The Power Of Love Making Islam's Practice Easy

Jumu'ah Khutbah — Qari Hasan Abid

Say: If you love Allah, then follow me. Allah loves you and forgives you your sins. Allah is Forgiving and Merciful.

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 15; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 44 — Agreed Upon)

The Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "None of you will believe until I am more beloved to him than his son, his father, and all the people."

The Extraordinary Feats of the Sahabah

When we look into the lives of the sahabah رضي الله تعالى عنهم, the way they carried themselves, the actions that they performed, the things which they were able to accomplish — in every right, it should be like that for us as well. Because when we look into the lives of the sahabah رضي الله تعالى عنهم, they did things that we can only imagine.

We see each sahabi had his own unique characteristic. We see Uthman رضي الله عنه — in the night, he would finish the khatm of one Qur'an. Sometimes a person finishes the khatm of the Qur'an in a month, two months, three months. But we see Uthman رضي الله عنه reciting the entire Qur'an, doing one full khatm in one night. Which is an amazing feat.

We see Umar رضي الله عنه — the way he was able to cause ru'ab and fear into the hearts of the people who opposed Islam. Such that when Umar رضي الله عنه would come, everyone would just step back.

We see Abdurrahman ibn Awf رضي الله عنه — that he would give excessive amounts of wealth for the path of Allah. Such that he would give thousands and thousands of dinars, and it would look like the wealth had no end.

We see that at the time of one of the expeditions that Nabi ﷺ was going out on, Rasulullah ﷺ had a funding campaign to fund it. And we see Umar رضي الله عنه — he comes with half of his wealth. He thought no one could surpass that. And then Abu Bakr رضي الله عنه comes, and he brings the entirety of his wealth. And Rasulullah ﷺ asked him: what did you leave for your family? He said: I have left Allah and Rasul ﷺ.

Their iman, the actions they did — they were at the height, the peak. They reached the epitome of this level of iman. And they made it look so easy. When we look at them, without hesitation, they were at the forefront. When Nabi ﷺ said something, no matter how difficult it may seem, they got up and did it right away. They made these difficult actions seem as if it was almost nothing.

The Deen Is Easy — But How?

So, how was that? We see through the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ — Rasulullah ﷺ mentions in a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 39)

It is part of a hadith where Rasulullah ﷺ says: "Indeed, the religion — the deen of Islam — is easy."

And when we think about that, we say: okay, the hadith says that the deen is easy. But we see today that many of us, even for the fara'id — certain things that you have to do every single day — it is difficult for us. Getting up for Fajr is difficult. Yes, we get up, but it's not something that's easy. Giving sadaqah, giving large amounts of wealth — is that easy for us? So then, what does it mean by إِنَّ الدِّينَ يُسْرٌ — that the deen is easy?

We can understand this when we see that a single thing can be looked at from different perspectives. That one thing may seem very difficult, but for another person, it's extremely easy.

For example — someone asks you to get a cup of water. You don't know who that person is at all. So you go and get it, but it's kind of like a burden on you. Now, when that same exact thing — your father tells you to get a cup of water, your wife tells you to get a cup of water — the action is the same exact action: you going, filling that cup of water, and giving it to that person. It's the same exact action, but the motive behind it, the way you carry it out, the love behind it, is completely different.

And this goes for any action. We know that when a person is raising a child — a baby — parents go through so much difficulty. Staying up countless nights, looking after their baby. There are so many problems that come, but they are unfazed. When someone looks at it as a bystander, he sees the problems and the difficulties that the parents have to go through. But if you ask the parents themselves, their love for their child exceeds everything else.

And when we understand it from this perspective — where we see that a single action, when we look at the reasoning behind it, the motive behind it — then we truly begin to understand how the sahabah were able to perform such extraordinary feats.

The Salah of the Sahabah

When we look at the sahabah in regards to the salah that they performed — the sahabah, when they would stand up for salah, it was as if when they put their hands up, they were throwing the entire world behind them. They would stand in salah like a plank. They would not move.

There are many different accounts of sahabah — for example, one of them got injured in battle. There was an arrow through his leg, and they were trying to pull it out. There was excruciating pain and they weren't able to pull it out. But then when he started salah, the same arrow was pulled out, and the sahabi didn't even notice. When we think about it, we say: how can that happen? For one second it was difficult, and the other second it's extremely easy. The only difference was that this person was now in a different type of mindset. He knew that he was now in front of Allah, that his Lord had called him, and he was in a completely different mindset — everything else was irrelevant. They had developed a strong bond with Allah. This extreme love that was there.

The Story of 'Abbad ibn Bishr During the Expedition of Dhat al-Riqa'

When we look in the lives of the sahabah — when Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahabah were returning from an expedition called Dhat al-Riqa' — on the way back, Rasulullah ﷺ had asked if anyone could stand guard at night time in case any enemy attack were to happen. And two sahabis — 'Ammar رضي الله عنه and 'Abbad ibn Bishr رضي الله عنه — rose up to the task and said: we'll guard the Muslim camp.

'Abbad ibn Bishr said to 'Ammar رضي الله عنه: you take a rest first, and I'll guard the first half of the night. So 'Ammar رضي الله عنه went to sleep. And 'Abbad ibn Bishr stood up and started performing salah. And slowly, slowly as he started, the salah began pulling him in. He started to feel pleasure in the tilawat that he was reciting. He was so engrossed in his salah that he did not notice an enemy coming up.

And this mushrik — this polytheist — drew an arrow and shot it at him. And the arrow struck him. We can only imagine the pain that he was feeling. But he continued in his salah. That is the amazing thing here. Despite being shot with an arrow, he continued his salah.

When we are in salah — compare this to us. If a fly comes, are we able to stand straight? A fly comes on our face — what do we do? And he was being struck by an arrow. Then the enemy let fly another arrow — a second arrow. Still nothing. Then he shot a third arrow. And only then did he finally break his salah. He went and woke up 'Ammar رضي الله عنه.

'Ammar رضي الله عنه, seeing him bleeding, said: What were you thinking? Why did you not break your salah when you first got shot? He said: I was so engrossed in what I was reciting, I did not want to break my salah. And he said: Do not think that I broke my salah because I was in pain. No. The only reason I broke my salah now was because of the instructions of Rasulullah ﷺ to guard the Muslim camp. I feared that I may die because of excessive bleeding. So I woke you up to fulfill my duty. Otherwise, I would have preferred to continue praying.

And we see that what was driving him to such a point — that his life, he's about to lose his life — but he does not want to stop praying salah. It is because of this love that is there for Allah. This bond that he has — that no matter what afflictions come upon him, even if his own life may be in danger, he prefers being in front of Allah.

Rasulullah ﷺ in Salah

Rasulullah ﷺ mentioned in a hadith which comes in Bukhari Sharif that when you're in the middle of salah, it's like you're in dialogue with Allah. And they truly experienced that. For them, nothing was more important than the salah they were engaged in. For them, their job, their wives, everything — that took a backseat when it came to Rasulullah ﷺ and Allah.

We see Rasulullah ﷺ himself when he was in salah. It comes in a hadith:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1130; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2819)

That Rasulullah ﷺ would stand in salah until his feet would become swollen. Now we have to think about this — how long does a person have to stand in one place until his feet start swelling up? And then it was said:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 1130; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2819)

Someone asked him: Oh Rasulullah ﷺ, why are you doing this? When Allah has forgiven all of your sins — anything that may have happened in the past or the future, Allah has already forgiven that. Then he said: "Should I not be a grateful slave to Allah?"

And we see this high state of Rasulullah ﷺ was achieved through what? Nabi ﷺ was in a constant state of تَرَقِّي — meaning he was in a constant state of going up and up and up in the recognition of Allah. We see in the hadith of Rasulullah ﷺ that he used to seek forgiveness more than 70 times per day. And some of the commentators mention in this hadith that Rasulullah ﷺ would do istighfar for his previous state — his state of the previous day. Such that every single day, Rasulullah ﷺ would increase in the knowledge and recognition of Allah. So he would seek forgiveness for his state of the previous day.

So we see Rasulullah ﷺ — who had the height of recognition of Allah — this is his action. When we look at a salah such that a person's feet are becoming swollen, we see it as something extremely difficult, something very cumbersome, that we could never do it. But Rasulullah ﷺ is saying:

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

"The coolness of my eyes has been placed in salah."

And the only difference between us and Rasulullah ﷺ and the sahabah is the difference in our love for Rasulullah ﷺ — the difference in our love for Allah.

Following the Sunnah to the Utmost Degree

We see the sahabah رضي الله عنهم — as I mentioned from the previous hadith — they embodied a similar love. And we see what they were able to accomplish. When Rasulullah ﷺ did anything, they followed it to their utmost degree.

We see Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما — where Rasulullah ﷺ one time was on an expedition. And as we know, after Rasulullah ﷺ passed away, Ibn Umar رضي الله عنهما was traveling with some of his companions between Makkah and Madinah. While walking, he stopped at a location, took out his water skin, and poured out some water. His companions were very confused — we are on this journey, why did he waste that water? Apparently he had just wasted it. But then he told the people who were with him: I saw Rasulullah ﷺ relieve himself in this exact area and he poured water over there. Even though he had no need to relieve himself, had no need to do anything — just to embody Rasulullah ﷺ, to copy exactly what he did, he poured water in that same exact area.

They followed Rasulullah ﷺ to the utmost degree. And we see what feats they were able to accomplish through that.

When Makkah — and then when they went to Madinah — it wasn't something that was well-known. Many people did not have that many riches. A lot of people considered Arabs to be the lowliest of people. But then what we see later on — in the time of the Khilafah of Umar رضي الله عنه — riches were pouring into Madinah, such that there was nowhere to put them. They were being piled up in Masjid Nabawi, and there was nowhere to put any of these things. The dirham and dinars were being put in huge piles in Masjid Nabawi. And they had no one to give it to, because from all areas, riches were pouring in. What caused this change? It was their devotion and love for Rasulullah ﷺ, and their love for Allah.

The Key to Success: Follow the Prophet ﷺ

Allah gives us the key to success in the Qur'an. He says:

If you say you love Allah and Rasulullah ﷺ, if you want Allah to love you back, then how do we achieve that? He says: فَاتَّبِعُونِي — then follow me, follow Rasulullah ﷺ. By embodying the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ, this will become easy. The love for Allah will increase. The love for Rasulullah ﷺ will increase. And Allah will love us. And this has a direct correlation to all of our actions.

Let me give you an example. A person comes back home — it's 1AM, 1:30AM — and he has not performed his Isha salah yet. No one is awake. The dead of the night. If he goes to sleep right now, no one will know. What will make this person get up and perform his Isha salah? If this person goes to sleep, no one will know. But it is only his love for Allah, his fear of Allah, that will make him get up and perform that salah.

And this goes for any action — not just salah. The direct motivating factor behind any action that we do is the level of our iman, which is gauged by our love for Allah, our fear of Allah, and the love that we embody for Rasulullah ﷺ in our hearts.

How to Develop This Love

But then — how do we develop this love, which is the driving force behind everything? This will only come through recognition. This will only come through recognition of who Allah is, of who Rasulullah ﷺ actually is, what has Rasulullah ﷺ done for us.

When we actually read through the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ and we see his exemplary character — how he carried himself, how he dealt with other people, what du'as he has made for us, his ummah — when we read through the pearls that are found scattered throughout the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ, then the love of Rasulullah ﷺ starts building within us. Such that we won't need to be told: Rasulullah ﷺ did this. Rather, we will ask ourselves: in the situation I'm in, what did Rasulullah ﷺ do, so that I can do it? And this is the mentality of the sahabah رضي الله عنهم. In whatever situation they were in, they looked for the sunnah of Rasulullah ﷺ.

In our culture today, one thing is being promoted. But what we should be doing is asking ourselves: is this the way of Rasulullah ﷺ? Is this the way Rasulullah ﷺ carried himself? Is this the way he would have wanted to do things? But this desire will only be built once we actually start to build that love and recognition for Rasulullah ﷺ and for Allah.

Practical Steps

So how do we practically implement this?

First — we should make it a habit every single day that for five minutes, either with someone or alone, we try to talk about the greatness of Allah. And this can be through anything. For example, someone might be a chemical engineer, someone might be a doctor, someone might be in some other field. But they connect all these things back to Allah. They can talk about intricate things or simple things. They can talk about how many leaves are out there, the droplets in the ocean, or whatever it may be. But you say: I may not have the knowledge of this, but Allah has the knowledge of this. The fall season is about to pass — how many millions of leaves have fallen? We do not know the number, but Allah knows the number. By talking about these things every single day, this recognition and love for Allah, and the 'azamah — the greatness of Allah — will penetrate our hearts.

So, every single day, for five minutes — even if you have no one to talk to — at least self-reflect. Sit down, dedicate five minutes every single day, that we will sit down and think about our Creator. The One who created our very beings — that we think about Him, and we ponder about Him, and the blessings He has bestowed upon us.

Second — we read through the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ, which will teach us how to practically live our lives. If we have a family, we sit down with our family and dedicate five, ten minutes. We don't have to spend half an hour, forty minutes, but constantly —

"The most beloved actions to Allah are the ones that are consistent, even if they may amount to only a little."

We sit down for five, ten minutes — we dedicate five, ten minutes every single day, to sit down with our families, and we read the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ. And we build this love. And this will directly affect all of our own a'mal. This will give us the boost that we need to do all the different actions we need to be doing throughout the day — the different ahkam, the different fara'id that Allah has stipulated upon us — that will make it extremely easy.

Like I mentioned in the beginning — إِنَّ الدِّينَ يُسْرٌ — an action can be looked at through different perspectives. If a person has his love for Allah, his love for Rasulullah ﷺ, these actions that may seem difficult will become extremely easy.

The Day of Judgment — Meeting Rasulullah ﷺ

So I ask Allah that He grants us the ability to read the seerah of Rasulullah ﷺ, to build this recognition of Allah, and through building this recognition, we on the Day of Judgment can bring something. When we are coming to Rasulullah ﷺ on the Day of Judgment — who doesn't want to meet Rasulullah ﷺ? We know that the ummah of Rasulullah ﷺ will be able to meet Rasulullah ﷺ on the Day of Judgment at the hawd — the pond — where Rasulullah ﷺ will be, and there will be cups, so many cups, they will be like the stars in the sky.

And at that moment — imagine if someone were to come, and Rasulullah ﷺ turns around to meet him, but then he is pulled back. And Rasulullah ﷺ says: no, this is my follower. This person was from my ummah. But then the angel says to him: no, this person did not follow your sunnah. He trampled upon your sunnah. And Rasulullah ﷺ will turn away from him.

But rather, by building this relationship with Rasulullah ﷺ and with Allah, then we will be able to hold our heads up high on that day. And we will present something in front of Rasulullah ﷺ and Allah.

May Allah give us all tawfiq.

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