How to Love Prophet Muhammad – peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- properly?
Question:
Assalamu’alaikum. May you be well.
How could we realize our love to the Messenger of Allah, since one’s faith is not perfect until he becomes the most beloved to us?
Secondly, what is the real understanding of following the sunnah? Whereas we still hesitate even to pray on congregation, moreover the other sunnah; is such person is still said as following the sunnah or acknowledged as the follower of the Prophet?
Answer:
Wa’alaikum salam. Amin.
Among the ways to realize our love to the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- are:
- Prioritizing his sayings above all sayings, whether it came from Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, Abu Hanifah, Imam Ash Shafi’i, and other imams, even our own saying, if it clashed with his saying, -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-.
- Studying his sunnah and knowledges, and practicing those sunnah and teachings in the real life.
- Attempting to aid the establishment and propagation of his sunnah with our money and soul.
- Do not change his religion, by making or practicing innovations in worshipping activities or reducing it, because it means that one who did it assumed that what the Messenger of Allah had conveyed to us was still lacking, thus it needed some addition.
- Sunnah in Arabic language means “a way”. The Prophet’s sunnah means the way of life of the Prophet. Thus, basically, the Prophet’s sunnah means Islam itself. And following the sunnah means following the authentic teaching of Islam that was brought by the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him-, which sourced from the Qur’an and the hadith, with the understanding of the companions and those who followed their footsteps decently.
- The follower of Prophet Muhammad -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- are those who testified the two testimonies, believing in the six basic tenets of faith, practicing other pillars of Islam, and do not commit anything that could nullify his Islam.
As for any lack or laziness in practicing other righteous deeds, then this flaw doesn’t nullify their Islam. They are still considered as the followers of Prophet Muhammad, but with lacking in following the their Prophet’s teaching.
As for the saying of the Messenger of Allah -peace and prayer of Allah be upon him- below:
فَمَنْ رَغِبَ عَنْ سُنَّتِي فَلَيْسَ مِنِّي
“Whoever detests my sunnah, then he isn’t from my people.” (Narrated by Al Bukhari and Muslim).
What it means with “isn’t from my people” is, he is not among those who follows my guidance. Thus, it doesn’t mean that the person is expelled from Islam. Rather, he is a muslim who is lacking in following the guidance of his Prophet.
And Allah knows best.
Answered by: Ustadz Abdullah Roy, MA (one of the lecturer at the Prophet’s mosque in Medina)
Article of www.whatisquran.com