Love for the Beloved Prophet Muhammad, by Imam Abdullah Al-Haddad

Love for the Beloved Prophet Muhammad — “And know that the loftiest of exemplars, the most noble and the greatest and the most binding to all Muslims is the Messenger of Allah, Allah bless him and grant him peace: verily he is by unanimous agreement the Greatest Exemplar.

And the obligation due to him is the greatest after that of Allah; and the adab with him the most emphasised of the adab and obediences. For whosoever loves him and immensely esteems him, he has indeed loved Allah and whosoever obeys him has indeed obeyed Allah.

Says Allah, the Exalted: ‘Say, if ye do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. For Allah is the Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful’ (âl-‘Imran: 31).

And says the Exalted: ‘He who obeys the Apostle, obeys Allah’ (an-Nisaa: 80).

And says the Exalted: ‘So take what the Apostle assigns to you, and deny yourselves that which he withholds from you. And fear Allah; for Allah is strict in punishment’ (al-Hashr: 7).

And says the Exalted: ‘Then let those beware who withstand the Apostle’s order, lest some trial befall them, or a grievous Penalty be inflicted on them’ (an-Nur: 63).

And says the Exalted: ‘Verily, those who plight their fealty to thee do no less than plight their fealty to Allah: the Hand of Allah is over their hands: then anyone who violates his oath, does so to the harm of his own soul, and any one who fulfils what he has covenanted with Allah, Allah will soon grant him a great reward’ (al-Fat’h: 10).

And says the Exalted: ‘So it is those who believe in him, honour him, help him and follow the light which is sent down with him – it is they who will prosper’ (al-A’araf: 157).

And says the Exalted: ‘O who believe! Raise not your voices above the voice of the Prophet, nor speak aloud to him in talk, as ye may speak aloud to one another, lest your deeds become vain and ye perceive not. Those who lower their voice in the presence of Allah’s Apostle – their hearts has Allah tested for piety: for them is Forgiveness and a great reward’ (al-Hujurat: 2-3).

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘One of you does not believe until I become dearer to him than the soul that lies between the two sides’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘One of you does not believe until his desire follows what I have come with’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace of Allah: ‘Were Musa and Isa alive, they cannot but follow me’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘Whosoever obeys me, has indeed obeyed Allah and whosoever disobeys me has indeed disobeyed Allah’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘All of you will enter paradise except those who refuse’. And they said: ‘And who refuses?’ And said he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘Whoever obeys me enters Paradise, and whosoever disobeys me has indeed refused’. And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘Who annoys me, annoys Allah and whosoever annoys Allah, He puts him into Hell’.

And what goes to perfect love to him and high esteem and beneficient adab towards him, blessings and peace be upon him, is love for the people of his house and his companions, esteem for them and respect.

Says Allah, the Exalted: ‘Say (O Prophet): no reward do I ask of you except the love of those near of kin’ (ash-Shura: 23).

And says the Exalted: ‘The vanguard (of Islam), the first of those who foresook (their home) and of those who gave them aid, and (also) who followed them in (all) good deeds – well-pleased is Allah with them, as they are with Him’ (at-Tawbah: 100).

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace of Allah: ‘Love Allah for such of His bounties as He nourishes you with, and love me because you love Allah and love the people of my House because you love me’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace to ‘Abbas, may Allah be pleased with him: ‘Iman does not enter the heart of one until they love you for the sake of Allah and for your nearness to me’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace, to Fatima and ‘Ali and al-Hassan and al-Husayn, may Allah be pleased with them: ‘I am at war with those you are at war with and at peace with those you are at peace with’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace, in the hadith of Zayd bin Arqam, may Allah be pleased with them: ‘And my issues are the people of my house. I remind you, in the Name of Allah, about people of my house’.

And says Abubakr, may Allah be pleased with him: ‘Have a conscientious regard to Muhammad in the people of his house’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘Uphold me in my companions; do not take them as targets after me; whosoever loves them loves them because of my love; and whosoever is disaffected against them is disaffected against them because of disaffection against me; and whosoever molests them has indeed molested me; and whosoever molests me has indeed invoked the wrath of Allah and whoever invokes the wrath of Allah risks penalty from Him’.

And says he, upon whom be blessings and peace: ‘Do not abuse my companions. Verily, in the Name of Him in Whose Hands my soul is: were one of you to spend the like of the mountain of Uhud in gold he would not attain the rank of one of them, not even half of it’.

Let a Muslim, who is solicitous about his religion therefore, beware of hating a member of the house of the Apostle, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, or one of his companions because that harms his religion and his Hereafter. And because of it, he gets counted among those who offend His Prophet and annoy him, Allah bless him and grant him peace. Let him love them and praise them on account of good (in them) in the same manner as Allah has praised them as well as His Apostle.”

Extracted from Ad-da ‘wa-tut-taammah of Imam ‘Abdallah Ibn ‘Alawi al-Haddad (ra). Translated by Shaykh Mohamed Mlamali Adam.