my shirt." When his shirt was lifted, there was a scorpion that had been trapped in his shirt and had stung Imam Malik in 16 different places on his back.

The students said: "O teacher, you could have stopped the dars — you could have stopped the class — and we would have taken the scorpion out."

Wallahi, whenever I mention this, I pray to Allah that He gives us this much respect for the Prophet ﷺ. You know what Imam Malik said? He said: "How can I forsake the dars and the teaching of the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ for my own personal discomfort?"

That is who we need to become. That is the love that we need to bring within our children. That's the love of the Prophet ﷺ that we have to bring within our own households.

The Testimony of Suhail ibn 'Amr

Respected brothers and sisters, we have to get serious about this. When we see the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ being abandoned, it should bring tears to our eyes. When we see the deen of the Prophet ﷺ being forsaken — after everything the Prophet ﷺ gave — a lot of times we become desensitized. "Oh, this is what's going on in the Ummah — who cares? Big deal." No. It should hurt us.

Suhail ibn 'Amr was a negotiator on behalf of the Quraysh. At the time of Hudaybiyyah, he went to negotiate with the Prophet ﷺ. When he came back to the Quraysh, he spoke about how much respect, how much love the Sahabah had for the Prophet ﷺ. He said to the Quraysh: "I have visited many different places. I have visited the Roman Empire. I have been to the Negus in Abyssinia. I have visited the courts and castles of so many kings and so many rulers. By Allah, I have not seen anyone who is more loyal, more respectful, more loving to their master and to their leader than the Sahabah are to the Prophet ﷺ. I have not seen anyone who loves their leader more."

Respected brothers and sisters, there comes a time that we can go through these stories and hear them over and over again. But we have to be the brave ones to take that step.

May Allah give all of us the ability to act on what is best and what has been heard.

بَارَكَ اللَّهُ لِي وَلَكُمْ فِي الْقُرْآنِ الْعَظِيمِ وَنَفَعَنِي وَإِيَّاكُمْ بِمَا فِيهِ مِنَ الْآيَاتِ وَالذِّكْرِ الْحَكِيمِ أَقُولُ قَوْلِي هَذَا وَأَسْتَغْفِرُ اللَّهَ لِي وَلَكُمْ وَلِسَائِرِ الْمُسْلِمِينَ فَاسْتَغْفِرُوهُ إِنَّهُ هُوَ الْغَفُورُ الرَّحِيمُ

Second Khutbah: Two Action Items

الحمد لله، نحمده ونستعينه ونستغفره، ونعوذ بالله من شرور أنفسنا، ومن يهده الله فلا مضل له، ومن يضلل فلا هادي له، وأشهد أن لا إله إلا الله وحده لا شريك له، وأشهد أن محمداً عبده ورسوله. أما بعد.

Allah, the Blessed and Exalted, says in the Glorious Qur'an, after seeking refuge from the accursed Shaytan, in the name of Allah, Most Gracious, Most Merciful:

أما بعد. Respected brothers and sisters, now that we have understood why it is important to love the Prophet ﷺ — I've shared with you some stories and incidents from the lives of the Sahabah and the Tabi'een and how they loved the Prophet ﷺ and how they expressed that love — the question now is: what can we do to love the Prophet ﷺ? I just want to give you two action items today. Just two. The reason I'm giving you these action items is so that we can go home and take something back with us and actually start doing it.

Action Item 1: Study the Seerah of the Prophet ﷺ

The very first thing we need to do in order to have value for the Prophet ﷺ in our heart is to study the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. There are so many books of seerah. And what happens is that we are so ignorant when it comes to the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ — when it comes to ourselves, and when it comes to our own children.

Ask your own children — if there is a movie star they love, or a sports team they follow, ask them all the players on that team and they will tell you everything. They know everything. But how much do our kids know about the life of the Prophet ﷺ? Ask them. If you feel I may be wrong, sit down with them tonight and ask them: "Talk to me about the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ. What do you know? Just talk to me for 15 minutes about the seerah." And you will find out how much we know. You will find out how much your family members know about the life of that person whom we say we love so much.

I am not saying that we need to become scholars tomorrow. But we need to study the life and the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ because there are so many things we learn from it — and we come to understand what an amazing personality the Prophet ﷺ truly was.

Action Item 2: Read One Hadith a Day with Your Family

The second thing we can do to bring the love of the Prophet ﷺ within our lives and within our children is that every single day, sit down with your family, take a book of hadith or a book that teaches adab and sunnah, and just read it for ten minutes — your spouse, your kids — and just read the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ.

To make things easier for you, I generally recommend the second volume of Riyad al-Salihin — the second volume is all about adab and etiquettes: how did the Prophet ﷺ eat, how did he conduct himself in his life — it covers everything. So sit down with your kids and just read one hadith a day, and ask your kids and your spouse: "What did we learn from this hadith?" We don't need to get into the deep explanation — what did we learn?

For example: the Prophet ﷺ always ate with his right hand. When the Prophet ﷺ began to eat, he would always eat from what was in front of him. When the Prophet ﷺ would eat, what du'a would he read? When the Prophet ﷺ would finish eating, what would he say? Just basic sunnahs. But what will happen is that as time goes on and we remain consistent, eventually you will see that the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ will be practiced within your own family.

So these are just two action items for all of you today: begin to study the seerah of the Prophet ﷺ, and number two — take out ten minutes a day, sit down with your family, get a book of hadith, take one hadith, and see what sunnah you can take from it.

May Allah give all of us the ability to act on what has been said and heard. May Allah give us the true love of the Prophet ﷺ. May Allah grant us Jannah and the company of the Prophet ﷺ in Jannah. May Allah grant us the intercession of the Prophet ﷺ on the Day of Judgment.