The Lost Art of Loving the Prophet ﷺ | Mufti Abdul Rahman Waheed

The Lost Art of Loving the Prophet ﷺ

I always try to speak about it, I just never got through it — just studied it — and it always intrigued me. What I'm going to speak about today always intrigued me. The topic is: how the Salaf as-Saleheen honored the athar of the Prophet ﷺ. Honored. Athar.

Athar means anything that reminds you of the Prophet ﷺ. How did they interact with things that reminded them of Habibullah ﷺ? SubhanAllah, it's a very lost art, to be honest with you.

The Nature of Love

You know when you're traveling somewhere and you're away from your family. It happened in Tucson — I was away for a few weeks. And I am walking down a school hall, and I look at the wall, and there's all these names of kids, and there's like "Hussein" — my son's name. And right away it reminds you of your son. And you start looking at it. That's what you do, right? Or if you're somewhere and some kid reminds you of your kid — naturally you're more inclined towards that person. Your heart just gravitates towards that person because he or she reminds you of someone you love.

Whenever I see a Chevy Caprice — which is not very often, you know those old boat Caprices — whenever I see one of them, I think of my father. Because it's the first car I remember sitting in with my father in my life. You see a Mazda MPV, I remember my dad. It's the first van we got in our life. So these things start happening to you in your life as the people you love.

It's really weird. I never really even liked one basketball player named Steph Curry. I didn't even like him in my life. Never liked him. I never liked three-point shooters. But my brother Abdul Rahman loved him. He used to just play like him, shoot like him. And the moment he passed away, I started loving Steph Curry. It's really weird. Love is a very strange thing.

When you love someone, you do things for that person that you would never do for anybody else in your life. That's why one of the words for love is Ishq. And ashq are these vines that basically wrap around a tree and suck the life out of it. So that's why it's called Ishq — Ishq is when your heart gets wrapped with love and it basically sucks the life out of you. Does that make sense? That's another level that happens.

The people who love the Prophet ﷺ and love Allah — it just wraps their heart. And it sucks the life of dunya out of them. That's why:

Mawt — death — is mentioned first because for them, this world is death. And being with their beloved is life. So their hearts are already wrapped with the love of Allah. And everything in this world is a barrier. They don't love dunya — they love the universe. Why? Because the universe reminds them of Allah. They don't love the stars, they love the Creator of the stars. They don't love the moon, but they love the resemblance of the Prophet ﷺ to the moon — "Oh, the Prophet ﷺ looked like the moon." So everything reminds them of their beloved.

The Seed of Love

Mahabbah also comes from the word hubb and habb. And habb is a seed. Seeds have to be nurtured for it to become fruitful. And the seeds of love for the Prophet ﷺ are nurtured through knowing about the Prophet ﷺ — sitting in gatherings like this. As you nurture the seed, it blossoms into a garden of love for the Prophet ﷺ. So I'm not speaking about the love of the Prophet ﷺ today. What I'm going to speak about is how the Salaf interacted with anything that reminded them of the Prophet ﷺ — his name, a hadith, a person.

I'm also going to share a story with you about an oppressor — literally an oppressor. When you hear this story, you'll be surprised. An oppressor who put someone through so much difficulty, but that person had some attachment to the Prophet ﷺ because of which the mazloom loved the dhalim. And ultimately, what is something in the world that reminds you of the Prophet ﷺ the most? It's a place. Madinah. So that's how we'll conclude today's discussion.

Allah says in the Qur'an:

Those who believe in the Prophet ﷺ, and they honor him, and they respect him, and they help his deen, and they follow that message he was sent with — they are successful.

We could say we love the Prophet ﷺ, but we have to understand what it means to honor the Prophet ﷺ. Let's look at the lives of the Salaf in a way where we can understand.

Imam Malik and the Athar of the Prophet ﷺ

The first person I'll speak about is Imam Malik. He was someone who had tremendous ta'dhim — reverence — for the athar of the Prophet ﷺ. Those things that reminded him of the Prophet ﷺ. Athar — like footsteps. When you see a footstep of somebody, or you see a small shoe, it reminds you of your child.

The first thing mentioned about his relationship with the athar of the Prophet ﷺ:

(Reported about Imam Malik, cited in Qadi 'Iyad's al-Shifa')

When the name of the Prophet ﷺ was mentioned, Imam Malik's face would turn pale and he would start crying so much that people would feel uncomfortable sitting next to him. They would try to figure out a way to change the topic.

Have you ever seen someone like that before with someone who passed away? As a scholar you make mistakes — one of the things you sometimes go through is: "How's your father?" Because you met the father last year. And the person looks at you and just starts crying because his dad passed away a few weeks ago. That has happened to me multiple times. "How's your son doing? How's this friend, how's he doing?" And he looks at me and starts crying. I'm like, "I'm sorry, man, forgive me." He says, "Sheikh, he just passed away a few months ago." "How?" "He just never woke up."

This is how they would interact with the Prophet's name — every single time his name was mentioned. What kind of love is that for the Prophet ﷺ?

Hasan al-Basri and the Date Palm Tree

Hasan al-Basri, rahmatullahi alayhi — he used to say, whenever the Prophet's name was mentioned, he used to cry. And especially when the hadith of the date palm tree was mentioned — remember that date palm tree the Prophet ﷺ used to give khutbah next to? The Prophet ﷺ used to give khutbah leaning against a date palm tree, and then someone made for him a minbar, so he moved a little further away. And as he got up that Jumu'ah to give khutbah on the minbar, the tree started crying. And the Prophet ﷺ had to come to the tree and hug it, and he went back to the minbar and he said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3584; Sunan Ibn Majah, Hadith 1415)

"If I didn't hug this tree and didn't promise it that it will be with me in Jannah, it would have cried till the Day of Judgment."

So Hasan al-Basri says: "O servants of Allah — this tree, lifeless, has so much enthusiasm and misses the Prophet ﷺ so much that the Prophet ﷺ just went a little bit further and it started crying. You are more worthy of crying to meet the Prophet ﷺ. Your enthusiasm should be much more than just the tree itself."

You know the word ibrah? There's a word abarah — 'ayn, ba', ra'. Fa'tabiroo ya ulil absar — so i'tibar means to take a lesson. And abarah means tears. The reason why they come together is: those who take lesson shed tears. And i'tibar also means ihtiram — respect. Those who have respect also cry. It's a sign of respect — for your mother, your father, for the city of Madinah, for the Prophet's name — to shed tears.

Imru' al-Qays used to say:

The abarah — the tears that flow from your eyes — is a sign of respect and love for the one you love or the one you respect. So Hasan al-Basri said: look at this tree. You should desire to meet the Prophet ﷺ more than the tree was desiring to meet him.

Five Stories from Imam Malik

One of Imam Malik's students, Abu Salam al-Khaza'i, asked him: why do you do this? Why is it that when the Prophet's name is mentioned in front of you, you cry so much — you have this much honor for his name? So Imam Malik said:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

"If you were to see what I saw, you would not be shocked at what you are seeing." And then he gave five different short anecdotes.

First:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

He said: "Muhammad ibn al-Munkadir — he was a great scholar — wallahi, we could never ask him about a hadith without him crying so much that we would have mercy on him." Because the hadith reminded him of who? The Prophet ﷺ.

You know how it is — if you look at your brother's WhatsApp, the pinned message will be his late sibling. My pinned message will be my brother. And you go back and look, and you read all his old messages, and it's as if he's talking to you. And you can't wait to see him again. So you understand why they're saying qala Rasulullah ﷺ? That's it. We never saw him. We wish we could see him.

Second:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

He said: "I would spend time with Ja'far ibn Muhammad — and this man was hilarious, always making people laugh, always smiling. The moment the Prophet's name was mentioned, something changed immediately. And I have never seen him in my life mention the Prophet's name except with wudu." Out of respect for the Prophet's name ﷺ.

Third:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

He said: "If you had seen Abdurrahman ibn al-Qasim — when he would mention the Prophet's name, you would look at his face and it would turn pale, as if he was about to bleed from his nose, his eyes so red. And his tongue would start stuttering — out of sheer respect and awe for the Prophet ﷺ."

Fourth:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

He said: "When I would come to Amr ibn Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr and he would hear the Prophet's name, he would cry so much — so much — that he would have no tears left to cry." That's how much he would cry when he would hear the Prophet's name.

Fifth:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

He said: "Imam al-Zuhri was known as someone who remembered everyone's names — he was personal with everybody, recognized everybody. But when the Prophet's name was mentioned in front of him, it was as if he did not even recognize you. Stunned. You would not recognize him. What happened to this man? He was a completely different person."

And another thing about Imam Malik:

(Cited in al-Shifa' of Qadi 'Iyad)

Whenever he would come out to teach hadith, he was a different person. He would first do wudu, sometimes take a shower, wear his best clothes — he had a pair of clothes designated just for teaching hadith, his most expensive clothes. The most expensive 'itr just to teach hadith. He would wear his 'imamah, his turban. He would comb his beard. It was literally like a groom getting ready to get married.

Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal and the Chains

Now, Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal, rahimahullah.

When he was tested through the aqeedah of the people who believed that the Qur'an was a creation of Allah and he stood steadfast — this trial spanned three different administrations from the Banu Abbas: al-Ma'mun, who started it; al-Mu'tasim, who just destroyed Imam Ahmad — he went crazy; and the third was al-Wathiq.

During al-Wathiq's time, he said, "Bring him out." They used to love seeing people debate. So Imam Ahmad was brought out in front of al-Wathiq, and while he was chained up:

While chained up, he was debating with these people and he always won — but everyone was too stubborn to see it. This time, however, al-Wathiq's heart was opened by Allah. He said, "This man's evidence is clear. What you people are saying is wrong. What Imam Ahmad is saying is 100% correct. Get out of here."

He ordered his chains to be removed. Imam Ahmad grabbed the chains and held them in his hand. The guards wanted to take them back, but al-Wathiq said, "No — give them back to him. He wants to take them, let him take them."

Al-Wathiq asked him: "Why are you taking the chains?" Imam Ahmad replied: "I want to keep these chains and handcuffs with me, and I want to present them to Allah on the Day of Judgment. I want to ask these people — why did they imprison me? Why did they strike fear into my family's hearts? My children, my brothers — for no reason. You can do whatever you want to me. But why did you put my whole family through this pain?" And he wept.

Imam Ahmad started crying. And even the Khalifa started crying — the very one who is the dhalim of the time. And the people who were putting him through this started crying.

Then al-Wathiq said to Imam Ahmad: "Sheikh, I beg you — forgive me. You can't leave this room until you tell me you forgive me. I don't want to be someone held accountable by you on the Day of Judgment."

Now — this man is from Banu Abbas. When you say Banu Abbas, the first thing that comes to your mind is Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib. And if you love the Prophet ﷺ so much, you think of Abbas and his relationship with the Prophet ﷺ. Do you understand?

When the Prophet ﷺ would be sitting in a room and Abbas would walk in, the Prophet ﷺ would lower his voice and say:

"Allah has ordered me to lower my voice when my uncle walks in, the way Allah has ordered you all to lower your voice when I am in the gathering." Abbas would sit right next to him. The night Abbas was in prison, the Prophet ﷺ couldn't sleep the whole night — he cried the whole night: "How can I sleep when my uncle is chained up?"

So when someone says, "I'm from the children of Abbas" — it's like if someone says to you today, "Where are you from, brother?" and he says, "I'm from Gaza." Right away, a whole scene unfolds in front of you. You want to help this person. You're going to start loving this person because of what you love and what's happening there.

So now imagine: Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal — who went through three administrations of straight dhulm and oppression at the hands of these people from the family of Abbas — this man is asking him for forgiveness. So Imam Ahmad says:

(Cited in Manaqib al-Imam Ahmad of Ibn al-Jawzi)

"What are you talking about, Amir al-Mu'minin? Wallahi — the day I was imprisoned by you people, I forgave you. And I used to make du'a for you from the very first day — out of respect for the Prophet ﷺ — because you people are from his family. You're from the family of Abbas."

And these people understood the generality of the word "neighbor." The Prophet ﷺ was told — Jibreel alayhi wa sallam told him to take care of his neighbors — until he thought they would inherit from him. And that word "neighbor" had no adjective: good or bad. Just neighbor. You take care of them. It's the same with the family of the Prophet ﷺ. Does it say good or bad? No. Because these people reminded Imam Ahmad of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Love for Madinah al-Munawwarah

Now, finally — their love for the city of the Prophet ﷺ was unbelievable.

Umar ibn al-Khattab — people talk about him getting the keys of Bayt al-Maqdis. People don't often talk about the story of Ka'b al-Ahbar accepting Islam. He was a Jewish 'alim. He accepted Islam. And the moment he did, Umar grabbed him and said: "Come with me to Madinah. I'm going to show you Madinah. I want to take you to the grave of the Prophet ﷺ." Why? Because if the Prophet ﷺ was alive, he would be so happy to see you accept Islam — so right away he took him there.

Khalid ibn Ma'dan — his daughter Abda used to say that her father, this is how he used to put himself to sleep: he would just repeat over and over again — "O Allah, please take me to the city of my beloved. Please take me there. The city where Jibreel came down. The city where the angels came down. The city where the Prophet ﷺ lived. The city where the Prophet ﷺ drank water. The city where he sat with the Sahaba." And like this he would fall asleep, just saying this over and over again.

We ask ourselves why we don't see the Prophet ﷺ in our dreams — because we fall asleep looking at our phones. It's a huge difference between the way we fall asleep and the way they fell asleep.

Even the Prophet ﷺ himself — when he would get close to Madinah, he would start seeing the trees and the hills and he would start riding his camel faster. He wanted to die in Madinah. One of the poets said:

"You have this enthusiasm to get to a destination, but when you start seeing the traces of your beloved — then you just want to get close to those traces, to those landmarks. When you start seeing the tents of your beloved, you want your tent to be right next to them — so you quickly rush there."

Poems of the Scholars Upon Approaching Madinah

Suyuti, rahimahullah, mentions that the scholars of the past would recite these poems. You know when you're flying over Madinah and you start seeing the lights and the minarets — one poet said:

He says: "Once we started to see the landmarks and traces of the city of our beloved — such traces that left us without a heart that could even comprehend seeing them — we got off of our rides and walked, out of respect. How could we have the courage to ride up to his city?" It was very common among the Salaf as-Saleheen — when they got to Dhu al-Hulayfah, they would walk six miles to the city of the Prophet ﷺ, to the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ. They would never ride a camel or a horse — they would get off and walk.

Another poet said:

"If I came to you in your service, walking on my eyes — wallahi, O Prophet of Allah, I did not fulfill the right of your respect. How could someone like me even comprehend how to properly honor you?"

And he says:

When we first saw the city of the Prophet ﷺ — the minarets, the mountains, Mount Uhud — right away our love for the Prophet ﷺ increased. You know when you see Mount Uhud — what happens when you find out the Prophet ﷺ drank from this well, or the Prophet ﷺ walked here? He says: even just the dust of Madinah — if we could take it and put kohl in our eyes, we would be cured. No illness we would fear, no sorrow.

This is like what Imam al-Shafi'i, rahimahullah, used to say — and he was born in Gaza — "I wish I could just go back to Gaza once and take the dirt of Gaza and put kohl in my eyes." That's how much he missed it. And so the poet over here says the same about Madinah.

You know even Layla and Majnun — the famous story. People saw this man Majnun walking around and kissing the walls of the city that Layla lived in. Someone asked him: "What are you doing here, strolling around the walls?" He said:

"It's not the walls that I love — I love the one who lives within these walls." It's not the walls and the mountains of Madinah. It's the one who sat on this mountain. Who walked on this mountain. Who fought on this mountain. Who bled on this mountain. This is why we love Uhud. This is why we love the city of the Prophet ﷺ.

Ayub al-Sakhtiyani in Madinah

Abdullah ibn al-Mubarak said: I heard from Imam Abu Hanifah that there was a scholar — Ayyub al-Sakhtiyani — a great tabi'i. He says: when Ayyub came to Madinah, I wanted to see how he would behave upon seeing the city of the Prophet ﷺ, upon walking into the masjid of the Prophet ﷺ. He says: when I saw him, his face was just pale. The entire time he was quiet — as if he didn't know how to speak. He was mute. And the entire time he was just crying, tears flowing down. Then I realized: the greatest speech, on that day, is just tears. The greatest du'a is just tears.

You know, when the great scholars write their poetry — they say that speechlessness is the greatest manifestation of showing your enthusiasm for something. The words don't have any impact on that day. It's the tears that speak. The silence of love is much more effective than the words of a person who loves.

The Bedouin at the Prophet's Grave

Allama al-'Utbi mentions the story of a Bedouin who came to the Prophet's grave. He went there and said:

He said: "O the best one — the best thing the dirt has ever touched is your body. And your presence made the entire dirt and the rocks and everything around it just blessed — just you being there. O Prophet of Allah, the Sahaba used to say, 'May our lives be sacrificed for you' while you were alive. I say to you now — may my life be sacrificed for you — at your grave, in your absence."

He also recited the verse of the Qur'an:

He said: "O Allah, You said — and Your statement is true — if these people committed sins and came to You, O Prophet of Allah, and they asked Allah for forgiveness, and they asked the Prophet ﷺ to ask Allah for forgiveness on their behalf, they would find Allah to be All-Forgiving, All-Merciful. O Allah, I have come to you seeking forgiveness for my sins, and I have come to Your Prophet ﷺ to intercede on my behalf. O Allah, I beg You to forgive me — even though I have come to him after he has passed away — the same way You forgave those who came to him while he was alive."

Then al-'Utbi says: I fell asleep. I saw the Prophet ﷺ in my dream. And the Prophet ﷺ told me: "Go to this Bedouin and tell him — I have asked Allah for forgiveness, and Allah has forgiven him." He woke up, chased him, and told him.

Uwais al-Qarni and Bilal

Let me put you in the shoes of Uwais al-Qarni, rahmatullahi alayhi. The man who had so much love to meet the Prophet ﷺ but never met him. Just put yourself in his shoes. The Prophet ﷺ told him to stay back and serve his mother — so because he was serving his mother, he couldn't come to see the Prophet ﷺ. And the Prophet ﷺ told Umar and Ali: "This man is going to come — make sure you ask him to make du'a for you, because his du'a is accepted."

Umar al-Khattab used to stand up every year at Hajj: "Is there anyone from this village here?" One day a man stood up who met the criteria. He said: "Are you Uwais?" The man said, "No, no — that's my cousin." He said, "Where is he?" He said, "He's over there grazing his sheep." And Umar bolted right there — he was giving a talk and he left. And Ali chased him. Imagine — Umar and Ali chasing this man to find him. They found him, and they said, "Make du'a for us." He said with one condition: "Don't tell anybody." He always used to hide — he always traveled because people would flock towards him.

SubhanAllah — this man finally walks into the city of the Prophet ﷺ for the first time. The moment he walked into the Prophet's masjid, he fainted. He got back up — fainted again. Then he said: "I can't live here. I'm sorry. I'm going to go in the path of Allah and die a shaheed." And he was indeed martyred in the Battle of Siffin. Such was his love for the athar of the Prophet ﷺ.

Bilal — twenty years after the Prophet ﷺ passed away, he left Madinah. He couldn't give the adhan anymore. Then the Prophet ﷺ came in his dream and said: "Bilal, what is this disloyalty?" So Bilal finally came back. He was walking the same streets he once walked with the Prophet ﷺ. He was standing in the same place where he once used to stand and see the Prophet ﷺ walk out of his house. And he gave the adhan — and everyone in the city of Madinah just started crying, weeping, remembering the time of the Prophet ﷺ.

Leaving Madinah and the Final Reflection

Brothers and sisters — when we go to Madinah al-Munawwarah and when we leave, the people of the past would always be scared. Because the Prophet ﷺ said that Madinah al-Munawwarah will not let anyone who does not have iman live in it — it would just filter people out. So they would feel as if they were being filtered out. The only way they could leave Madinah was with the intention of serving Allah's deen — otherwise they were being filtered out. Literally. That was the only purpose for which they could leave Madinah and feel at peace: "I'm going to take the Prophet's deen and spread it all over the world. And if I have to die there, then that is my fate. But I would rather live in Madinah and die in Madinah." The Sahaba lived outside of Madinah and died in those cities and countries because they were serving Allah's deen.

One of the poets says: "Even though I have left this place physically, I have left my heart there. I have left everything that I could find comfort from over there." Another poet says: "I want to stay next to the Prophet's grave the whole day, the whole night — but the Prophet ﷺ desired from his Sahaba to go all over the world and spread his deen. So I will sacrifice what I want for what he wants."

Conclusion

So the Salaf as-Saleheen had an amazing way of showing love and respect to anything that reminded them of the Prophet ﷺ. Hopefully I managed to share a few of those incidents and a few ways that they were moved by anything that reminded them of him.

One day we will speak about how they loved the Prophet ﷺ himself. But today I just wanted to speak about this: in our lives we should be the same way. When we are sitting in the gathering of hadith, we should never speak as if the Prophet ﷺ is not right in front of us. When you go to Madinah — as if he's alive right in front of you, you should be so respectful. When someone's name is Muhammad, it should make us look at that person differently. Someone's name is Aisha — think of Aisha. The way you start thinking changes because you love him so much. Everything just revolves around him.

And inshallah, if we start doing this, we are successful — because Allah says: those who honor him, honor the things that he stood for, and honor the things that he loved. You know, there was a Sahabi who even started combing his hair like him. And anything you find — I always tell people, why are you wearing a turban? I'll be honest with you — I'm sure I got it wrong. I'm sure I got many things wrong. But I'm ready to meet the Prophet ﷺ, and he'll look at me and say, "What are you wearing?" I'm sure. But I feel like that's how our conversation will end up: "You got it pretty wrong — but it's fine. I honor you for trying to be like me."

So we have to try to copy and emulate as much as we can — publicly, privately, in our thoughts, in our mindset, in our speech — and honor the things that remind you of Allah and the Prophet ﷺ.

Jazakallah khair.