Love of our Prophet (Peace be upon him)
It’s hard, living away from a man we love so much. It’s hard, not being able to see his blessed face ourselves, or smell the sweet smell that he was famous for emitting.
It is hard not having witnessed the epitome of human mercy. It is hard not being able to hear his blessed voice reciting the Quran. But most of all, it is hard not knowing – would he love me if he knew me? My brothers, take comfort in the fact that he loved you more than you can even imagine.
We know that the relationship between the messenger (peace be upon him) and the companions was a very unique relationship. They loved him greatly and it was easy to see that he loved them as well.
There are plentiful examples of the mercy he showed upon the people in his time. One of the examples is at Eid-ul-Adha, he would sacrifice on his behalf and upon the behalf of people who could not afford to sacrifice.
Also when he ascended to the heavens, he took the opportunity in his meeting with Allah SWT to reduce the burden of prayers from 50 daily to 5 daily all the while keeping the reward for us of the original 50 prayers.
Further examples of his mercy towards his people was when the suffering of the muslims was too much to bear in Mecca, the prophet, peace be upon him, instructed his companions to go to Abysinnia to escape the suffering.
The companions believed in the message that he brought from Allah SWT whilst many of his tribe mocked and ridiculed him. They were by his side in the tough times, willing to sacrifice their very own lives for him. One can often wish and crave that we were in their shoes, loving the prophet (peace be upon him) wholeheartedly and being loved by him.
Our Prophet (peace be upon him) love for his people is described by Allah SWT in Sura Toba, ayat 128:
Verily, there has come unto you a messenger from amongst yourselves. It grieves him when you suffer; he is concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.
Our beloved messenger, peace be upon him, a few days before the greatest calamity, his own death, was walking by his companions and spoke the following words which fill any Muslim’s heart with joy and comfort. He said to his companions:
I wish that I could meet my brothers
Upon first hearing this statement, it can be easy to assume that the beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, is talking about the previous prophets or messengers from the past. The companions with him were also confused and so they asked him:
Are we not your brothers?
To which our beloved Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, replied:
You are my companions, my brothers are those who will believe in me, without having seen me.
My brothers, think about the above for a moment. He yearned to meet each and every one of us. His heart was filled with true love for us; the ones who believe in him yet have not seen him, and if there is one thing we know about the love of the Prophet, peace be upon him, it is that it was not superficial love.
There is no greater feeling in this world than to love and be loved back. Now imagine loving the best of all creation and knowing for a fact that he loved you right back.
One final example of this demonstration of love and probably the most valuable for you and I is a Sahih Bukhari hadith in which Abu Hurairah narrated:
The beloved messenger stated “Each and every messenger had one duaa or supplication accepted and I am saving mine for the Day of Judgement to use to help my people”
May Allah SWT generate that undiminishing love for our beloved Prophet, peace be upon him, in our hearts. May we be included in those whom he speaks about when he says ‘my brothers are those who will believe in me, without having seen me’. And may we be blessed with his blessed companionship in Jannah and never again have to be separated from our beloved sal Allahu alayhi wa salam.
Ameen wal hamdullilahi rabilalameen
