The Beloved Of Allah: Prophet Muhammad's Supreme Honor

Opening Du'a

The Companions' Conversation About the Prophets

One time the Sahaba were sitting, talking amongst one another, while they were waiting for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This hadith is in Tirmidhi. Abdullah ibn Abbas رضي الله عنه narrates:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi)

People were sitting, waiting for the Prophet ﷺ. So the Prophet ﷺ went out, and then he heard them talking, and he heard what they were saying.

One of them said:

Wow, it is so amazing that out of all creation, Allah ta'ala actually took a human being as a friend — Allah ta'ala took Sayyidina Ibrahim عليه السلام as a friend.

Another one said:

Wow, but what could be more amazing than Musa عليه السلام, because Allah ta'ala actually spoke to him directly.

Another person said:

Well, Isa عليه السلام is the kalima of Allah — Allah ta'ala just ordained for him to exist, and he existed. He came into being without the normal means of a mother and father. So that's pretty amazing.

Yet another said:

But what about Adam? Allah ta'ala chose him to be the very first human being and the father of everyone else. So you can't beat that.

The Prophet ﷺ Responds: "I am the Beloved of Allah"

So these Sahaba رضي الله عنهم were talking. Then the Nabi ﷺ went out and he heard them:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi)

That I heard your conversation, and I heard that you were finding it amazing — the various things that you said. I heard that you found it amazing that Ibrahim عليه السلام is the friend of Allah, and that is definitely true. Musa عليه السلام is the one whom Allah ta'ala spoke to, and that's definitely true as well. Similarly, Isa عليه السلام is the one that Allah ta'ala just pronounced his statement and then he came into being. And it's very true that Allah ta'ala selected Adam عليه السلام to be the first human being and the first prophet.

But, just for all of us to know — I am the beloved of Allah, the Habibullah, wala fakhr. I'm not saying it to boast, but rather just to inform us that this is the status that Allah ta'ala has given me.

I am the one who will carry the banner of praise of Allah ta'ala on the Day of Judgment — wala fakhr. I'm not boasting; I'm just stating a fact. And I am the first one who will intercede on people's behalf on the Day of Judgment, and the first one who will be granted permission to intercede — and I'm not boasting. I'm the first one who will knock on the door of Jannah; Allah ta'ala will open it for me, and Allah ta'ala will allow me to enter, and with me will be the poor believers — wala fakhr. And I am the most honoured of all people from the earlier generations and the later generations — and I'm not saying it to boast, rather just to inform us, because it's important for Muslims to know that this is a fact.

The Ranking of the Messengers

Allah ta'ala says in Surah al-Baqarah:

That some messengers, Allah ta'ala has granted status over others — and then the messenger who is at the top of this list, so to speak, is the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad ﷺ.

The Best of Hearts

There's another hadith in Musnad Ahmad:

(Musnad Ahmad)

Allah ta'ala looked at the hearts of all people, and then he found that the heart of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the best of all hearts. So Allah ta'ala chose the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ for himself, and sent him with prophethood. Then he looked at the rest of the hearts after the heart of the Prophet ﷺ, and he found that the hearts of the companions — those who later became the companions of the Messenger Muhammad ﷺ — to be the best of hearts after that of the Prophet ﷺ himself. He made them around his Messenger — people to help and assist the Messenger — and then they fight for his sake, for the sake of his religion.

We understand from this that the Prophet ﷺ is the most beloved creation of Allah ta'ala. Allah ta'ala looked at all people before they were even created and Allah ta'ala saw that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was the best of all creation. And then the Prophet ﷺ, as he himself states, "I am the beloved of Allah ta'ala."

Allah's Love Spreads Through the Heavens and the Earth

There is another hadith — this also is in Musnad Ahmad. Abu Hurairah رضي الله عنه narrates:

(Musnad Ahmad; also Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3209; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2637)

Whenever Allah ta'ala loves a person, he says to Jibreel عليه السلام: "I love this person, so you love him too." So Allah ta'ala loves someone and then Allah ta'ala announces to Sayyidina Jibreel, the chief of all the angels, that you love him too. Then Jibreel عليه السلام says to the people in the heavens — all the other angels — "Your Lord loves such and such individual, so you love him too." And then everybody in the sky, all the angels, begin loving that person as well. And then people on earth start loving that person as well.

So this is the effect of Allah ta'ala loving someone — the angels start loving them first: Jibreel عليه السلام and then the other angels, and then all the people of the earth. And this is maximized — most amplified — when you look at the Messenger of Allah, Muhammad ﷺ. Allah ta'ala loved him more than all other creation, and then similarly — that's why, naturally, the angels and of course all the believers — everybody naturally has this love for the Prophet ﷺ.

Examples of Allah's Love for the Prophet ﷺ in the Quran

The Change of Qibla

Now I just wanted to take a few moments to look at some examples of the love of Allah ta'ala for the Prophet ﷺ and the love of other creations of Allah ta'ala for the Prophet ﷺ.

We all know that when the Muslims first started out they were in Mecca, and then they moved to Medina. When they were in Medina they were praying, but they weren't facing Mecca — they were facing Jerusalem. Medina, you can say, is in the middle; Mecca is south of it and Jerusalem is north of it. So basically you face one or the other — you can't face both. The order was that they had to face Jerusalem, Masjid al-Aqsa. That's what they were doing. But then their hearts were longing for the Ka'bah — especially the Prophet ﷺ. His heart was longing for it too, because he knew that this is also the house of Allah. In fact, this was built even before Masjid al-Aqsa — the first house to be built, the first Masjid, was the Ka'bah. The Prophet ﷺ had also grown up in Mecca, so obviously the Ka'bah was in front of him as he was growing up. He had a deep attachment to it — not just because that's where he was from, but similarly because that was the house of Allah too.

So the Prophet ﷺ was yearning for it — just hoping that Allah ta'ala might change the ruling. The ruling was that they face Jerusalem, but he was just hoping that Allah ta'ala might change it. So Allah ta'ala speaks about this. Allah says in Surah al-Baqarah:

That we have seen your face turning towards the sky. Now keep in mind — look at how endearingly Allah ta'ala is talking to the Prophet ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ is again and again, from time to time, glancing towards the sky in anticipation of wahi, hoping that an angel comes down. Allah says that we recognize this — we've seen this.

فَلَنُوَلِّيَنَّكَ قِبْلَةً تَرْضَاهَا — So we will now turn you to the Qibla that pleases you. Let's take a moment to digest that. Allah ta'ala is telling the Prophet ﷺ — it's not just an order that "do this or do that," but Allah ta'ala says: we will turn you towards the Qibla that pleases you.

فَوَلِّ وَجْهَكَ شَطْرَ الْمَسْجِدِ الْحَرَامِ — So now turn and face Masjid al-Haram in Mecca. Allah ta'ala could have kept the ruling to be Jerusalem. Allah ta'ala could have just stated the ruling directly. Allah ta'ala said it in a very endearing way. We understand that Allah ta'ala had the utmost love for the Prophet ﷺ — the way that he spoke to the Prophet ﷺ, addressed him, was just full of love, full of care, full of kindness. Allah ta'ala wanted to do what pleased the Prophet ﷺ.

The Verse of Pardon in Surah at-Tawbah

There is another instance in which there are some people who were required to go out into battle and then they stayed back — they were munafiqeen, they weren't actually true Muslims. So Allah ta'ala asked the Prophet ﷺ in the Quran why he gave them permission. This is in Surah at-Tawbah. Allah ta'ala says:

The point of the directive — the question — is: why did you give them permission when it wasn't ideal to give them permission? Because these people were making up excuses and they didn't have any valid excuse not to go. But the way that Allah ta'ala started that out — because now, we know that when you're directly telling somebody that they did something that was less than ideal, or something that was not quite what you're expecting, then the person would naturally feel a little bit sad. So instead, Allah ta'ala started out by saying عَفَا اللَّهُ عَنْكَ — "Allah has already forgiven you" — لِمَ أَذِنْتَ لَهُمْ — "but then why did you give them permission?" — just so that it wouldn't cause any internal grief to the Prophet ﷺ. Allah ta'ala started out by saying "Allah has already forgiven you, don't worry about it" — and then, to address the point — لِمَ أَذِنْتَ لَهُمْ — "why did you give them permission?"

The Story of Abdullah ibn Ummi Maktoom

There's another instance in which there was a Sahabi — Abdullah ibn Ummi Maktoom رضي الله عنه — he was blind, and he approached the Prophet ﷺ while the Prophet ﷺ was talking to a group of non-Muslims, inviting them to Islam. The point was that he was busy. Abdullah ibn Ummi Maktoom رضي الله عنه was coming while the Prophet ﷺ was already doing something else — already in the middle of something important. Abdullah ibn Ummi Maktoom رضي الله عنه was kind of coming in the middle. So naturally, any of us — if that happens, somebody comes and interrupts what we're doing — it's not the nicest thing. So the Prophet ﷺ didn't rebuke him at all. All he did was kind of turn away from him and just turned back to the people that he was speaking to. So Allah ta'ala addresses that in the Quran:

He frowned and he turned away — when the blind man came to him. What would you know? Maybe that one interaction would have caused him to achieve internal purity. As for the one who comes to you in earnestness, fearing Allah — you are distracting yourself away from him.

So the point over here is that Allah ta'ala is addressing the Prophet ﷺ saying that this thing maybe wasn't the most ideal — it might have been better not to turn away from this blind man. It might have been better to just cut off the conversation that you're already engaged in and instead give him your full undivided attention. Of course not a sin, but you can say just something that Allah ta'ala said would have been preferred to do.

But again, when you address somebody directly, sometimes it's a little bit hard for them to stomach — it might make them a little bit sad. So Allah ta'ala doesn't say عَبَسْتَ وَتَوَلَّيْتَ — "you frowned and you turned away." Allah ta'ala speaks about it in third person — عَبَسَ وَتَوَلَّى — "he frowned and he turned away." Although Allah ta'ala is addressing the Prophet ﷺ, he doesn't say it directly — he just speaks about the Prophet ﷺ in third person. Why? Because just taking the feelings of the Prophet ﷺ into account.

The Quran as a Conversation with the Prophet ﷺ

We see that the whole discourse that we find in the Quran is basically almost just a conversation between Allah ta'ala and the Prophet ﷺ. Allah ta'ala says right in the beginning of the Quran:

Allah ta'ala describes the believers to be those who believe in whatever was revealed to you and what was revealed to those who came before you. Allah ta'ala could have said "those who believe in the Quran" or "those who believe in the previous scriptures." Instead, Allah ta'ala made the conversation such that Allah is addressing the Prophet ﷺ directly and we're all just witnesses to that — "those who believe in what was revealed to you." And that's Alhamdulillah how we read the Quran.

So we see that the love that Allah ta'ala has for the Prophet ﷺ — it permeates every single surah of the Quran. And as we said, when Allah ta'ala loves someone, he calls out to the angels and tells them to love him too, and then the people of the earth start loving that person too. And the greatest case of this is the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

The Tree Trunk That Wept for the Prophet ﷺ

There's a famous hadith — the Prophet ﷺ used to lean on a tree trunk when he was giving khutbah, and then after some time they constructed a minbar for him. The Prophet ﷺ would then give khutbah on the minbar. When he started doing that, everyone heard a crying — something wailing from the masjid. No one could figure out where it was from. Then they realized that the wailing was actually coming from the tree trunk. So the Prophet ﷺ went to it, went to the tree trunk, and started calming it down. The Prophet ﷺ embraced the tree trunk, and then the tree trunk finally calmed down.

So this is the love that an inanimate object has for the Prophet ﷺ. What should be the love that we have — when we can fully comprehend who he was, we can relate to him as a human being?

The Shortcut to Jannah: Love of the Prophet ﷺ

We're all looking for shortcuts. If somebody's studying for a big exam, they might go to someone who's taken the exam before and say, "Tell me the easiest way to pass the exam. What are the things I need to focus on?" Everyone looks for a shortcut in life.

So the easiest shortcut to Jannah — one time there was a person who asked the Prophet ﷺ: "Ya Rasulullah, when is the Day of Judgment?" The Prophet ﷺ said: "Well, have you prepared for it?" The person said: "Well, really not much." But he said: "I do love Allah and His Messenger." So then the response of the Prophet ﷺ was: "People will be with whom they love." There was no news that the Sahaba ever received that made them more happy than the day that they heard that.

So the shortcut to Jannah for all of us — of course the fara'id and everything, we do that — but if anyone wants a shortcut, it's the love of the Prophet ﷺ. We ask Allah ta'ala to give us tawfiq and easy ways to try and achieve that. Of course we try to regularly send salawat — durud — every single day. When we do so, we try to concentrate on the status of the Prophet ﷺ, to imagine him, so that with each durud we're sending we're giving him a gift. Also of course to read the seerah. We do these two things, and of course ask that Allah ta'ala grant us love for the Prophet ﷺ. We ask that Allah ta'ala grant us that love, and then allow us to be with him in Jannah. Wa sallallahu alayhi wa sallam.

Announcements

We can all take a few minutes to pray our sunnah inshallah. Please stand up, try to fill in the rows in front of you, fill in the gaps, and we can pray our sunnah.

A few quick announcements. On Sunday, September 10th, which is this Sunday, from 12:00 p.m. to 2:30 p.m., there will be the Sisters' Monthly Dars — a dars exclusively for sisters, open to sisters of all ages. The speaker will be Mufti ibn Hajr ibn Ahmad and it will happen in the sisters' seminary banquet hall. The program will conclude with Dhuhr in jama'ah and lunch. This will happen the first Sunday of every month thereafter inshallah.

Dar es Salaam Community Center has the following programs: Tuesdays — women's basketball from 8 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Wednesdays — men's volleyball from 8 to 10 p.m.; Thursdays — men's basketball from 8 to 10 p.m.; and Fridays — jujitsu from 7 to 8 p.m.

Registration is open for the following programs. The Tafhim Weekend Islamic Studies Program — the semester began on August 19th, so we're a few weeks in, but it's still open to join. There is a Saturday track and a Sunday track. The Saturday track has classes on: the Fiqh of Salah, Surahs of Salah (tafsir of the surahs we recite in salah), and Purification of the Heart. On Sunday, the classes are: History and Development of Fiqh, Introduction to Hadith, and Aqeedah.

Sunday School for boys and girls ages 6 to 16 is open. The program is designed for youth to learn the essentials of Islam in an environment that seeks to nurture and develop a deep love and connection to Allah ta'ala and his Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Students will be engaged in a curriculum that covers du'a, hadith, adab, sunnah, and Quran. The classes began this Sunday, September 10th. For more information on all of our programs, please visit masjidds.org.

Our dear beloved teacher Mona Farhan Sharif — his grandmother passed away yesterday, so please make du'a for her maghfira. Another one of our alumni, Mona Ali Saaduddin from Tampa — his grandfather passed away in Iraq, so please make du'a for his maghfira as well. May Allah ta'ala forgive all of the deceased.