Discourse on the Night of Mawlid: Love to the Prophet Muhammad (SAS)

We are in a month in which the most important event in this universe took place; We are in the month of Rabi’ Al Awal, and the event that took place in this month was the birth of our beloved Prophet Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam, the birth of the one who was sent to bring us out of darkness and into the light.
I would also like to thank Mrs Alhamdulillah for having gathered here on this blessed night, on this night when we commemorate the birth of our noble Prophet, Muhammad, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam.
Alhamdulillah for having sent us the best of creation, the one who purifies us and teaches us the Book and wisdom.
Alhamdulillah for having chosen us to be part of this Ummah, the Ummah of those whose limbs will shine with the effect of wudu; the Ummah who commands what is recognized, prevents what is reprehensible and believes in Allah; the Ummah of Muhammad, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam.
Alhamdulillah for having given us, through him, the great miracle of the Qur’an, the Book with which we are guided and thanks to which we walk through the Sirat Al Mustaqim.
Alhamdulillah for giving us the opportunity to love the best of creation, the seal of the prophets, Muhammad, son of Abdullah, son of Abdul Muttalib, son of Hashim, of the tribe of Quraish, descendant of Ismail, son of Ibrahim.
Alhamdulillah for allowing love for His Messenger to be sufficient for us to be in His company in the Next Life.
Allah says: “Verily, a Messenger has come to you from yourselves; it is painful for him that you suffer any evil, he is committed to you and to believers he is kind and compassionate.” This is the Messenger of Allah, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, this is the Prophet Muhammad.
A man who was pained that his companions, and therefore his entire Ummah, suffered some kind of evil, he was hurt by our sadness and rejoiced in our joy; a man who was committed to us, to guide us on the right path; He strove to transmit and teach us what is best for us, both for this life and for the next.
He was a human being, who was benevolent and compassionate to believers.
He was a man whose purpose was to lead his community to the Garden, this is what the Messenger of Allah wants for us, therefore, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, will intercede for all his Ummah, so that we may all enter the Garden, for nothing will be more dear to him than to gather in the Garden, with his brothers; And who are his brothers, who are those whom the Messenger of Allah wants to meet, and whom he himself calls his brothers?
Anas ibn Malik said: “The Messenger of Allah ( peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: ‘I would like to meet my brothers.’ The Sahaba said: “Are we not your brothers, O Messenger of Allah?” He said, “No, you are my companions, my brothers are those who believe in me without having seen me.” And who are those who believe in him without having seen him?
We are us, we are your brothers O Messenger of Allah, we believe in you without having seen you, we follow your sunnah without having lived with you, we love you without having contemplated your face, we are your brothers O Messenger of Allah.
We are his brothers, and can there be anything better in this life than the best of creation describing us as his brothers?
Certainly the Messenger of Allah, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, embodies the most perfect human being that has ever been and will be in the history of mankind.
There is no one like him, so Shaykh al-Busairi says: “The most that can be known about him, as far as knowledge is concerned, is that he is a human being and that he is the best of all Allah’s creation.” This is the Messenger Muhammad, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam
, the noblest of the noble, the most generous of the generous, the most forgiving of the indulgent, the bravest of the brave, the most just of the just, the one who was compassionate to the little and respectful to the elderly, the one who devoted his time and attention to the near and the far, the poor and the rich, the slave and the free, the man and the woman; the one with the best character, the one with the best behavior, the one who did not anger unless the limits of Allah were transgressed, the one who possessed a mild temper and exquisite manners, the one who helped his family and in his home, the one whom his wife ‘Aisha described by saying: “His character was the Qur’an.”
He, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, was sent to all the worlds; and Allah did not send him in vain, He did not send Him for nothing, He did not send Him without a mission, but He sent Him as a mercy: “And We have not sent You except as a mercy to all the worlds.” And that mercy for which he was sent is the one that he has transmitted and taught to his Ummah, the Ummah of Islam.
And he did it by his own example, he was the first to have mercy on himself, so whenever he had the choice on some matter, he chose the easiest, the lightest for himself and for his Ummah, for he is benevolent and compassionate to the believers.
Servants of Allah, can there be a better example on earth to imitate?
Can there be anyone on earth more worthy of being loved?
Should we not rejoice and celebrate the coming into humanity of this man, Muhammad Ibn Abdullah ibn Abdul Muttalib, the one who brought us out of the darkness of the darkness of injustice and oppression, to bring them to the light, justice and fairness of Islam?
Whoever dares to deny the right to rejoice and to feel proud of this man… let him know that he does it because he has not understood with his intellect who this man was and let him know that he does it because love and the Imam in Muhammad, salla allahu alaihi wa sallam, have not entered his heart.
He was sent as a warner and as a transmitter of good news to us, he was the one who, with the permission of Allah, has brought us out of the darkness and darkness of kufr, to lead us to the light of the Imam.
Doesn’t the one who has done this for us, the one who has saved us from mediocrity and darkness, deserve to be loved? ‘Abdullah ibn Hisham, may Allah be pleased with him, said: “We were with the Prophet, to whom Allah may Allah give His grace and peace, and he was holding ‘Umar ibn al-Khattab by the hand, and ‘Umar said to him: “Messenger of Allah, you are dearer to me than anyone except myself.”
And the Prophet said to him: “No, by Him in Whose hand is my soul, until I am not more beloved to you than yourself.” And ‘Umar said to him: “Now, by Allah, you are more dear to me than I am to myself.”
And the Prophet said: “Now (yes) ‘Umar’.” What is love for the Messenger? What does it mean to love Muhammad, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam
Why is this love for Him required of us, why so much importance and insistence on loving the Messenger of Allah? Love for the Messenger of Allah is to follow and imitate Him. Love for the Messenger is the determination to help him, the defense of his Sunna, submission to it, and the fear of opposing it. Love is the continuous remembrance of the beloved; love is preferring the beloved; love is the longing for the beloved; Love is the coincidence of the heart with what the beloved wants, loving what it loves and hating what it hates. To love something, or to love someone, means that you have an inclination and preference towards them. It means that you agree with him, with how he is and with what he has. This is true love, and if this is not so, then love is not sincere and is only pretense. The place of love is the heart. The Meaning of Loving the Messenger
, is to prefer it above all, over all others; it is that when you remember him, you long to be with him, that your heart feels close to him, that in your mind he is present in his memory; It is the expression in its highest measure of the love that the husband feels for his wife, of the love that a mother feels for her child.
Love is like the Magnet, in the sense that it waxes and wanes.
The love for a person close to you is sometimes stronger than others.
How do you get your love for that person to increase?
You achieve this by seeking closeness with her, having a good opinion of her, remembering how good she has been to you, keeping in mind the good times you have lived together.
Now the love for the Messenger, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, also waxes and wanes.
The way to get him to increase is to imitate him, to put his sunnah into practice, to obey his orders, to avoid his prohibitions, to adopt his correction in the easy as well as in the difficult, in the sweet and the bitter, in the pleasant and the unpleasant.
It increases by studying his life, knowing the situations he went through, the difficulties he had, the steps he was taking, firm, patient and persevering in the establishment of Islam.
It increases by knowing and studying their qualities, their behavior, their character, their way of being, their treatment of those near and far; knowing and imitating their generosity, their kindness, their kindness, their good treatment, their excellence, their indulgence, their benevolence, their good opinion, their firmness, their determination, their patience, their perseverance.
It increases by knowing and studying the different ways in which Allah ennobled him, in which Allah honoured him, the rights that are due to him for us, the miracles and wonders that He bestowed upon him, beginning on a night like this, on the night of his birth. Increase by continually mentioning him, constantly remembering him, always keeping him in mind, seeking the company of people who mention him, who speak of him, who imitate him, who set him as an example, who transport you back to that time by telling you about him and his noble Companions.
Love for the Messenger, love for the best of creation, our love for Muhammad, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, should lead us to remember him abundantly, for whoever loves something constantly remembers it.
We must have the longing and desire to meet him, since every lover wants to meet his beloved.
We should pray for him, ask blessings for him in abundance, both in public and in private, in solitude or in company.
And Anas ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, once narrated that a man asked the Prophet about the Hour and said: “When will the Hour be?”
And he asked her in turn, “And what have you prepared for her?” He replied, “Nothing except that I love Allah and His Messenger.”
And he said, salla allaahu alaihi wa sallam: “You will be with whom you have loved.” Anas said: “And nothing made us happier than the words of the Prophet, to whom Allah may have His grace and peace: “You shall be with whom you have loved.” Anas said: “And I love the Prophet, to whom Allah may Allah give His grace and peace, and I love Abu Bakr and ‘Umar, and I hope to be with them because of my love for them, even if I haven’t done anything similar to what they did.”
Sahl ibn Abdullah said: “The sign of love for Allah is love for the Qur’an; the sign of love for Allah and love for the Qur’an is love for the Prophet, Salallaahu Alaihi wa Sallam; the sign of love for the Prophet is love for the Sunnah; the sign of love for the Sunnah is love for the Hereafter; the sign of love for the Hereafter is hatred of this world; the sign of hatred of this world is not to accumulate from it but sustenance and that which will make you reach the Next Life.”
Fear Allah, hold fast to the love for His Messenger, sallallaahu alaihi wa sallam, for that love, if it is sincere, if it is real, will lead us to meet, to meet Him in the highest place of the Garden, our love for Him is one of the best possible blessings we can attain in this life, our love for Him, which translates into following their Sunnah and their behavior, is what will make us one of the winners in this life and in the next.
O Allah, we ask You to make us love the Messenger of Allah above our parents, our children, our wealth and our own souls.
We ask You, O Allah, to bless Your noble Prophet, to shower him with peace and blessings, to reward him for all that he strived for, for all that he fought, for all that He gave to spread Your message and Your word.
We ask You, O Allah, to make us love and bless his noble Companions, those who protected, sheltered, supported and fought by his side to enable him to fulfill his mission.
We ask You, O Allah, to bless all those who from the days of the Prophet (sallallalu alaihi wa sallam) have endeavoured to bring us the Deen of Islam.
O Allah, bless our shuyuj and our teachers.
O Allah, bless our emirs and our imams, bless and protect, O Allah, the strong and the weak among us, the rich and the poor, bless those who are among us right now and those who are not.
O Allah, bless the Muslims of this city, remove the bad opinion among us, make us understand that we are your servants and that we are brothers, put love among us in our hearts and give us the best opinion of one another.
O Allah, fill our hearts with love for Your Prophet, fill our hearts with love for Your Messenger, flood our interiors with love for the Best of Creation.
Hajj Abul Qasim’s speech on the night of Mawlid on Wednesday, December 23.
Written by Shaykh Ahmed Bermejo, from the Great Mosque of Granada.