Love in the Light of Prophecy By Ustadh
By Usama Canon | 2026-01-12T20:37:39.463296+00:00 | Topic: Love
Love in the Light of Prophecy
By Ustadh Usama Canon
Opening
I seek refuge in Allah from the accursed Satan. In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful.
Quran 33:40 - Muhammad was not the father of any of your men, but the Messenger of Allah and the Seal of the Prophets. And Allah is Knowing of all things.
Introduction
In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. I would like to begin by reiterating my thanks to Simply Islam and all of their supporters for inviting me and thank all of you for taking your time to bless this space this evening with your presence.
And most importantly thank Allah for the chance to be with a group of people in a place that is very dear to me. You might feel a bit of sadness in my tone and that's because I'm leaving Singapore in a couple of days, so I'm already sad. But I'm also very happy because this is a community that a topic like love never gets old in.
Some may say, well you all talked about love on, I believe it was Friday night last week or Saturday night last week, and now you're talking about love again. What's up with all of this love stuff? But this is a community of people who love Allah and who love Sayyidina Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم and because of that love, love one another.
The Verse About Divine Love
We talked about a verse from the Quran, verse 96 from Surah Maryam, where Allah says in meaning:
Quran 19:96 - Indeed for those who believe and who do good deeds, the Most Merciful will place love.
And we talked a little bit about this word wudda and the idea and the meaning of love that Allah talks about. And we said before we began our conversation specifically about husband and wife and love between husband and wife, we talked about three different ways that this love manifests and three different elements to it, if you will.
First Type: Love Between Servants and Allah
The first being love between the servants and God, that is to say between people and their Creator. Because the human being has attempted from the beginning to have a meaningful relationship with the Divine. And the height or the pinnacle of that relationship is when the human being realizes love for the Divine.
And this is according to the understanding of the scholars of the Islamic tradition, the height of and the kind of goal of the spiritual path is to attain the love for God and to attain love from God for oneself. And so we talked the other night about the love in this regard being bidirectional, that is to say between a human being and Allah, but also from Allah for the human being.
The Prophet as Habibullah
Our beloved Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم is described as Habibullah.
And the Arabs, anytime they have something that is important to them, they give that thing a lot of names. So if something has a lot of names in Arabic, it's indicative that the Arabs took that thing seriously. It was of import to them.
Love is one of the things that the Arabs gave a lot of different names to. There's more than one way to say love. And we began our comments the other night with the reflection upon the fact that we use love in English to refer to everything from pizza to our parents.
So when we say love, we've got to be a little bit more specific. What exactly are we talking about? But when he says that he is Habibullah صلى الله عليه وسلم it deserves a little bit of reflection upon the word Habib and where it comes from. The word comes from a word in Arabic that refers to a seed.
A Habba is a seed. You put a Habba in the ground and you water it, and then that thing becomes a plant and then eventually bears fruit. And so the word Mahabba, a Habba you Hibbu, to love, in this regard comes from a word that means something that is nurtured.
Someone who is Muhib is somebody who loves. So the Muhib for students of language is the active participle or the noun discussing the person who does the act of love. They are Muhib.
The object of their love is Mahboob, that is the beloved. So you have the Muhib and you have the Mahboob, the lover and the beloved. The word Habib in Arabic, it means both of those things in one word.
Are you all following me? It means what? Muhib and Mahboob in one word. So Habibullah is the lover of God and the beloved of Allah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Because no one has ever loved God more than
Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلمand no one has ever been more beloved by Allah than Sayyidina صلى الله عليه وسلم Muhammad
The Prophet's Teaching on Love
So the Prophet then, when he begins to talk to us about how to love Allah, he is not speaking from a place of theory. He is speaking from a place of prophetic realization. And in this regard he has more right than you, more right than I to talk about love.
Now, people love for different reasons. People love because somebody is beautiful. And so they fall in love with the object of their beauty, the object of their love because of their physical beauty.
People love, sometimes people love out of a place of awe. Sometimes people love because of a benefit that they have derived from that individual. And some people love their beloved simply because they are worthy of love.
It has nothing to do with any of those specific things aforementioned. It just has to do with how great the beloved is. So you love the beloved and it doesn't need any explanation.
Majnoon, why do you love Laila? Because she is Laila. But why do you love her? Because she is Laila. But why? Because she is Laila.
And trying to get Majnoon to explain how and why he loves Laila, it doesn't make any sense because he knows how he loves Laila. And he loves Laila so much that he loves the things that are connected to Laila. He is kissing the walls.
They said, why are you kissing the walls? He said, Laila passed down this road one day.
Arabic Poetry: أُقَبِّلُ ذَا الْجِدَارَ وَذَا الْجِدَارَ وَمَا حُبُّ الدِّيَارِ شَغَفْنَ قَلْبِي وَلَكِنْ حُبُّ مَنْ سَكَنَ الديار
I kiss this wall and I kiss that wall, not because the love of walls that has pierced my pericardium, but the love of the one who lived here.
So he loves Laila because she is Laila.
Love Based on Blessings
When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم begins to tell us why to love Allah, he is so gentle and so merciful and so kind that he makes it easy for somebody like me who needs an incentive. I'm not there yet. I haven't realized divine love in a way that I can say I love Allah just because He is Allah سبحانه وتعالى. That would be a lofty claim. I think few of us would be ready to make such a claim that you love Allah like Majnoon loves Laila. So he says:
(Hadith)
Love Allah because of the blessings that He gives you.
Love Allah because of what He does for you. Is Allah worthy of love if He never did anything for you? Absolutely. Is Allah great enough? Subhanahu.
Great enough for you to love Him because of His greatness? Absolutely. Is Allah beautiful enough for you to love Him because of His beauty? Subhanahu. Absolutely.
But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم knows that He's speaking to me. He's speaking to you. He says they need prophetic guidance. They need the conversation to be incentivized. They need a reason. They think, you know, sometimes some of them they have Janet Jackson mentality.
What have you done for me lately?
Love Allah because of the blessings that He gives you.
Enumerating Allah's Blessings
What have you done for me lately? What has Allah done for you lately? What did Allah do for you since you woke up this morning? Well everything any human being did for you since you woke up this morning, Allah did for you. So the breakfast that you ate and whoever made your breakfast, Allah جل وعز created that phenomenon for you to be able to eat your breakfast.
Then your lunch and the 15 other meals that you ate because you're in Singapore. I figured out your secret. You guys, you just eat a little bit all day long.
So in America they eat big meals. Here it's just one constant long meal. It's just little meals all day long.
All of the food you ate is from Allah سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى. The transportation, the clean water. But think about something even more subtle than that.
The breath that you were breathing, the breaths that you were taking while you were confused, while you were maybe sad, maybe even depressed, perhaps very happy, perhaps very delighted. That whole time angry, whatever, frustrated. You're breathing the whole time.
You had to be breathing to be mad. Breakfast is ready. You're breathing the whole time.
Whether you're obeying Allah, Inshallah, or disobeying Allah. You were breathing the whole time. What have you done for me lately?
Quran 14:34 - If you attempted to enumerate the blessings of God, you would not be able to do so.
And it's interesting that Allah in that verse, He doesn't say نِعَمَ الله He says نِعْمَةَ اللهِ . If you tried to enumerate the number of blessings in one of the blessings of Allah, you wouldn't be able to do so.
You all are an exceptionally intelligent audience. I wouldn't make such a claim for myself, but between all of us, could we in the next 15 minutes enumerate all of the blessings in water? Who thinks we could? Impossible.
Probably an hour, two hours, maybe an evening. If all we talk about for the rest of the night is, what are the blessings that you find in water? Quenching your thirst, cleaning yourself, cleaning your house, cleaning your car, etc. Water sports, wudu, ghusl, brushing your teeth, etc.
The perfect amount of hydrogen and oxygen balance in the air that you're breathing. How could you enumerate the blessings of just the blessing in water? You couldn't do it. Then what about air? Then what about food? Then what about safety? Etc.
And this is where you can go home and do homework. What has Allah done for me? What have you done for me lately? Everything. Even what you see as a test, as something difficult, even that is a blessing.
The Story of Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya
And this is why one of the great lovers, a woman named Rabi'a Al-Adawiyya. She was a very saintly woman. May Allah have mercy on her.
She loved Allah so much, she said, Allah, if I worship you out of desire for jannah, don't let me go there. And if I worship you out of fear for the fire, throw me in it. Because she loved Allah so much, I'm worshiping you, Allah, because you're Allah.
Not because I want jannah or because I'm afraid of the fire. There was three of the salaf that came to her. And they said, the first one said, blessed is a person who is not distracted from the tests that Allah gives them.
He said, excuse me, blessed is a person who is patient with the tests that Allah gives him. She said, what a lowly person. Patience is a good thing. What do you mean what a lowly person? She said, what a lowly person, that's nothing. So the next one said, blessed is a person who's grateful when they have difficulty, when they have tribulation come to them from Allah. She said, Then the next one said, blessed is a person who enjoys the tribulation that they receive from Allah.
She said, Oh, that we could fit in any one of those categories. Patience, gratitude, enjoying the difficulty. So they gave up.
They said, okay, what's the answer? She said, blessed is a person who's not distracted by the tribulation from the one trying them. Meaning Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). That's the speech of lovers.
So love between the servant and Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala) is bi-directional. How much should you love Allah? You should love Allah according to the blessings that He has given you. And in reality you should love Him enough even if He wasn't giving you anything.
Second Type: Love Among Believers
You should love Him because He's Allah. But then you should also want to attain love of Allah for yourself. You want to become someone who is beloved to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala).
And this deserves a little bit of a gut check for the Muslims, for us to take a moment and reflect a little bit. If Allah wanted to, could He remove the entire Muslim community, the whole community, and replace us with new people? Yes or no? I know it's a scary thought. Yes or no?
People say, I don't know if I want to be Muslim anymore. Islam doesn't really work for me. I tried it out, it's not really... Some people even say things like, Oh I've moved beyond Islam. To what? So you think that you're a value add for Islam? You think Allah (تعالى - ta'ala) needs you? He says:
Whoever amongst you turns back on their heels and leaves their deen, will bring a people in your place.
He doesn't need you. Oh you want out of the club? Bye. (مع السلامة - ma'a as-salama) Don't let the door hit you on your way out.
No, people think like they're entitled, right? Like as if Islam is contingent, is predicated upon their membership in the ummah. Wallahi we're honored to be part of this ummah. But how does He describe those people that He will bring in place of you?
He loves them, and they love Him.
So He describes it as a bi-directional love. It's not just one-sided. It's between the servant and Allah and vice versa.
The Beloved Ones Among Us
And this is why we should always think about when we come to a crowd like this, who amongst the crowd might be (محبوب - mahboob) to Allah? They might be beloved to Allah (سُبْحَانَهُ وَتَعَالَى - subhanahu wa ta'ala). They might not even know it. People might not even know it about them.
There's an athar, a narration that says:
Hadith
No forty people from my community will gather except that there's a saint amongst them.
Are you all listening to me? No forty people from my community will gather except that there's a saint amongst them. Ya Allah.
So how many people are in the room? There's more than forty. So you say, (سبحان الله - subhan Allah), who's the person who's (محبوب - mahboob) to Allah? Oh, it must be the guy on the podium with the microphone. Because otherwise he wouldn't be up there talking.
Probably not. (والله أعلم - Wallahu a'lam) Oh, it must be, you know, the person in the reserve section because everybody's pointing at them. Masha Allah, look, so and so just came.
Red carpet. It's not the Oscars man. A lot of times it's the person who nobody even notices when they walk in the room.
People don't even know their name. There's no fan page on Facebook. They have like eight followers on Twitter.
And they're all their family members. And Allah loves them (محبوب عند الله - mahboob 'ind Allah). But we don't even know.
When Allah Loves Someone
Why? It's in a sahih hadith:
Hadith
When Allah loves somebody, he calls Gabriel.
Imagine that for a moment. Like if I had something really important to say, I'd call Nasser, or call Faisal, or call my wife. I have really important news to tell you.
And says to Gabriel:
O Gabriel, I love so and so. So love him.
So who loves you now? Allah and Gabriel.
I mean you talk about having someone having your back. You talk about needing backup. You talk about a fan club.
Gabriel. When the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam) asked to see Gabriel, he said he looked up and he saw a being that filled everything between the heavens and the earth, and it knocked the Prophet unconscious. When Gabriel showed himself to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam). So now who loves you? Allah and Gabriel.
And then Gabriel is commanded to yell out in the heavens:
O people of the heavens! O people of the celestial realm! (الله أكبر - Allahu akbar) The angels, the purified souls. Allah loves so-and-so by name. So love that person.
And they're made beloved in the heavens. And then acceptance is placed for that person in the earth. May Allah make us from them.
Continuation of Hadith
And when Allah hates a servant, He calls Gabriel.
And He says:
Gabriel, I hate so-and-so.
What could you have done to make the Lord of all worlds, God Himself, despise you? (حاشاه - Hasha) that Allah has any of the human emotions that we have.
So when we say that a person is disliked by Allah, it's not like you and I dislike people. They have done something to render themselves hateable by the Most High. And then He says, Gabriel, I hate so-and-so, so hate him.
And he's made hated in the heavens and made hated in the earth. May Allah save us from being from the latter. (يا لطيف - Ya Latif) So this should give us two things.
Reflection on Our Spiritual State
It gives us a great sense of hope and a very real sense of fear. Have I done something to become disliked by Allah? You know, if somebody told me that Jeffrey or Ahmed or Zainab or Sally, they don't like you, I would be worried about that. What did I do? You know, I mean, God forbid they defriend me on Facebook.
It's a, you know, it's a sad Monday. Yeah, I got blocked by Fulan. You must have done something really bad to get blocked. (يا لطيف - Ya Latif) You'd be worried, right? And so now you Twitter, direct message them on Twitter, I noticed that you blocked me on Facebook, what happened? That's why I blocked you on Facebook, why are you tweeting me now?
You'd be worried, no? So what about if, you know,(يا لطيف - Ya Latif) Are you (محبوب - mahboob) or (مبغوض - mabghood)? Are you an object of love or an object of hate from Allah (سبحانه وتعالى - subhanahu wa ta'ala)
Guide us to the straight path.
It's as if we read the Quran every day and don't even think about what it means. What's the next thing you say?
Don't make us from those who you hate.
And we know that that has specific references to previous religious communities.
Nor those who've gone astray.
But it also means that you don't want to be someone who's unnecessarily exoteric, or somebody who's too esoteric. Don't make us from the people of the outward.
People who are so concerned with rules that we can't even see the forest for the tree.
Nor people who are so esoteric that we can't even see the forest or the tree. Because we don't need any rules.
The Relationship Between Faith and Love
Then the next way that this verse, the next implication, and we talked a little bit about this on last week, is between the believers. In the hadith that the sister, in reality I didn't need to say anything because the narrations that she mentioned before I came were more than adequate, thank you.
Were more than adequate. And one of them is when he said (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam), you will not enter paradise until you believe and you will not believe until you love one another. So then faith, love is a condition of faith.
And he also said:
Hadith
There is no faith for the person who has no love.
And he mentioned it three times. So you have two things, (إيمان - iman) and (محبة - mahabba).
There is no faith for a person who has no love.
In other words, you can have faith, you can have sound theological orientation, but if you don't have love, it will be of no benefit to you.
There is no faith, there is no faith for the person who does not have love.
So then can faith benefit you without love? No. It cannot benefit you if you don't have love. Can love benefit a person without faith? Now we're getting uneasy.
The Story of Thuwaybah and Abu Lahab
It's a trick question. It is a trick question. When Thuwaybah heard the news of the birth of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam)
Her master was Abu Lahab. She came to Abu Lahab and she said, you had a nephew named Muhammad. This is just news.
All she said is what? You had a nephew named Muhammad. Was he a prophet yet? Outwardly he wasn't even a prophet yet. He's a baby.
Revelation has not come to him yet. You had a nephew named Muhammad. He said what? (أنت حرة - anti hurra) You're free.
He freed her, she was a bondswoman, and he freed her, just because she brought him the news that Muhammad was born (صلى الله عليه وسلم - salla Allahu 'alayhi wa sallam). And the prophet told us in an authentic hadith, Allah lightens the punishment every Monday for Abu Lahab because he freed Thuwaybah because she brought him the news that I was born. Subhanallah.
So then has love benefited Abu Lahab even though he doesn't have faith? Not only does he not have faith, we know of his damnation in the Quran itself.
But it doesn't mean that he got to paradise. No.
He's unfortunately damned. But the prophet said that the punishment is lightened every Monday just because he freed Thuwaybah because she brought him the news that the prophet was born.
So then love can benefit you without faith, but faith cannot benefit you without love. Ya Allah. Why are they so talking about love? That's why.
Because we want to get it. So between the believers, we talked about reaching out to say salam even if you don't need anything.
The Quranic Teaching on Love and Unity
I was thinking about how that idea, Money Can't Buy Me Love, Allah talks about that in the Qur'an. He does. And I don't mean, I'm not comparing a Beatles song to the Qur'an.
But I was reflecting upon that title because Allah says in Surah Al-Anfal, He's talking to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم
Quranic Verse: They want to trick you, they want to deceive you, Allah is enough for you.
Allah is sufficient for you, you don't need anybody else.
He is the one who enabled you with his victory. He empowered you with his victory, and with the believers.
And up to here, Allah reminds the Prophet how he helped him. And Allah is the only one, the only one for whom it is praiseworthy to remind somebody of the favor that he has done for them.
And his name is Al-Mannan, the giver of gifts. And Mannan in Arabic is the giver of gifts. Mann is when you remind somebody of the gift that you gave them.
Important Verse: And he made their hearts bound with love. He united their hearts. He joined their hearts.
(أَلَّفَ يُؤَلِّفُ - allafa yu'allifu) It means to bring two things together. And that's why an author in Arabic is called a مؤلف Somebody who writes books because he puts words on pages and then he binds them between two covers and that makes a book.
So he's called مُؤَلّف . But a مُؤَلّف also means somebody who brings hearts together. So Allah here says:
He united their hearts.
Quranic Verse: Had you spent all of the money in the world, you would not have brought their hearts together.
Who's he talking to? He's not talking to some preacher. He's not talking to some head of some non- profit. He's not talking to some brilliant Shaykh. He's not talking to... He's talking to who? صلى الله عليه وسلم The beloved lover. The lover of all lovers. The beloved of all beloveds.
If you, you are Muhammad, if you spent all of the money in the world, you would not have brought their hearts together.
But Allah made their hearts be inclined toward one another in love.
And he is indeed mighty and wise.
Money can't buy me. What? So if I say, you know, Hey, Ahmed and Tariq. These are two hypothetical, Ahmed and Tariq.
They're not getting along. What happened? Ahmed promised Tariq that he would take him from Murtabak. But then he broke his word.
So Tariq is mad at him. He deleted him on Facebook. He blocked him.
And then Tariq, he inboxed him and tried to direct message him on Twitter. It's all bad. It's, you know, battle time.
So you say to me, Okay, I need you to fix it. So I go to Ahmed and say, Ahmed, look, you and Tariq, you guys really need to work stuff out. He says, I'm not interested.
Look, just unblock him on Facebook. Just talk about it, you know. Forget about it. I'll give you 50 dollars. No way. You can't make it happen.
But if Allah wants them to be rectified, he can do it. And you see this even with husband and wife. He says, no, khalas, we're done. There's no way it can work. She says, I want out of this relationship. They call the family, the parents, the imam, the imam's parents, the imam's wife, everyone.
Please, no. Forget about it. We've said everything. I'll pay you. Stay together. No.
And then one day, you see them walking happy in the park. What happened? Alhamdulillah, it all worked out good. Subhanallah.
He made them a resource for you, O Muhammad, and he united their hearts.
i.e. if their hearts weren't united, they wouldn't have been a resource for you.
Third Type: Love Between Muslims and Others
And as the last point. And this is very very important for Muslims to think about. We talked about love between us and Allah. Love between us as believers. But then there's another meaning that our community needs to revisit. And our community needs to take more serious. And our community needs to deepen our relationship with. And that is the love between Muslims and everybody else.
And what I'm telling you here is not my idea. This is from the traditional tafasir. You go look it up. Verse 96 Surah Maryam.
Quran 19:96 - That indeed for those who believe and do good deeds. The most merciful will place love.
Between them and Allah. Between them and one another. Meaning amongst the believers. And then المؤمنين between
The believers and the rest of creation. Go look up the tafasir. That Allah will put love. Between the believers and between everybody else. With no ulterior motive. With no desire for anything.
Those who believe and do good deeds.
Because they're people of belief and good action. They become beloved to the creation. And they love the people. Even if they're not Muslim. And this is very very important.
Prophetic Guidance on Love for All People
You know, those who believe and do good deeds. I had a group visiting from Morocco. Visiting the states. And we have what they call a self-checkout line in the supermarket. Where you come, I don't know if they have those here. But you come ring up the stuff and then you use your credit card or cash and you pay and then you walk out.
And I found these Moroccans, there are like five of them. They're standing there. They're like, look at that. I came up and said, what's wrong? They said, what is that? I said, it's a self-checkout line. He said, subhanAllah.
He said, if this was in Morocco, everybody would run out with the product from here. And my wife's Moroccan. And I'm honorary Moroccan. So I'm not throwing the Moroccans under the bus.
He said that. And then he said something deep. He said, subhanAllah.
He said, these people are those who disbelieve and do good deeds.
And we have in our countries:
Those who believe and do bad deeds.
May Allah forgive us.
The Need for Muslims to be Beloved
The historians say that when Muslims would go to a place, they would first become accepted by the people that they came to. They first would become accepted. And then they would become محبوبين They would become desired.
The society actually loves them and depends upon them. Did you know in the upwards of 80-something percent of Americans claim that they've never met a Muslim? It's not even statistically possible for that to happen. And they don't realize that the man who did your open heart surgery was a Muslim.
The man who did your open heart surgery or operated on your eye was a Muslim. But you say, you don't know, you never met a Muslim. Upwards of 60% of Americans have negative feelings about Islam and the Muslims.
But those who've met as few, those who claim to have met as few as one Muslim, that lowers to something like 20%. These are according to formal studies by Pew Research and other people. So the Muslims have to take seriously the idea that we want to become desired by the societies we live in.
And I think it's very unfortunate that some of the social ills prevalent in Singapore, Muslims are disproportionately represented in those categories, true or false. I want to hear you say it, true or false. Muslims have to take this more serious.
That if it's not for the sake of your own soul, if it's not for the sake of your relationship with Allah, then for God's sake make it for the sake of the society that you live in that you're not a scar on the face of that
society. But you're a shining gem in that society. That's what the Muslims are supposed to be.
We want people to love us. Because eventually the Muslims become indisposable. The society cannot do without them historically. Because they bring good to the societies that they live in. And I know that the Muslims have done tremendous good in this country. And I don't mean to give any type of inaccurate picture.
Where does that come from? The idea that we want to be loved and we want to show love and we want to feel love and experience love with the community around us even if they're not Muslim. Because some Muslims would say, everything I just said, you need to take that back to California and go surfing. Because I don't know about all this love with the non-Muslims thing.
I don't know what that means. No. So we say, don't ask me. Let's ask Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم
(Hadith)
It's a hadith in Tabarani. In Imam al-Suyuti mentions it in Al-Jami al-Sagheer. The best of all actions after faith is showing loving kindness to the people.
The best of actions after faith is showing loving kindness to the people. And he noticed that he didn't say للمسلمين. In other narrations the Prophet says the best action after obligations إدخال السرور على المسلم is making Muslims happy.
It's a different concept. Here,التودد إلى الناس showing loving kindness toward the people. And wallahi when you do that then you become a shining gem in the community that you live amongst.
Closing - The Power of Love
So you have to be ready to not only build bridges but build relationships of love in the community that you live in.
Love is like come on really. The Prophet said if one of you loves his brother he should what he should tell him. I love you for the sake of Allah.
So as I close she mentioned another hadith where a man came to the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم now imagine how much did the companions love the Prophet? A lot.
How much? A whole lot. More than any of us love anybody I guarantee you. I guarantee you that the sahaba love Sayyidina Muhammad more than any of us love anybody.
When Zayd ibn Dithinna he was a sahabi the Quraysh didn't like it when people became Muslim and they would fight to get someone to leave Islam. So they took Zayd outside of the haram in Mecca and they basically crucified him.
They cut off his nose put out his eyes cut off his limbs now imagine he's basically crucified now face mutilated and at the time Abu Sufyan wasn't Muslim yet and Abu Sufyan comes to Zayd in this state he's been severely physically punished tortured and he says to Zayd I ask you by Allah and when the Arabs said I ask you by Allah they took it very seriously even before Islam they wouldn't lie he says to Zayd I ask you by Allah would you prefer to be home safe with your family and Muhammad be in your place?
What did Zayd say?
it's one of the most favorite things I've ever heard in my life because that's Arab for what? Step off that's exactly what it means like we say in America step off fool that's what it means
get away from me Abu Sufyan
to be home safe with my family and the Prophet even have his foot struck with a thorn you're sitting here with your face mutilated you're crucified and you wouldn't want the Prophet's foot to be poked and Abu Sufyan said something very important and some of the commentators say that this is when faith entered Abu Sufyan's heart he said:
By Allah, I have never seen anyone love anyone like the companions of Muhammad love Muhammad.
The Final Hadith - You Are With Whom You Love
And this is in Mecca now imagine Prophet all the time (صلى الله عليه وسلم) so our man says he comes to the Prophet he says I wasn't home (يا رسول الله) thinking about with my family thinking about life and thinking about death and I thought about my life and your life and my death and your death and then I thought about paradise and I realized that if I go to paradise and you go to paradise you're going to be in a higher place than me in paradise and he said (يا رسول الله) if I can't be with you in paradise I don't want to go to paradise what kind of love is that?
like if I can't be with my beloved I don't want to be in Jannah and they're not making false claims.
So the man came to the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) he said:
when is the hour
and it's fascinating that the Prophet didn't even answer his question at first and in one variant he asked several times and then the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) calls him and says where is the questioner he said
here I am the Prophet said:
what have you done to prepare for it
that's the question right okay it's this time this day if you even knew that what have you done to prepare for it
I don't have much fasting much prayer much charity
but I love Allah and His Messenger
now imagine the companions listening what did he say well you need to go back pray fast give charity and come see me in six months is that what he said he said:
you are with the one who you love
now why am I saying all of that to give context the companion said we were never happier any day beside the day that we became Muslim than when we heard the Prophet say:
you will be with the one who you love
wait a minute you have all of this good that you've done all of this fasting all of this charity all of this prayer and the thing that you love most was when you heard the Prophet say that you're going to be with the one who you love what does that mean it means that they understood a secret that many modern people have forgotten that love can get you through anything can get you through anything.
Final Dua
May Allah make us people who love him and he loves Ya Rabbul Alameen and people who love Sayyiduna Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and love the Sahabah of Sayyiduna Muhammad and love the family of Sayyiduna Muhamad and love the followers of Sayyiduna Muhammad and love the whole Ummah of Sayyiduna Muhammad Sallallahu Alayhi Wasallam and may Allah make us people who love for him by him Ya Arb Al Alameen.