| Heights of Loving the Prophet (Peace be upon him) of Companions |
The Beloved Messenger said, “None of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.”
[Bukhari, Book 2, Hadith no. 12]
We live in such
times that it is no longer just the unbelievers who raise objections to a
Muslim’s love for the Prophet. Today, within our own Ummah itself, a
Muslim is questioned and cross-examined in case he loves the Prophet
“too much”. The essence of our faith, the crux of our obedience to
Allah, has become a matter of great debate. We now need references and
proof to justify this fundamental aspect of Imaan. The question is, why?
The Beloved Messenger said, “The
people most loved by me from amongst my Ummah would be those who would
come after me but everyone amongst them would have the keenest desire to
catch a glimpse of me, even at the cost of his family and wealth.”
[Muslim, Book 40, Hadith no. 6791]
Ask yourself, what proofs did the Companions demand for loving him?
When Sayyidina Abu Bakr surrendered all his wealth to him for Tabuk 1;
when Sayyidina Abdullah bin Masud would carry his blessed sandals like a treasure 2;
when Sayyidina Talha honoured and kept his blessed hair 3;
when Sayyida Umm Sulaym cherished drops of his blessed sweat 4;
when Sayyidina Hassaan bin Thabit penned poetry in his honour 5;
when Sayyidina Umar kissed the Black Stone only because he did so 6;
when Sayyidina Usman rushed at his request to equip the Muslim army 7;
when Sayyidina Bilal wept heartbroken at his blessed grave 8;
when Sayyidina Ali refused to erase words testifying to his Prophethood 9;
when Sayyida Nusayba bint Kaab shielded him at Uhud 10;
when Sayyidina Talha gave an arm to protect him from arrows 11;
when Sayyidina Khalid bin Walid honoured strands of his blessed hair mid-battle 12;
when the Companions treasured his blessed saliva, and competed for his blessed ablution water 13
– did they love the Prophet too much?
Sayyidina
Umar said to the Beloved Messenger, “O Allah's Messenger! You are
dearer to me than everything except my own self.” The Beloved Messenger
said, “No, by Him in Whose Hand my soul is, (you will not have complete
faith) till I am dearer to you than your own self.” Then Sayyidina Umar
said to him, “However, now - by Allah - you are dearer to me than my own
self." The Messenger replied, “Now, O Umar, (now you are a believer).”
[Bukhari, Vol. 8, Book 78, Hadith no. 628]
The cries of ‘shirk’
resonate louder with every step taken out of love for the Prophet.
However, the Prophet himself said, “By Allah, I am not afraid that you
will worship others besides Allah after me (commit shirk), but I am afraid that you will compete with each other for the pleasures of this world.” [Bukhari, Vol. 5, Book 5, Hadith no. 411]
Our Prophet himself testified to the fact that the Ummah will never be united upon shirk, that as a majority the Ummah will not unite on this concept. That being said, the Ahle Sunnah wal Jamaat which is as-sawad al-aazam, firqat an-najiyya (the
greater majority, the group of salvation), have shown complete love and
devotion towards the Beloved Prophet, and all that is associated with
him, for centuries. It cannot therefore be classed as shirk, and
if this was the case, the Ummah would never have united and agreed upon
it. These are the words of the Beloved Prophet himself.
This ever-growing fear of shirk
is simply the false alarm of those who believe little in the words of
the Beloved Prophet, and whose hearts are devoid of complete devotion.
It is an evil whisper of doubt from the devil, the illness of those who
have gone to extremes in trying to implement the Shariah - about whom the Beloved Prophet said, “Ruined are the extremists!” [Bukhari, Book 34, Hadith no. 6450]
Imam Nawawi states
that in the context of its narration, the above Hadith refers to “those
who delve too deeply, are extreme, and go beyond bounds in their speech
and actions.” [Sharh Sahih Muslim]
The action of labelling others as mushrikeen (those who indulge in shirk) is a serious matter and should not be taken so lightly.
Sayyidina
Anas narrates: "A man asked the Prophet about the Hour (i.e. Day of
Judgment) saying, "When will the Hour be?" The Prophet said, "What have
you prepared for it?" The man said, "Nothing, except that I love Allah
and His Messenger." The Prophet said, "You will be with those whom you
love." We had never been so glad as we were on hearing that saying of
the Prophet."
[Bukhari, Vol. 5, Book 57, Hadith no. 37]
Love for the
Prophet has one limitation; that a person does not exceed the limits as
the Christians did in regards to their Prophet: “Do not exaggerate in
praising me as the Christians praised the son of Maryam, for I am only a
slave. So call me the slave of Allah, and His Messenger.” [Bukhari, Vol.4, Hadith no. 654]
This, the Beloved Prophet said as a warning so that none would take him as a deity (na’uzubillah) for Allah alone is worthy of worship; and also out of humility for he was known for his deep modesty and noble character.
As long as these
bounds are respected, the Ummah is safe. Following the Beloved Messenger
leads to Allah’s Pleasure, and following his Sunnah leads to strength
in faith – and you cannot be sincere in these actions if they do not
come from the love within your heart.
“Say
(O Muhammad): ‘If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and
forgive you your sins: for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful.’”
[Qur'an 3:31]
Truly, love needs no justification nor does it require reasoning or proof; it just is.
And Allama Iqbal once said, “Love of the Prophet is like blood in the veins of the Muslims.”
May
Allah’s eternal peace and blessings of the highest degree be upon our
Beloved Prophet Mustafa, upon his Family and his Companions; upon those
he loves, and those who love him.
NOTES:
1 When
the Beloved Messenger of Allah led the expedition of Tabuk, Sayyidina
Abu Bakr Siddique donated all his wealth for the campaign. When the
Beloved Prophet enquired as to how much wealth he had left for his
household, he replied, “I have left Allah and His Messenger for my
family.”[Sunan Abu Dawud]
2 Sayyidina
Abdullah ibn Masud would carry the Prophet’s blessed sandals. When the
Prophet rose, Sayyidina Abdullah ibn Masud would put them on his sacred
feet, and when the Prophet sat down, he would carry the blessed sandals
in his arms until the Prophet rose again. [Imam Qastalani’s Mawahib al-Laduniyya; Imam Salihi’s Subul al-Huda wal Rashad]
3Sayyidina Anas said, “When the Prophet shaved his head (after pilgrimage), Abu Talha was the first one to take of his hair.” [Bukhari]
4 Sayyidina
Anas reported that, “Allah's Messenger used to come to our house and
there was perspiration upon his body. My mother brought a bottle and
began to pour the sweat in that. When Allah's Messenger got up he said,
'Umm Sulaym, what is this that you are doing?' Thereupon she said, 'That
is your sweat which we mix in our perfume and it becomes the most
fragrant perfume.'” [Muslim, Book 30, Hadith no. 5761]
5 Sayyida
Aisha narrated, “Once Hassaan bin Thabit asked the permission of the
Holy Prophet to satirize (i.e. compose satirical poetry to defame) the
infidels. The Holy Prophet e said, ‘What about the fact that I have
common descent with them?’ Hassaan replied, ‘I shall take you out of
them as a hair is taken out of dough.’ [Bukhari, Book 56, Hadith no. 731]
6 Sayyidina Umar approached the Black Stone (Hajr-e-Aswad) and
kissed it saying “No doubt, I know that you are a stone and can neither
benefit anyone nor harm anyone. Had I not seen Allah’s Messenger
kissing you, I would not have kissed you.”[Bukhari, Vol. 2, Book 26, Hadith no. 667]
7 When
the Beloved Messenger appealed for contributions for Tabuk, Sayyidina
Usman gave one thousand camels, fifty horses and one thousand pieces of
gold. The Beloved Prophet remarked at this generosity saying, “Whatever
Usman does, from this day on, will do him no harm.” [Tirmidhi]
8 It is
reported that Sayyidina Bilal visited the blessed grave of the Beloved
Prophet and sat weeping, rubbing his face against its soil in his
anguish. [Ibn Maja 2:1320, Imam Ahmad, Imam Tabarani, Imam ibn Asakir]
9 Sayyidina
Ali penned the treaty of Hudaibiya and he wrote: This is what Muhammad,
the Messenger of Allah, has settled. The polytheists said, “Do not
write the words, ‘the Messenger of Allah’. If we knew that you were the
Messenger of Allah, we would not fight against you.” The Prophet said to
Sayyidina Ali, “Strike out these words.” He replied, “I am not going to
strike them out.” So the Prophet struck them out with his own hand. [Muslim, Book 19, Hadith no. 4401]
10 Sayyida
Nusayba bint Kaab fought at Uhud and killed 12. It is reported that the
Prophet praised her saying, “Never did I look right or left but she was
there defending me and fighting before me.”
11 Sayyidina
Talha remained with the Beloved Messenger on the day of Uhud, defending
him to the point that his arm was paralysed with arrows. Sayyidina Qais
narrated, “I saw Talha's paralysed hand with which he had protected the
Prophet on the day of Uhud. [Bukhari, Book 59, Hadith no.392]
12 Sayyidina
Khalid bin Walid had some strands of the Beloved Messenger’s hair
inside his cap. During one of the battles, this cap fell onto the ground
whereupon he fought zealously to retrieve it. At the shock of his
Companions, he explained that he had not fought for the sake of the cap,
but to retrieve the strands of the Prophet's blessed hair that were
tucked within it, so that he would not be deprived of their blessings,
and also to save them from the hands of the unbelievers. [Qadi Iyaad’s Shifa, Vol. 1, page 619; Majma az-Zawaid, Vol. 9, page 349; Mustadrak, Vol. 3, page 239]
13 While
Sayyidina Urwa bin Masud was an unbeliever, the Quraysh sent him as
envoy to the Beloved Messenger. When he returned to his people, he said,
“O people! By Allah, I have been to the kings and to Caesar, Chosroes
and an-Najashi, yet I have never seen any of them respected by his
courtiers as much as Muhammad is respected by his companions. By Allah,
if he spat, the saliva would fall in the hand of one of them (i.e. the
Prophet's companions) who would rub it on his face and skin; if he
ordered them, they would carry out his order immediately; if he
performed ablution, they would compete to take the remaining water; and
when he spoke, they would lower their voices and would not look at his
face constantly out of respect.” [Bukhari, Vol. 3, Book 50, Hadith no. 891]
Tags:
BLESSED COMPANIONS