Even His Enemies Felt Love for Him
“Do you know the latest news, Abu Sufyan?”
It was after Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) had left Makkah. The Makkan elites, Abu Sufyan among them, had planned to kill him in the dead of the night, but he had escaped by Allah’s order. He was now living in Madinah, and Abu Sufyan was still his staunchest enemy.
“No, what is the news? Is it about Muhammad?”
“Yes. Abu Sufyan, Muhammad has married your daughter, Umm Habibah.”
A broad grin lit up Abu Sufyan’s face. He exclaimed in joy.
His daughter had made him so proud!
Our Love for Prophet Muhammad
Every Muslim kid has grown up knowing that you should love Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). If you don’t, then there’s something wrong with your faith.
After all, Prophet Muhammad himself said that you can’t taste the sweetness of faith till you love Allah and His messenger more than anyone else in the world. (Al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Every Muslim, even the one who doesn’t offer the five daily prayers, sends peace and blessings upon the Prophet. Whenever a non-Muslim insults him in some way, such as by making his cartoon, the Muslim world goes mad in protest.
Our Love for Prophet Muhammad
Is all that out of love for the Prophet Muhammad? Do we even know much about him, really?
How come we don’t know about the man we profess to love so much?
You can’t love a person by force. Love is an emotion. It won’t come because you’ve been told that you should feel it.
Let’s find better, more solid reasons for loving Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Don’t love him because you’re supposed to.
If you really get to know him, the love will overflow by itself. He’s that kind of person that even his enemy Abu Sufyan couldn’t help loving him behind the façade of hatred, and felt proud when his own daughter was married to him.
Here are four solid reasons for loving the man whom Allah sent “as a mercy to the worlds.” (21:107)
4 Reasons for Passionately Loving the Prophet Muhammad
1- He Was Incredibly, Mesmerizingly Handsome
When we think of someone, the first thing that comes to mind is his looks. It serves as a framework around which we build the image of his personality, block by block, in our mind.
What did the Prophet Muhammad look like? We find detailed descriptions of his appearance in books of Shama’il. The most popular of these is perhaps Shama’il al-Tirmidhi, and I highly recommend reading it.
These descriptions make one thing clear – that the Prophet Muhammad was incredibly handsome, unforgettably so. One look at him would be enough to tell you that he was someone special.
Some compared him to the sun, while others to the moon. He would stand out amongst other people like the sun overcomes the stars in the morning sky, or like the moon overshadows them in the evening. More than one companion has said:
I have never seen anyone like him, before or since.
2- He Had Achieved Perfection of Character
Make a list of virtues that you really admire: honesty, generosity, courage, loyalty, tact, empathy, humility, kindness, patience, assertiveness, integrity, modesty, and so on.
Now imagine all these virtues blended in one person, with perfect balance, and unalloyed by any vices. That is the character of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). He didn’t just outshine other people in his appearance; that was only the surface of the ocean of his good qualities.
He was the Quran personified; every virtue that the Quran recommends can be found in him. Allah Himself calls him:
… an excellent model for those of you who put your hope in God and the Last Day and remember Him often. (33:21)
3- He Called You His Brother/Sister and Wished to Meet You
One day, as he was standing in the graveyard with his companions, the Prophet Muhammad expressed a wish to see his brothers.
Brothers? The companions were surprised. One of them asked:
“Are we not your brothers?”
He replied:
You are my companions. My brothers are those who have not come yet.
That’s you and me.
On the Day of Judgment, if you are a true believer, you will reach the Prophet’s cistern, al-Kawthar, and find him eagerly waiting for you beside it. How happy will he be to see you! He will offer you a drink, a special fragrant drink of Paradise that will quench your thirst forever.
How will he recognize you? Your face, hands and feet will be shining because of wudu. (Ibn Majah 150)
He called you his brother/sister, and he really meant it. He dedicated his life to spreading the message of Islam, enduring countless struggles, so that the message reaches you and me, so that we know how to reach al-Kawthar, drink from it and walk, behind him, into Paradise.
4- He Reserved His Special Gift to Give it to You
Every prophet of Allah is given a special gift, a special supplication that is granted. All prophets have used up their special gift, except Prophet Muhammad. He kept it by, do you know why? So that he can supplicate to Allah on your behalf on the Day of Judgment.
On that day, every person, including the prophets and messengers, will be thinking of himself and his own sins. But Prophet Muhammad will be thinking of you. He will intercede for you, if you died as a true believer without associating anything with Allah. (Muslim 199) (Bukhari 4476)
This is just a very small glimpse of what loving the Prophet Muhammad means. To truly love him, we must study his biography and his sayings, as much as we can, because without that, our faith is incomplete.