Our Greatest Benefactors: Allah's Bounties And The Prophet's Concern

The Uncountable Blessings of Allah

"And if you count the favors of Allah, you could not enumerate them. Indeed, Allah is Forgiving and Merciful."

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3546)

My dear respected brothers and sisters in Islam, Allah has granted us so many bounties, so many blessings.

In the ayah that I just read —

If you were to try to count the blessings of Allah, you would never be able to encompass them. You would never be able to count these blessings of Allah. From the moment we wake up to the moment we go to sleep, from the moment we're born to the moment we die, every single thing that happens, anything that happens to us is from the blessings of Allah.

The fact that we can open our eyes, the fact that we can see, the fact that we can breathe, hear — all the senses — these are all blessings from Allah. Every single second Allah decides to give us this blessing. And at any moment these blessings can be taken away from us.

Now, Allah is our greatest benefactor. His bounties upon us cannot be counted. And Allah says that we would be unable to do so, and then He follows up in the ayah by mentioning His qualities of ghafran and rahma. He says:

He's showing us: I know you won't be able to do it, but at the same time I am ever forgiving, I am all forgiving, and I am the Most Merciful. Allah is telling us: I know you can't do it, but I will forgive you. We are so low that we cannot count the ihsans of Allah that He has showered upon us and continues to shower upon us every single day. And yet He is so great that even after all of this, He overlooks everything.

The Prophet's Immeasurable Ihsan Upon Us

Now, our greatest benefactor amongst Allah's creation — we have Allah who is the greatest benefactor. Now, from the creation, from what Allah created, the greatest benefactor from there is our Nabi Muhammad ﷺ. His ihsan upon us is greater than even the ihsan of our parents upon us. He has the most ihsan upon us after Allah.

Allah tells us, and Nabi ﷺ tells us himself, that we should love him more than we love our parents, more than even we love ourselves. He has the greatest ihsan upon us from the creation of Allah. If it was not for his concerns and his sacrifices for us, then this deen would not have reached us. We would not know the teachings of Allah.

We wouldn't know Allah. We would not understand how to attain Jannah, how to attain what Allah has promised us. We wouldn't have our greatest bounty which all of us here hold on to, which is our Iman. That لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ — that came from Nabi ﷺ. Without him, we have nothing. Without him, we don't know who our Creator is. He gave that to us. And if that isn't the greatest bounty, then what is?

The Prophet's Constant Concern for the Ummah

Now, it is mentioned about the Prophet ﷺ in a hadith in the Shama'il of Imam al-Tirmidhi. It mentions that from amongst his qualities:

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

It is telling us the qualities of Nabi ﷺ. From amongst his qualities is that he was always in constant concern. مُتَوَاصِلُ الْأَحْزَانِ — constantly he was in concern. دَائِمُ الْفِكْرَةِ — he was constantly thinking, constantly pondering, worrying for the ummah. لَيْسَتْ لَهُ رَاحَةٌ — he had no rest. No rest from these thoughts, from this concern. Not a single moment after he became a prophet, not a single moment in his life where he was not concerned for somebody else, not concerned for us, not concerned for the ummah.

There's a narration of Aisha that comes to mind. Nabi ﷺ, at one point, was sitting with Aisha, and he made a specific du'a for her. This du'a was so amazing that she couldn't stop smiling. And Nabi ﷺ asked her: you're smiling because of this du'a that I made for you, but you don't know that this is the du'a that I make for my ummah every single day. Every single day. So it shows us the concern he had for everyone around him.

Not a single time in his life where somebody wronged Nabi ﷺ did he take retribution for himself. Throughout the events of his life — where we have the stories of Ta'if, where we have the stories of Abu Lahab, and all these people who wronged Nabi ﷺ — never once did he take retribution for himself, for somebody that caused him harm. But when he saw others being caused harm from amongst his ummah, when he saw something that would harm the deen of Allah, that's when he was the most firm, that's when he was the strongest. He took retribution for these things because these things were not about himself. This is Allah's deen being harmed. This is the people of Allah being harmed. His Sahaba being harmed. That's why he took retribution — not for himself.

Now, in the Qur'an it mentions:

Nabi ﷺ was constantly concerned with how every member of this ummah can be saved from the hellfire. He is known in the Qur'an — Allah mentions him as:

The other anbiya of Allah — they were all sent to a specific nation, a specific people for a specific time. They had their mission, and they fulfilled their mission, and that was it. They were not responsible for anything else. Nabi ﷺ, however, it was different. He was sent as رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ — not only for the Arabs, not only for the people of Makkah, not only for the people of Hijaz, but for the entire world. Not only for his time, but from his time till the Day of Judgment. And not just that — not even only for the human beings; he was sent also to the jinn. He was sent to everyone. رَحْمَةً لِّلْعَالَمِينَ — a mercy for the worlds, a mercy for the universe he was sent for. Everyone and everything, from his time to the end. That's what he was sent for.

The Parable of the Fire and the Moths

So his concern was for every member of this ummah — how they can be safe from the hellfire. This is why in a hadith in Sahih Muslim, narrated on the authority of Jabir ibn Abdullah, he mentions:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 43, Hadith 2285)

Nabi ﷺ is giving us the example of us — he's comparing himself to us. He's saying: مَثَلِي وَمَثَلُكُمْ — my example to you is like that of a man who lights a fire. كَمَثَلِ رَجُلٍ أَوْقَدَ نَارًا — and now, the insects and the moths and the flies begin to go towards that fire. They begin to go into that fire. And that man — he knows, the man who lit the fire — he knows that this fire is harmful. So he's trying to swat these flies and these moths away from the fire. But they don't know. They see something shiny, they see something bright, they go towards the fire.

He's saying that my example — me to you — is like that man to those flies, to those insects, to those moths. Nabi ﷺ mentions: وَأَنَا آخِذٌ بِحُجَزِكُمْ — I'm grabbing you by your waist and pulling you away from the fire, and you're slipping from my hands. You're slipping out of my hands. This is what he's telling us.

That moth, that fly — they don't understand. They don't understand that fire is harmful to them. They see something bright, they see something shiny, they go towards it. The man who lit the fire, he knows. He knows that this fire, although it looks shiny and bright from the outside, once you go into it — he knows what's going to happen. You're going to burn. That's destruction right there.

Now that example is Nabi ﷺ. He knows what's in store for us. He sees that all of these sins that we do, all of these actions that lure us — the disobedience of Allah that lures us in — these things are only attractive from the outside. But Nabi ﷺ, he knows what's going to happen, what the consequences of these things are. So he's trying to pull us away from this. And we're slipping out of his hands.

وَأَنتُمْ تَفَلَّتُونَ مِنْ يَدِي — he mentions that you're slipping from my hand. Because we don't understand the consequences of the actions that we take. Nabi ﷺ understands. So he's telling us: don't do this. It might look good from now, it might look good from the outside, but this is disobedience of Allah. And what awaits you for this is the hellfire.

He cried for us, Nabi ﷺ. He sweat for us. He bled for the people of this ummah. There is no sacrifice that he did not undergo for us. If we try to spend our entire lives trying to repay our debts to Nabi ﷺ, we wouldn't be able to. We would spend our entire lives trying. But it could never end up being enough.

How Can We Repay the Prophet?

So the question is: how can we begin, how can we try to repay Nabi ﷺ for what he's done for us? Well, Allah's rahma is such that He has given us a way to try to repay Nabi ﷺ for his debts upon us. Allah gave us an action to do, a practice which we can inculcate within our lives that can help us repay Nabi ﷺ for all of his ihsan upon us.

Now, we see this towards the end of Surah Al-Ahzab. Allah says — and this is the ayah that is read in every single Jumu'ah khutbah in the Arabic portion:

Allah is telling us: O you who believe, صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا — send salutations and your blessings upon him. Allah commands us to send salutations and peace upon Nabi ﷺ — not because Nabi ﷺ requires it. Allah and the angels are already sending these salutations and salam upon Nabi ﷺ. He says: إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ — it's already happening. So Nabi ﷺ doesn't require this from us. But we need it. This is for our own benefit. This is something that we are in need of doing. It is our moral responsibility to repay Nabi ﷺ, or try to repay him, for all of his ihsan upon us.

The True Miser

Now the hadith that I mentioned in the beginning — Nabi ﷺ mentions, on the authority of Ali radiyallahu anhu:

(Jami' al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 3546)

The true miser, the truly miserly person is that person who, when I am mentioned in his company, does not send salutations upon me.

Why does Nabi ﷺ say this? That the height of miserliness is that he doesn't have the decency to send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ when his name is mentioned. Why does Nabi ﷺ say this? Because this is an action that requires no money. It requires no effort on our part. It requires seconds of our time — not even seconds. And yet there are people, including myself, that we hear Nabi ﷺ's name constantly throughout the day or throughout any talks that we listen to, and we just forget — we don't send salutations upon him. We don't say Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam every time his name is mentioned.

Now this is what is meant by being a miser. Because this requires no effort on our part. It requires no money, no effort from our side to send these salutations for Nabi ﷺ. And yet we still forget, yet we still do not do it. That's why Nabi ﷺ mentions this hadith. We hear the names of people who are close to us who passed away, or the Sahaba, and automatically we say radiyallahu anhu. But for Nabi ﷺ, many of us forget — for his name specifically.

The Virtues of Sending Salawat

Now, the virtues of sending salawat upon Nabi ﷺ are numerous. And the warnings for not doing it are also severe. It comes in a hadith narrated on the authority of Jabir ibn Abdullah radiyallahu anhu that Nabi ﷺ, once he was ascending the mimbar. And when he took the first step, he said Ameen. He took the second step, he said Ameen. He took the third step and he said Ameen.

When he was asked about this incident by the Sahaba, every single step that Nabi ﷺ took, Jibreel alaihi wasallam made a du'a. And Nabi ﷺ was saying Ameen to these du'as that Jibreel alaihi wasallam was making. And the third Ameen that Nabi ﷺ said was the du'a of Jibreel alaihi wasallam saying that the one who does not send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ, that person is wretched. Nabi ﷺ was saying Ameen to this du'a. Now, this is why we need to understand the significance of sending salutations upon Nabi ﷺ.

We send salutations to begin to repay him for his sacrifices upon us. Second, we send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ so that his status is elevated in Jannah — although his status is already the highest, but we send it from our side. And we also send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ as a token of our love to Allah. Because Allah loves Nabi ﷺ the most amongst His creation. So we continue to mention Nabi ﷺ's name, we send salutations upon him, in hopes that through this we can get closer to Allah. You get closer to someone, you get closer to a being, by loving that which he loves. Allah loves Nabi ﷺ. So we love Nabi ﷺ in hopes to get close to Allah, in hopes to gain Allah's favor.

Now, one great virtue of this action is that in the ayah which was mentioned in Surah Al-Ahzab, this is an action which Allah Himself also does, and the angels as well. Now, this is the significance of an action — that Allah is saying: I do this as well.

Now, someone can say that in the ayah it mentions: يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا — so Allah is saying that you send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ. But usually when we send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ, we say:

O Allah, send salutations upon Nabi ﷺ. Why is this? Well, the answer given by the ulama is that we are too low. We are too weak in ourselves. We are not worthy enough to be sending salutations upon Nabi ﷺ when the angels are sending salutations upon him, when Allah is doing it Himself. So instead, we ask the one Being that is tahir and tayyib — we ask Allah to send it on our behalf.

Increasing Salawat on Fridays

And since today is Friday, we should make a habit of increasing our salawat on Nabi ﷺ on this day. There's a hadith narrated in Bayhaqi. It says:

(Shu'ab al-Iman of Imam al-Bayhaqi)

The salutations of my ummah are presented to me on this day, on this day of Jumu'ah. And the one who sends the most salutations upon me is the one who will be closest to me in rank on the Day of Judgment.

Now this is a practice we should try to inculcate within our lives. And the virtues of doing so are numerous. There's a scholar by the name of Maulana Fayd Al-Hassan Saharanpuri. When he passed away, there was a strong aroma of musk emanating from his room for about a month. So when the people wondered why that was, Maulana Qasim Nanotui, rahimahullah, said that this was the barakah of his ma'mul of spending the entire night of Jumu'ah — Thursday night until Friday — doing salawat.

And there are many examples we have of this — many examples from our elders of their love for Nabi ﷺ and the miracles that happened due to this love of Nabi ﷺ and their love of Allah.

Now, I pray that Allah gives us tawfiq to truly understand the sacrifices of Nabi ﷺ upon us and try to repay him with the salawat, with the salutations upon him.

Announcements

InshaAllah, let's please pass the donation boxes from left to right and donate generously.

The Essential Arabic and separate classes for brothers and sisters will take place from July 22nd until August 9th. The Arabic Intensive Program is designed to provide students with a strong foundation in the basics of the Arabic language.

The Tanweer Intensive — the Arabic and Islamic Studies Program — there is still time to join. The application deadline has been extended to July 12th. Please register at majidds.org.

Join us for our weekly programs. Team Fajr will resume tomorrow. Fajr Iqamah is at 4:45 AM. Tuesday Tafsir will continue after Maghrib Salah — Surah Ghafir, InshaAllah. And the weekly Salawat and Khatira will take place every Thursday after Maghrib Salah.

Du'a Requests

We have some du'a requests. Sister Mohammadi Begum passed away — please make du'a for her maghfirah. And Sister Riasat Al-Nisa passed away — we make du'a for her maghfirah as well.

And as always, we make du'a for the Muslims of Gaza, the Muslims of Palestine. May Allah grant them sabr, grant them victory, InshaAllah.