Sikander Hashmi – True Love for the Prophet KMA Friday Message
AI: Summary ©
The speakers discuss the effects of love on one's life, including the importance of faith and loyalty to oneself and others. They stress the need for love to be expressed in a positive way and that it should be a focus on one's life. The three qualities of a sweetheart, passionate love, and fearless belater are essential for religion. The importance of sending peace and attending events to expand one's appreciation for the prophet's power is emphasized.
AI: Summary ©
Imagine for a moment
that you got a chance to meet the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam in person.
The final messenger of Allah,
the best of creation,
the one with the most exalted character,
the most beautiful model and example for us.
What
would that feel like?
How would you behave?
And what would your spiritual state be like
at that time, in that moment?
Abu Huraira Radiallahu Anhu reported that Rasulullah Sallallahu
Alaihi Wa Salam said
that
The people most loved by me from amongst
my
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
as reported Sahih Muslim.
And the prophet
also said famously as related by
That none of you truly believes
until I am more beloved, until I am
more dear to him
than his father,
his son, his child, meaning his own self,
and all of the people.
My brothers and sisters, it is clear that
the love for the prophet
is an important, a critical part of believing
of being a Muslim.
When a person says
This is my brothers and sisters,
a statement
which entails
the love for Allah and the love for
his messenger
Our iman is
faith which is not devoid of love.
Yes.
Believing can be,
you know, arguably is be something which is
sort of technical that, yes, I believe or
a person does not believe.
But what does that belief entail?
What does it include? It certainly includes
love for the prophet Sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Sheikh Alaihi wasallam Ibn Taymiyyah Rahimahullah, he said
that the reason
except at the hands of the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam
by believing in him and following him. That
is because no one can be saved from
the punishment of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala.
And the mercy of Allah cannot reach him
except by means of the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam.
Loving
him, being loyal to him, and following him.
Once again,
that is because no one can be saved
from the punishment of Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala
and the mercy of Allah
cannot reach him except by means of the
prophet
by believing in him, loving him, being loyal
to him, and following him. This is the
means by which Allah will save him from
punishment in this world and in the hereafter.
This is the means by which he will
attain what is good in this world
and in the hereafter. And he goes on
to say, the greatest blessing is the blessing
of faith.
The greatest
blessing is the blessing of
faith,
which can only be attained through him and
which is more beneficial
than his own self and his wealth, meaning
a person's own self and wealth.
He is the one by means of whom
Allah brings people forth from darkness
into light, and there is no other way
to Allah. And
there is no other way to Allah, meaning
except through the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. As
for a person's self and family,
they will not avail him anything
before Allah, end quote. So my brothers and
sisters, the question is,
how should this love be expressed
and what is the effect of this love?
Right? Anybody could say
that they love someone. Anybody could claim that
they love the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam.
But at the end of the day, how
does a person really know that that love
is true and that love is genuine?
What effect should it have?
What does it look like?
So I'll answer that with another question and
that is
what is a lover focused on?
When a person
loves another,
what is their focus? What is the qualities?
What are the qualities and the characteristics of
their love?
So a few things we can think of.
Making the beloved pleased and happy,
honoring them,
being loyal to them,
following their wishes,
their directions,
their preferences,
being in their company.
And when they can't be in their company,
then reading their words,
talking about them,
right, learning about them as much as possible
and being
like them. So if we truly love the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
our lives should really revolve
around doing all of the above.
As has been shown by those
who loved him the most, his companions
and our pious predecessors.
They loved him so much.
It is reported in
that a woman from the tribe of
Banu dinar lost her husband,
father,
and brother. She lost who? She lost
her husband,
her father,
and brother in the battle of Uhud.
And when she was informed of this, she,
radiallahu anha, asked,
but what happened to the prophet, sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. Right? This is a woman who's lost
her husband, her father, and her brother.
But she's worried about the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi
Wasallam. And the people replied that Alhamdulillah,
all praise is due to Allah. He is
safe as you would wish him to be.
So she replies,
show him to me so that I can
see for myself.
Show him to me so that I can
see for myself. She received the good news
that he's fine, but she still wants to
see for herself. So the people pointed him
out and when she saw him, she said,
all misfortunes
all misfortunes mean nothing to me as long
as you are alive. This was the level
of love she had for the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam.
Relates
That I saw when the messenger of Allah
Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam was getting his haircut by
the barber.
And what was special about that? He goes
on.
Right? That his companions came around him
and
they eagerly wanted
that no hair of the prophet
should fall in the hand
but in the hand of a person. Right?
So that was their love and attachment for
the that
even when his hair was being cut, they
surrounded him, and they would try to make
sure that not even a single hair of
his fell
onto the ground except that it went into
someone's hand.
He would come to a tree between Mecca
and Medina. So when he was traveling between
Mecca and between Medina,
he would take a nap
under that tree. And he told the prophet
he told the people
that the prophet
had done so. Now, of course, this was
not a prophetic command. Right? It sound like
the prophet said that whenever you travel between
Mecca and Madina,
you know, you know, you have to rest
under the street or you have to stay
under the street. Of course not. Right? It
was simply a habitual a habit of the
prophet
that he would like to do that. But
he loved the prophet
so much
that whenever he would pass through there, right,
he couldn't help but think about the prophet
and what he would do
at that place.
And out of love for him, he would
also do the same. Musa Abid N Abdullah,
he says that whenever Imam Malik, would
mention the prophet,
his complexion would change. What would happen? His
complexion would change when he would mention the
prophet,
and he would bow his down his head
and cry
until it became difficult
for those around him to bear. This was
the extent of the crying of Imam Malik
when he mentioned the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Therefore, one day, the people around him so
this was not like a one off occurrence.
Right? This was something that would happen regularly
with Imam Malik. So the people around him
one day asked him about this, and he
answered them by saying, if you saw what
I saw,
then you would not find what I do
to be strange.
If you had seen what I have seen,
then you would not find this
to be or what I do to be
strange. And then he goes on, he says,
I saw Muhammad Al Munqadr Rahamahullah,
and he was a master of Qur'anic recitation.
Whenever we asked him about a hadith from
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam,
he would cry.
I used to see Jafar ibn Muhammad Rahamahullah
who was one of the scholars who feared
Allah
and was very humorous
and always smiling. So this is a scholar
that who, you know, who was always smiling,
he was very humorous. Whenever the prophet salallahu
alaihi wasallam was mentioned in his presence, he
would become pale.
He never narrated any hadith unless he was
in a state of wudu. Now, of course,
this is not a requirement.
Right? But this was his reverence for the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, his love for the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam, his respect for the
prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam that he would never
narrate any hadith except in a state of
wudu.
Goes on. Once I became separated from him,
and then when I saw him again, he
would be praying, reciting the Quran
or keeping silent. So this was a scholar.
He used to be very humorous, you know,
always smiling, always jovial.
But he would see him, he would always
be
offering salah, recite in Quran or keeping silent.
He never got involved in matters which did
not concern him. I used to visit Aamir
ibn Abdul Adazubayr,
and the prophet sallallahu
alaihi wasallam was mentioned in his presence. He
would cry
until his tears ran dry.
My brothers and sisters, the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wa sallam has told us something special about
love.
And he has told us that first of
all, there are three qualities.
That there are three qualities
for which anyone who is characterized by them
will relish the sweetness of faith. What will
happen to that person? That person who has
these three qualities,
they will
taste the sweetness of iman. So this tells
us that faith has a taste to
it. That iman faith has a taste to
it, and that taste is sweetness.
But it doesn't come right away, perhaps. It
doesn't come naturally, perhaps,
but it has to be developed. And what
are these three qualities? These three characteristics?
He to whom Allah and his messenger
are dear than all else.
Right? The person
to whom Allah and his messenger are
dearer than all else, number 1. Secondly,
he who loves a person for Allah's sake
alone. Right? There are many motivations for loving
another person, but the person who loves another
person only for the sake of Allah Subhanahu
Wa Ta'ala, not for any other purpose, not
for any other, you know, interest or any
other motivation, only for the sake of Allah
Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala. That person will also have
a share in tasting the sweetness of imam.
And finally, he who has a great,
abhorrence
of returning
to disbelief
after Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala has rescued him
from it as he has of being cast
into the hellfire.
So a person who is so,
you know,
who who is,
who abhors
returning
to Kufr,
returning to disbelief
after Allah Subhanahu Wa Ta'ala has guided him,
has rescued him from it as he abhors
being cast into the hellfire.
Right? So people who have these three qualities,
anyone who is characterized by these three qualities
will taste the sweetness of iman.
My brothers and sisters,
you know, we want to judge. If you
want to judge any action
in this religion and this is a general
golden principle,
which is very important, especially, you know, as
times
move on, especially for my young friends.
If you want to judge any action
of Islam or that's purportedly of of Islam,
Look to see what the companions of the
prophet
thought of it. Look to see what the
companions
and the early pious Muslims
thought of it. How did they understand it?
How did they interpret it? How did they
react to it. Because the basis one of
the the peculiar
amazing qualities of this religion, Alhamdulillah,
is that it is absolutely grounded.
What is it? It is absolutely grounded. There
is nothing in this religion. There should be
nothing in this religion that is made up,
that is that does not have any basis,
that cannot be traced back to the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam
or the generation that followed him or the
generation that followed them.
So everything needs to be grounded and needs
to be traced back. So if you ever
come across an action and you're unsure
about its status,
look back to the time of the prophet
sallallahu alaihi wasallam.
Look to the generation of the companions,
meaning the generation of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam, those who followed them, and those who
followed them and see what their opinion was,
what they thought of it, how they reacted
to it. And this will give us a
good indication
as to the status of that action. So
if you're on the Saudi,
he used to say that
that to love is to follow the prophet.
So
those who truly love someone
are a fan of someone. They like to
do everything like them.
Right? They like to do everything like them.
Right? And, of course, the word that is
used nowadays is is not very appropriate because
we say idolize someone. And of course, it
has like, you know, negative connotations on it
when you think of idolatry. Of course, it
doesn't mean the same thing, but, you know,
it's coming from that root. But essentially, what
it means is to
follow with a great admiration
and to try to do everything like the
person that is being followed. Right? So when
it comes
to actions, you know, people will follow the
commands of the person that they idolize.
They will try to
have the same preferences as them to act
like them in terms of their behavior, in
terms of the speech, in terms of the
dress, in terms of everything.
Right? And one of the reasons why we
see the pious people go out of their
way to follow the sunnah
and to be like the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam in every way. Right? Not just his
commands as if you saw in the case
of Abdullah Numa
not just the commands,
but beyond the commands and trying to emulate
the prophet
is because they were the true lovers of
the prophet
Right?
If a person is a true lover, they
should want to be like him. Right? They
should want to follow his example, his teachings,
and this should manifest itself in our daily
lives. Right? Even the smallest actions can be
an indicator of how much love we have
for the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam and how
much we value his teachings and his actions.
So when we think of the sunnah, we
don't just say, oh, it's just a sunnah.
But we say, wow, this is a sunnah.
I want to follow it because I love
the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam. Right? And one
of the specific
acts that we can do, which is of
course fully authentic and proven, is sending peace
and salutations upon the prophet Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam
many times a day because as he Sallallahu
Alaihi Wasallam has told us,
that a person
whoever supplicates to Allah to exalt my mention
that Allah
will exalt their mention
10 times. And in some other narrations
also goes on to say and Allah will
remove
from them 10 sins and will raise them
in 10 degrees.
And, of course, there are other narrations as
well that give us the value of sending
salat and salam upon the prophet as
Allah tells us in the Quran
to send salat and salam's exalt dimension and
send peace and salutations upon the prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam. To be clear, the prophet salallahu
alayhi wasalam does not need our dua. The
prophet salallahu alayhi wasalam does not need us
to do this for any benefit. It is
for our own good because it reminds us
of our connection with the prophet
It reminds us of who we love and
who we follow and who we should emulate,
who we should aspire to be like. So
brothers and sisters, let us try to resolve
to study the sira, the life of the
prophet
to recite the Quran and also study the
Quran so that we come across the incidents
and that relate to the prophet
that the instructions that Allah gave to the
prophet
and we appreciate
we build an appreciation
for the sacrifices
and the efforts that dedication of the prophet
out of obedience to Allah
and out of love and concern
for us. As Allah tells
us
The prophet
was deeply concerned about his,
was deeply concerned
about us,
deeply anxious about us. He cared for us,
and he made lots of dua for us.
And this, of course, religion that has reached
us is because of the efforts and the
dedication of the prophet
as Allah
had willed. So we should try to learn
and increase our appreciation. The other thing I'm
gonna say, and I was talking to someone
about this recently,
is, is is, you know, go for Amra,
but also visit Madina to Manawana.
Right? Take your children if you can. Right?
Don't underestimate
the impact
of visiting Haramain Sharifayn
to visit Mecca and Medina, especially with your
children.
Right? Because we live here
with a minority
complex psychologically.
Right? We are minorities, of course. We know
that. And for our children who are growing
up here, yes, we teach them Allah about
Allah and Azar Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. Right? But
all of those things
are stories until you actually go there and
realize that this is actually where it happened.
Right? This is actually the same ground, the
same air, the same mountain.
Right? The place where I hear about all
these stories, they're not just like once upon
a time fairy tales, but they actually happened
here. And the prophet
is actually, you know, buried here in the
Raulah as an example. So the impact, the
psychological and spiritual impact,
positive impact of seeing that firsthand
and and not being a minority for a
few days, right, cannot be
underestimated. So if you're able to,
please make an effort to take your children.
And I'm not selling, like, any Umrah packages
or anything, so I'm not getting anything out
of this. Right? Wherever you go through, I
only care. Okay? But go make the effort,
take your children, take your youth, go there,
visit, spend time there, and rekindle that love
and that appreciation
for the prophet and for his, for his
sacrifices. And as much as possible, let us
also try to organize events and programs
and to learn and attend, you know, programs
where we can,
propagate the seed of the prophet sallallahu alaihi
wasallam. And remember the prophet sallallahu alaihi wasallam
may Allah will increase our love for him
and make us true believers and true reflections
of his beautiful sunnah.
Take a quick break and we'll continue.