Ali Ataie – This Is How To Love The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)
![Ali Ataie](https://artwork.muslimcentral.com/ali-ataie-150x150.jpg)
AI: Summary ©
AI: Transcript ©
Allah says that
the prophet
takes precedence in the lives of the believers
over their own lives.
The life of the prophet
is more important for the than
their own lives.
He said
in a hadith that is rigorously authenticated.
Taking an oath, I swear by him who
holds my soul in his hand.
None of you truly believe
until I am more beloved to him than
his parents,
his children, and the whole of humanity. And
the scholars of hadith, the Muhaddithin, they say
here, there's 2 types of love that is
indicated in this hadith. The first type of
love is a love that is based on
the rational faculty. It's called that
we love the prophet
because we know that it's good for us
to love the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
For example, somebody who just converts to Islam
may not necessarily love the prophet more than
he loves himself, but he knows that he
should. So the ulama, they use an analogy
of a bitter pill, like someone who's sick,
someone who's ill, someone who has a disease.
He takes the pill because he knows it's
good for him, because it's rational faculty. The
akhil tells him this is good for me.
This is a type of love.
But then through marifa, through gnosis,
through knowing the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam, we come to love him. So
this marifa is converted into pure Mahaba.
So this becomes
in which we love the prophet
more than anything, more than our parents, more
than our own selves. And this is part
of our aqeedah. This is what we believe
that he, sallallahu alaihi wasalam, is
we love him more than anything.
He said the prophet
was more beloved to us than anything, even
more so than cold water.
What's this analogy he's using? What is what
is cold water for the desert Arab? It
symbolizes
life itself
That they love the prophet
more than life itself. This is someone who
is annihilated in the love of the prophet
And this is for the sake of Allah
Subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Abu Bakr as Siddiq
he said to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
oh messenger of god, I would prefer that
Abu Talib becomes Muslim over Abu Khuhafa.
Who is Abu Talib? This is the uncle
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, his
paternal uncle, the man who raised the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Who's Abu Khohafa?
His own father.
Abu Bakr is saying, I prefer that your
uncle
go to Jannah over my own father.
This is what he's saying to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Why would he say
this? Because the prophet's happiness is his happiness.
It would make the prophet happier. When he
used to laugh,
the Sahaba would laugh. When he used to
cry, the Sahaba would cry.
There was a Sahabi named Khubayib ibn Adi
who was captured by the Quraysh, and he
was put in prison in Mecca until the
sacred months were passed. And then he was
taken out to a place called Tannaim where
he was crucified.
And the Quraysh were laughing at him as
he was nailed to the cross, deriding him,
jeering at him, laughing at him, mocking him.
And they said, don't you wish that Mohammed
was in your place and you were home
with your family resting? Khubaib said, I don't
wish that a thorn
pricked the finger
of the messenger of Allah.
I don't wish that a thorn prick his
finger.
And then he said, you Allah, there is
nobody here to convey my salaams to your
habib.
And while the prophet
was in Medina
at that time sitting in a with Zayd
ibn Dhuharifa and others,
A feeling came over him as if he
was receiving the from Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala.
And he said,
And they said, what happened? Your companion is
being murdered right now in Mecca.
And then Abu Shufyan ibn Uharib, who was
not Muslim at this time, obviously, when he
was in Mecca and he was with witnessing
this, he said,
I have never seen anyone
love anyone
like the companions of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. Love the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam.
And Ghazwat Uhud,
the Sahaba formed a human shield around him,
and
amongst them was a woman, a blessed woman,
Kaab who picked up a sword and stood
in front of an armed horseman.
This armed horseman, Ibnu Qami'ah, who had just
killed Musa'ab ibn Umer
and now wants to kill the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. He stops dead in his
tracks because there's a woman standing in front
of him with a sword.
This Jahali Arab who wants to kill the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, he has enough
common decency not to strike a woman on
the battlefield. Think about that. We have so
called first world nations right now dropping bombs
on men, women, and children sleeping in their
beds.
What kind of barbarism is that? This man
will not strike a woman on the battlefield.
He has enough chivalry not to do that.
So he turns the blade of his sword
over, and he starts tapping her on the
shoulder as if to say, get out of
the way. She's not budging because she said,
I turned around and the prophet
is under siege. I'm not going to move.
So he brings the sword down hard on
her shoulder, fractures her clavicle, and she falls
and he goes around.
And her son was there at the time
named Zayd. And he comes running,
me, my mother, my mother. And what does
she say to him? Just get away from
me
and protect the prophet.
The prophet
takes precedence in the lives of the believers
over their own lives. There's an eye in
the Quran called the
verse of examination,
which Allah says
Say, if you love Allah, if you claim
to love Allah, you have to follow me.
Then will Allah love you and forgive you
your sins. Allah is forgiving and merciful. Why
is this called Ayatul Mtihan?
Who's being tested? Who's taking the examination?
Our own selves. We have to see where
we fare on this test. Do we pass
or do we fail?
Do we love Allah? If we love Allah,
are we do we have
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam? Are we
following him? Who are we following?
Because that's whom we love. That's how you
can tell. Do we have of the sunnah
of the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam? Do
we have
Do we hold on?
Do we hold on tightly with every ounce
of our being to the kitab of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala?
This is interesting because there's a pseudo gospel
going around America right now, and a lot
of Muslims are buying into it. It's called
the prosperity gospel.
Basically says that the amount of love that
god has for you is commensurate with the
amount of money you have in your bank
account.
The more money you have, the more god
loves you.
That's not our theology.
Don't be deluded into that. That's not our
theology.
Present active jussif. This is a result clause.
If you love Allah, you have to follow
me, then will Allah love you.
What is our base what is what what
what determines the level of love that Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala has on us is a
measure of we have with the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam. Now I want you to look
at this eye a little more closely because
we should have good
of the Quran.
Quran.
Allah asked a question in the Quran, don't
you have deep reflection of the Quran?
Allah begins this by saying,
this is an imperative
in its second person masculine singular, which means
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is telling the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wa sallam.
And this is very interesting. Sometimes the duas,
they go on a stage in front of
like a Christian audience and they'll say something
like, did you know the name of Isa
alaihi salam is mentioned more in the Quran
than the prophet sallallahu alaihi salam? They say
25 times. The prophet is mentioned only 5
times. 4 as Muhammad and once as Ahmed.
But 5 more times, the name of Isa
Alaihi. This is true.
It's true. The name of Isa, his name
is mentioned 5 more times.
Right? But which servant
is more honored?
The one that the king is talking about
in the third person who's not there
or the one that the king summons to
his throne room and speaks to him directly.
Allah
could have said,
Muhammad
He could have said that. But what does
he say?
Allah
speaks directly to the prophet
This shows the and
the of the prophet
Something to think about. In Surat, in Surat
At Tawbah, Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he says
who?
He says, Allah and his messenger, it is
more befitting that you please him.
This is very interesting. On the surface, it
looks like it's incorrect grammar.
And some of the orientalists
who don't know a lot of Arabic, they
try to say, oh, there's a grammatical mistake
here in the Quran because there's 2 subjects,
alan is messenger. But the pronominal suffix,
right, the object pronoun is singular. Its 3rd
masculine singular.
It
should be because
Allahan is messenger, but it's singular. Why is
it singular?
He says this demonstrates
the very intimate relationship with of Allah
with the prophet Sallalahu Wa Ta'ala. That Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made the prophet's pleasure his
pleasure. Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala made the prophet's
obedience his obedience.
Who says this? Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
Whoever obeys the messenger is obeying Allah.
Why? Because the messenger all and Allah, the
same person? Of course not. This is unfortunately
where some of our Christian friends, with all
due respect,
our Christian friends and neighbors, this is where
they went
into the impermissible in their theology. They're not
the same people. They're not the same person.
They're equal on the level of obedience and
will, not in on the level of ontology.
No one shares in the essence, the attributes,
and the actions with Allah
But the prophet
said,
Whoever obeys me, obeys Allah.
Whoever disobeys me, disobeys
Fatima is a piece of my flesh.
Whoever makes her angry angers me. Whoever makes
me angry angers Allah
This is a close personal relationship they have.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in his Habib, Sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam.
Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, there was a there
was a break in the revelation
after the first, was revealed and then a
few verses of Surat Al Qalam, and then
there was a the fatra. There was a
break in the revelation. Imam
says 15 days
that the revelation did not come to the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. And the started making
fun of him. They started saying to him
about him.
That his lord has forsaken him and hates
him.
Then Allah
a beautiful Surah,
taking an oath, the oath formula,
is one of the ways in which Allah
in the early Meccan Surahs will use as
a tool of consoling his Habib, sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam. I swear by the morning light.
And Imam Tabari says, this means the revelation.
It also means the face of the prophet
in
a sound hadith. Anas ibn Malik said when
the prophet would enter into a room, the
walls of the room would be eliminated.
They would reflect his light.
By his face, by the revelation.
Imam Tabari said this means the heart of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasalam. Because where did
he receive the 10 zil, the Quran?
Upon his heart. Now the heart is still
because the revelation is not coming.
In other words, whether you're receiving revelation or
not receiving revelation,
your lord has not forsaken you
and does not despise.
And this is the right way to translate
because Allah
if you look at this ayah, the verb
is a transitive verb.
We have to start learning these things. It's
very important. We have to learn our scripture.
Other people learn our scripture. Non Muslims learn
scripture. Non Muslims they go learn Farsi and
Arabic in order to do to do God
knows what.
What are we doing? Oh, it's too hard,
brother. I can't do it. Where do you
have your degree? I have a master's from
UCLA. Masha'Allah. You're a genius. You can't learn
Arabic a little bit?
Is called
a transitive verb. Means you need to have
a direct object.
But Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala did not say,
He did not say, he doesn't hate you
or despise you. He left off the calf
because Allah
will never even suggest
that he hates the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa
sallam even when he's negating the statement.
Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. We read the Quran.
There's multiple levels of meaning in the Quran.
Ja'far as Sadiq says there's 4 levels of
meaning to every verse in the Quran. There's
the expression.
There's the illusion.
The what it alludes to. And then there
are subtleties, and
then there are there are realities.
Like a verse we read that we think
is just one dimensional. Allah,
commanding the to be changed. What's the story
behind this ayah? We read it over and
over again. We don't even think about it.
We don't have tadabur of the Quran.
We have to have tadabur. What does Allah
subhanahu wa what happened in the the context
of the story? The prophet
one day, he cast a glance to the
sky.
He cast a glance to the sky, and
he had shawkh in his heart. He had
a longing or a desire. He didn't even
articulate
it. What was his desire?
That the qiblah be changed to Mecca,
which is the first house of worship.
The first house ever dedicated to the worship
of the one true God was in Mecca.
And Becca, it's another name for Becca for
Mecca. Becca or Mecca. Becca is mentioned in
the book of Psalms 846 in the Hebrew
bible.
It says in the Hebrew, passing through the
valley of Becca.
So this is what he had in his
heart.
What does Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala
say? Revelation comes down.
Indeed
We see. Why we? Allah is Allah is
means 1. Right? One person, one nafs. He
refers to himself as nafs.
Means he's one of a kind.
So why is he saying we? This called
the royal plural.
When Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala uses the royal
plural in verbs, the object, the person he's
addressing also has
according to the people of grammar and rhetoric.
Indeed, we see what we see you turning
your face. Who
is
The prophet
towards the heavens.
How do we translate this? Impossible to translate.
We're gonna translate indeed, indeed. Maybe that's a
good translation. I don't know. Indeed, indeed,
we will turn you
to a qiblah
that you are pleased with.
Think about it. Allah changed the qiblah because
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam one day,
he cast a he cast a glance to
the heavens
with choke in his heart and immediately Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he changes the qibla. This
shows a very close intimate relationship between Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and his So turn your face in the
direction of the inviolable Masjid. Now watch what
happens here.
Therefore, wherever you all are,
what happened? It's called
in rhetoric. Again, the orientalist is thinking there's
a grammatical error in the Quran here. It
changed from the singular
to the plural
There is an error in the no. It's
called.
What happened here? Now Allah is
speaking to the ummah of the prophet
So not only does this ayah show a
close relationship between Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and
his Habib, but also between al Habib sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam and the ummah of the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, which is us.
He said because some some of our Muslims,
they say the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam
was a delivery man.
He delivered the news, and then he's gone.
You don't see him again. You wanna hear
from him again. They've bought into the Rand
Corporation.
The Rand Corporation, a right wing extremist group.
This is how they want to give us
our hermeneutics. How we want how they're they're
presenting us some something, a theology that the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam does not have a
transcendent nature. He's historical. He's gone. Forget about
him. And we're buying into this. If this
is true, why did the prophet said he
said,
from Mawada.
I would have loved
to have seen my brethren.
I would have loved to have seen them.
The sahaba said, aren't we your brethren? Said,
no. You're my companions. Who are the brethren?
Who are the Ikhwan?
Those who come after me who never saw
me,
but they're willing to sacrifice everything just to
look at me one time. Why does the
prophet
keep reaching out to the ummah if he's
a delivery man and he's gone? You You
don't hear from him or you don't contact
him. Nothing ever again. You don't care about
him. He delivered the news. He's gone. This
is what they want us to believe. Certain
people in America,
they're presenting this theology to us, and we're
buying into it. This is not our theology.
Imam al Suki says,
He couldn't stay in Medina
because everything reminded him of the prophet
So he went to Damascus.
He was there for over a year. The
prophet comes to him in a dream.
What is this distance?
What is this aversion? If he's a delivery
man, why is he coming to the the
dreams of people? You know what the prophet
said? In
a hadith,
multiply attested hadith that you have to believe
in according to the majority of their ulama.
And if you disbelieve in it, then we're
in big trouble?
He said,
Whoever sees me in a dream has truly
seen me. Shaitan cannot imitate me. In in
another hadith in Bukhary, he says
Whoever sees me in a dream has seen
the truth. The prophet
continues to reach out to his ummah.
This means he's reaching out. Why? To establish
that relationship. And this is done
You have to
understand.
No one is giving divine qualities
to the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. No
one is saying that the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam has omniscience and omnipotence. This is
shirk. This is clear. No one is saying
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam can see
and hear all things. Of course not. But
we have that relationship
with the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. There
is neither strength nor power except by the
permission of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. This is
our theology.
In his book
which we'd all should read. Read this book,
please.
We need to have of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam. Begin in touch with the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam and love the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. He begins his
book 55 chapters.
This the chapter concerning the physical attributes of
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. And you
might say, why is this even important? A
lot of Muslims will make this argument. Who
cares what he looked like? What's his teaching?
Who cares what he looked like? Then why
did the Sahaba mention it?
The prophet said the best generation is my
generation. In the Sahaba,
Khayrul Nas, they described the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam with such meticulous detail that ibn Omar
said, I counted 18 white hairs on his
temple. Why is he doing that? Going up
to him and counting white hairs on his
temple. For what? Why did they record these
things? Do you know why they recorded them?
Because they loved him.
This is why you described these things.
They're annihilated in his love.
For the sake of Allah
His final chapter in his book of the
The chapter on seeing the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam in a dream.
We forget about these aspects of our belief.
Why does he structure his book like this?
Because first chapter, you get to know about
what he looked like. And then if you
if you study the book properly,
you actually see him. That's the point of
the book.
May Allah increase us
in of Al Habib
And may Allah
increase us
in
of of of of grabbing on and seizing
his book, the of Allah, with every ounce
of our being.
Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala, he issues a warning
in the Quran. I'll end with this inshallah.
He issues a warning in the Quran. There's
different types of ayaat in the Quran.
Different scholars have said there's 7 types of
verses in the Quran. There's.
There's legal rulings
that deal with the
legislation of law,
things that deal with, you know, badania, things
with the body, things that deal with the
heart, the talbiyah, things with.
That's one type of ayah. And then there's
verses that deal with,
which deals with the afterlife or hereafter. And
then you have. You have stories or narrations.
You have verses that talk about,
theological verses, and verses that talk about, Nobuwa,
prophetological
verses in the Quran. And then you have
verses in the Quran that are,
which are promises.
Promises of
Allah
And the promise of Allah is always true.
The promise of Allah, you can take to
the bank and cash it. And then Allah
subhanahu wa ta'ala, he he he has another
type of verse called
and this is a threat. And we have
to take the threat of Allah subhanahu wa
ta'ala very, very seriously. Because a human being
threatens us, we can't sleep at night. But
when Allah
says in Surah Tawba number 24
that if any of these ephemeral things, your
houses, your bank accounts, your cars, your your
women and children, your husbands, your whatever it
is, your your your houses, your your what
do they call them?
Your summer homes, whatever you have, your stocks
and bonds, if any of these things
if any of these things,
If any of these things are more dear
to you than Allah, his messenger, and struggling
in his way, then just wait.
We don't want to wait. Allah issues
a
He issues a threat. We take the threat
seriously,
very seriously. We submit to Allah
We submit to the guidance of the prophet
and to see Let those be forewarned who
go against the amr of the prophet
lest a humiliating tribulation come to them or
a painful punishment.
They have no faith unless they make you
the judge in all of their affairs.
Unless they make you the judge in all
of their affairs and they find no resistance
in their hearts and they come to you
with submission. Sometimes our submission,
right, sometimes the, I should say, gets the
better of our submission.
We like to think we're smart. So called
postmodern Muslims, they say, oh, we're progressive now.
We don't follow the way of the antiquated
traditionalist
who fast, they pray, they cover their heads.
No. We're open minded. We don't do these
things.
Right? Fasting, that was for back then.
This is going on in Western Academy amongst
Muslims and other places as well. Fasting was
for back then. You know, there was a
shortage of food,
So they had to fast 1 month every
year.
That's why they did it. There's shortage of
food. Oh, making wudu, that's because they were
dirty.
This is what they say.
What?
You have to fast.
This verse
is
It's unconditional, and it's it's general for all
the Muslims.
Sometimes our so called intellect, we have to
know that things are beyond our
intellect. The prophet
end with this one minute The prophet
was invited to a dinner party.
And the host was a man named Abu
Urbayd. And Abu Urbayd, he cooked his sheep
because the prophet likes to eat sheep, the
shoulder. And the prophet
and he brought some other companions. He said,
now will the adira serve me the 4
quarter, the shoulder of the sheep. And he
said, here you go, oh messenger of god.
And the prophet,
he took a few bites. He didn't eat
a lot, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam. Did not
eat a lot. And then he passed it
to the Sahaba, and they take tibaruk from
his leftovers. He's in the Hadith.
And then he said, now
give me another
shoulder. Here you go, oh messenger of god.
And he took a few bites and he
passed it to the Sahaba. They said, yeah.
And he and then he said, yeah. Yeah.
Abba obeyed. Now will the adira
give me a a shoulder.
So, oh, messenger of God, how many shoulders
does a sheep have?
How many shoulders? Right? Maybe you lost count.
Listen to the response of the prophet
I swear by the one who holds my
soul in his hand.
If you had just stayed quiet,
you would have served me a shoulder every
single time I asked you. Sometimes we have
to have taslim.
We just have to submit to
Allah and recognize that the intellect is in
fact limited.