The Shortcut To Jannah: Loving Rasulullah

The Shortcut to Jannah: Loving Rasulullah ﷺ

In life, we all want shortcuts to everything. When you have an exam, for example, you want a study guide. You want the teacher to tell you where to study from, which section to focus on. In your education and career path, you want a direct program so that you can bypass standardized exams like the MCAT for medical school, for example. In weight loss and fitness, for example, people want supplements and 30-day challenges to magically transform their weight and get healthier. And all these things are supposed to make life easier. They're supposed to make your objectives easier to fulfill, to achieve.

And as Muslims, we also have objectives, and our number one objective is obviously to achieve the pleasure of Allah. And so, are there any shortcuts for this objective as well? And the answer is, actually, yes. There are shortcuts that are legitimatized and certified by Rasulullah ﷺ himself.

Once, a man — a Bedouin Sahabi — he asked Rasulullah ﷺ:

"When is the Day of Judgment?"

Rasulullah ﷺ wisely diverted his attention towards something more pertinent — something he can control, something tangible:

"What did you prepare for it?" Instead of asking what it is — what did you prepare for it?

The man replied:

"I haven't prepared so much — when it comes to ṣalāh, when it comes to ṣawm, when it comes to ṣadaqah, all these a'māl, all these good deeds, I haven't done so much. However, I love Allah and His Messenger. That's one thing that I certainly do."

At this, Rasulullah ﷺ remarked:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3688; Sahih Muslim, Book 45, Hadith 163)

"You are with whomever you love."

And so that is the shortcut, essentially — the shortcut to Jannah is to love Rasulullah ﷺ. And that seems straightforward and simple enough. However, perhaps we've forgotten what it truly means to love Rasulullah ﷺ.

What Causes You to Love Someone?

To unpack this and understand what that truly means, let's talk about first what causes you to love someone in the first place. And essentially it boils down to four different things.

1. Iḥsān — Favor and Support

Number one, you have the quality of them having done some sort of favor upon you. They've helped you out. They've supported you. This could be, for example, your parents. Many of us, alhamdulillah, Allah gave us the blessing of having parents who are supportive — who supported us for a large portion of our lives. From your mother who carried you in her womb for nine months before delivering you in immense pain and feeding you, to your father who provided for you and taught you and did your tarbiyah. And they continue to support you and stand by you for as long as they live.

Or it could also be your teachers, your tutors, your classmates who help you in your journey of education and learning, and seeking a degree, for example. That is also a form of iḥsān upon you. Or even someone who just helped you out in a difficult situation — when you were in a financially tough spot, or you needed to talk to someone, you were going through some stress, some type of difficulty, and they were a shoulder that you could lean on. These are all forms of iḥsān upon you. And they're all something that when you see it from someone, you appreciate them for that, and that increases your love for them.

2. Personal Connection

Secondly, you have the quality of personal connection to someone. You have a personal connection to that someone, and because of that connection, you cherish them more. You love them more. Again, your parents are included in this, but also all your family members — your brothers, your sisters, and your friends. After all, Nabi ﷺ said:

(Sunan Abu Dawud, Hadith 4833; Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 2378)

"A person is upon the religion of his khalīl — his true friend." Why? Because he has that personal connection with him, that cherished connection with him — because he loves him.

3. Jamāl — Beauty

Number three, you have the quality of jamāl — of physical attraction towards that thing. That thing or that someone has some sort of physical attraction that makes you love them more. Obviously, this includes spouses, but also this could include natural things, the natural world — where you see this beautiful creation of Allah. You see the jamāl in these things, and that increases your love for Allah as well.

4. Kamāl — Excellence

And finally, you have the quality of kamāl — of excellence. And this is perhaps best illustrated today in the example of athletes. Professional athletes, for example, are some of the most beloved people on earth, at least apparently. And they have the biggest fan bases. Why? Because they have a certain level of excellence that they show, and people get inspired by that. They admire those qualities. And so even if a diehard fan has never seen the athlete before in person, or the athlete has never talked to him in person, he doesn't even know of his existence — he'll still be a diehard fan of his because of how much he admires him, how much he admires how excellently he does what he does. Even if it's just a game or a sport, that love is still there.

And so, if anyone has one of these four qualities with respect to you, then you probably love them. Now imagine if someone had all four of these qualities with respect to you — not just with respect to you, with respect to every creation, every person — to the maximum degree. That is essentially who Rasulullah ﷺ is.

The Kamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ

In terms of his excellence, Nabi ﷺ had the most excellent of character. He had the most perfect of mannerisms. Whoever dealt with him, whoever spoke to him was completely and utterly awestruck at his character, at his excellence.

Take the example of Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah radiyallahu anhu. He was a Ṣaḥābī who converted later on. And Rasulullah ﷺ gave him a very large share of the ghanīmah at the Battle of Ḥunayn. To give you some context, Ṣafwān radiyallahu anhu at this point was a very new Muslim — he had just converted a few weeks before at the Conquest of Mecca. And not only that, before Islam he was actually a big enemy of Islam. In fact, his father Umayyah ibn Khalaf was the very person who tortured and persecuted Bilāl radiyallahu anhu in the heat of the sun, by having big stones placed on his chest. That was his father. And his father was brutally killed at the Battle of Badr by the companions. This probably only increased his anguish — the anguish of Ṣafwān radiyallahu anhu at the time before his conversion to Islam. So much so that he is reported to have said that there was no one who was more hated to him on the face of the earth than Rasulullah ﷺ at that time.

However, after converting to Islam, after seeing the akhlāq and the mannerisms of Rasulullah ﷺ, after receiving that immense amount of ghanīmah — when just a few weeks prior he was a staunch enemy of Islam — he realized that this could only be the act of a Nabī. That only a Nabī could possibly give so much, possibly give so generously without batting an eye, to an enemy who was just an enemy just a few weeks prior. And so at that moment, Rasulullah ﷺ became the most beloved person to him on the face of the earth.

So that is what we're talking about when we're talking about the kamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ. He had such perspective-altering and worldview-altering impact on people just through his excellence alone.

The Jamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ

And then in terms of his jamāl, Rasulullah ﷺ was the most perfectly crafted, the most perfectly created creation of Allah. As Ḥassān ibn Thābit radiyallahu anhu himself remarked in his poetry:

"It is as if you, yā Rasulullah, have been created just as you wanted to be created."

And once a Ṣaḥābī was passing by Rasulullah ﷺ on a moonlit night. The full moon was out. And he took this opportunity to observe and compare directly the jamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ as well as that of the moon, the full moon in all its glory and its beauty. And so after contemplating, after comparing these two, he quickly realized that the jamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ simply outweighed and overpowered that of the moon, even.

And if you look in the books of Shamā'il — the books which describe the qualities of Rasulullah ﷺ — you'll find that they are replete with characteristics that describe his beautiful akhlāq, but also his khulq, his physical attributes. He was of perfect proportions. They say he was not too tall, not too short, not too skinny, not too round, not too fair in complexion, not too dark. Perfect in every attribute.

But one thing that perhaps every description of Rasulullah ﷺ states about him is that the narrators say they have simply seen nothing like him. Al-Barā' ibn 'Āzib radiyallahu anhu said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3551; Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 112)

"I have never seen anyone — describing Rasulullah ﷺ while he had long hair and while he was wearing a red garment — I have never seen anyone with such beautifully long hair and such a red garment better than Rasulullah ﷺ."

And you would see this, hadith after hadith — the Ṣaḥābī would describe him: "I have seen nothing like him, ever." And so what we find from this is that the jamāl of Rasulullah ﷺ was something that wasn't just subjectively appreciated by someone. You know how they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder? In the case of Rasulullah ﷺ, it was a universal, objective beauty — objective jamāl — such that people were awestruck just by observing him, just by gazing their eyes upon him. And so in terms of jamāl too, he was absolutely at the pinnacle.

Our Personal Connection with Rasulullah ﷺ

Now, in terms of our personal connection with him — obviously Rasulullah ﷺ has left this world physically. But his spiritual legacy lives on to this day, and inshāAllah it will until Qiyāmah. So much so that after every ṣalāh, at the end of every ṣalāh, what do we do? We recite ṣalawāt upon him:

We are reminded about the perfect quality of Rasulullah ﷺ and his favor that he has done upon the ummah. That's why we do ṣalawāt upon him — every single ṣalāh. And on top of that, he is our Nabī. He is our very own Nabī. And that is the greatest connection anyone could have towards anyone else — whether passed away or whether alive.

The Iḥsān of Rasulullah ﷺ Upon Us

Finally, in terms of his iḥsān upon us — in terms of his favors that he has done upon us — what could possibly be said about this? SubhānAllah. First and foremost, the very fact that he has brought us the message. The very fact that he has done tablīgh of the message of Islam to us automatically brings him to the pinnacle of this category. Our very salvation depends upon us believing in his message and believing in the īmān that he has taught us, the tawḥīd that he has taught us. Our salvation is dependent upon that.

But not only did he do tablīgh of the message — he also made earnest du'ā for his ummah. He spent his nights crying for the ummah. Crying, making du'ā to Allah: "O Allah, my ummah. O Allah, my ummah." And not only in this world — in the next as well. On the Day of Qiyāmah, when every creation will be worried about themselves and themselves only, when no one will think about even their own family members — Rasulullah ﷺ will be the one thinking about each and every one of us. He's the one who will be thinking about each and every one of you:

"My ummah, my ummah, O Lord, my ummah."

And so that automatically brings Rasulullah ﷺ into the highest category. What could possibly be a greater favor than this upon any other human being? And so when you really think about it, the only logical conclusion that you can reach is that no one deserves our love more than Rasulullah ﷺ.

How Our Scholars Manifested This Love

When we look at our scholars of the past, they have definitely internalized this and manifested it within themselves. Take the example of Imam Aḥmad, for example — he was one of the greatest imams of our ummah. At one point, he stood up against some ẓulm that the government was doing; they had proliferated a bid'ah within the masses. And he was the only one who stood up to that, and he was persecuted and tortured for it.

At one point later in his life, he was dealing with some pain and had to go through a medical procedure. And while he was going through that procedure, in immense pain, the only thing that was coming out of his mouth was:

"O Allah, forgive al-Mu'taṣim." And this is a very peculiar, very interesting phrase to come out of his mouth at this point in time — because who was al-Mu'taṣim? He was the very person who was torturing him. The very person who had him punished and tortured because he stood up to the government. Why did Imam Aḥmad do this? When people asked him, he said: "I don't want anything to come between me and the family of Rasulullah ﷺ." He realized that al-Mu'taṣim, as much of a ẓālim as he was at that time, was at the end of the day from the progeny of Rasulullah ﷺ. And even though he did not live up to his lineage, Imam Aḥmad did not want that animosity to hinder his relationship with the family of Rasulullah ﷺ on Qiyāmah. So that he would not be questioned: "Why did you have this animosity towards the family of Rasulullah ﷺ? Don't you know who Rasulullah ﷺ is?" And so he put all of that aside, despite going through so much difficulty, and he said, "O Allah, forgive al-Mu'taṣim."

SubhānAllah — that is what true love is. When you love Rasulullah ﷺ, you love anyone and anything connected to him.

Loving the Sha'ā'ir of Allah

And this aspect of loving things connected to Allah and His Messenger — we're actually familiar with this already. When we go to Ḥajj or 'Umrah, when we do ṭawāf of the Ka'bah, when we do sa'ī — all of these things are the sha'ā'ir Allāh, the icons of Allah. And whoever reveres the icons of Allah:

"Whoever reveres the symbols of Allah — indeed, that is from the taqwā of the hearts."

Because that taqwā shows that you love Allah. That you love these things that Allah wants us to revere. That is what true love of Allah is.

Practical Steps to Increase Our Love for Rasulullah ﷺ

And so just to conclude, a few practical points that we should take in order to increase our love for Rasulullah ﷺ.

Number one — we should perform abundant ṣalawāt upon him. It is reported in a hadith that Nabi ﷺ said:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 484)

"The most deserving of people of me — meaning of my shafā'ah on Qiyāmah — will be those who do abundant ṣalawāt upon me." Those who do the most ṣalawāt upon him will have the best opportunity to attain the shafā'ah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

Secondly, we should read about him and learn about Rasulullah ﷺ. Because that is how we learn about his struggles, his sacrifices, and what he has done for us. And that is one way we can accompany him. Even if we cannot accompany his physical presence, we can at least accompany his words — his spiritual presence in the form of his ḥadīth, in the form of his sīrah. And so inshāAllah, that will be a means of increasing our love for Rasulullah ﷺ.

I ask Allah that He grant us the tawfīq to do so.

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