EPIC Masjid, Mufti Hussain Kamani(Chicago) Love for the Prophet(pbuh) P 1/2

Love for the Prophet ﷺ — Part 1

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful. Praise be to Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

And peace be upon the servants of the One Who has chosen. Especially upon the Master of the Progeny and the Seal of the Prophets. And upon the Progenies of the Prophets and the Companions of the Prophets, as well.

I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.

These beautiful verses of the Qur'an that I just recited before you are so powerful in meaning. Because within these verses we hold the great love that Allah has for His Beloved Nabi ﷺ. And this love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is actually one of the links — from the many links — that complete our faith.

The Hadith of Complete Belief

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ has said in a very beautiful and profound statement:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 70)

"None of you can be a complete believer until I am more beloved to him than his father, his child, and all of mankind."

And Umar رضي الله عنه, when he heard this hadith, he said, "O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than everyone but myself. If I had to sacrifice you or myself, I would sacrifice you, not myself. I still love myself more than I love you."

And the Prophet ﷺ says to Umar at that point: "Your faith is not complete. You need to learn to love your Nabi, you need to learn to love your religion, you need to learn to love your Lord more than yourself. Where if you ever have to compromise — do I compromise my ego, my desire, my decision, or should I forego the message of Allah and the Messenger ﷺ — there is no second god in your life."

And Umar رضي الله عنه then says to the Prophet ﷺ, "O Messenger of Allah, if that is the case, then I love you now even more than myself."

Now the words of this hadith are actually very beautiful. I want to focus on them for a moment before I move on to the next point.

The Prophet ﷺ says: "You cannot be a complete believer until I am more beloved to you than your father and your child." Notice it is a third-party statement — حَتَّى أَكُونَ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ — "Until I am more beloved to him than his father and his child."

Now realistically, when you look at it — usually does the child love his father more, or the father love his child more? Usually children are more beloved in comparison to how much people love their parents. In general, overall, if you see how much a child loves his father and compare how much the father loves his child, usually the father's love for his child will outweigh the other way around any day.

But the hadith doesn't bring the child first — it actually brings the father first. Why does the Prophet ﷺ say father first and child second? When technically it would make more sense if he said child first and father second, because children are loved more as compared to their fathers. The answer to this is that scholars of hadith have said: it's because not every person has a child — but every human being has a father. So the statement of the Prophet ﷺ relates to every single person. Everyone can take a lesson back home. Because not every person has a child. A child is a gift from Allah. But a father is given to every single human being. A mother is given to every single human being. Therefore your love for the Prophet ﷺ should be so intense.

Surah Ad-Duha: Allah's Love for His Prophet

Allah in this beautiful surah uses these beautiful metaphors:

وَالضُّحَىٰ refers to the morning after the sun rises — that part of the morning when the sun rises is what we call ḍuḥā. It is called the time of the mid-morning, or the early morning of ḍuḥā.

The scholars of tafsir — those scholars who commented on the Qur'an — some of them take the literal meaning, that Allah is taking an oath by the mid-morning. And the other group of scholars say, no, this isn't actually a literal statement. Rather, this ḍuḥā is a metaphor. And the mid-morning is actually referring to the beauty of the face of the Prophet ﷺ.

And وَاللَّيْلِ إِذَا سَجَىٰ — "in the night when it settles in." Some scholars take the literal meaning of this and say Allah is taking an oath by the night. And the other group of scholars say, no, this is actually a metaphor as well. And by this oath of the night, Allah is taking an oath by the hair of the Prophet ﷺ. For the companions said his hair was dark like the beauty of the night.

And then in the next verse, Allah tells the Prophet ﷺ:

"Your Lord has not abandoned you, nor is He angry with you. The hereafter will be better than what comes first. What comes after will be better than what's here with you today. And your Lord will grant you until He pleases you."

You know how sometimes in life we feel that our Lord has abandoned us? When we're caught in some sort of financial difficulty, some family difficulty — going through a divorce, a child become disobedient, been robbed overnight, or something very dear to us was taken away and we feel we've been abandoned. Allah says: مَا وَدَّعَكَ رَبُّكَ — "Your Lord hasn't abandoned you." وَمَا قَلَىٰ — "And neither is He angry with you."

The Preservation of the Sunnah

Allah preserved the legacy of the Prophet ﷺ — the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, the attributes of the Prophet ﷺ. Every single aspect of the Prophet ﷺ was preserved in order to make the Prophet ﷺ happy. وَلَسَوْفَ يُعْطِيكَ رَبُّكَ فَتَرْضَىٰ. And why did Allah make the Prophet ﷺ happy? Because by preserving the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ, we now have guaranteed that those people who will tread the earth until the Day of Judgment will always have a pathway to follow — meaning the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ. Had the pathway of the Prophet ﷺ not been preserved, then today we Muslims living in the 21st century — may Allah save us and protect us — possibly may have adopted a new religion of our own and created our own pathway using our own weak intellect at how to act upon the deen.

But because we have this preservation, Allah took an oath to preserve the Qur'an:

"Indeed We have revealed this remembrance, and indeed We will protect it."

Allah didn't only protect the words of the Qur'an. That's more than obvious — these Qur'ans that we have on our shelves are identical with the Qur'ans that we have in Africa, India, and Saudi Arabia. They're identical because Allah took an oath. And Allah never goes against His promise. Once He makes a promise, He fulfills it. Therefore the words of the Qur'an, without doubt, were preserved.

But Allah took preservation to another level — Allah even preserved the pronunciation of the Qur'an. The way the Prophet ﷺ pronounced the Qur'an. Can you imagine that? The way he pronounced it — today we have the ability and skill to pronounce the Qur'an in the very same way, knowing this is how the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ recited the Qur'an. And how he stopped while reciting the Qur'an. And which verse he recited before which verse. The beautiful recitation of the Qur'an was also preserved.

Then beyond that, Allah didn't stop with preserving the words and the pronunciations. Allah even preserved the ma'āni of the Qur'an — the meanings of the Qur'an. And what are the meanings of the Qur'an? The meanings of the Qur'an are the prophetic tradition — the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. This is actually why the preservation of the hadith of the Prophet ﷺ is a part of preserving the Qur'an. Because whenever someone attacks the Prophet ﷺ, in reality they're attacking the meaning of the Qur'an. When someone attacks the Qur'an, they're attacking the life of the Prophet ﷺ. For these things are actually intertwined with one another. Revelation is given to the nabi, the prophet, the rasul, the messenger. And it is the responsibility of the messenger to ensure that no one ever raises a finger against the revelation.

That's why Allah ensures that every one of His prophets is ma'ṣūm — protected from sins, protected such that someone can stand up during their life and say he committed this mistake, he has this fault in him, he has done this wrong.

That's why Allah mentions in the Qur'an that the kuffār of Makkah gathered together to plot against the Prophet ﷺ. You know, our modern planning agencies that plot against Muslims today have nothing in comparison to what had been plotted against the Prophet ﷺ during his life. The plots against the Prophet ﷺ were so grand that Shaytan himself would join them. Shaytan himself came in the form of Shaykh al-Najd at Dār al-Nadwa, to plan against the Prophet ﷺ.

And Allah refers to their plotting in the Qur'an:

"Indeed, they plotted. And Allah is aware of their plotting. And had they plotted like this against a mountain, even the mountain would perish. Don't think for a single second that Allah is going to abandon His Messenger. Don't think that Allah will ever go against the promise He made to His Messenger. Indeed, Allah is honorable, and Allah is the One who takes revenge if there is a need to."

From these verses what we learn is that Allah preserved the tradition of the Prophet ﷺ. Now where does this relate to where we are today? We live in a time where, in reality, the attacks that were made against the Prophet ﷺ 1,400 years ago haven't stopped. And every time someone wants to attack Islam, the easiest target for them will either be the Qur'an or the Sunnah. Because these are two things the Prophet ﷺ advised before he passed away:

(Muwatta Imam Malik, Book 46, Hadith 3)

"Hold on to these two things; you can never be misguided."

So the attacks are constantly going back and forth. Historically, the German orientalists — just a few hundred years back — were attacking the Qur'an and trying to prove how the Qur'an hadn't been preserved the way the Muslims claimed. They made all sorts of attacks from left, right, and center, trying to attack the meaning, the words, and all sorts of aspects of the preservation of the Qur'an. But they failed miserably because Allah said that you can never attack the Qur'an.

Then they turned their attention to the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. But the one thing that the Prophet ﷺ also told us before he passed away — he said that there will always be a group of people from his ummah who will stand up to preserve and defend the honor of Islam. Whenever people come throughout history, whenever people come to the end of time to attack Islam, there will always be such a people. The Prophet ﷺ said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3641; Sahih Muslim, Book 33, Hadith 170)

"From my nation there will always be a group of people who will hold firmly to the deen. And they will not be put down by anyone who tries to disgrace them or anyone who tries to oppose them. They will stand firmly, preserving and guarding the deen until death comes to them while they are upon this."

Glad Tidings for the Strangers

The Prophet ﷺ said in one hadith: "May glad tidings be for the strangers" — in English we call them "the weirdos," the people who look strange, someone who doesn't look normal. "May glad tidings be for the strangers." And the companions said, "O Messenger of Allah, who are these strangers?" The Prophet ﷺ said, "A time will come where acting upon my sunnah will be strange." When you walk on the streets, when you walk in your malls, when you walk through your schools, and you adorn yourself with what we know is the sunnah — the path of the Prophet ﷺ, his tradition — people will look at you with a twisted head and say, "That's strange right there. There's something abnormal about this."

The Prophet ﷺ told his companions: a time will come where acting upon my sunnah will be strange. And then he said:

(Sahih Muslim, Book 1, Hadith 270)

"Indeed the religion began as something strange, and it will return to being strange as it began — so may glad tidings be for the strangers." Because once upon a time, I, Muhammad, and my followers were also called strange when we stood with the kalima, لَا إِلَهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ, in the early days of Islam.

We as a community need to build confidence in our tradition. We need to feel firm about our tradition. How do we feel firm about our tradition? How do we feel firm about our sunnah? Two quick things.

1. Increasing Belief in the Authenticity of Our Tradition

The first thing — we need to increase our belief that the tradition that we have before us today is solid and firm and hasn't been fabricated. Compare the tradition of Islam with other religions. If I said to you: tell me the names of the forefathers of any prophet other than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, we would get stuck at maybe the grandfather or great-grandfather while using authentic narrations. But when it comes to our beloved Nabi Muhammad ﷺ, we have to know that there is so much preserved about our Prophet ﷺ in the hadith, within the collections of narrations, that we have so much information we can bring into our life that hasn't been tampered with, neither has it been fabricated — authentic narrations.

Imam Bukhari رحمه الله in his Sahih narrates the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ, teaching us the forefather and the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ. And why is it important to know the lineage of the Prophet ﷺ? Because the Prophet ﷺ says that his lineage is actually a blessed lineage:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3557)

"Every one of my forefathers was born through wedlock. No one was ever born outside wedlock through adultery." This is a very sacred lineage.

And then the Prophet ﷺ told the companions who his forefathers were. He said: "My name is Muhammad ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul-Muttalib, ibn Hashim, ibn Abd Manaf, ibn Qusay, ibn Kilab, ibn Murrah, ibn Ka'b, ibn Lu'ayy, ibn Ghalib, ibn Fihr, ibn Malik, ibn al-Nadr, ibn Kinanah, ibn Khuzaymah, ibn Mudrikah, ibn Ilyas, ibn Mudar, ibn Nizar, ibn Ma'add, ibn Adnan."

The narration of Bukhari ends here. And then Ibn Kathir رحمه الله in his beautiful work of history, Al-Bidāyah wal-Nihāyah, takes this narration from Adnan and links it all the way back to Adam ﷺ. The scholars who commented on Ibn Kathir's lineage have some commentary and some discussion on that. But one thing we know for sure is that until Adnan — almost 20 links of the Prophet ﷺ's lineage are unencumbered and authentic. This is something we as Muslims should take pride in — that our tradition has been preserved. And this should create confidence within us that what the Prophet ﷺ did, we actually have the ability to access and do exactly that.

2. Increasing Our Love for the Prophet ﷺ

The second thing is — we should always work on increasing our love for the Prophet ﷺ. That individual connection with the Prophet ﷺ, that sitting down and remembering the Prophet ﷺ. The companions — the one thing that they had that made them into who they were was their unconditional love for the Prophet ﷺ. They didn't just say they followed him; rather, they believed in him and they loved him before they followed him. They loved him so deeply that for them to die many times over was easier than for just a thorn to be poked into the body of the Prophet ﷺ. They would sit down and they would love spending time with the Prophet ﷺ.

You know how many of us, when we're sitting in gatherings where a hadith is being discussed — may Allah protect us, but this is a reality — or when we enter into the masjid, or while the khatib is giving his khutbah, the only thing that crosses our mind is: "When is this guy going to stop? I have to go back home." We're just waiting to leave and head off back to our activities and our lives back outside the doors of the masjid.

But for the companions of the Prophet ﷺ, it was not a burden or a chore to attend the masjid or be with the Prophet ﷺ — there was a beauty to it. They enjoyed it. There were so many aspects they enjoyed about being with the Prophet ﷺ. At times the Prophet ﷺ would make jokes and he would laugh. And the companions say, when he used to laugh, everyone in the gathering used to laugh. There was this beautiful smile the Prophet ﷺ had.

And a companion says — and the hadith is in Bukhari — "Every single time I met the Prophet ﷺ after I read the shahada, he was smiling." That's why the Prophet ﷺ said:

(Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 22758; also referenced in Sahih al-Bukhari, Adab al-Mufrad)

"Indeed it is from a good deed that when you meet your brother, you meet him with a glowing face — with an enlightened face." Because that was a prophetic way.

The Companions' Love for the Prophet ﷺ

The Prophet ﷺ and the companions would sit with him. They used to enjoy just sitting there looking at him. Abu Bakr al-Siddiq رضي الله عنه narrates that one day he was sitting with the Prophet ﷺ, and the Prophet ﷺ said: "There are three things that I love very dearly. The first thing I love is itr — fragrance. The second thing that I love is a pious wife. And the third thing," he said, is:

(Sunan al-Nasa'i, Hadith 3940; Musnad Ahmad, Hadith 12293)

"And the coolness of my eyes lies in prayer."

Abu Bakr al-Siddiq رضي الله عنه raised his hand and said, "O Messenger of Allah, if you grant me permission, I would like to tell you three things that I also love." The Prophet ﷺ said, "Go ahead, Abu Bakr, tell me what you love." He said, "O Messenger of Allah, I love sitting here looking at your beautiful face. It gives peace to my heart. O Messenger of Allah, I love earning money and spending it on you." There was a nation that enjoyed spending for the deen! "And the third thing I take pride in saying — that my daughter Aisha is your wife, and I am the father-in-law of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ." Every single thing that amazed him revolved around the Prophet ﷺ.

You know, the companions — when they saw the Prophet ﷺ, just his physical features were so beautiful that it reminded them of his greatness — how Allah created him with such perfection. No human being is perfect, but the anbiyā' ﷺ — Allah protects them. That's why Hassan ibn Thabit climbed the pulpit of the Prophet ﷺ one day, and he praised the Prophet ﷺ to his face, and he said:

"More beautiful than you, my eyes have never seen. More handsome than you, no mother has ever given birth to. You have been created free of all defects. It is as if Allah gave you the choice to be created however you wish to be created."

That's why the Arabic poet said:

"O possessor of beauty, O leader of mankind — from your enlightened face, the moon takes its light."

But how dare you make a comparison between the Prophet ﷺ and the moon? You know, Aisha رضي الله عنها — she was sitting with her friends and they were reading the verses of Surah Yusuf. And the companions sitting there began to boast over the beauty of Yusuf ﷺ, how beautiful he was. And then Aisha رضي الله عنها said to her friends:

"The women who mocked Zulaykha — if they were just to see the forehead of the Prophet ﷺ" — the forehead is that part of the face that actually has no features — "they would carve their hearts out rather than accidentally cutting their fingers."

The Physical Description of the Prophet ﷺ

It would be unjust of me to end this khutbah without further going ahead and describing for you the physical features of the Prophet ﷺ. And I firmly believe that knowing the physical outline of the Prophet ﷺ within itself is not an act of worship, but it increases the person in the love for the Nabi ﷺ. This is why the great scholars, like Imam Tirmidhi رحمه الله, collected the beautiful Shamā'il — the Shamā'il al-Muhammadiyyah of Imam Tirmidhi رحمه الله — the personal life and description of the Prophet ﷺ...