Cultivating Love for Allah and Prophet Muhammad for Success

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Mawlana Farhan Shariff

Beloved brothers and sisters, youngsters and elders, esteemed and honorable guests of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى — السَّلَامُ عَلَيْكُمْ وَرَحْمَةُ اللهِ وَبَرَكَاتُهُ

Introduction: Ḥayāt al-Muslimīn and the 25 Principles

There is a very prolific author who recently passed away about 80 years ago and he wrote a book called حَيَاةُ الْمُسْلِمِينَ. This book has also been translated into English — it is known as Living as a Muslim — and in there he discusses about 25 principles. He mentions that if a person were to bring these 25 principles into his life and they were to internalize them, then by way of practicing upon these 25 things and making them very important in his life, Allah will grant him the ability and the tawfīq to act upon the complete dīn.

One of these qualities — the fourth principle that he discusses in his book — is having love for Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. As we have, الْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ, entered the month of Rabī' al-Awwal, we'll find that for many places, many different sermons and different lectures and seminars, the topic of discussion tends to be in this month: love for Allah and love for Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, as Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ was born in this month.

Why Should a Person Love Allah and Rasulullah?

Before going deeper into the discussion, let us first discuss: why should a person love Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? It doesn't really require much thought. As a Muslim, we are taught that Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى of course is our God — He is our Creator, He is our Sustainer — and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ is our Prophet, He is our Messenger. And Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, through His infinite wisdom, has laid out various different rulings, instructions and prohibitions — along with Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — for which when a person acts upon these and practices in accordance to these teachings, in accordance to these instructions and prohibitions, then Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ have promised such an individual a life full of salvation and full of success.

And we've heard it many times, and we'll say it many more times: that my success, your success, and the success of all of mankind lies in following the commandments of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى taught to us by Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. And when it comes to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, He mentions:

That person who has faith and does righteous deeds — then Allah has promised and ensured such a person will live a pleasant life. This is wherein a person will attain his salvation both in this world and also in the Hereafter.

The Analogy of Love: How Love Changes a Person

The mashāyikh of tasawwuf and tazkiyah — purification of the heart — when they discuss love for Allah and love for Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, many a times, for people to understand the connection that we should have — or we should strive to achieve — with Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, they mention stories like the likes of Laylā and Majnūn, the equivalent of Romeo and Juliet, and they derive various different lessons from their lives, in forms of poetry or in other forms as well.

But ultimately, if you look at what happens to a person when they begin to enter a relationship with someone that they truly adore, that they deem to be precious in their lives — whoever that may be, in whatever capacity, whether that be a child for their parent, or a husband for their wife, or so on and so forth — especially when it comes to a husband and their wife, you'll find that when they love one another then they go out of their way to accommodate one another.

Before the marriage, before the courting period, you'll find that a person may have been completely set in their ways — they have a particular type of food they like and enjoy. For example, they only like eating Indian food, or they only like eating American food like burgers, or other things like that. They only have one set way of food — they don't like spicy food, or they don't like sweet food. Or you'll find that one person absolutely hates traveling. Or another person is very particular about the clothing that they wear, or about the activities that they do in their time of leisure.

But then when they get married and they find out that their spouse actually likes something different — or their spouse encourages them to perhaps begin traveling, or their spouse likes spicy food, or they like sweet food — they encourage one another. For example, I know of one particular couple: before getting married, the wife would never — she would actually hate eating eggs. Then after two years of the marriage, all of a sudden, subhānAllāh, she cooks eggs every single day — not only for her spouse but for herself as well.

What happened? Because out of love for the spouse, she began to compromise, and she began to also take part in the meal. And then after a while, because of the enjoyment of the spouse, she also began to enjoy. And then a habit formed — one thing which she was doing out of compulsion eventually became a habit, and then after it became a habit, it became an act of love.

So when a person begins to love someone, then it's easier for them to compromise. Similarly, if we were to bring true love for Allah and His Rasūl صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ into our lives, it would be so much more easier for us to practice upon the injunctions of our dīn — the instructions and the prohibitions. And that is why a person has to develop this love for Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ.

The Sweetness of Īmān

And this is, in actual fact, the sweetness of Īmān — when a person begins to, for lack of better words, go out of his way to please Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. Because the nafs — a person's internal desires — this is what Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى has created every human being with. The nafs is such a part of every human being that hates to be restrained.

What type of person likes to pray? Normally, no one would like to pray. What type of person finds enjoyment when they're first starting off to sit every single day and read Qur'ān for half an hour? A normal person — if you tell anyone, "take out half an hour every day and read Qur'ān," especially when they don't understand what they're reading — they don't enjoy it, they don't look forward to it. Or similarly, who likes to stay away from eating, or any of the things that we are taught to stay away from or to perform and carry out as Muslims?

But when a person begins to love Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, then he actually begins to taste a sweetness in this sacrifice. And this is what Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ has spoken about in a ḥadīth wherein he has mentioned:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 16; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 43)

That there are three qualities, three characteristics, that if a person finds these three in his life and he has these three qualities, then he will attain the sweetness of faith. The first of them being: that Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ become more beloved to him than not only anyone else but anything else as well — مِمَّا سِوَاهُمَا — than absolutely anything else in existence.

How to Develop Love for Allah

But the question is: how do we develop the love for Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? There are a few things that we can bring into our lives.

1. Gratitude and Appreciation for Allah's Bounties

Starting off with how to develop and create a love for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى — Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ in a ḥadīth of Tirmidhī advised how we can begin to love Allah. He said:

(Jāmi' al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3789)

Love Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى because of all the various different bounties that He constantly blesses you with. In other words, one of the fastest ways to develop love for Allah is through gratitude and appreciation — to be thankful to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى for every single bounty that He has granted us. And this requires a type of active praise and appreciation wherein a person is conscious of the bounties that Allah is providing him with.

And it all starts off with the various different du'ās. If you look in our life — how many different du'ās Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ has provided us with — that from the very beginning of the day, when we wake up, the first words that we are taught to say are:

All praise belongs to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, the One who has revived me after He has taken my life. When a person goes to sleep, they lose consciousness — their soul goes to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, as Allah mentions:

Allah mentions that when a person goes to sleep, his soul is actually taken out momentarily until he wakes up. So we are taught to immediately praise Allah.

There is another Ṣaḥābī — Abdullah ibn Mas'ūd رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ, if I'm not mistaken — he would mention daily the du'ā that he would say:

Pondering about all the various different bounties Allah has blessed him with and then also reflecting on how he has been as a servant of Allah — he mentions: all the praise belongs to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, the One who, out of His grace and favor, granted me one more day to live, despite all of my sins, and He did not destroy me because of the way that I'm living my life.

Then when we eat food:

All praise belongs to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, the One who has granted me food, the One who has fed me. And there are in fact so many different du'ās to recite when a person eats — it shows the different ways that Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ would praise Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى when eating food.

اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ — I've had the chance to meet certain people who are so close to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى. This is a habit that you'll see in their lives, and we can also bring into our lives: once when I went to my teacher, he took me home to his father — he took me to his house where his father was — and we were eating food. Every single morsel, he was saying اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ — every single morsel that went into his mouth, as though he was breathing, he was saying:

O Allah, for You is all praise and all thanks. And if you ponder about it, the more you think about your life and the more the bounties that you ponder about, the more you'll have a reason to thank Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى — every single breath that He has granted us, the fact that اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ Allah has blessed us with health, wealth, safety, and so on and so forth. That is one thing that we can begin pondering about — the various different blessings Allah has granted us.

2. Making Dhikr and Taking the Name of Allah

Secondly, we can also make dhikr, and there are different types of making dhikr. When you're making dhikr and when you're taking the name of Allah —

إِذَا تَكَرَّرَا تَقَرَّرَا — when it comes to Laylā and Majnūn, Romeo and Juliet, what happens? "O my Romeo, O my Romeo. O my Juliet, O my Juliet." The more you repeat something, the more it comes into your heart. The more you call out to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, the more love comes into your heart.

When a person goes out in the path of Allah, what are they doing? They're calling out to the greatness of Allah. Don't you and I know that Allah is a Sustainer, Allah is a Provider, Allah is a Creator? Don't you and I know that Allah is the One who is in charge of causing the sun to rise, and Allah is the One who is in charge of making the entire world work in such a systematic manner that it's better than even clockwork? Of course we know that. So then why are you constantly repeating it? So that the reality of that enters our heart — so that we truly, firmly believe in that.

So the more you take the name of Allah by making dhikr, the more a person will be — truly, from the deepest crevices of his heart — convinced in what he is saying. Just reflect, think about it: when we perform our ṣalāh — and this is a lesson for both especially myself and all of us — what are we saying? We are saying Allāhu Akbar — Allah is the Greatest. But then ask yourselves: when we are taking the name of Allah, when we are reminding ourselves "Allah is the Greatest," what are we thinking about? Have we reached such a level that when we are taking the name of the Beloved, we are still not even thinking about Him?

There is this one joke that many people — they would come for Ẓuhr ṣalāh every day. One day the imām was confused, and after the ṣalāh finished he didn't know whether he did 3 rak'āts or 4 rak'āts. So then he turned around, and surprisingly many of the community members — the muqtadīs, those who were praying behind him — were also confused. Some were saying, "Bhai, did we do 3 rak'āts? Did we do 4 rak'āts?" And some of them were saying, "No, I think we did 4, I think we are okay." And others were saying, "No, are you sure? Maybe we did 3."

Then all of a sudden there was only one person in the crowd who spoke up and said, "I am 100% sure we did 4 rak'āts today." So they were all surprised: "You are 100% sure? Everyone is confused — how are you 100% sure?" He said, "Every day when I come for Ẓuhr, you see, I have 4 businesses and I calculate how much profit I get in every business in every rak'ah — first rak'ah I do one business, second rak'ah the second one — and اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ I managed to do all 4. So I am 100% sure we did 4 rak'āts."

Unfortunately, some of us come into the ṣalāh with things that we already planned to think about, other than Allah. But that should not be the case. Whenever we are making dhikr of Allah, taking Allah's name, we have to make ourselves conscious of what we are actually saying.

So when we are saying SubḥānAllāh after ṣalāh — we are taught the Tasbīḥ Fāṭimī: 33 times SubḥānAllāh, 33 times AlḥamdulillāH, 34 times Allāhu Akbar — and the reward for that is that a person's sins will be forgiven equivalent even to the foam of the sea. So when you are saying SubḥānAllāh, imagine: "My Allah is so perfect, my Allah is free of any blemishes, free of any faults." When you are saying Alḥamdulillāh, think of all the various different bounties — "all praise truly belongs to Allah." When saying Allāhu Akbar, think: "Allah is truly the Greatest, there is no one and nothing greater than Allah." And when saying Lā ilāha illAllāh — "there is no one worthy of worship besides Allah" — think about the way the world works.

SubḥānAllāh — there is this one brother of mine. Many of us have different experiences in our life, but we are taught to reflect on those experiences. There was one brother — may Allah put extreme barakah in his life and all of our lives — it just so happened he was looking for a place around Lombard for about 2 to 3 years. MāshāAllāh he is a doctor too, a radiologist, and so he is looking for a house but he just couldn't find anything for 2 to 3 years. In 2 to 3 years, māshāAllāh, I think he has 3 or 4 children, and he is living in an apartment and it is getting very difficult. He is just spending money on rent — it's like over $2,000 rent — a big family, and he is looking and looking and looking.

And all of a sudden, you know what happened? In his own apartment building, lightning struck and burnt half the building down. Because half of the building got burnt down, he was requested to vacate the premises and leave — his lease was terminated. Then, frantically looking for a place, finally he found someone who was willing to rent. This person was willing to rent a house to him. And then all of a sudden he just said, "You know what — you miss 100% of the shots that you don't take," so he was like, "What the heck, let me just ask — how much are you going to charge me if I buy this house from you right now? Name your price. What do you want? I'll give you whatever you want."

So then that person thought and said, "You know what, I really never had the intention of selling this, but if you give me this particular amount, we'll call it a deal." And it just so happened — subḥānAllāh — think about all the different factors: there was no realtor involved, he didn't have to pay any extra fines for leaving his lease, and then he found a property that he could live in. And اَلْحَمْدُ لِلّٰهِ the deal and everything went through. May Allah save him from ḥasad and from the evil eye, may Allah put barakah in his life and all of our lives.

But if you look at it — what happened? Initially the whole entire apartment got burnt down. Lightning struck a building to literally expel him from his building, but because of that, he didn't have to pay a fine for breaking the lease early. Because of that he was frantically searching for a place, and all of a sudden he stumbled upon this house. Then because of what he was going through, he was just like, "What else do I have to lose? Let me just ask the man if he wants to sell the house." And subḥānAllāh, Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى facilitated everything with such ease. Isn't that something?

This is one example, but if we think about our lives, then every single one of us has particular examples. Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى promises to provide such eye-openers, such signs, through which we can very easily come to understand and to accept His greatness. But unfortunately, for many of us:

So many of us are unfortunately averse to it. And what's blinding our eyes? For many of us it's the inability to be grateful to Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى for the bounties He's granted us. And this is Shayṭān's one of his main jobs and responsibilities, as he has mentioned in his conversation with Allah:

Shayṭān in his discussion with Allah said: "I'm going to come to them from their right side, from their left side, from in front, from behind — I'm going to come from every nook and corner." And what's the main purpose? وَلَا تَجِدُ أَكْثَرَهُمْ شَاكِرِينَ — "You are going to find that most of them will not be thankful, will not be grateful."

And it's so scary, so frightening — Allah has mentioned elsewhere in the Qur'ān:

That Iblīs was right — so many people followed him, except for a small group of believers.

3. Reading Qur'ān with Meaning and Attending Lectures

So when it comes to developing the love of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى, we have to think about the various different bounties He has blessed us with, be grateful for that, make the dhikr of Allah, constantly recite His name, take His name, and ponder about what we are reciting.

Another thing we can do is we can read Qur'ān with the meaning and attend such lectures where the greatness of Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى is being discussed. And in most masājid, māshāAllāh, it does take place regularly. But we have to attend those lectures — again, it's not about merely acquainting ourselves with knowledge about Allah, but rather the more we hear it, the more we internalize it.

How to Develop Love for Rasulullah ﷺ

Lastly, when it comes to loving Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — how can we do so? This is a month where you'll find so many different lectures taking place on the subject. We should definitely attend them. We should send ṣalawāt upon Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. The more we mention our beloved, the more the love for him will enter our heart. So صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — let us make a goal for at least a hundred times or more on Fridays, a thousand times if possible. Let us set our own goals.

In fact, if you look at the life of the Ṣaḥābah رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُمْ, there were some of them who would set for themselves a particular amount that they could achieve — their own personal goal that they could achieve. So this is also something that we should do.

The Story of the Bedouin: "You Will Be With Those You Love"

I'd like to end off with one incident, just again highlighting the importance of having love for Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and love for Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى.

One Bedouin came to Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ and said:

He just openly blurted out: "When is the Day of Qiyāmah? When is Doomsday? When is this thing that you're warning us about all the time — when is it going to happen?" So then Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said:

(Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, Hadith 3688; Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim, Hadith 2639)

"What did you prepare? You're asking about this — what have you prepared for that day?" So then he thought to himself and said: "No, I didn't — not that many fasts, not that many prayers, nothing really extraordinary." He said:

"I don't have anything. But — there's maybe one thing, if I can say one thing — that I love Allah and I love Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ." So then what was the reply? Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ said:

In other words, "Don't worry — you will be with those that you love. Allah and His Rasūl will take care of you. If you truly love Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ, you will be taken care of."

Anas رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنْهُ says that the Muslims on that day were never as happy as they experienced on that day. And he said: "From the bottom of my heart, as I am 100% sure that I love Allah and I love Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — so I will, inshāAllāh, be with them."

Conclusion: A Question for Each of Us

Now we have to ask ourselves: do we truly love Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? When you see a child and they're talking about an athlete or they're talking about an actor — they know everything. They know all the facts, all the details, all the information, all the history. Did they sit there with baseball cards or all of these stats and start memorizing them one after another? They didn't do that. They heard it once, but they had so much extreme love that when they heard it once, it just stuck right into their heart. That's having love for something — when you love someone, then you remember everything about them.

So if we loved Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ — how much do we truly know about our Allah, and how much do we know about our Rasūl صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ? This is a question for both you and I.

May Allah grant us true love for Allah and Rasulullah صَلَّى اللهُ عَلَيْهِ وَسَلَّمَ. May Allah also make us amongst those who are taken care of on the Day of Qiyāmah. We can all, inshāAllāh, perform our Sunnah.

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There is also a request: Brother Ṣiddīq Nilām, father of Brother Sa'd Ṣiddīqī — who is a previous Iqāmah Chicago president — has passed away. May Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى forgive him, grant him maghfirah, and grant the family ṣabr and patience at this time.

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