Love Part 3

This is Love!

During the Hajj season, somebody put a comment on social media which is so profound and dynamic. They said, ‘Muhammad ﷺ had passed away fourteen hundred years ago, yet he remains the most visited man on the planet’. This is love!

We looked at Allah’s love for Rasoolullah ﷺ. Now let us look at the love that the ummah has for Rasoolullah ﷺ.

Imagine what degree of love Khadija رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنهَا had for Rasoolullah ﷺ. This was a woman, who was the most affluent woman in Makkah, yet for the three years that they were boycotted in the Valley of Abu Talib, there was no food to eat. Sa’ad ibn abi Waqqas رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنه said ‘to alleviate the pangs of hunger, we would chew on leaves.’ Now, if a woman suffers out of love for her husband that is remarkable, but if a woman sees her own children suffering and yet endures that suffering for the sake of her husband, then that is something remarkable.

Faatima رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنهَا was a small baby in those three years, when she used to cry out of hunger, her cries used to echo in those valleys. The average mother cannot tolerate it if the child cries in the middle of the night; that is the love of a mother. Here was a woman whose children were suffering for three years, but she endured it, and remained loyal to her husband out of love for Rasoolullah ﷺ.

Abu Talib who was not even a Muslim but loved his nephew so much, that he was willing to suffer the same persecution. He was even willing to put his life on the line for Rasoolullah ﷺ. This love is a quality and a value that this Ummah needs to rediscover and reactivate.

Today you may meet a revert and ask them, ‘What is your greatest desire?’ They will most likely respond, ‘I want my parents to become Muslim.’ Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنه was the greatest Muslim after the Ambiyaa. He was the first to accept Islam from among the males. For thirteen years that he was in Makkah, his father did not accept Islam. For the eight years whilst in Madinah, his father did not accept Islam. Imagine what went through the heart of Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنه knowing that his father was not a Muslim. Upon the conquest of Makkah, his father, Abu Quhafah, finally told him, ‘I am ready to accept Islam.’ He was old and blind, and his back was hunched, Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنه brought him into the Noble company of Rasoolullah ﷺ and what was the remark of Rasoolullah ﷺ, worthy of being inscribed in gold? The Nabi of Allah said, ‘Abu Bakr, he is an old man, why did you inconvenience him by bringing him to me? You should have told me; I would have gone to him’. What character values and qualities were displayed by our Rasool ﷺ. Now Abu Quhafah stretched his hands to take the Bay’at of Islam. As his hands touched the hands of Rasoolullah ﷺ, Abu Bakr رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنه broke down. He was sobbing uncontrollably. The Sahabah رَضِيَ اللهُ عَنهُم congratulated him, they said, ‘Congratulations on your tears of joy that today your greatest dream has come true… your father has accepted Islam!’ He said, ‘No, no, I am not crying tears of joy, I am crying tears of regret. My greatest wish was for my father to accept Islam. My Nabi’s greatest wish was for his uncle to accept Islam. I am crying out of regret that if only today Abu Talib was still alive, I would have pulled back the hand of my own father, I would have left my dream unfulfilled, I would have pushed forward the hand of the uncle of Rasoolullah ﷺ so that my dream could be sacrificed for the dream of Rasoolullah ﷺ. My wish could be sacrificed for the wish of Rasoolullah ﷺ.’

This is true love. This Deen is the Deen of love. Allah’s teachings are underpinned by love. This Nabi is a Nabi of love. He loved and he was loved. Forget what outsiders think of us as Muslims, when are we going to rediscover the value of this love? When are we going to become loving people? Understanding that this is the Deen of love, this is a Nabi of love, this is a Seerah of love, this is a legacy of love.

Imaam Maalik was a Muhaddith but he was equally a jurist, and a Faqih, so people would come to him to narrate Hadith or listen to Ahaadith, and they would also come to him to ask about Masaa’il, rulings. It is mentioned and documented that whenever someone came to him and asked him a ruling, he would give them the answer instantly. But if someone came to him and asked him, ‘Narrate Hadith to me,’ he would first go home, take a bath, put on new clothing, apply itr, don his Imamah, and then come back into the Masjid. Only then would he narrate the words of Rasoolullah ﷺ. Such love is unparalleled in human history.

Even Abu Sufyaan, when he was speaking to the leaders of the major empires of the time, had to concede that the love the Sahaba displayed for Rasoolullah ﷺ is sometimes even beyond human comprehension.

This is also part of the Sunnah of Rasoolullah ﷺ. Where is this love amongst us today?  What is in our hearts? Besides the malice, the greed, animosity, and jealousy? How much place have we left for love? A genuine love for people. The world has become so materialistic, and individualistic, and people have become so self-centred that that love which was a given… love for your spouse, parents, and children is no longer freely given today. Yet this is the Deen of love. This is the Nabi of love. This is the Sunnah of love.

{Extracted and adapted from Volume One of the book In Pursuit of Purpose by Ml Sulaimaan Ravat}