Shamaail: Session 1 | The Appearance of the Prophet (SAW) | Mufti Abdul Wahab Waheed

Shamā'il: Session 1 — The Appearance of the Prophet ﷺ

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. We praise Him, and we pray for His Noble Messenger. Allah, the Almighty, said in His Noble Book, after we seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan, in the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful:

And Allah said in another place:

And the Prophet ﷺ said:

None of you will truly believe until I am more beloved to him than his father, his son, and all of mankind. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 44)

Why Do We Love? — Three Reasons

My dear brothers and sisters, the great legend, Imam Muhammad al-Ghazali, rahimahullah, once said that there are three reasons why individuals love in this world. There are three reasons why we as human beings love in this world. And to love is a natural, innate quality, a phenomenon that a human being has.

We are created — the name that Allah has given us is Insān. And the derived form of Insān, or the derivative, is from the root letters of Anisa — Alif, Nūn, Sīn.

There are two reasons for this. First, it comes from Nasiya, which means to forget. So human beings are naturally forgetful creatures. And that is actually from the mercy of Allah. If we were not able to forget, life would be impossible to live. So to be able to forget is a mercy of Allah.

The second derivative is Anisa, which means to seek compassion and seek love — unsiyya, where you are in need of companionship. A child is in need of a mother. A mother is in need of the children. You remove the child from the mother, as distressed as the child is, the mother is equal. The spouse needs the spouse. Families need each other.

The greatest punishment that can be leveled upon someone in this world is what? Solitary confinement. There is nothing worse than solitary confinement. Ask those people who have spent even a night in solitary confinement how they feel — they are never the same. Why is it such a harsh punishment? Because he or she has been removed from their natural disposition, which is to acquire and to receive compassion and love from other individuals. If that is removed, the extension of that — the reaction — is depression, difficulty, and struggles. So the human being needs to love.

But we love for three reasons. The first reason why we love is physical beauty — what is known as jamāl. If something looks beautiful, it catches your eye. You want to look at it for longer. Beauty attracts love. It creates love. It creates a sense of companionship.

The second reason why we love is because of internal qualities. Some individuals may be beautiful externally but devilish internally. They may have the best physical appearance, but from the inside their hearts are dead. Imagine having a very beautiful car — best paint job, best rims — but there is no engine inside. There is not much you can do with that car except show it off. How much benefit can that individual really give to society? How much value does that person truly hold? Very little. Because all they can do is stand there or sit there, and that is where it ends. When you ask them to bring value to the community or to society, their heart is dead.

Imam Ghazali says the second reason why we love is because of people's characteristics — their generosity, their humility, their modesty, their kindness, their respect. How many relationships do we have in this world where we thought it would work out, the person looks good or seems nice, and when we get deeper into the relationship, that individual becomes arrogant or rigid with their tongue? All of these are internal diseases.

And the third reason is: we love people based upon how much they also love us. Love is reciprocal. You only keep a relationship because the other person is also holding up their end of the spectrum. If they are not, then sooner or later, that relationship will start to falter. There will be miscommunication. There will be holes that dig deep into that relationship because the other person is not doing their job.

The child loves the mother because the mother loves the child. The father loves the son and the son loves the father because they are receiving it from both ends. The spouse loves the spouse because it is happening from both sides of the spectrum.

Rational Love for the Prophet ﷺ

Imam Ghazali ends this discussion, and the reason why I am saying all of this is to just rationally make more sense of why we love the Prophet ﷺ. Intellectually, we love the Prophet ﷺ — not just emotionally. Because emotionally, it is not enough. We have to intellectually and rationally love the Prophet ﷺ.

When we hear the hadith:

None of you will truly believe until I am more beloved to him than his father, his son, and all of mankind. (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 44)

The first time we hear that narration, we sit back and say: how is it possible for a mother to love the Prophet ﷺ more than she loves her children? Or how is it possible for a child to love the Prophet ﷺ more than they love their parents? The reality is that the Prophet ﷺ in this hadith is not challenging us emotionally — he is challenging us rationally. That you have to love me more than you love anyone else when things conflict with each other.

When a child says the Prophet ﷺ is not the best person in the world, or when someone throws the Qur'an — it doesn't matter who it is — that love for the Prophet ﷺ and that love for Allah will overwhelm the love we have for that other person. This is called rational love. It is not just an emotional love. In due time it can transform into an emotional love as well.

He ends this discussion by saying: if we love based on these three reasons — physical beauty, internal qualities, and how much the other person loves us — can you tell me any individual in this world that possesses these qualities at a higher apex than the Prophet ﷺ? He was the most beautiful when it came to his physical beauty. He had the best internal qualities — no one could match his internal qualities. And when it comes to loving us, he loved us more than our parents loved us. He loved us more than anyone can love us.

The Prophet's ﷺ Love for His Ummah

One day the Prophet ﷺ is sitting with Aisha radiyaAllahu anha and he says to her, "Would you like for me to make du'ā for you?" She becomes very happy and says, "Yes, please make du'ā for me." He makes this beautiful du'ā:

"O Allah, forgive all the sins of Aisha — the ones she has done in the past, the ones she will do in the future, the ones she has done secretly, and the ones she has done openly. Forgive all of her sins."

Aisha radiyaAllahu anha had her head in the lap of the Prophet ﷺ when he was making this du'ā. When it finished, she got up with a big smile on her face. The Prophet ﷺ said to her, "Atasurruki du'ā'ī yā 'Ā'isha?" — "Did my du'ā make you happy? You look very excited." She said, "Yes, why would your du'ā not make me happy? It was just such a beautiful du'ā." The Prophet ﷺ then said: "This is the same du'ā that I make for my Ummah every single day, five times a day after Salāh. I just made it for you once. But this same supplication I make for the people of my nation five times a day."

Can there be a person with such non-incentivized love in this world? Every relationship we have is incentivized — there is a give and take. The Prophet ﷺ is just giving, making that du'ā for us, crying for us, being pelted with stones. And he says, "This is because I love my people."

He says one day: "Wadadtu an laqītu ikhwānī" — "How I wish that one day I meet my brothers and sisters." The Sahābah say to him, "Yā Rasūlallāh, awa lasnā ikhwānaka?" — "Are we not your brothers and sisters?" And the Prophet ﷺ says, "No. Antum ashābī — you are my companions." They ask, "Then who are your brothers and sisters?" He says:

"My brothers are those people and my sisters are those people that believed in me despite the fact that they never saw me." (Sahih Muslim, Hadith 249; Musnad Ahmad)

"They never saw me live in Medina or Mecca. But they love me so much — those are my brothers and sisters. And I wish that one day I can meet them."

So all three of these qualities can be seen in the Prophet ﷺ from a distance. We do not have to dig too deep. You know, most people — the more you dig into their life, the more dirt you find. But the Prophet's life is the opposite. The more we dig, the deeper we go, the more we fall in love with the Prophet ﷺ. Because there is so much there.

Imam Shāfi'ī rahimahullah once said:

"O Allah, if You had opened up and revealed my sins to people, there would not be a single person who would even stop by to say salām to me. But You have showered me with Your blessings and mercy to such an extent that everywhere I go people turn to me and say salām." He reminded himself continuously that this was not due to his self-righteousness, but rather due to the covering that Allah had blessed him with.

What Is Shamā'il?

These three qualities — physical beauty, internal qualities, and how much he loves us — are what we will try to focus on in these Shamā'il sessions. The quality we will be talking about today is the physical beauty.

What does the word Shamā'il mean? It comes from the root letter of shamila. Shamila means characteristic, quality, innate quality — a quality which is a habit within the Prophet ﷺ. Because an act is also recognized as a sunnah. But Shamā'il is that which was a natural quality that the Prophet ﷺ always had and kept. It was the way he spoke, the way he ate, the way he woke up, the way he walked. All of these are the habits of the Prophet ﷺ.

That is why Imam Ghazali says: do a quality so much, bring a quality into your life to such an extent, that regardless of how great that quality is, you do it with such consistency that you yourself will stop recognizing the greatness that you have — in the sense that this will bring you sincerity. When a person wakes up for tahajjud and puts his head on the ground and cries to Allah, when they do it with such consistency, it does not seem difficult or strange, but rather becomes synonymous to who they are. And that is what sincerity is.

So these qualities were natural in the Prophet ﷺ, but he had to nurture and nourish them for them to become second nature. The book we will be going through is Imam Tirmidhi's rahimahullah masterwork, Shamā'il al-Tirmidhi.

The Physical Beauty of the Prophet ﷺ

It is perhaps all of our favorite topic because we really get to know how the Prophet ﷺ looked. And it is from one of the wisdoms of Allah that He has secured and protected the physical appearance of the Prophet ﷺ without a single picture of him in this world, without a single statue. The fact that we know how the Prophet looks allows us to fall in love with him at a deeper level.

Ibn Hajar rahimahullah says there were more than 33 individuals who accepted Islam just by looking at the Prophet ﷺ — just by seeing him. No words, no Qur'an, nothing. Just by seeing him.

Hassān ibn Thābit radiyaAllahu anhu says:

"If the Prophet ﷺ sat on a chair his entire life, didn't speak, no revelation — just sat there — just his face and his body would be enough for you to know that this man is special. Just by looking at him. Because Allah made him in such a beautiful way."

Hassān ibn Thābit says in perhaps one of the most beautiful poems ever written about the Prophet's beauty:

"O Prophet of Allah, no eye has ever laid on a person more beautiful than you. No mother can ever give birth to a child more beautiful than you. You have been created free from all defects — as if you requested Allah to make you in a certain way and Allah made you exactly like that."

And there is a narration that says that the women of Yusuf ﷺ cut their hands when they saw him. But if they had seen the Prophet ﷺ, they would have cut their hearts — aqatta'na qulūbahunna. That is how beautiful our Prophet ﷺ was.

Tufayl ibn 'Amr al-Dawsī

There was a companion by the name of Tufayl ibn 'Amr al-Dawsī. He comes in the 10th year of Nabuwwah to Makkah al-Mukarramah and he was a leader of his tribe, Daws. The leaders of Makkah told him: "There is a man here by the name of Muhammad — do not go near him, do not listen to him, do not communicate with him. This man is crazy; he will make you go crazy."

So Tufayl ibn 'Amr decided to put cotton balls inside his ears and started doing his business and his Tawāf — circling the Ka'bah, which existed even prior to Islam, going back to Ibrāhīm ﷺ. As he is doing Tawāf, he sees a man near the area of Maqām Ibrāhīm standing there, praying, and reading something. Every time he goes around, his eyes cannot get off him. He keeps staring.

After a few rounds he asks the people around him, "Who is that man?" They say, "This is the very man we told you about." When he finishes his Tawāf, he says to himself: "I am an intelligent person. I am a leader of a tribe. I am not the kind of person that will get bewitched by a few poems." So he decides to take the wool out of his ears and goes to the Prophet ﷺ and says, "Who are you?" The Prophet ﷺ says, "Muhammadun 'abdullāhi wa rasūluh — I am Muhammad, the slave of Allah and His messenger." He says, "What do you preach?" And the Prophet ﷺ begins with the khuṭbah al-ḥājah that we hear every Friday:

Tufayl hears the Prophet ﷺ recite this and says, "O Prophet of Allah, give me your hand. I do not need to hear more. Da'nī yadak ubāyi'uka 'alal-Islām — Give me your hand so I can become Muslim." Just by seeing the Prophet ﷺ.

'Abdullāh ibn Salām

'Abdullāh ibn Salām was a Jewish Rabbi. When he heard the Prophet ﷺ was coming to Medina, he hid behind people. As the Prophet ﷺ is sitting and giving his first sermon in Medina, the first narration the Prophet ﷺ delivered was this hadith:

"Spread the salām, feed people, and pray at night while people are sleeping." (Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 2485; Sunan Ibn Mājah, Hadith 1334)

'Abdullāh ibn Salām was touched by these words and kept coming closer and closer from the side. The Prophet ﷺ, ever in tune with what was happening around him, noticed him and said, "Oh, just come here — come in front. You want to see me? Get the front-row view." So 'Abdullāh came to the front, looked at the Prophet ﷺ, and then the Prophet ﷺ uncovered one of his shoulders where the seal of prophethood was. 'Abdullāh saw the seal and went around and said: "Wallāhi, hādhā'l-wajh lā yakūnu wajhal-kadhdhāb" — "By Allah, this face can never be the face of a liar." And he accepted Islam — just by the peace and serenity the Prophet's presence brought.

The Hadith of Hassān ibn 'Alī — A Detailed Description

This hadith is narrated by Hassān ibn 'Alī radiyaAllahu anhu, the grandson of the Prophet ﷺ, who was only seven years old when the Prophet passed away. He says:

(Shamā'il al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 7–8)

"For a long time, I was hoping to meet someone that could describe to me the physical features of the Prophet ﷺ. Finally, I met my uncle whose name was Hind Abī Hāla, and this man was very good at describing things." So he starts describing — and the challenge with describing such a person is which quality do you start with? He starts off with something very beautiful.

Fakhmun Mufakhkham — Naturally Honorable

He says the Prophet ﷺ was fakhmun mufakhkhamun — he was naturally an honorable person. He never put himself in a situation where he compromised his position or the message that he was given. We are people that walk around with the flag of Islam on our shoulders. It does not matter if I am working, or in the masjid, or striking a business transaction — I am a representative of the Prophet ﷺ. That message cannot be compromised.

Allah says: if you have a blessing in your life, if you have a talent, that talent should be used to help other people, to make their lives better, to reach out to them. It is not really a talent if you can only help yourself and your family.

Mufakhkhamun means that not only would he help himself, but everyone around him would be raised. That same person who was treated like a slave for years has now become the mu'adhdhin of the Prophet ﷺ. That same individual that society would not look at twice has become the flag-bearer at Uhud. How does that happen? It is because the Prophet ﷺ made these people feel valued. He made them feel valuable.

How did the Prophet ﷺ bring the best out of every single companion — from different countries, different ages, male and female, different talents? There is only one answer: because he spent time with them and recognized their greatness, and he pushed them towards their unique quality. The Prophet ﷺ spent time with his companions and hence was able to make them grow.

His Face Shone Like the Full Moon

He continues and says:

(Shamā'il al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 8)

His face would shine — it would shine like the 14th night's moon — laylat al-badr. When the Prophet ﷺ entered into Medina, the children of Medina gathered and sang:

For the Arabs that lived in the Hijāz — scorching heat in the day, living in the desert — the moon was the greatest symbol of beauty and peace. So when they say the moon has risen over us, they are saying the most beautiful person has entered our city.

Anas ibn Mālik radiyaAllahu anhu says:

(Sunan al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 3618)

"When the Prophet ﷺ entered Medina, the entire city became lit up. And when he was taken from this world, it was as if all the light of the city had been drenched away and ripped." The Prophet coming into the city brought light, and the Prophet leaving the city took away the light.

His Height

He continues and says:

(Shamā'il al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 8)

He was taller than a short person, but shorter than an extremely tall person — of moderate but slightly above-average height. A person who was short did not have to strain their neck looking up, and a person that was tall was not hovering over him. He was the perfect height. The Sahābah narrate that even when the Prophet ﷺ would be amongst companions who were tall, it was as if Allah gave him more inches — he never looked shorter than the people around him.

Anas ibn Mālik radiyaAllahu anhu narrates that whenever the Prophet ﷺ would sit in front of them, every single one of them would have two conflicting thoughts in their minds — one was to look at the Prophet ﷺ because he was so beautiful, and the other was that he had such ru'ab — such awe — that they could not make eye contact with him. So whenever he would look away to the other side, they would all look up and take their glances. Whenever he would look back, they would lower their heads in respect.

He says:

"When he would enter, only Abū Bakr and Umar radiyaAllahu anhuma would raise their heads. He would look at them and smile, and they would look at him and smile" — as if they were communicating through their smiles. Just imagine the day when the Prophet ﷺ looks at us and smiles at us on the Day of Judgment — when we are nearing the Ḥawḍ of Kawthar, and the Prophet ﷺ will see us from a distance and call us all by our names.

Hassān ibn Thābit — The Poem of the Prophet's Light

Hassān ibn Thābit was a Jewish man before Islam. The Jewish leaders came to him — knowing he was very quick with his tongue — and asked him to prepare a poem that would humiliate the Prophet ﷺ and diminish his respect in the eyes of the people. He had the poem in his mind, waiting for the Prophet ﷺ to walk down. In the moment the Prophet ﷺ walked down and he saw him, he says:

"The moment my eyes saw the beautiful rays from the face of the Prophet ﷺ, I took my palm and covered my eyes — not because it was not a beautiful sight to look at, but out of fear that if I looked for a moment longer, perhaps my eyesight would be snatched away. I was only able to look at him in glances at a time — I would look up and then look back down. It was as if he was like a beautiful necklace in which every diamond is precious and every stone is valuable. His body was shining, glittering, and I could not take my eyes off him." And this was a man who had come hoping to disrespect the Prophet ﷺ.

The Narration of Umm Ma'bad — The Most Complete Description

There is a narration of Umm Ma'bad radiyaAllahu anha. During the Hijrah — a journey of about 14 to 17 days — one day as the Prophet ﷺ and Abū Bakr radiyaAllahu anhu were in their migration, they came to her tent, knocked, and asked if anyone was home. She opened the tent and saw this absolutely beautiful man with Abū Bakr. They asked if there was anything to eat. As Shaykh Abdullāh was talking about the Arabs being the leaders of hospitality, she said there was nothing — the house was empty, it was a time of drought and famine.

The Prophet ﷺ said, "Can I have anything to drink at least? Do you have any milk?" She said, "I have absolutely nothing to give. But there is an old animal in the back of the tent — too weak to give milk. It does not have any milk inside of it. If you want to look at it, be my guest." The Prophet ﷺ went, touched the animal with his blessed hands, and it became full. He milked the animal, drank, gave it to the people of the house, and there was so much milk left over. We believe in miracles.

The husband was not there at that time. Later in the day he came back home and asked his wife, "How was your day? What happened?" She narrated the entire story. When he heard it, he said, "O my wife, please describe how this man looked! If someone is so special that they can do this, I want to know how they look." She said, "I will give it an attempt." And many scholars are of the opinion that this is the most complete, concise description of the Prophet ﷺ. She says:

"Today I saw a man of a striking appearance — ẓāhir al-wadā'ah, malīḥ al-wajh, ḥasan al-khalq. Beautifully created. Qasīmun wasīmun — equal, a specimen of creation, beautiful in every respect, in every angle. Lam ta'ibhu thajala wa lam tuzri bihi sa'lah — His head was not disproportionate to his body, neither was his stomach protruding. Every single limb of his body was as if it was supposed to be there, just as it was."

She continues: "Wa fī 'aynayhi da'aj — he had a very strong contrast in his eyes. The black of his eyes was excessively black and the white was immensely white, creating a contrast which is a beautiful sign indeed. He had large olive eyes with a strong contrast. Wa fī ashfārihi wataf — his eyelashes were long. Wa fī sawtihi sahal — his voice had a natural echo. Azajj, aqran — he had rosy cheeks without needing anything — naturally rosy. Akhal — it was as if he was wearing kuḥl, eyeliner, but he was not. It was just naturally there."

And then she says: "In ra'aytahum min ba'īd kāna ajmalin nās — If you saw him from a distance, he was the most beautiful person. But the closer he came, the more beautiful he looked. The closer he came, the more beautiful he looked."

And that, my dear brothers and sisters, is how the Prophet ﷺ looked. This man — her husband — hears this, and without doing anything rushes to Medina. He catches up to the Prophet ﷺ in Qubā and accepts Islam.

Further Features of the Prophet ﷺ

His Hair

He had a large forehead which represented intellect and wisdom. His hair was such that if it naturally fell on two sides, he would let it sit. He would comb his hair and oil his hair. The Prophet ﷺ said:

"Whosoever has hair, let him honor it." (Sunan Abī Dāwūd, Hadith 4163)

The Prophet ﷺ never lost his hair — even at the end of his life his hair was the same. He only had about 14 to 17 white hairs. He would not physically part his hair, but if it was naturally parted he would let it be. His hair length had three stages: the first was wafra — up to his earlobes. The second was up to the back of his neck. The third was when his hair sat on his shoulders — and this third length was specific to travel and expeditions. Generally:

"His hair would generally not go past his earlobe." (Shamā'il al-Tirmidhī, Hadith 11)

He only went bald when he went for 'Umrah and Ḥajj, because that is the sign of being in iḥrām. And it was not just that his back was long — he would trim the back while the front would reach all the way around. He himself never had uneven hair.

His Complexion and Face

His face was not pale — he was white but with a redness to it. He was not excessively white that he looked plain. He had a light complexion with naturally rosy red cheeks. His forehead was wide. His eyebrows were arced but did not touch — they were naturally lined up perfectly. In between them was a vein, and whenever he would get angry, that vein would show and his face would turn red. In some narrations, his face became as red as a pomegranate when he was angry. This is also a sign of a beautiful person — that you can read their emotions off their face. But he would never say anything harsh in anger — he would simply withdraw.

There is a narration that the Prophet ﷺ walked out and saw Umar radiyaAllahu anhu reading the Torah. The Sahābah around Umar saw the Prophet's ﷺ face turn red and the vein become apparent, and he walked back inside without saying a word — because one is not supposed to speak when angry. The Sahābah told Umar, and he put the Torah down and ran inside. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Umar, if Mūsā ﷺ were in my nation, he would have to follow me. My Qur'ān is enough for everything. Just read the Qur'ān."

His Nose, Beard, and Mouth

His nose was not excessively long, but it was slightly longer than average. Someone who saw him from a distance would think he had a long nose, but closer inspection would reveal it was just light shimmering off his nose — he did not have a flat nose, he had a slightly elevated, aquiline nose with a kind of peak. But it was normal for his face — it fit his face perfectly.

He had a thick beard. He had a very nice, apparent jawline — beautiful and full. His cheeks were full. There could never be a man more handsome than him. He had a wide mouth — the scholars of hadith say this is a sign of his ability to articulate himself clearly. Umm Salīm says: "When the Prophet ﷺ would speak, we could count every single word he said — that is how clear he would speak. He was not in a rush. He would speak slow and clear."

His teeth were not crowded — they were spaced out enough that you could tell he did not need any work done. Some say he had a slight space between his two front teeth, but the reality is that he had enough spacing that his teeth were not intertwined.

His Neck, Body, and Hands

He had a longer neck, and even today a longer neck is a sign of beauty. His neck was as if it were covered in silver — it was so clean and fresh, with no bumps or marks.

His body was mutamāsik — solid, sturdy, his bones were full, his hands were full of flesh. If you shook his hand you would feel his softness. The wives of the Prophet ﷺ say: "I have never touched any piece of cloth — maybe silk or any type of fabric — which was softer than the palm of the Prophet ﷺ." And the Prophet ﷺ would always be the last one to let go of a handshake. He would let them enjoy it — let them hold his hand and enjoy it.

His elbows, knees — his entire body was mutamāsik, very strong and sturdy. His chest and his stomach were always equal — his body was always fit, and he was 63 years old when he passed away. He had a wide, broad chest — wide, broad shoulders. And his chest was clean and clear.

The Power of Touch and Emotional Intelligence

What sticks out personally the most is the discussion of his hands. His hands were soft, and people would touch them and feel fulfilled by just touching his hand. There is power in touch. The Prophet ﷺ was not stingy with it — he allowed everyone to benefit from it.

There was a child who walked into the masjid during the Battle of Khandaq — one of the most difficult battles. This boy, whose name was Umayr, would always come to the masjid with a bird on his shoulder and would pray with that bird. One day he came and looked distressed. The Prophet ﷺ was able, in one moment, to recognize: A — this is a person in my community; B — he always comes with a bird; and C — today he does not have that bird, and it is perhaps because of the absence of that bird that he is distressed.

He said, "Oh Umayr, what happened to your bird? Did you lose your bird?" The youngster said, "My bird died." The Prophet ﷺ hugged him and said, "Do not worry — Allah will give you a better bird in Jannah." The child felt like a million dollars. That is true love — when someone notices something small and seemingly mundane. Your mother does not need you to tell her you are going through a difficult day — the knock on the door tells her you are distressed. That was the relationship the Prophet ﷺ had with every single person in his community.

The Prophet ﷺ said:

"The best of people are those who are most beneficial to people." (al-Mu'jam al-Awsaṭ by al-Ṭabarānī, Hadith 6026; al-Silsilah al-Ṣaḥīḥah, Hadith 906)

It is not about how many people you can reach — it is about the people who are in your sphere of influence and whether you can benefit them in the best way. That is good enough. May Allah allow us to understand this, allow us to increase in love for the Prophet ﷺ. JazākAllāh khayr.

Love Must Be Expressed in Action

Dear brothers and sisters — how many stories have we heard? How many khutbahs have we heard about the Prophet ﷺ? How many halaqāt have we attended? And what type of reaction does that create in our life? Does it create a reaction of "Oh man, that was nice, that was cool"? Or does it create a reaction of: "No, this demands from me that I bring some changes into my life. This demands that I love this man more."

Love is just a word if it is not represented in our actions. It holds no weight if it is just on our tongue. The poet says:

"You disobey Allah and yet you claim to love Him — and this, by my life, is a strange thing in one's actions. If your love were true, you would have obeyed Him — for one who truly loves is obedient to the one they love."

He heard one story — just one story. This Shamā'il Intensive is not a course that is just there for information, but rather it is there for transformation. We come here to transform our relationship with the Prophet ﷺ. We come here to transform our outlook and our view of the Sunnah. Our perspective changes — our lens changes. My father would always say: if you wear a blue lens, everything looks blue; if you wear a dirty lens, everything looks dirty. It is not what you are looking at — it is that your lens is dirty. Similarly, if we clean our lens and look at the Prophet's ﷺ life, everything will look perfect. It is not the Prophet's ﷺ life that is flawed in any way — rather, our lens needs to be cleaned.

Summary of Today's Session

As a summary of today's session:

We started off by saying there are three reasons why we love: (1) physical beauty, (2) internal qualities, and (3) how much the other person loves us.

Insān comes from two root derivatives: the first is nasiya — which means to forget; and the second is uns — which means to seek compassion and love.

We spoke about the Prophet's ﷺ beauty — more than 33 people accepted Islam just by looking at the Prophet's face. Hassān ibn Thābit radiyaAllahu anhu narrated many poems about the beauty of the Prophet ﷺ.

May Allah allow us to understand this, allow us to give us more love for the Prophet ﷺ. JazākAllāh khayr.