As Muslims we believe that the best creature of Allah’s creature is the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).
To us he is more important than our children, our wives, than our all soles. For us he is the idol that we look up in every single thing we do and from him we obtain the knowledge that makes us know our lord, makes us know who we are and makes us know where we are headed too and these are very important questions that people all around the world fail to find answers to.
If we look at societies we find that every one is working as hard as possible to gain money, to live, to prosper without any destination while our prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) lived and died teaching us how to reach the satisfaction and level of every one of us and how to reach what pleases Allah so throughout our lives we have his biography, we have his teachings to fallow and this would leave us to prosperity in this life and the hereafter.
The more you talk about the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) the more people love him. It is essential to be equipped with knowledge, because you can not teach people without the proper curriculum and the proper knowledge to convey to them so first of all you yourself you have to know the biography of the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) how he lived, how he communicated and the things that people should know about him.
One of the things that makes us admire the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) more than others prophet, though we respect all the prophets and messengers of Allah, is that if you look at the biography of previous messengers and prophets you will not find any, you will not find any short or detailed biography of the prophets before the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), you don’t know their wives’ names or how they behaved with them, you don’t know anything about their upbringing and what the people thought of them.
With our prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) we know every single detail that took place when his father married his mother until the day he died. We know his wives names, his children names, his companions, who was responsible to do this and who was responsible to do that.
We love the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) because we know he is a human being, he never claimed to be a God, he never asked people to worship him and at the same time we know and we admire the honesty and integrity that he had before the revelation because the pagans used to call him by the “Amin” (the honest one) and before revelation he never prostrated to an idol, he never slaughtered an animal as a sacrifice to them, he know that one creator created this Universe and we suppose to worship him.
Without loving the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) we can not complete the level of faith, we can not became a complete believer. The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) said that: “none of you will reach the level of iman, of faith until I (that is the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) become more precious to you than your family, your propriety and then his soul that is within. So you can’t reach, complete the level of iman, faith until you love the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) more than anything else.
How can we love him to that extant? By the simple feeling and love, by wanting to see him, learning his teachings and applying them into you.
When you say that you love the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) then it’s a claim and all claims have to be proven, how can you prove your love to the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)? It’s simple, it’s your action and deeds and the level of love increases the more you fallow the prophet and decrease the less you do that.
There is natural love than nobody can dispute about this and there is the rational love. Now you are supposed to have the rational love to the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and this overwhelms all kinds of love. Natural love is the one you have for your children, towards your wife, towards your parents, towards your self, but rational love means that if there is a conflict between what the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) teaches and between what my family needs and what my desire require, who do you put front? Would it be the love of the prophet and his teachings or your own desires and your family? This is the love we are talking about as long as the the prophet’s love comes first. Islam doesn’t tell you to sacrifice your children, it tells you to put upfront the love for the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and that is why when the Prophet said the hadith that I’ve mentioned earlier Omar ibn Khatab (radhi allahu anhu) said: “O, Prophet of Allah you are more precious to me then my family, then my kids, then my property, then my parents, but myself, my soul?
So the Prophet said: “O, Omar you will not become a true believer until you complete this”. So he contemplated a little and then said: “That’s true, if I have to choose between my life and the prophets, what would I do? I would sacrifice my own life for the life of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)”, so Omar said: “O prophet of Allah, you are more precious to me than my life, my family, my parents, my property and my soul”. So the Prophet told him: “now Omar you have completed all aspects of faith (iman)”.
So this is what the love for the Prophet means, always following his instructions if there are any conflicts between your desires and your family requires. If you chose the instructions of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) then you are a believer. By far reading the Holly Quran and knowing the status of the Prophet at the side of Allah increases your iman.
Just to know that the Messenger of Allah (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was the chosen one, was the one that Allah loved the most and preferred him over all the messengers gives him a special position in your hart. Going through his biography, and reading how he treated his enemies, his loves one, how he was kind to does who abused him, attacked him, slaughtered his beloved ones, killed his uncle Hamza, yet he forgave them.
To see the amount of love and forgiveness with the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) by no doubt all of this increase your love for the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)
(13:35)…..those 2 came to Abdur Rahman ibn Auf and each one came to his side trying not to let the other one hear what he says .
Before the battle of Badr, where the companions where 1 third of the enemies and the enemies where full and armored while the Muslims did not have anything except their swords, because they did not anticipate that they are going to fight. And each one of this companions was whispering into Abdur Rahman ears, telling him: “do you know Abu Jamal?” (the head of the pagans) He said: “yes, what do you want from him?” and each one of them told Abdur Rahman that:
“I’d like to see this man in battle and chop his head of f because I heard that he insulted our Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)”, so they wanted one thing in their life and that is to kill the person who insulted our Messenger (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), of course this was that battle, so this indicates an amount of love in this teenagers, that they are wiling to sacrifice their lives for the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).
Nowadays we do not ask our youth to sacrifice them at all or to kill anyone for the love and sake of the Prophet because that was a battle field, nowadays we do not have any battle fields at the moment, so if someone insults the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) you have to be extremely angry, but you have to measure your actions so you do not harm Islam and you do not do something that would displease the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) .
There are so many hadiths about the miracles of the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam
), that even objects used to sense his presence. The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) sais that: “I used to know a particular stone in Mecca that even before the revelation used to great me”.
The Prophet ( salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) used to deliver the Friday speech near the trunk of a tree, and it’s not alive, it’s an object and it’s not even a tree with ruts. It’s a trunk that has been chopped of f, and when the Prophet was given steps to stand on, they heard the cry of that trunk, because the Prophet did not use it. There are so many things that prove the love of the companions, of objects to the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). It’s enough to know that the Angels of Allah all respect and know him, that the messengers in heaven know our prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and this love is interpreted in so many ways.
Some may limit their love to the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) in seeing him in their dreams. What significance is there behind this? The prophet says (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) “the one that has seen me in his dream then he has seen me, this is an honor to see the prophet in your dreams, but providing it is his description.
So if you see the prophet in your dreams as a 5 foot tall man, then this is not the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) because he was not that short. His description is well known, it’s well documented. Unfortunately some sects of Islam they go out of their way in loving the prophet more than he instructed. We have extremes and we have the middle nation, ummah. The extremers are on both sides.
One think that the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) was a normal man, he has no importance, he is died, he did his message and that’s it and the call him by name, they say: “Muhammad did this, Muhammad went to Medina” without saying salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam, without saying prophet Muhammad, or messenger Muhammad and of course, this is complete ignorance of his right. At the far end we find people giving the prophet attributes that are only for Allah, by saying “he knows the unseen, he can tell or for seek the future, the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) can intercede at the moment for us, so when you pray ask him directly” and this is all associating others with Allah.
The prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told us not to do so, he told us “do not go to the extreme, in flattering me like the Christians did with Jesus Christ, who was and still is a messenger of Allah and they’ve elevated him to a level that he never claim to have, the son of Allah, and Allah does not have a child, or a wife.
The prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told us that he is a messenger and a slave and unfortunately now a days we have sects in Islam that pretend and claim to be loving the Prophet, yet they are out of his way, they are not following the sunnah, they are not following his sharia, they think that by singing, and chanting, gathering and calling his name they portray their love for the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).
I once read a book of one of their scholars who said that if you say Allahuma salli ala Muhammad, if you pray on the Prophet, if you praise him 500 times a day, you will not die until you see him alive in front of you. This is really funny because if he said: “you will not die until you see him in your dreams I would have comprehended that” but this man says: “you will not die until you see him face to face” and how is that going to happened?
He is dead. And some of them say that we have visited the grave of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), we loved him so much that all of the sudden a hand came out of the grave and we shucked hands with the prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and this is nonsense. I tell you if you think that the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) is alive in his grave why don’t you dig out? This extreme takes the people away from Islam, it puts them in a mythical environment that they only chant, sing, pretend that this love is sufficient and they don’t need to do something else.
How to defend the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)?
You have to defend him as if you are defending your own parents, so if someone slanders your parent, your father, or talks about him in a wrong manner, you defend your reputation, your father by talking back to him. If someone talks bad about your father you should defend the reputation of your father, not by attacking his father, but if you do, you have all the right to do so. That’s why the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) told his companions: “do not curse your own parent” and the companions asked: “prophet, how can one curse his own father?” the prophet said: “simple, by cursing someone else father and he in return curses your own father”. If someone curses your father you may not respond in the same way. I know the emotions are other and people insult us every day and we try to communicate with them and respond to them, but we never kill them.
When someone insults our Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) we have to know a few things: no matter what they do Allah has exalted his name, so no matter what they do people will always look up to him and it would be a cause for others to revert to Islam. When this campaign to defend the name of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) began lots of the non-Muslims wanted to know who is this Muhammad, so they surfed the internet, they started buying books and once they have encountered the majestic character of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) they embraced Islam.
Secondly, whatever you do is going to reflect on Islam, it’s like a public relation campaign. Whatever you do you have to put in your mind that “I am defending Islam, if I make the wrong mistake this is going to be interpreted in the wrong fashion” and that is why when embassies where attached instead of being the victims, we became the oppressors and people forget about our Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) the good things he did and how we where trying to defend him and they took this minority and magnified to portray Islam and Muslims. And this is of course the role of Media. Islam does not allow this acts, it is completely forbidden to do this kind of acts.
Can we make dua for the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)? Can we see him as a mediator so that my dua is accepted?
In the Quran Allah is blaming those who worship idols and he is condemning this and Allah is telling us their justification, they claim that they are only worshiping these idols so that they would grow closer to Allah.
In Islam we do not get closer to Allah except by worshiping Him alone. The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) tried his best during his life to protect Allah’s sanctuary, he tried his best not to allow others to associate others with Allah by telling them that “this is Allah, He is the creator, he is the One that gives life and death, you can not associate me with Him”. That is why when people used to go to the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) and tell him “you are our master and your father was our master” he used to tell them “the master is Allah”. This means that you may not ask the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) unless he is alive, that is why the companions used to go to the Prophet and tell him: “O, Prophet of Allah we have this problem, can you ask Allah, can you pray to Allah, because you are present and you are closer to Allah”. This is acceptable.
After the death of the Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) if you go and ask him or pray to him is like associating him to Allah, because he is dead and he does not hear what you say to him and he does not answer your prayer. We don’t have anyone as an intermediate between us and Allah, not like other religions, if you have a problem go and communicate with Allah.
The best dua would be to pray for the Prophet, which is Allahuma salli ‘ala Muhammad wa’ala ali Muhammad kama sallayta’ala Ibraheemma wa’ala ali Ibraheema innaka hameedum-majeed. Allahumma narik’ala Muhammad wa’ala ali Muhammad kama barakta’ala ibraheema wa’ala ali Ibraheema innaka hameedum-majeed. O Allah, pray on Muhammad and on the followers of Muhammad .
Allah’s prayer is to exalt his mentioning among the angels, to raise and elevate his status in Paradise. This is the best prayer, the best format, which is called the prayer on the Prophet Muhammad, as salatu al- Ibrahimiyah.
Are there certain locations to pray on the Prophet? Yes of course, in prayer, when you are praying the 5 daily prayers or voluntary prayers it is not accepted if you do not pray on the Prophet at the final rakah, before you conclude the prayer.
Also it is highly recommended that you pray on the Prophet 10 times in the morning and 10 times in the evening and the Prophet has told us that whoever that will gets the right of intercession that means that the Prophet will intercede on him in the Day of Judgment by asking Allah to forgive his sins. And praying on the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) on the day of Friday and on the night of Friday, which means Thursday sunset, this means Friday night until the sunset of Friday, this is the day and night of Friday.
The Prophet salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam ) told us: “pray as much as possible on the day and night of Friday) because I will be told by angels that your nation is praying on me” and the Prophet (salla Allahu alahi wa sallam) says: “whoever prays on me 1, Allah prays on him 10 times”, which means that Allah will elevate his status in heaven.
The Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) says that every supplication that you make to Allah is blocked until you pray on the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), which means if you want Allah to give you money or to make marring a particular women easy to you, this is blocked, it will not reached the heavens until you pray on the Prophet Muhammad (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam). First of all you have to praise Allah by saying “Alhamdu li Allah” and so on, try to praise him as much as possible. After that you pray on the Prophet and then you say “O Allah, this particular women I’m interested in marring her, make this easy for me” Then your prayer will be accepted.
The great role plays on the media. If they only know what a great man Prophet was they will indeed love him, but when the media tends to convince or fail to show the people who the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) really is then all the misconceptions, all the bad ideas …..I’ve met a lot of westerners who were not here or there, they did not know anything about our prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) except what they have heard in the media, but they where relocated to believe the media themselves because they think that if the media talks about the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam) they have a hidden agenda. Once we talk with them and explain to them his attributes and how he lived they would immediately admire the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).
Lots of celebrities have classified him on the top of the most influential men in history and they where Christians by the way. Lots of influential people, people in power think highly of our Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), but we want the hole non-Muslim society to know about our prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), not necessarily to convert to Islam, this is up to them, but the least they could do is to read about our Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam), how he communicated with others and how he lived his life. We do not expect to do so unless they are encouraged by their media or by those committed to teach about the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam).
I think it is very easy to relive ourselves from the responsibility by saying “it is not our responsibility, is the responsibility of the Muslims living in the west and the Muslims in the west say “well this is not our responsibility because we lack knowledge, is the responsibility of the Muslims living in the Muslim world”.
Every one tend to throw the responsibility to someone else and whenever we face a problem the easy way to do it is that “this problem is the doing of those who came before us and those who will come after us are going to solve it”. I believe it is a collateral effort, we have to work together, we have to provide our brothers in the West with the knowledge, with the printing materials and they themselves as they know the societies they have more freedom to spread the message of the Prophet (salla Allahu alaihi wa sallam)