Devotion Inspired by the Love for the Prophet ﷺ | Shamail Session 4 | Shaykh Oosman Mustafa

Devotion Inspired by the Love for the Prophet ﷺ

الحمد لله بالعالمين، والعاقبة للمتقين، والصلاة والسلام على سيدنا الأنبياء والمرسلين، وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين.

How's everyone feeling today? Everyone had a good third day? Enjoying your day here? This session is probably the hardest session for you guys because you're looking forward to the break, come back from Asr, probably all tired. So we're trying to keep it a little light insha'Allah, and make it a little refreshing.

We just prayed Salat, and we're waiting for Salatul Maghrib. So this is the best time between Asr and Maghrib to spend in the dhikr of Allah. There's nothing better we could do in this period where our angels are changing shifts, going back to Allah.

And Allah is asking the angels, how did you find my slaves? And for the angels to tell Allah, we found your slaves in a state that they're reading the Shama'il of the Prophet ﷺ. That they're studying the lifestyle of the Prophet ﷺ. There's no better honor for us to be presented in that manner to Allah. There's no better way that we would want that our names be mentioned in front of Allah, and us doing anything better than sitting in the class of the Shama'il, or sitting in the class of the Seerah, or sitting and engaging with the life of the Prophet ﷺ, who is the most beloved to Allah. And our affiliation to the Prophet ﷺ is our source of pride and joy.

It's our honor in this dunya. There's nothing that brings us honor, respect, dignity, in the court of Allah, and in this dunya, than our affiliation and connection to the Prophet ﷺ. Like the poet says:

The poet says that there are two things that bring me great joy, that bring me honor, that bring me respect. And these two things bring so much joy to my heart that I feel like I'm flying in the heavens, I'm walking in the stars.

The first of which is دُخُولِي تَحْتَ قَوْلِكَ يَا عِبَادِي — the first means of honor and respect that I have is that, O Allah, You call me Your slave. You call me Your abd. Allah refers to us as His abd. So this title that Allah gives us as an abd is the most respectful title we can gain, and this is the highest honor we can gain in the court of Allah.

Because Allah refers to the Prophet ﷺ on a night that is the most honorable for the Prophet ﷺ — when he went from Mecca to Jerusalem, this journey on the Buraq and the journey to go to the heavens and to visit and to meet Allah. No one has been granted this respect. No one has been granted this honor. No one has been granted this journey to Allah.

So Allah on a night of such greatness — when Allah refers to the Prophet ﷺ in the Qur'an, He always refers to him with titles, right? Yasin, Taha, Mudathir, Muzammil. He's always giving him titles. And these titles are out of love for the Prophet ﷺ. But when it comes to Isra and Mi'raj, Allah didn't use a title. He didn't give him another title. He said the highest title you can grant a person, the highest title Allah could have bestowed upon him, is the fact that he is the abd of Allah. So this is our source of pride.

And the second source of pride and honor: وَأَنْ صَيَّرْتَ لِأَحْمَدَ نَبِيَّا — the fact that You chose Muhammad ﷺ to be my Prophet, the fact that You chose the Prophet ﷺ to be my Rasul, and You made us the Ummah of that Prophet ﷺ, is the biggest source of pride and joy to us. There's nothing else that can match that. There's nothing else that can match that level of respect, honor, and dignity in accordance with Allah, other than being called an Ummah of the Prophet ﷺ.

The Purpose of Studying the Shama'il

So when we study the Shama'il, we study it to be able to engage with the Prophet ﷺ. When a person loves something, he wants to know everything about that thing. A person loves a car, he wants to know everything about the car. He loves airplanes, he wants to know everything about the airplanes. He will study it, he will work for it, he will get a career in that because he is in love with it.

So he wants to study as much as he can. The Sahaba had such deep love for the Prophet ﷺ that their entire lives revolved around him. They would be acquainted with every detail of the life of the Prophet ﷺ. They would know everything about him. We don't live in that time where we can see the Prophet ﷺ, but our love should be such that it drives us to want to know every detail about him. That it drives us to learn every detail about him. That we research it, we see it, we learn it. And after we found it, we implement it in our lives.

Because there is no point of learning all of it, or knowing all of it, or recognizing all of it, if it's not implemented in our lives. It doesn't hold value. It only holds value when it actually appears.

And this love that we have for the Prophet ﷺ is like a seed. You plant a seed in the ground — you plant a rose seed in the ground — that seed will never stay there. If it's nourished properly, it's watered properly, it gets the right amount of light, it's taken care of, that seed will eventually flourish into a rose. It will show outside the ground. So the seed is buried in the ground, it's covered with layers of dust, but eventually it finds its way through, it becomes a stem, it becomes a flower, and it blossoms.

So our love for the Prophet ﷺ — it sits in the heart, it settles in the heart, but it can't be contained within the heart. It will always flourish. It will always come through. It will always come out. And we see this in the life of the Sahaba.

The Sahaba's Unmatched Love for the Prophet ﷺ

The Sahaba had love for the Prophet ﷺ — an unmatched love, an undeniable love — and they would do anything for him. One Sahabi is sitting at home, and he came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, Ya Rasulullah, I love you dearly. And when I sit at home by myself, and I'm away from you, it makes me restless, to the point that I feel like my soul is about to leave my body. When I'm with you, I feel content. I feel happy. I'm in the right place. But the moment I separate from you and I go home, I just can't contain the fact that I'm away from you. And I have to rush back so I can see you. The moment I see you, it brings peace to my heart.

But that's not my concern. Because in this dunya, at least I have the opportunity to come back and see you. I can come to the masjid and see you. But my concern is when I get to Jannah. When I get to Jannah, and of course you are the Habibullah, so you're going to have a higher place in Jannah. You're going to have a distinguished place in Jannah. If I make it to Jannah, I'm definitely going to be on a lower level. So I don't know if I'm going to be able to see you there or not. How will I deal with that pain at that time?

So his concern is not of dunya. His concern is: I made it to Jannah. I made it to the place where I'm supposed to be. I have all the pleasures that I want. I have access to everything I need. But not seeing the Prophet ﷺ will make Jannah incomplete. I just can't be there and not see you. It doesn't make sense.

So the Prophet ﷺ said:

A man will be with the one he loves.

Anas ibn Malik said that there's nothing that brought us more joy, more happiness, than this statement of the Prophet ﷺ. That a man will be with the ones that he loves. Because even if our deeds fall short, our actions fall short, and we're not able to make it there — like the hadith of Anas ibn Malik when he narrates it: a man came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, Rasulullah, when is the Hour? So the Prophet ﷺ didn't give him a whole detail of the ten major signs and the minor signs. He said, what have you prepared for that time? He said, Ya Rasulullah, I don't have a lot of Salat, I don't have a lot of Siyam, I don't have a lot of deeds that I can count on. Meaning, I fulfill my obligations, but I don't think I have the numbers that are required. I might fall short in numbers. But one thing that I do have is:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 3688; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 2639)

The thing that I can count on is the fact that I love Allah and His Rasul ﷺ. That's what I can count on. My deeds, I don't know. But this affiliation that I have with the Prophet ﷺ, this connection that I have with the Prophet ﷺ, that I can bank on.

So the Prophet ﷺ said: الْمَرْءُ مَعَ مَنْ أَحَبَّ — you'll be with the one that you love.

Anas says that this statement brought us so much joy. It filled us with contentment. That we know at least we'll be with the ones that we love. And we love the Prophet ﷺ. We're crazy for the Prophet ﷺ. And he said, I don't only love the Prophet ﷺ — I love the Prophet ﷺ, I love Abu Bakr, I love Umar, I love Uthman, I love all of them. So at least I can be in a place where I see all of them there.

Ittiba' — Following the Prophet ﷺ Out of Love

This love that sits in the heart, this connection that forms inside the heart with the Prophet ﷺ, drives us to do a lot more. And the Sahaba — whenever they were called upon, they did. And love is such a thing that you don't need to be told to do something. You don't need to be told. You just see it and you do it.

And that's the difference when Allah talks about Ittiba' and Ita'a. When it comes to Ita'a, Allah says:

A person who obeys Allah and His Rasul ﷺ will be successful. You study for your exam, you wrote the exam, you got the grades, you passed. Good job.

But when it comes to Ittiba', Allah doesn't say that you'll just be successful. Allah says:

Success is not even part of the equation — you're already successful. But above success, you will gain the love of Allah. So if you want to gain the love of Allah, you want to attract the love of Allah, you have to do Ittiba'. The ulema say that Ittiba' is that you follow footstep for footstep. So if there's an imprint of a footstep, you put your foot in that same imprint. You follow it closely, one for one.

This is why Abdullah ibn Umar, when he was walking in the sand, walking in the desert with a companion, and they reached a certain point where he ducks. So his friend looks at him and says, why are you ducking? There's nothing here. It's an open field. What makes you duck? He says, once I was walking by here with the Prophet ﷺ, and there used to be a tree, there used to be a branch that was low, and the Prophet ﷺ lowered his head. So whenever I pass by here, I always lower my head. It's not a command. It's not a fard. It's not an ibadah. He's not asked to do it. No one asked him to do it. But the love and the Ittiba' that sat in the heart drove him to do it. It forced him to do it.

And when they wouldn't be able to fulfill that requirement, it would be heavy on their hearts. So Abu Hurayra walks into the masjid, and as soon as he steps in the masjid, he faints. The Sahaba gather around him. He gains consciousness, and they start telling him off — Abu Hurayra, take care of yourself, you're so weak, you should eat more, you should rest more. So Abu Hurayra says, hold on a second. I didn't faint because I'm sick. I didn't faint because I'm not eating enough. He said, what happened? Why did you faint? He said, as soon as I walked into the masjid, I realized that I walked with my left foot instead of my right foot. Breaking the sunnah of the Prophet ﷺ was unbearable for my heart. I could not bear the fact that I made such a mistake. So the pain of it was heavy on me. I couldn't bear it. So I fainted.

This was the level of muhabba. This was the level of ishq. This was the level of Ittiba' of the Prophet ﷺ — they didn't need to be told. And when they missed out, it bothered them. It hurt them. Physically hurt them.

Examining Our Own Love for the Prophet ﷺ

A point for us to think about is that we claim to love the Prophet ﷺ. And there's no doubt that we all love the Prophet ﷺ. That's why we're all here for the Seerah. That's why we're all here for the Shama'il. There's no doubt that we love the Prophet ﷺ to a certain extent. What we need to analyze is how much of that love drives me into action. How much of that love drives me to action? How much of that love am I acting upon? Or is it just lip service? I love the Prophet ﷺ — but you know what, I have my life. I love the Prophet ﷺ — but we live in the 21st century. If that love was true and was heavy in the heart, then there would be no excuses. That love would outweigh everything else. That love would drive you to do it.

So we need to introspect. We need to go back into our hearts and reanalyze that love. Rekindle that love in the heart and strengthen it to the point where it drives us to do those things that please the Prophet ﷺ. It drives us to the point where we do things that please Allah.

Just like that Sahabi — he said, I don't have a lot of Salat, I don't have a lot of Siyam, I don't have a lot of amal. But I can count on my love for the Prophet ﷺ. Because that love drove them to sacrifice everything in their path. It drove them to give up everything that was a hindrance between them and their deen.

That's in the Battle of Badr. Abu Ubayda ibn al-Jarrah — his father was on the other side, waiting, fighting, and he saw his son Abu Ubayda. The father could have killed him but held back. The moment Abu Ubayda saw him, he killed him. In that gathering, two companions spoke — one said, I saw my father in battle and I killed him. The other said, I saw my father and I didn't kill him. I let someone else deal with it. I don't want to be the one that killed my own father.

So Umar ibn al-Khattab got up. He said, we should pair up each person of deen with the person on the other side from their family, and each should fulfill that. Why? So we can show Allah — O Allah, there's nothing, there are no hindrances, there are no barriers between us and You. There's nothing that can stand between us and Allah. There's nothing that can stand between us and our deen. Anybody that's on the opposite side is not part of us. So we stand, we sacrifice, and we give for the Prophet ﷺ — because each time we sacrifice something, it brings us closer.

And this love for the Prophet ﷺ is part of our faith. It's part of our iman. Our iman can never be complete until we complete this love for the Prophet ﷺ, until we prioritize the Prophet ﷺ.

The Hadith of Completing One's Iman

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

Your iman is not complete — the words are لَا يُؤْمِنُ, you're not even a believer, but the ulema translate it as your iman is not complete — until the Prophet ﷺ becomes more beloved to us than our own fathers, than our children, and people at large. Which means that the opinions, the thoughts, the trends, the fashions of the world will never be a hindrance for me to follow the Prophet ﷺ. The opinion of the person at work will not hinder my progress to the Prophet ﷺ. The opinion of my friend circle or my acquaintances will never be a problem for me to practice my deen. Their dirty looks and their thoughts or their comments will never hurt me enough for me to sacrifice a sunnah, to give up an act of the Prophet ﷺ because so-and-so looked at me differently.

When that Sahabi was sitting in a gathering in Jerusalem, surrounded by Jews, sharing a table, and he dropped a morsel of food and was about to pick it up, clean it like the sunnah, and eat it — so his companion nudges him. He says, don't do that. He said, why? He said, these people are the elite of the city, and that act of picking up food and eating it is looked down upon by these people. So don't do it. His response instantaneously was:

You want me to sacrifice the sunnah of my Habib for these foolish people? How? How would that be possible? I can't give up my connection with the Prophet ﷺ. I can't give up the act of my Prophet ﷺ for anybody in this world.

We should think in our time. We should think in our lives. How many occasions have we lived such where we had to give up a practice of deen because it wasn't the trend in the area we were in? It wasn't acceptable by the people that were around us. Or it was looked down upon by the people that surrounded us. How many times have we chosen a different lifestyle over the lifestyle of the Prophet ﷺ?

And sometimes it's not even other people. Sometimes the problem is here within us — I don't feel like it. Because they might say something. They might react a certain way. They might give me a dirty look. They haven't even done it yet. Or it might not even happen. But the thought that it might happen is already a hindrance for me to do that. It's already holding me back. So these are the challenges that we have to overcome. We have to break them down.

The Sahaba were never bothered by dirty looks. No. They were physically tortured. They were physically hurt for their acquaintance with deen. They were physically hurt for saying لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّهُ.

We hear the story of Bilal ibn Rabah. We hear the story of Khabbab ibn al-Aratt. When Umar ibn al-Khattab was sitting down, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt showed up and Umar got up and gave him his seat. He said, I would never do this except for a certain type of person. So Khabbab says, who else would you give your seat up for? He said, the only other person I would do this for is Bilal ibn Rabah. He said, why Bilal ibn Rabah? He said, obviously because of the pains and sacrifices he went through to stand on deen. So he said, what about me, Umar? What about me? He said, when I accepted Islam, my master was also against me, also torturing me. And his torture would be such that he would make a bed out of charcoal. He would light the fire. And when it was nice and hot, he would make me lie down on top of it. He would take my shirt off my back and make me lie down on top of that burning charcoal. And if I moved or I flinched, he would put a boulder on my chest to hold me down and pin me against the charcoal. And there was no way for me to get out of that except that my back would bleed, the flesh would burn, the fat would melt, and it would extinguish the fire under my back. And that's how I would get off of it.

Then he pulled off his shirt off his back. And Umar saw his back — holes all over, so big that you could put your fist in them. He said, Khabbab, what's this? He said, this is the effect of those charcoals.

So what sacrifices did they give? How much hardship did they go through to hold on to deen? And what actual hardships are we facing to hold on to our deen? What difficulties are we actually facing to be able to live on the sunnah, to dress like the sunnah, to look like the Prophet ﷺ, to act like the Prophet ﷺ?

The Shama'il — A Journey Through the Prophet's ﷺ Life

And the Shama'il does exactly that. It tells us from beginning to end, every intricate detail of the life of the Prophet ﷺ. Starting from his descriptions of how he looked. Imam Tirmidhi starts the chapter with khalq Rasulullah — he describes the Prophet ﷺ, how he looked. And he starts with the face. The face is the place of honor. It's the place of recognition.

So he starts with the face of the Prophet ﷺ, and he ends the book with seeing the Prophet ﷺ in a dream. So he's taking you on a journey — you start with recognizing what this man looked like, how handsome, how beautiful, how perfect he was. And he was perfect from both sides — his inner aspect and his outer aspect. You know that poem:

The scholars say the reason why Hassan ibn Thabit chose وَأَحْسَنَ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَرَ قَطُّ عَيْنِي is because husn refers to the outward beauty — and the outward beauty of the Prophet ﷺ was perfect. There was nothing you could add and nothing was diminished. More beautiful than you, no eye has ever seen. Doesn't exist.

وَأَجْمَلَ مِنْكَ لَمْ تَلِدِ النِّسَاءُ — and jamal refers to the inner beauty. So the character of the Prophet ﷺ — the truthfulness, the compassion, the love, the care, the inner aspects and beauty of the Prophet ﷺ — even that was perfect. The ulema say that the Prophet's ﷺ heart was washed not to remove anything from inside of him, but rather to increase the beauty inside of him. He was already beautiful from inside, and jamal refers to that. More beautiful than you in character, no mother has given birth to. Doesn't exist.

So to understand the lifestyle of the Prophet ﷺ — how perfect, how beautiful, how complete he was, how beloved he was to Allah — and to be able to acquaint ourselves with that lifestyle. This is how he looked, this is how he talked, this is how he sat, this is what he liked, this is what he disliked, this is what he ate, this is what he didn't eat.

Abu Ayyub al-Ansari — when the Prophet ﷺ came to Medina, he stayed in his house. Abu Ayyub al-Ansari was to stay on top and the Prophet ﷺ was to stay at the bottom. He used to send food to the Prophet ﷺ. And one day the food came back untouched. So he got worried. He went to the Prophet ﷺ and said, Ya Rasulullah, I notice you haven't touched the food. Is it because you don't like it? Something wrong with it? It wasn't cooked right? So the Prophet ﷺ said, there's nothing wrong with the food. The only issue is it has onions in it, and I don't like to eat onions because I converse with the mala'ika — it bothers them. So I'd rather not eat onions. So he said, Ya Rasulullah, is it haram? Or you just don't want to eat it? He said, no, it's not haram. I just don't eat it because it's going to bother the mala'ika I talk to.

So Abu Ayyub al-Ansari said, you know what, from today onwards I will never touch onions. He said, no, it's okay, you can have it. He said, no, Ya Rasulullah — if you're not going to have it, I don't want to have it either. Again — Ittiba'. Love. You're not going to do it, I'm not going to do it either. Just because I love you so much.

Being Walking Representatives of the Prophet ﷺ

So this Shama'il drives that love inside of us. And when we become people of love for the Prophet ﷺ, then we don't have to say we love the Prophet ﷺ — people will see it inside of us. People will recognize it in our behavior. People will recognize it in our a'mal. People will recognize it in our mu'amalat, in our dealings with people. They will see it inside of us. We'll be walking, talking representatives of the Prophet ﷺ.

Today, when people want to learn about the Prophet ﷺ, we refer them to books — go read that book. There's no one that we can say, look at this person, and you'll understand the Prophet ﷺ.

The Testimony of 'Urwa at Hudaybiyyah

And I'll end with this. Urwa ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi — at the time of Hudaybiyyah, he was sent by the Quraysh to deal with the Prophet ﷺ and to tell him: you can't come into Mecca, you've got to go back. When Urwa came, he wasn't Muslim — he was on the Quraysh side. He was the leader of Banu Thaqif. And he met the Prophet ﷺ. As he's talking to him, he says, Muhammad, these people — the moment you show them a sword, they're all going to run away. They're not really yours. They're not really there.

Then they start negotiating. He realizes it's not getting very far. The negotiations break down. He goes back to the Quraysh. When he got there, he didn't even know who these people were. He said, look at the people that are with you — they're all the lower caste, the rejects, the people we don't want.

But when he leaves from there and goes back to the Quraysh, he says: I have been a representative for the Quraysh in every king's palace you can think of. I've been to Persia. I've been to Rome. I've been to Abyssinia. I've seen all these kings. He says, Wallahi, I've never seen — I've never seen people that serve their king or follow their king like the followers of Muhammad ﷺ. I've never seen it.

He wasn't told anything about them. The Prophet ﷺ didn't give them dawah. They didn't talk to him about anything. This is his observation of what he saw from the Sahaba with the Prophet ﷺ.

He says, Wallahi, if he were to spit, there would be someone there to grab that spit before it could touch the ground. I've never seen it in any palace. There's no king that would spit and people would scoop up that spit. And they would rub it on their bodies for barakah. He doesn't make wudu except that they would fight each other — يَكَادُونَ يَقْتَتِلُونَ — they would almost get into a fight, rushing with each other. Not a drop of that water of wudu would touch the ground before someone would put their hands under it and scoop it up and rub it over themselves. And if he wanted something, he doesn't have to ask — he would just look in a direction and ten people would run in that direction. He doesn't have to ask for it. They would get it done right away.

He is describing the Sahaba's devotion to the Prophet ﷺ. He hasn't spoken to the Sahaba. He hasn't been given dawah by the Prophet ﷺ. No one sat him down and said this is deen. This is his observation of what he saw.

This was the same man that when he came to that meeting, he said these people are going to give up, they're going to run away. When he left from there and went back to the Quraysh, he told them: if you guys want to go and fight — these people will pick up swords, and I am telling you that you probably will never win against these people. So the Quraysh were upset. They said, we sent you to negotiate on our behalf and now you're here advocating on their behalf. He said, this is what I saw. This is what I have seen.

So the Sahaba were so deeply connected to the Prophet ﷺ that their behavior, their action was enough words for the world. It was enough to change people's lives. Today we can't say that. We are struggling to be able to connect with the Prophet ﷺ.

The Three Qualities for the Sweetness of Iman

So may Allah give us the ability to truly adopt the prophetic lifestyle, to truly adopt the love of the Prophet ﷺ, that nothing stands between me and fulfilling a sunnah, nothing stands between me and completing my deen with the Prophet ﷺ. And may He give us the halawa of iman — the sweetness of iman.

The Prophet ﷺ said there are three qualities that if they are found in a person, he will have tasted the sweetness of iman:

(Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith 16; Sahih Muslim, Hadith 43)

The first quality to gain the sweetness of iman: that Allah and His Rasul ﷺ are more beloved to you than anything else in the world. Nothing else in the world stands between you and that. And this is a conscious decision.

Umar when he said, Ya Rasulullah, you are more beloved to me than anything except myself — illa nafsi. So the Prophet ﷺ said, no, Umar — I swear by the One in Whose hands my soul lies, that you cannot be a true believer until I become more beloved to you. So Umar turned away for a few moments, then turned back. He said, now, Ya Rasulullah, you are more beloved to me than anything else, even than myself. The Prophet ﷺ said, now you have completed your iman, now you have brought yourself.

What did Umar do? He made a conscious decision that the Prophet ﷺ is more prioritized over everything. Even though Umar is Umar — we don't need to talk about who Umar was. But consciously prioritizing — no, I'm making the effort to make his life the priority before mine. I'm not the priority. Nobody else is the priority. Anything that goes against that will be cancelled out because that holds more value.

The smallest sunnah — like Abu Hurayra walking in the masjid with the left foot — I hope we're all conscious when we go to the masjid: we walk with the right foot, we put our shoes on with the right foot, we put our clothes on with the right foot. So the smallest sunnah becomes as if it was a fard in our lives — something we can't give up. For the Sahaba, a sunnah and a fard were the same in terms of action. On paper it was different, but in terms of action there was no difference.

The second quality: that he loves his Muslim brother, and he loves him solely for the sake of Allah. He has no worldly benefits in loving that person, other than the fact that it is for Allah. Like Mufti Muhammad talked about the five rights of Muslims — he doesn't love him for anything else other than Allah.

And the third quality: that he despises returning to the ways of kufr. He despises the ways of kufr completely. Just as he would despise being thrown into the hellfire. If the fire was there and someone was to throw you in — how much would you resist? How much would you run away from that? How much would you protect yourself from that? So the third quality is that you protect yourself from going back to the ways of kufr, or adopting the ways of kufr, or adopting the ways of non-believers — just like you would hate being thrown into a fire.

May Allah give us the sweetness of iman.