Loving and glorifying theSunnah – I

Do you truly love the Messenger of Allaah? A fundamental of our
religion, and a tenet of our faith, is to love him.
Allaah Says what means:"Say ]O Muhammad[: 'If your fathers, your sons,
your brothers, your wives, your relatives, wealth which you have
obtained, commerce wherein you fear decline, and dwellings with which
you are pleased are more beloved to you than Allaah and His Messenger
and Jihaad in His cause, then wait until Allaah executes His command.
And Allaah does not guide the defiantly disobedient people."]Quran 9:
24[
Al-Fudhayl ibn 'Iyaadhsaid: "This verse is enough of an evidence
toprove the obligation of loving the Prophetbecause Allaah
dispraisedin it those whose wealth, family or children are dearer to
them than the love of Allaah and His Messengerdescribing them as
defiantly disobedient at its conclusion."
Love of the Prophetbranches from Allaah's love of him; our love of the
Prophetis due to the fact that Allaah loves him, and because Allaah
sent him to us as His Messenger, as well as the fact that Allaah
instructs us to make him dearer to our hearts than our own souls. He
Almighty Says what means:"The Prophet is more worthy of the believers
than themselves…"]Quran 33: 6[
This means that the believer should love theProphetsallallaahualayhiwa
sallam more than he loves his own self.
This love entails full obedience, submission and acceptance; it also
entails favouring the Prophetsallallaahualayhiwa sallam over oneself,
one's family and one's wealth, and to surrender to
theProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam the controlling direction
thatone has over himself.
The influence that theProphetsallallaahualayhiwa sallam should have
over us is greater than that which a master has over his slave, or a
father has over his child. We should have no control over ourselves
except in acting in accordance with the way hedirected us to.
It is for every Muslim to prove his love for him, which can be
determinedaccording to the following narration of
theProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam:"There are three qualities;
whoever has them will taste the sweetness of faith: To love Allaah and
His Messenger )( more than anyone else…"]Al-Bukhaari & Muslim[
One will never taste the sweetness of faith exceptafter achieving
this, as hesaid in another narration:"I swear by theOne in whose Hand
my soul is! None of you will truly believe until I become dearer to
him than his child, his father and all of mankind."]Al-Bukhaari &
Muslim[
This love is not simply an emotion that is confined to the heart, but
rather it has implications and effects. This love makes the slave
achieve a rank that he would not otherwise achieve by means of his
bodily deeds, as in the narrationof Ibn Mas`oodwho said: "A man came
to the Messenger of Allaahand said: 'O Messenger of Allaah! When will
the Hour )i.e., the Day of Resurrection( come?' Hereplied:"What have
you prepared for it?"The man said: 'Only my love of Allaah and His
Messenger.' The Messenger of Allaahthen said:"You will be with those
whom you love.""]Al-Bukhaari & Muslim[
It is not as important to know when the Hour willoccur as it is to
prepare for its arrival, and this is the reason why the Prophetdrew
this to the attention of the man by asking him that question.
Anassaid: "After beingblessed by embracing Islam, we never rejoiced at
anything as much as we did about this answerof
theProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam to that man. I love Allaah, His
MessengerAbuBakrand 'Umarand hope to be with them )in the Hereafter(
even if I cannot perform the gooddeeds they did."]Al-Bukhaari &
Muslim[
The Companionshad great love for theProphetsallallaahualayhiwa sallam,
to the extent that they would face arrows that were being fired in his
direction to shield him. They would risk their lives for him and
sacrifice everything for his rescue. 'Amr ibn Al-'Aassaid: "There was
no one dearer to me or more glorified than the Prophet; I could never
look him directly inthe eye due to the extent of my glorification, and
ifsomeone were to ask me to describe him, I would not be able to, as I
never looked at him for long enough to be able to describe him."
]Muslim[
When Abu Sufyaanwas still a disbeliever, he asked Zayd ibn Thaabitwho
was taken as a hostage and being brought out by the people of Makkah
to execute: "Do you not wish that Muhammad was in your place and that
we killed him instead, while you could go to your family and be with
them?" Hereplied: "I swear by Allaah! I would rather be here facing
this than have him even being pricked by a thorn." Upon hearing this,
Abu Sufyaansaid: "I never saw a people who love a man more than the
companions ofMuhammadlove him." Such incidents greatly affected the
disbelievers and caused many of themto embrace Islam.
A man from the Ansaarcame to the Prophetand said: "You are dearerto me
than myself, my child, my family and my wealth, and I feel as if I am
dieing when I do not see you." Then he began to cry.
TheProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam asked:"Why are you crying?"The
man replied: "I remembered that we will die and you will die, then you
will take your place in Paradise with the other Messengers and
Prophets, while we, if indeed we do enter Paradise, will be lower
inrank than you, and thus we will not be able to seeyou inParadise."
Note how much they loved him; they were worried about not seeinghim,
despite the fact that they may also be in Paradise.
TheProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam did not comment on his words
until Allaah revealed the following verses which mean:"And whoever
obeys Allaah and the Messenger – those will bewith the ones upon whom
Allaah has bestowed favour of the prophets, the steadfast affirmers of
truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as
companions.That is the bounty from Allaah…"]Quran 4: 69-70[ Thereupon
theProphetsallallaahualayhi wa sallam summoned him and said:"Glad
tidings to you!"]Al-Bayhaqi[
Once, a female companion was waiting at the approach to Al-Madeenah
for the return of the Muslim army from the battle of Uhud. She was
informed that her husband, brother and father were killed, but her
only reply was: "What happened to the Prophet?" They told her that
hewas fine and unharmed, but she insisted to seeing him so that she
would be sure that hewas truly safe. When she did see him, she
remarked: "Any affliction, after seeing that you are safe, is minor."