Love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam)

 It is clear from the Hadith which is in Sahih Bukhari that once the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was holding the hands of Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) when Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) spoke up out of love:  O Prophet of Allah (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), by Allah!  Excepting my own self, I love you more than everything else.

 

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Unless and until my love is more than the love of one’s own self, that person has no faith.

 

Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) rejoined:  By Him who have revealed the Book to you, I love you more than my own self.

 

The Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) said:  Now your faith has been perfected o Umar.

 

Although in this Hadith only the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has been mentioned but because the objective of the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is the love of Almighty Allah, this Hadith can be enough to deduct the (rule of) love of both, Almighty Allah and His Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).

 

This Hadith shows that Muslims are bound to cause increase in the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as the love which Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) had expressed earlier was not considered enough.  That’s why he made a conscious deliberate effort and removed the remaining shortcoming as well.

 

            Here, it is to be considered that love is a matter of the heart.  How can it be reduced or increased deliberately?  Human will doesn’t extend to the inner feelings.  For example, if a hungry person desires that without any external reason hunger should be dispelled, it is not at all possible.  Only by mere desire of increase or decrease or by forcing oneself, the feeling of hunger will not change as long as external means are not created to increase or decrease it, like eating something to lessen it or not having anything to increase it.

 

In Mawahib Ladunniya, Imam Qustullani (May Allah shower His mercy on him) has related an opinion of Khitabi that here conscious and voluntary love is meant, not involuntary love which is beyond human will.  Imam Zurqani (May Allah shower His mercy on him) has written in its explanation that voluntary love is on the demand of the intellect even though it might be unappealing to oneself the way a diseased person likes medicine even though it might be bitter and distasteful to him.

 

Imam Qazi Iyaz (May Allah shower His mercy on him) writes that the reason love is compulsory is that love results from acknowledgement of greatness meaning that only the heart which acknowledges the greatness of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) will have the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as well and if that person doesn’t love the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), it will be considered that he doesn’t acknowledge the greatness of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and not having the greatness of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) amounts to apostasy.  But, objection has been raised that acknowledgement of greatness is not necessary for love.  The greatness that Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) had for the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is known to one and all, but early on he didn’t prefer the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) over and above his own self.

 

It is also written that Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) first informed the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) of his involuntary love and the design of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) was voluntary love.  Thus, Hadhrat ‘Umar (May Allah be well pleased with him) immediately set up proofs for himself and immediately informed the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) of the increase in love.

 

            There is no doubt in the fact that the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) has a deep relationship with faith.  There are many verses of the Holy Quran and many Hadith that if one has faith in them, it will surely result in increase of love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam).  For example the verse…..

 

If someone reflects on this verse and attains the certitude that the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) is the very embodiment of the mercy of Almighty Allah will surely love the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as this is a part of human nature that when someone hears of a great person who is kind and benefits others, love develops in the heart and as the person keeps listening to incidents of kindness and mercy of that person, love keeps increasing.  Just think that on listening to the incidents of Hatim Tai, we naturally feel love for him in our hearts.  On the contrary, we feel a certain enmity for people like Hajjaj bin Yousuf and Changez Khan although in these times, we don’t have any hope of drawing any benefit from Hatim Tai nor any fear of harm from him.  On the other hand, we have received many benefits from the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and keep receiving them and we have hopes of receiving many benefits from Him in the future as the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) being Mercy of All Worlds was not limited to the time when He was in this earthly world only.  On the Day of Judgment, His mercy will be expressed in such a manner that the whole universe will see it.  Although disbelievers are also included in “A’alameen” but why should we argue about whether or not they receive a share from His mercy.  Let the enemies of Allah and His Prophet go to hell, we are worried about securing forgiveness for our own selves.  If we are forgiven because of our love for the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam), then there is no one luckier than us.  Almighty Allah has promised the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam):

 

 

Let any person who has complete faith in the Day of Judgment and its happenings read just this verse of the Holy Quran and this Hadith and see whether the love of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) exceeds love for one’s own self or not.

 

            It is established by rigorously authenticated Hadith that on the Day of Judgment, the wrath and anger of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) will be expressed in such a manner that it will not have any parallel before or after it.  First of all the anger of Allah and then with such intensity that from the beginning of time it will have no parallel.  Neither in the time of Hadhrat Nuh (May peace be upon him) nor at any other time after him.  Although the disbelievers will be under the wrath of Allah for all eternity, but even that wrath will be less when compared to the wrath of this day.

 

            This anger can be understood with this that the Prophets about whom there is no doubt that they are those who are close to Almighty Allah, even they will be worried about their own selves on that day.  Even Hadhrat Ibrahim (May peace be upon him) in spite of being the friend (Khaleel) of Almighty Allah will be worried about his own self.  All the human beings and genies will seek intercession from the Prophets (May peace be upon them).  All the Prophets (May peace be upon them) will tell them the anger of Almighty Allah is of such intensity that let alone intercession, we are worried about our own selves as to what will be result of those slipups which happened with us as a result of human nature.  At that time, there will be a ringing silence all around.  Neither the angels will dare say something nor will the Prophets dare to.  Then that day will be as long as 50,000 years as Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran:

 

On that day, there will be a lot of things to be decided, presentation of deeds, judgment s about fulfillment of rights, reckoning and each of them will be taxing and bewildering.  The rights of Allah will be reckoned in such a manner that each action and deed of the whole lifetime will be presented and every now and then one is being asked as to why he/she did this against the command of Almighty Allah and the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) and why he/she didn’t do this and why did you sit at such a place and why did you say such a thing and so on.  Even if someone denies having done something, the hands, feet, etc. will give witness that this person is a liar.  He himself used us for such things.  As Almighty Allah says in the Holy Quran:

 

 

The rights of fellow human beings will be dealt with in such a way that every person will be thinking about their own deliverance.  In the anxiety of getting their sins reduced, every person will demand whatever rights are due to him/her no matter how small it is and will demand that if that person doesn’t have enough virtues then their sins should be laden on that person and that person will be running away from this as Almighty Allah says:

 

These are those persons who will have been doing this person favors in his/her earthly life