To Truly Love Prophet Is to Practice His Sunnah In All Things
Mawlana Shaykh Hisham Kabbani
7 January 2011 Burton, Michigan
Jumu`ah Khutbah at As Siddiq Mosque
O Muslims, Believers! This is Friday and a holy day. Allah (swt) rewarded Muslims by giving them Fridays, where people meet and know each other. The only thing that we want to know something about is why Allah (swt) sent us on this Earth, when He said in a Hadeeth Qudsi:
كنت كنزا مخفياً فأحببت أن أعرف فخلقت الخلق
Kuntu kanzan makhfiyyan fa ahbabtuhu an u`rafa fa khalaqtuhu ‘l-khalq.
I was a Hidden Treasure (and) I wanted to be known, so I created Creation.
Why does Allah (swt) want to be known? He wants His sincere servants to know that He molded and created from His Beautiful Name, "al-Khaliq". He wanted them to know one thing: to love Him! The One Who created you wants you to love Him, not to love anything from His Creation, because His Creation is not going to live forever. He is Azaaliyoon Abaadiyoon, existing from pre-Eternal to post-Eternal!
Allah (swt) wants you not to share anything in your heart with Him, that is why He tested Sayyidina Ibrahim (a) with his son, Sayyidina Ismail (a), saying, "Your heart is only for Me." He also tested Sayyidina Y`aqoob (a) with his son, Sayyidina Yusuf (a), as examples for us, saying, "Yaa Y`aqoob! There can be no one else in your heart but Me. You have to love Me, not anyone else."
That is why Prophet (s) said in the famous hadith:
Man `arafa nafsahu faqad `arafa Rabbahu.
Who knows his self knows his Lord.
He wants to express that you don't love only by tongue saying, "I love you," but also by action. It means when you love someone, any good you like for yourself, you also like for them. Any benefits you receive, you share with them. That is why Prophet (s) shared with his ummah. He will make sure his ummah will all go to Paradise; he will not leave them. If your imaan is strong your love will be strong, and if your love is strong your imaan will be strong, so it depends on how you understand yourself. Don't let your ego prevent you from knowing your Lord, because then you are preventing yourself from knowing your self. If you lose your love, you lose your faith. Prophet (s) said, "If you love me, you will love what I have done (my sunnah)."
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ وَاللّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ
How can you show your love? By following the actions of Prophet (s), who said in a hadith:
Man ahya sunnatee faqad ahabanee, wa man ahabanee, kana ma`iya fi 'l-jannah.
Who revives my sunnah loves me, and who really loves me will be with me in Paradise.
And it is very well known that the sunnah of Prophet (s) is what he was doing. So you have to follow that, especially avoiding backbiting as Prophet (s) never did that to anyone, and you cannot do it as well. But we are losing our faith and our love. He said, "Who loves me will follow my way, and he will be in Paradise," meaning, if you observe the sunnah of Prophet (s) you will be in Paradise. Are we following the sunnah of Prophet (s) today? We are leaving behind too many sunnahs, only doing a little bit, going for Jumu’ah and running back, making our prayers and running back. We are not doing anything of what Prophet (s) was doing.
O Muslims! Don't lose your identity of Islam! We have begun to loose it. What is your identity? How do we know each other as Muslims? When you go anywhere you have to show your ID, your picture; we are losing our picture, so how must we restore it? It is to show our love to Prophet (s), to understand what Allah (swt) gave to him He did not give anyone else. Respect to Prophet (s) has to be above everything and respect for your religion has to be first. Today people feel shy to say they are Muslim. Prophet (s) said, "Love me." Revive the sunnah of Prophet (s) and don't let people look down on us as haqq is Islam.
Allah (swt) said:
وَقُلْ جَاء الْحَقُّ وَزَهَقَ الْبَاطِلُ إِنَّ الْبَاطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقًا
Wa qul: ja'a al-haqq wa zahaqa 'l-baatil inna 'l-baatila kaana zahooqa.
Say (O Muhammad),“Haqq (Truth) has come and baatil (falsehood) has perished.” (al-'Israa', 17:81)
There is no question about it. So be happy you are Muslim, that Allah granted it to us. It is not because you are clever that you became Muslim, no. It is because Allah (swt) grants. Man `arafa nafsahu faqad `arafa Rabbahu, "Who knows his self knows his Lord."
Prophet (s) said:
La yu'minoo ahadukum hatta akoona ahabba ilayhi min waladidhi wa walidihi wa 'n-naasee ajma`een wa min nafsih illadhee bayna jambayy.
You are not considered a believer until you love me more than you love your son, your father, and all of humanity, and love me more than yourself.
You are not considered a believer; however, you will be considered a Muslim, but not a believer, not until you love Prophet (s) more than anyone you love in this world. Do you love Prophet (s) more than your children? No, we think our children are going to be our saviors. It is not true. The only thing that will save you will be shafa`at un-nabee. That is why he said, "Love me more than yourself. If you want to be saved, you have to love me more than your brothers, sisters, parents, children, or the whole world." And what did he say at the end? Not only do you have to love Prophet (s) more than your family and whole world, but also :more than yourself, what is between your two sides,” meaning the soul.
What does he mean by "love me more than your self?" The self is always in action; the body might stop but the self never stops or the soul goes out and you are dead. It means in every moment the self is making you forget about it, because then you would know your Lord! Prophet (s) wanted you to love him more by remembering him by Allah's order:
إِنَّ اللَّهَ وَمَلَائِكَتَهُ يُصَلُّونَ عَلَى النَّبِيِّ يَا أَيُّهَا الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا صَلُّوا عَلَيْهِ وَسَلِّمُوا تَسْلِيمًا
inna 'Llaha wa malaa'ikatahu yusalloona `ala 'n-nabi, yaa ayyuha 'Lladheena aamanoo salloo `alayhi was sallimoo tasleemaa.
Verily, Allah and His angels send praise on the Prophet. O Believers! Pray upon him and greet him. (al-'Ahzaab, 33:56)
O Believers! Send salawaat and prayers on Prophet (s) in every moment of your life, continuously, without stopping. We have to say salaawat even if we are not opening our mouth! Prophet (s) is so important that we have to mention him in every moment, everywhere; to our communities, to our children, to ourselves, so Allah (swt) will be happy with us. Allah (swt) said:
قُل لَّا أَسْأَلُكُمْ عَلَيْهِ أَجْرًا إِلَّا الْمَوَدَّةَ فِي الْقُرْبَى
Qul laa as'alukum `alayhi ajran illa al-mawaddata fi 'l-qurbah.
Say, "I do not ask you for a reward except the love of my family." (ash-Shura, 42:23)
Allah (swt) wants the family of the Prophet (s) to be loved more than you love yourself, between your two sides.
O Muslims! If we really keep the love of Prophet (s) in our lives, our lives will go back to normal and all our difficulties will be taken away, as the same One Who gave the problems can take them away. Allah (swt) tested His prophets, who were straight-forward and they never went back. If we see something we are not able to accept, our faith will go down and we will begin to complain. When you make salaawat, it will take darkness from the heart and bring light to the heart.
Allah (swt) said:
اللَّهُ نُورُ السَّمَاوَاتِ وَالْأَرْضِ مَثَلُ نُورِهِ كَمِشْكَاةٍ فِيهَا مِصْبَاحٌ
Allahu nooru 's-samaawaati wa 'l-ardi mathala noorihi ka-mishkaat feehaa misbaah.
Allah is the Light of the Heavens and Earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp. (an-Noor, 24:35)
It means, "the Light that enlightens everything will come to your heart." His Light is like a lantern.
Neither My Heavens nor My Earth contain Me, but the heart of My believing servant contains Me. (Hadith Qudsi)
That Light will be contained in the heart of the believer and will bring it tranquility. May Allah bring tranquility to our hearts and to our communities.
(Du`a)
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