Why should we love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ?

Why should we love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ?

Because of His great love for His Prophet ﷺ, God the Almighty, addressing him, says (meaning):, “Indeed, your Lord will soon reward you and you will be pleased.” (Sura Ad-Duha, ayah 5). The response of our Prophet ﷺ to such a beautiful promise of God the Almighty also shows how much our Prophet ﷺ loves his community. He said (meaning), “I will not be happy until even one person from my community is in Hell.” (Tafsir al-Qurtubi, vol. 20, p. 96). Think how insignificant the love of the people for the Prophet ﷺ is compared to the love of God the Almighty for him! The greatness, features and superiority bestowed by God the Almighty only on our Prophet ﷺ also testify to the fact that he is the most beloved and dearest creation to the Creator. We briefly talked about this in the first part of this book. All the creations of the Almighty also love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ the most, for the Lord’s favorite will certainly be a favorite for them too.

In an authentic hadith transmitted by Muslim it is said, “Indeed, when Almighty Allah loves one of His slaves, He calls out to Jibril, ‘I have loved such and such a person and you will love him!’ Jibril loves him and calls out to the heavens, ‘Indeed, God has loved such and such a person, and you will love him!’ And the inhabitants of the heavens will love him and then the inhabitants of the earth will accept him in the same way.” Whoever understands the content of this hadith even a little bit will have no doubt that in the heavens and on the earth, among all the creations of God, there is no one who should be loved more than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

The attitude towards any person also depends on how much he loves Almighty Allah. This is why people feel more love for the prophets and holy servants of God - awliya. In this regard, there is also no person in the world who should be loved as the Messenger of God ﷺ, for there was no one who loved the Almighty more than our holy Prophet ﷺ. The heart of the Messenger of God ﷺ was filled with love for the Creator and therefore he himself said, “If I were to choose a friend (khalil), I would take Abu Bakr as my friend, but your Prophet ﷺ is a friend of God.” (Narrated by Imams Al-Bukhari and Muslim). Khalil is a person whose love overflows the heart of another, leaving no room for any other love. This is the highest degree of love. And the heart of the Prophet ﷺ was so connected with God and in love with Him that he did not share this love even with the person dearest to him – Abu Bakr. Among the dear prophets of God, there were only two khalils: Ibrahim and Muhammad (may God bless them both and greet them).

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, telling how the Almighty chose him as a khalil, said, “Verily, God made me His friend just as He made Ibrahim His khalil.” (Narrated by Hafiz at-Tabarani), (“Ihya ‘ulum ad-din”, vol. 2, p. 327).

The Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is the greatest khalil (friend) and habib (beloved) of God the Almighty. The Prophet ﷺ would isolate himself in the cave of Hira, distancing himself from the people because of his love for God. Then his love for the Creator became so strong that his heart was constantly connected with the Almighty, even when he was among the people.

Seeing how much the Prophet ﷺ loved Abu Bakr, the people believed that he was the khalil of the Prophet ﷺ. Then the Messenger of God ﷺ made them understand that he had only one khalil and that was Almighty Allah. When the revelations temporarily ceased, the Messenger of God ﷺ, being unable to bear it because of his strong, passionate and boundless love for the Almighty, sometimes went to the mountains, seeking destruction. Unable to bear the cessation of revelations from beloved Allah ﷻ, he sometimes climbed high mountains and was going to throw himself down from there to die. Then Jibril would come to him and say, “O Muhammad, you are truly the Messenger of God ﷺ.” After this, the Prophet ﷺ would calm down a little and his soul would become lighter, because Jibril was an intermediary between Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. (“Ihya’ ‘ulum ad-din”, Vol. 2, p. 327. “Ithaf”, Vol. 7, p. 332).

Almighty Allah gave the Prophet ﷺ the following choice, “If you want, I will leave you alive in this world until the Day of Judgment, or, if you want, I will take your soul.” However, the Prophet ﷺ, due to his unbridled, enormous love for Almighty Allah, no matter how much his family and companions asked him to stay with them, preferred to go to the Most High Creator rather than stay in this world.

When the angel of death Azrael came to him and asked “What do you command me?”, the Prophet ﷺ replied, ‘Take me to the highest friend (God).’ Even in his death throes, the Prophet ﷺ, due to the fact that Jibril was an intermediary between him and God, told him, “I do not need anything on this earth except your coming.” Before his death, the blessed Prophet ﷺ, due to severe death throes, lost consciousness from time to time. On coming to, he immediately said, “No, no, I want to go to the highest friend (Allah).” Apparently, even in this state he was given a choice between staying in this world and going to God. He chose to be close to the Almighty. (Ihya’ ‘ulum ad-din, Vol. 4). As for the Prophet ﷺ himself, he was the khalil of all the companions. Therefore, when reading the hadiths of the Prophet ﷺ transmitted by the companions, one can often find their words: “My khalil (i.e., the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ) bequeathed to me…”.

We will provide examples of how the companions loved the dear Prophet ﷺ below. The Prophet ﷺ loves God the Almighty in accordance with his faith (iman) in Him. And if the faith of Abu Bakr is equal to the faith of the entire Muslim community, with the exception of the Prophets (according to the hadith transmitted by the Daylami), then how perfect must be the faith of the beloved Prophet ﷺ! It is in accordance with this faith that the Prophet ﷺ loves our Creator.

Think for yourself how much Muslims must love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ! He who does not love someone who loves a good person (i.e., someone who does not love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ, who loves God the Almighty) will not hate someone who has hated a good person (i.e., he will not hate a person like Abu Jahl, who does not love Almighty Allah). Almighty Allah loves the one who loves Him the most, i.e., the Prophet ﷺ. And if a person does not love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ more than anyone else, he will not hate people like Fir’awn and Abu Jahl, whom God does not love more than anyone else in this world and who themselves do not love the Almighty.

May Almighty Allah make our hearts, thoughts and minds occupied with love for His noble Prophet ﷺ. Amin!

Kuramuhammad-haji Ramazanov

Theologian