Love for the Prophet Mohammed

We bring you an excerpt from the interesting work ash-Shifa by Qadi ‘Iyad.
His subject matter and the way he approaches it encourages us to share these two sections of his second chapter.
We hope you enjoy them.

Section 1: Concerning the necessity of loving Him Allah says.
“Say: ‘If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, or your wives, or your tribe, or any wealth you have acquired, or any business you fear to lose, or any place of residence you like, are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and fighting hard in His way, wait until Allah comes with His command.'” (9:25) These Ayats of the Qur’an are sufficient encouragement, advice, proof and indication of the need to love the Messenger of Allah, and it is sufficient to understand that this duty is an immensely important obligation, which is in turn a right of the Prophet. Allah, may He be exalted, censures those whose property, family and children are dearer to them than Allah and His Messenger. And He threatens them by adding, “Wait until Allah comes with His command.” At the end of the verse He regards these people as misguided and informs them that they are among those misguided and unguided by Allah. Anas referred that the Messenger of Allah said: “None of you will believe until I am dearer to him than his children, his father and the whole world.” ( Bukhari, Muslim and an Nasa’i). Abu Huraira related something similar. Anas referred that the Prophet said, ” There are three things that are cause, for anyone who takes refuge in them, to experience the sweetness of Iman (belief): that Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than anything else; that he loves a man only for Allah; and that he dislikes the idea of returning to kufur as much as he would dislike being burnt in the Fire.” (Bukhari) Shal said, “Anyone who thinks that the Messenger is not his master in all states or thinks that he is not under the Prophet’s dominion, will not taste the sweetness of his Sunnah because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, ‘None of you will believe until I am dearer to him than himself.'” Section 2: Of the Reward of Loving the Prophet Anas said that a man went to the Prophet and asked him, “When will the Last Hour come, Messenger of Allah?”, “What have you prepared for that time?” he replied. The other replied, “I have not prepared much prayer or fasting or sadaqa, but I love Allah and His Messenger.” Then the Prophet said, “You will be with those whom you love.” (Bukhari) Safwan ibn Qudama said, “I migrated to go to the Prophet and went to him and said, ‘Messenger of Allah, give me your hand.’ So he gave me his hand. I said, ‘Messenger of Allah, I love you.’ He said, ‘A man is with whom he loves.'” (at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa’i). Abdullah ibn Masa’ud, Abu Musa al-Ash’ari and Anas relate this statement of the Prophet, and Abu Dharr also has something similar. ‘Ali said that the Prophet took Hassan and Hussein by the hand and said ” Whoever loves me and loves these two and their father and mother will have the same degree as me on the Day of Rising.” (at-Tirmidhi) It has been referred that a man came to the Prophet and said, “Messenger of Allah, I love You more than my family and my possessions. I remember you and I cannot wait until I can come and see you. I remember that I will die and you will die and I know that when you enter the Garden you will be elevated with the Prophets. When I enter I will not see you.” Allah then revealed, “Whoever obeys Allah and His Messenger, that one will be among those whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets, the truthful men, the martyrs and the righteous. And what excellent companions they are!” (4:68) The Prophet called the man and recited the verses to him (at-Tabarani). In another hadith we find, “A man was with the Prophet, looking at him without taking his eyes off him. The Prophet asked, “Is there something wrong with you?” He replied, “May my father and mother be your ransom! I enjoy looking at you. On the Day of Rising, Allah will raise you up because of the high esteem in which He holds You!” Allah then brought down the ayat mentioned above. In the hadith of Anas, the Prophet said, “Whoever loves me will be with me in the Garden.” (al-Isfahani) Section 3: On what the Salaf and the Imams have related about their love for the Prophet and their desire for him. Abu Huraira said that the Messenger of Allah said, “Those of my community with the strongest love for me are those who will come after me. Some of them would have given their family and wealth to have seen me.” (Muslim and al-Bukhari).
There is something similar from Abu Dharr.
The hadith of ‘Umar, “I love you more than myself” has already been quoted. There are similar things from the other Companions. ‘Amr ibn al-‘As said, “There is no one whom I love more than the Messenger of Allah.” ‘Abda bint Khalid ibn Ma’dan said, “Khalid never went to bed without remembering how much he missed the Messenger of Allah and his Companions among the Muhajirun and the Ansar and he would name them. He would say, “They are my root and my branch, and my heart yearns for them. I have longed for them long ago. My Lord, hasten to take me with you!”
It has been related that Abu Bakr said of the Prophet, “By Him Who sent you with the truth, I would be happier if Abu Talib (the Prophet’s uncle) had become a Muslim than if Abu Quhayfa (his own father) had become one. For the Islam of Abu Talib would have pleased you more.”
‘Umar Ibn al-Khattab said to al-Abbas, “That you became a Muslim is dearer to me than if al-Khattab had become one, for I know that this is dearer to the Messenger of Allah.”
Ibn Ishaq said that the father, brother and husband of one of the women of the Ansar were killed in the Battle of Uhud fighting for the Messenger of Allah. She asked, “What has happened to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?”
Then they said to her, “It is as well as you would like; may Allah be praised!”
She said, “Show it to me so that I may see it.”
And when she saw it she said, “Afflictions are nothing now that you are safe.” ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib was asked, “How was your love for the Messenger of Allah?”
And he replied, “By Allah, we loved him more than our wealth, our children, our fathers and our mothers, and more than fresh water in a time of great thirst.”
Zayd ibn Aslam said, “Umar went out one night to observe the people and saw a lamp in a house where an old woman was unraveling wool, while saying this poem: ‘The prayer of the righteous be upon Muhammad. Pray for him blessings the blessed ones! I was up crying until dawn. Alas! If only I knew when death would give me a different shape! Alas, if only in the Ultimate Abode I would be reunited with my beloved!’ He was referring to the Prophet. Umar sat down weeping. It has been related that once ‘Abdullah ibn Umar’s foot became numb. Someone said to him, “Remember the person dearest to you and the numbness will disappear!”
He exclaimed, “O Muhammad!” and regained sensibility. When Bilal was near death his wife exclaimed, “How sad!”
Bilal said, “What joy. I am going to meet those I love, Muhammad and his people!”
It has been related that a woman said to ‘Aisha, “Show me the grave of the Messenger of Allah” She then showed it to him and the woman wept until she died” When those from Makkah took Zayd ibn ad-Dathima outside the Haram to kill him, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb said to him, “I will ask you one thing, by Allah, ‘Do you not wish that Muhammad was with us now and took your place so that we would cut off his head and you would be with your family?’ Zayd said, ‘By Allah, that I do not wish that Muhammad was now in any place where not even a thorn could hurt him if that were a condition for me to be with my family!’ Abu Sufyan commented, ‘I have not seen anyone who loves anyone the way the Companions of Muhammad love Muhammad.”
Ibn ‘Abbas said, “When a woman came to the Prophet (i.e. from Makkah to Medina), she would have her oath taken that she had not left because of her husband’s anger or desire for a new land and that the only reason for leaving had been love for Allah and His Messenger.”
Ibn ‘Umar was watching Ibn az-Zubayr when he was killed and asked forgiveness for him and said, “By Allah, according to what I know, you are one of those who have fasted, and performed the prayer and loved Allah and His Messenger.” Section 4: The signs for the sake of the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace. It is known that when someone loves another person, he prefers her and prefers what she likes.
Otherwise, he is pretending and is not sincere in his love.
Anyone who has true love for the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, will manifest the following signs: 1) The first sign is that he will emulate him, applying his Sunnah, following his words and actions, obeying his commands and avoiding his prohibitions and adopting his behavior in ease and hardship, in joy and suffering.
Allah testifies that, “Say: If ye love Allah, follow me and Allah will love you.” (3:31) 2) He will prefer what the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, has imposed as law and encouraged, rather than his own passions and appetites.
Allah has said, “And those who before them had settled in the house and in belief, love those who migrated to them and prefer them to themselves even when in dire need.” (59:9)
3) Their anger against the people is only for the sake and for the pleasure of Allah.
Anas Ibn Malik said, “The Messenger of Allah said to me, ‘My son, if you can be without resentment against anyone in your heart from morning till night, so be it.’ Then he added, ‘My son, this is part of my Sunna. Anyone who gives life to my Sunna has loved me and if he loves me he will be with me in the Garden.'” (at-Tirmidhi)
4) Another sign of love for the Prophet is to mention him often.
If you love something you mention it a lot.
5) Another is a great desire to meet him.
All lovers feel desire for their beloved.
When the clan of the Ash’arites went to Medina, they went chanting, “Tomorrow we will meet those we love, Muhammad and his Companions!”
6) One of his signs is that as much as mentioning him often, someone who loves him very much will exalt and respect him when another mentions him and show humility and modesty when he hears his name.
Ishaq at-Tujibi said, “Whenever the companions of the Prophet heard his name after his death, they would sink, their skin would tremble and they would weep. It was the same with many of the Followers. Some of them acted in this way full of love and longing for him, others full of respect and consideration.”
7) Another sign is love for those who love the Prophet and the people of his house and his Companions from among the Muhayirun and the Ansar, for his sake.
For the same reason such people will also be hostile to those who hate and curse them.
He who loves someone, loves those whom he loves.
The Prophet said about al-Hassan and al-Husain, “O Allah, I love them, so love them Thou.”
In a variant of al-Hassan, “O Allah, I love him, so love him whom You love.”
He also said, “Whoever loves them loves me and whoever loves me loves Allah. Whoever hates them hates me and whoever hates me, hates Allah.” (Bukhari)   Author: Qadi ‘Iyad