I Love Muhammad (PBUH)
Kathryn Garivay
One thing I don't understand about Islam is why I'm required to love Muhammad SAW more than anyone else, more than my parents, more than myself, more than the many other great influential people that have walked this earth. I know about how kind and caring Muhammad was, and how great his lifestyle was, and that he is the most valuable of all creation to Allah. But why do I have to make myself love someone I never met? Why can't I love others more than him? Why can't I appreciate Alexander the Great or the Prophet Musa AS or even Nebuchadnezzar II more than Muhammad?
Subhanallah, I am in awe of the introduction to this course and how it transports one to the time where our Beloved Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was born and raised and I cannot wait to continue with the rest of the course. Jazakhallah for making this accessible.
Alhamdulillah such a valuable resource mashaAllah. JazakAllahu khairan wa ahsanal jaza fid daarain ya ustadh for your dedication, efforts, devotion in the love of RasoolAllah sal Allahu alayhi waalihi wasallam.
Mixed media, calligraphy and illumination This painting depicts the love and kindness of our great Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and the message that he spread in this world. The golden color shows the respect we hold for him and his purity in every action. The flowers in the painting depict the love to our Prophet PBUH.
As part of His endearing love for His creations, Allah s.w.t. bestowed us with the love of His beloved messenger, Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. Allah s.w.t sent us a man from among us who lived with us and showed us the path of attaining eternal love. Prophet Muhammad s.a.w did not only teach us how to love our Creator but also how to love other creations. He is the light that brightens the darkness, the epitome of mercy, the paragon of virtues. In Surah Al-Ahzab, verse 21, Allah s.w.t. mentions,
Today, some of those who claim to be his followers have deviated from the path of love and mercy that was shown by Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. There are those who claim to be following the footsteps of Rasulullah s.a.w. but their actions run contrary to the tenderness shown by Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. They commit atrocities in the name of Allah s.w.t The Most Merciful and in the name of His beloved Messenger. They manifest the faith through the prisms of hate and enmity.
This is an erroneous representation and manifestation that we need to challenge. We need to reclaim and rekindle the narrative of love and mercy that our beloved Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. taught us. We need to revive the sunnah through expressing tenderness and mercy, in manifesting our faith.
As the embodiment of the Quranic values, our beloved Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. had shown the ideal virtues such as, in many instances, how to rise above hate and enmity. He emphasised that forgiveness is greater than revenge, perseverance is larger than retaliation and love is better than hate.
The Prophet s.a.w. also taught us that through love and mercy, one can be drawn to the beauty of Islam. The earlier days of Sayyidina Umar r.a. showed that he was a notable adversary of Rasulullah s.a.w. that had challenged the Prophetic message prior to becoming a Muslim. Even then, the Prophet s.a.w. prayed to Allah s.w.t to soften his heart. In a hadith by Ibn Umar r.a, Rasulullah s.a.w. supplicated,
One of the teachings of love from Prophet Muhammad s.a.w is for us to love one another. The Prophet s.a.w taught us that what we love for ourselves should also be what we love for others. In a hadith, Rasulullah s.a.w. reminded us of this golden rule,
The Prophet s.a.w. taught us that indeed, a society that loves one another and takes care of each other is a society that is strong and cohesive. In a world where there is a proliferation of hate and enmity, as followers of Prophet Muhammad s.a.w, let us re-establish this golden rule as a basis of our relationship with others.
Beyond doing good to one another, Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. also showed how we should treat other living creatures with love and mercy. He warned against harming the animals. In a hadith, Rasulullah s.a.w. said,
Prophet Muhammad s.a.w. was always gentle with other creations. Even though we regard some animals as impure, Muslims are expected to respect and handle them with love and mercy. For instance, in dealing with dogs, the Prophet s.a.w. did not teach us to hate them. In fact, the Prophet s.a.w. told us about the merits of feeding dogs.
Today, with the threats of climate change and global warming, there is a need for us to treat our environment with love and respect. We should make efforts to prevent wastage, over-reliance on single-use plastic, and make efforts not to pollute our waters and the air. We need to inculcate our love towards the environment and make efforts to protect it from degradation and destruction.
May Allah s.w.t place us among those who will be granted the love of Rasulullah s.a.w. and be among those who will spread his enduring love to humanity. May we be among those who spread love and not hate, spread peace and not conflict, spread unity and not division. Amin.
The different ways in which he would express his love are so abundant that to encompass every aspect is impossible. The life of the Promised Messiah(as) was so full of the examples of true love, just as the sky is full of stars. The difficulty is finding the words to do justice to this love.
The true sign of a lover is that he is willing to die and sacrifice everything for the sake of his beloved. This desire and true heartfelt wish was found in the Promised Messiah(as), with such intensity, that its example can be found nowhere else. After his love for Allah the Exalted, the most shining characteristic of his life was love and devotion to the Holy Prophet(saw). The desire to sacrifice himself for his beloved and the extent of his devotion to him had reached their pinnacle in the life of this true lover.
The life of the Promised Messiah(as) was replete with the service of Islam. This was so due to his true love for the Holy Prophet(saw), and the magnitude of his feelings for Islam. The Promised Messiah(as) was publicly condemned and edicts (fatwas) of disbelief (kufr) were put upon him. All kinds of persecution were afflicted upon him, but due to his love for Prophet Muhammad(saw), this true lover endured all of this, and his devotion to the cause of Islam did not diminish in the least. He stated:
It has become a superficial technique in poetry to express love with the streets in which the beloved one of a lover walks and lives. But if you wish to see a true and sincere example of this, then let us look at a Persian couplet of the Promised Messiah(as):
The feelings and emotions which the Promised Messiah(as) expressed with regards to his master and beloved, Muhammad(saw) is an endless ocean. It can be stated with full conviction and belief that the love the Promised Messiah(as) has expressed for his beloved master, and the manner in which he had annihilated himself in his love, is such that its like cannot be found in the entire history of Islam. It can be confidently said that the love this true lover the Promised Messiah(as) , has expressed for his master is such that it is unprecedented and unparalleled in every respect.
Every word of the writings of the Promised Messiah(as) possesses the fragrance of this love. His every action reflects the beauty of Muhammad(saw). There are such beautiful examples of love which can be seen in his life, which amaze one so, that one questions, is it possible for someone to feel love to such a degree? His every thought revolved around his beloved. He was free from limitations of body and time, and his soul moved towards his beloved master announcing:
The writings of a person are a perfect reflection of his thoughts and heartfelt feelings. The writings of the Promised Messiah(as) with regards to his love for the Holy Prophet(saw) are like a garden with hundreds of flowers. Which quotations should I present, and which should I find the courage to leave out?
If one reads his poetry, it can be seen that every single verse was satiated in the love of the Holy Prophet(saw). They are verses from the depths of his heart and full of devotion. The Promised Messiah(as) states:
Love is something that cannot remain hidden. Everyone can see and feel it. The true love which the Promised Messiah(as) had for his beloved master is something the entire world has witnessed. His followers testified to it as did others.
The testimony of another famous writer Mirza Farhatullah Baig, is also worthy of mention. He says that my uncle Mirza Inayatullah Baig, told me that whenever I go to visit Mirza Ghulam Ahmad Sahib, I should pay close attention to his eyes. He writes, that he went to Qadian and closely observed his eyes, and it seemed as if a kind of green water was circulating in them. When he came back and mentioned this to his uncle he said to him, look here Farhat, never utter a bad word about this man. He is a true lover of the Holy Prophet(saw). He continued, I asked my uncle, how did you deduce this fact? He said that a true lover of the Holy Prophet(saw) who constantly remains engaged in his remembrance, his eyes take on a tint of green. (Tarikh-e-Ahmadiyya, vol.3, pp.579-580)
Salutations upon the Holy Prophet(saw) and mention of him can be found in abundance throughout the writings, poetry and sayings of the Promised Messiah(as). No lover has ever made mention of his beloved to such an extent, as the Promised Messiah(as) has done to his beloved master, the Holy Prophet(saw).
A Companion of the Promised Messiah(as) named Mirza Din Muhammad(ra), narrates that it was a custom of the Promised Messiah(as) to dip his fingers into water, and slightly spray his face with drops of water. When he asked as to why the Promised Messiah(as) did not just call out to him in order to wake him up, this true lover responded, because this was the custom of his Master, the Holy Prophet(saw). (Siratul Mahdi, vol.3, p.20)
This beautiful narration shows how the Promised Messiah(as) possessed true heart-felt love for the Holy Prophet(saw). The thought of his master forever remained in his heart and mind, and so did quoting the example of the Holy Prophet(saw) , whenever doing a good deed.
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