A Beacon of Unconditional Love - Prophet Muhammad (SAW)
By Yasir Qadhi | 2026-01-08T06:00:05.525142+00:00 | Topic: Love
A Beacon of Unconditional Love - Prophet Muhammad
Shaykh Yasir Qadhi | Mercy to Mankind 2023
Opening and Praise
Bismillah, alhamdulillah, wassalatu wassalamu ala rasoolillah, wa ala alihi wa sahbihi, wa man wala hama ba'd. We begin by praising Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, who alone is worthy of unconditional praise. And we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to send salat and salam upon the one who was sent as rahmatan lil'alameen.
The one who is the most blessed and the most perfect worshipper of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala. The one whom Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala chose to seal the prophecy with. The one who was the final recipient of the message from Jibreel alayhis salam.
The one who was sent as sayyidu waladi adam, the leader of all of the children of Adam. The one who will be under whose banner all of mankind is standing on the day of judgment. And that is our Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wasallam.
The Miracle of Enduring Love
Subhanallah, brothers and sisters, looking at how many of you are here. I don't know the quantity of the auditorium, I would guesstimate 1500 or so. And you know even before I began to my talk and lecture, Wallahi isn't it amazing that here we are in a land so far away from where it all began.
In a time and a place nobody could ever have imagined. And one thing, and one thing only combines us all here. One thing has brought you out of your homes and houses to attend so many hours of lectures.
One thing has motivated you to sacrifice family time, personal time, recreational time, and instead be over here in this auditorium. And that is the love of a human being, the love of rahmatan lil'alamin, the love of Sayyid waladi Adam. Isn't that amazing, how profound is that love, how powerful is that love, that it is felt so cataclysmically 1444 years after the event of the hijrah.
And here we are in a land and a place and a time so foreign to what took place. And yet that love is permeating, that love is spreading to every single corner of this world. If that isn't a miracle, then what miracle remains? If that isn't a miracle that here we are, different backgrounds, different cultures, different languages, different ethnicities, even different interpretations of Islam.
All of that becomes irrelevant when we're consumed by the love of Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم). If that isn't a mu'ajiza, if that isn't a miracle, then what other miracle is there? Subhanallah, what an amazing phenomenon, what a mind-boggling reality. Think about it, that love that motivates us to do so much. We are all sinful people, we are all people that fall short of that ideal.
But there's no Muslim except that deep down inside of him, when great emotions stir, feelings come. No matter how impious I am, no matter how great my sins are, when the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is mentioned, when his stories are said, when we think about him, all of a sudden our heart softens. All of a sudden we start thinking about and wanting to meet somebody who is so far away in time and place.
And yet we feel he is like our long-lost grandfather, our long-lost father, our uncle. We feel that connection with him, even though he is so far away both in time and in geography. And yet this is the miracle of being amongst the ummah of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And again, why would we not have this love for him?
The Chosen One - Al-Mustafa and Al-Mujtaba
Why would we not have this love for him when Allah (جل جلاله) chose him? Allah chose him, one of his names is Mustafa, one of his names is Mujtaba.
What is Mustafa and Mujtaba mean? Mustafa, the one who was selected. Mujtaba, the one who was chosen. Out of all of mankind, out of every human being who ever walked the face of this earth, Allah (جل جلاله) chose one person, one and only one, to give a special status to in this world and in the next.
And that person was none other than who is named even after that concept of being chosen and praised. His name is Muhammad and his name is Ahmed. His name is Muhammad and his name is Ahmed.
Ahmed means the one who is praised with the highest praise, hamd. Ahmed, he is worthy of the highest praise. Ahmed, the choicest adjectives, the most noble nouns are used to describe him.
That is what Ahmed means. And our Prophet Isa called him Ahmed. And Muhammad, Muhammad means the one who shall be praised over and over and over again.
The one who shall be praised without being tired. So he is Ahmed in quality, Muhammad in quantity, and he is combined to be both quality and quantity. No human being, listen to me carefully, no human being in all of human history has galvanized the amount of love, the amount of respect, the amount of awe and admiration that our Prophet Muhammad (صلى الله عليه وسلم) has
There is no competition. Now it is true, the Prophet Ibrahim (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is beloved to a larger segment of mankind, Muslims, Jews, Christians. It is true.
But the quality of love. You understand the difference between being beloved and between the passion and quality of love. It is true.
Most of mankind loves Ibrahim (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And that is because he is the Abrahamic father, Jews, Christians, Muslims. And of course we also love him. But when we think of our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) and there is no, we are not comparing and contrasting Astaghfirullah.
No, we are doing this to explain what is that special. When we think of our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) Subhanallah, what happens and why would it not happen. Allah (جل جلاله) tells us in the Qur'an who this person is.
The Quranic Description
"A person has come. He is from amongst you. He is your kith and kin. He is your tribe. He is your bloodline. He is your family member. He is your same race and species. He is not some alien coming. He is not some different entity, an angel. No, he is you, a bashar, like you. An Arab, like you. A Qurayshi, like you. A Makkawi, like you. He is from you, with you. You know him, but he is not like you.
He is not like you. Why is he not like you? (عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ) Your troubles, he finds difficult to bear. Your calamities, his heart is broken when he sees you in stress. (حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ) He is always eager for you. He is always wanting to benefit you. (بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَؤُوفٌ رَّحِيمٌ) Allah chose two of his names (الرؤوف) and (الرحيم)
And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala removed the alif-laam because that would mean it is divine. And he says the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) is (رؤوف) and (رحيم). What does (رؤوف) mean? (رؤوف) means a mercy that is tinged with compassion.
A mercy that wants to benefit. And (رحيم) a mercy that wants to nurture and protect. Both have the connotation of mercy.
But the one of them has the mercy that is meant to protect and nurture. And the other, the mercy to want to benefit you. The mercy that he will sacrifice for your own benefit.
Stories of Love from the Seerah
And our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) embodied that life. He showed us what it means to care for his own people. To love his own people.
How many stories do we have from the seerah that demonstrates how he captured the hearts of the sahabah. How the sahabah loved and admired him.
The Treaty of Hudaybiyyah
In the famous treaty of Hudaybiyyah when Suhaib ibn Amr came back to the people of Mecca. When a number of them came back to the people of Mecca. And they described what their eyes had seen.
They said, one of them said, I have been in the palaces of the Roman Emperor and the Persian Emperor. I have visited Kisra and Khusro, both of them. Kisra is the Roman, Khusro is the Persian.
I have visited their palaces. And wallahi, I have not seen any group of followers who love and admire their leader more than the followers of this man love and admire their leader. This is the testimony of an outsider.
This is the testimony of somebody who's not even a believer. When he saw how much love they had for him. That love cannot be constructed. That love cannot be purchased. That love cannot be induced by fear. It is a genuine love. It is a love that comes from the heart and soul.
The Ultimate Sacrifice of Love
In the famous incident when some of the sahabah were captured. And they were tortured to death. And one of them, before he was executed, they stood up and Abu Sufyan mocked him before he embraced Islam. And Abu Sufyan said, Huh, tell me now, if you could substitute your position right now with that of the Prophet Muhammad, with that of your leader, salallahu alayhi wasalam, would you do so?
Would you be willing to be with your wife and children right now? And he be in your place? And he smiled back and he said, I swear by Allah, that a thorn prick him is more painful to me than my life be given for his cause. I would rather die than a thorn prick him.
That type of love. And he has nothing to lose. And he had no idea that his statements would be preserved because all around him are the pagans. All around him are the mockers, the ones that are going to kill him. He had no idea. But that love that permeates through the hearts of the people, that is a sign of Iman.
When the Prophet Cried for His Ummah
And why would we not love this man? Why would we not love the one who sacrificed everything for us? You know, when I read through the seerah and I tried to find, when did the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) ever cry? When did he cry? And I found that in fact, he cried very few times that we're aware of. Very few times. And I taught a class here a few months ago.
I went over some of those instances, right? When he visited his mother's grave, salallahu alayhi wasalam, he was crying. And other instances like this. But one of the times that he cried, salallahu alayhi wasalam, it's a hadith, it's a Sahih Muslim.
And this is reported by our mother Aisha and others. They were there, they saw this. But he didn't know they were seeing him.
The Night Prayer for the Ummah
That in the middle of the night, in the middle of the night, he was praying tahajjud. In the middle of the night, he's praying tahajjud in his masjid, the masjid of the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم). And the house of Aisha is next door, so she's listening in. And he falls down in sajdah.
And he makes dua for me and you. He makes dua for his ummah. And he recites verses in the Qur'an.
He recites Ibrahim alayhis salam: This is Isa alayhis salam. If you forgive them, if you punish them, they are your servants, you are indeed the one who is aziz and hakim.
And he recited the story of Ibrahim alayhissalam: He recited the duas of Ibrahim and the duas of Isa. And then he began to cry. In the middle of the night, in tahajjud, in sajdah, he's crying.
Why is he crying? He says: What will be the status of my ummah? What will happen to my ummah? And he kept on saying:
and crying and begging until Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala said to Jibreel, this hadith is in Sahih Muslim (Muslim hadith 202). He said to Jibreel, Go down to Muhammad right now. He's crying all the... Go down to him right now and tell him:
Don't worry. We shall make you happy and take care of your ummah. We shall make you happy.
It's not because of me and you. It's not because of my actions. I'm not worthy of that. It's not because the ummah is gonna be the best of all ummahs because of their deeds.
Frankly, perhaps some of the earlier ummahs had more in terms of their tribulations and trials. I know I'm, Allah musta'an, far below the bar we should have. But Jibreel was told, go tell the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) we shall not disappoint you.
It's because of him, because of his status. We shall not disappoint you and we shall take care of your ummah. Because he was begging and crying for his ummah.
The Special Dua Reserved for the Ummah
In the hadith in Sahih Bukhari and others (Bukhari hadith 6304), and this hadith, brothers and sisters, I'm gonna have to go over it only once, but I want you to put it in your mind and think about this. I want you to understand what this means. In that beautiful hadith, our Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, every single prophet, there are certain perks that happen when you're a prophet, right? Certain perks that happen.
There are certain trials, tribulations, no doubt. But there are certain benefits that comes with the status. And he said, every prophet, Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala granted him one special dua.
Every prophet was told, you have one dua, you will get it. And the Prophet (صلى الله عليه وسلم) said, and every prophet used that dua in this life. Every prophet, they had one specific dua that whatever they wanted, they could get it.
And every single prophet used that dua for something that they wanted of this world. Sometimes it was a request that it comes out of a frustration for mankind, Nuh صلى الله عليه وسلم. After preaching for 950 years and being mocked and ridiculed for generations on end, his dua was, Ya Rabb, destroy them all, don't leave one:
I don't want one household left of this group.
He has the right after all that they've done to him. And so Allah answered that dua. And Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent down a rain and caused a flood to come out, the likes of which has never happened in human history.
And all civilizations around the world, have a vague memory of what is now called in the academy, the flood myth. They call it a flood myth, right? They call it a flood myth because they don't know how to explain it. But they don't explain to us.
How can it be that the ancient Indians and how can it be that the aborigines of Australia and how can it be that the Mayan civilization and how can it be that Judeo-Christian civilization and how can it be that the ancient Babylonians and the ancient Chinese, all of them believe that once upon a time, there was a great flood. They can't explain that to us. We will tell them because there was a flood.
It's not a myth. It actually happened. And the remnants of it are in every single civilization across the globe.
Even, and I'm not making this up, you can look it up. Even in the aborigines of Australia who have been cut off from mankind for 50,000 years, they have this flood myth. How did they get it? Because it actually happened.
Sulayman's Dua
That's the dua of Nuh a.s. Dua of Musa is also known in the Quran. Dua of Suleyman. Suleyman said:
I want a kingdom that nobody is going to have after me.
I want to have power and a kingdom that no one shall ever compete with. So Allah answered that dua:
We gave him the power of the wind.
You know the legend of the flying carpet. It's not a legend. That is Suleyman.
Suleyman a.s. would sit on a carpet and that carpet would go. That's where that legend comes from. Suleyman a.s. didn't need horses and camels.
He would go by the wind and the wind would take him. And Allah as said: عَلَّمْنَاهُ مَنطِقَ الطَّيْر He could speak to the birds, speak to the animals. He had the army of the jinn at his command.
He could build structures that people couldn't even understand and imagine. Why? Because he had one du'a. And he took advantage of that du'a.
It's a halal gift. Every prophet has it. So we see the power of du'as that are answered, right? Now, back to the hadith.
The Prophet's Reserved Dua
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم told us, every prophet has one du'a that guaranteed to answer. And every prophet without exception used that du'a in this world for something they wanted. Okay, Ya Rasulullah, what did you use it for? He said, and as for me:
I have kept it.
I didn't use it. I have kept it. And I'm not going to use it in this dunya.
And I will use it on the day of judgment so that Allah جل جلاله forgives all of my ummah. The du'a of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was not for his personal use. Even though, can you imagine now, knowing this, go through every instance of the seerah and ask yourself, imagine he had that trump card.
He had that reality. He had that one du'a that he could have taken advantage of at any point in the seerah. Surrounded at Uhud, seeing his uncle decimated at Uhud.
The reality of what happened in the battle of Khandaq for one month in the city of Ta'if. Humiliated, alone. He could have used that du'a.
But he sacrificed at every stage of his life. At every opportunity that he could have done something to benefit himself. He kept it.
For what?
I'm going to use it for my ummah on the day of judgment. How can we not love him when he sacrificed everything for us? How can we not have that sense of ultimate mahabba when he gave up everything so that that one du'a can be used for me and you on the day of judgment?
The Incomparable Love
And subhanAllah, brothers and sisters, Wallahi, that love that the ummah has, it is a sign of his truth and honesty. This love cannot be manufactured or created.
It's not mass brainwashing. In the end of the day, every civilization considers some people to be holy and sacred. But no civilization has the type of love that we do for our Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. Do you understand what I'm saying here? Every civilization, every community has certain figures it considers to be absolute role models, embodiments of perfection and virtue.
But no civilization has a love for their leader the way the ummah has a love for the Prophet صلى الله عليه . وسلم
Abu Bakr's Love: The Story of the Conquest
You know one of my most moving stories of the seerah, and I'm asked this a lot, which story do you like the most? There is no one story, you love the whole seerah. But one story that really, it shows us how profound and deep that love is, is the story of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a on the day of the conquest of Makkah. The story of Abu Bakr as-Siddiq r.a and his father Ibn Abi Quhafa.
Ibn Abi Quhafa, he was somebody who opposed Islam throughout his whole life. And if you remember the story of the hijrah, he was the one who slapped Asma bint Abu Bakr. When he found out that there was a ruse, there was a trick to take and smuggle the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم out, he became angry at his own family.
He became angry at his own son, but his son wasn't there. He took it out on Asma, the granddaughter, Asma bint Abu Bakr. And he got angry at her, why did you do this and what not.
That man, Ibn Abi Quhafa, when Makkah was conquered, and he was now 90 years old, half-blind, complete, immobile, he couldn't walk. Everybody has to embrace Islam at this stage. Ibn Abi Quhafa was brought in a blanket, you know, they didn't have wheelchairs.
Pick him up in a blanket and a quilt, and they walked him, or they carried him, sorry, to the Prophet صلی الله عليه وسلم. And now he's going to accept Islam. There's nobody in Makkah left of his era. Everybody gone.
He's the oldest person alive in Makkah. His entire batch is gone. And he is brought to the Prophet صلی why هَلَا تَرَكْتَ الشَّيْخَ فِي بَيْتِهِ حَتَّى نَأْتِيَهُ says to Abu Bakr صلى الله عليه وسلم The Prophet .الله عليه وسلم didn't you leave the sheikh, meaning the old man, in the house? You could have left the elderly person home.
I would have come to him. Out of honor for Abu Bakr, not out of honor for him, honor for Abu Bakr. I would have come to him in his house.
Abu Bakr said, no, ya Rasulullah, it is more befitting he comes to you. And when Ibn Abi Qahafah put his hand out, they would give an actual oath of allegiance, right? When you accepted Islam at the hands of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم how fortunate they were. You would actually put your hand in his hand, and there would be an actual oath of allegiance.
When the hand of Ibn Abi Qahafah touched the hand of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمAbu Bakr began to cry. Listen to this. And if this is not love, if this is not mahabbah, then what is mahabbah? Because Ibn Abi Qahafah, by the way, was good friends with Abu Talib, that generation, right? They're gone now.
They were close buddies back in the day. And the memories of Abu Talib and Ibn Abi Qahafah are linked together. And Abu Talib, you know who Abu Talib is, right? Abu Talib, literally a father figure to the
Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلمliterally.
Raised him, actual uncle, full-blooded uncle, raised him since a child in his household, supported him, defended him. I mean, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم's closest actual father figure is Abu Talib. You know this, right? And Ibn Abi Qahafah is basically a friend of Abu Talib.
All the memories are coming back. And Abu Bakr begins to cry. And he says, Ya Rasulullah, how I wish, instead of my own father, if your uncle, Abu Talib, were still alive, and his hand was in your hand rather than my own father's hand.
He's willing to sacrifice. He's willing to sacrifice his own love, his own kith and kin. And you know how the how they would صلى الله عليه وسلم بِأَبِي أَنتَ وَأُمِّي يَا رَسُولَ اللهِ sahaba would address the Prophet address him.
I will give up, not myself, it's easy to give yourself up. I will sacrifice my family for you, O Messenger of Allah. I'll give up everything to protect you.
And here, at the conquest of Mecca, Abu Bakr's genuine love. It's just an unplanned moment. He's overcome with emotions.
All the memories come back. And he says, Ya Rasulullah, I want you to know, my love for you is so much. I would rather your uncle be here than even my own father.
Because I know how happy you would have been had he been alive and seen this success and all that we're doing.
The Promise of Being with Those We Love
Subhanallah, brothers and sisters. This was an impromptu lecture by the way. It wasn't something... Whatever the topic was, I forgot. What was the topic? I forgot. But when I saw all of you, it just came because, subhanallah, we're here.
I'll conclude on one note. They're telling me my time is up so I'll have to leave the stage. I'll conclude by this one hadith that is indeed a profound one.
And it's one that inshallah gives us hope. It's one that gives us hope. Once, one of the sahaba came to the process and said, Ya Rasulullah, Ya Rasulullah, in this life, in Medina right now, whenever we feel sad, whenever we feel depressed, down, we come to you and we see you and we feel comfort.
We feel peace. Our anxieties go away. Pause here.
Looking at the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم was therapy. Think about that. They were stressed out.
They just stand in his presence and they feel relaxed. They were blessed. So he said, Ya Rasulullah, in this world, in this dunya, when we feel stressed, angry, anxious, anxiety, we come to you and your presence comforts us.
But Ya Rasulullah, in Jannah, you will be up there and we will not have access to you. So I'm worried what will happen to us in Jannah. Now, before we go on, look at the iman of the sahaba.
They're in Jannah, but they don't want Jannah without the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. And they're getting panic attacks. We never got that opportunity to interact with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. So we ask Allah, if Allah has deprived us of seeing him in this world, that He not deprive us of seeing us in the Akhirah. We ask Allah that at least in Jannah we get the opportunity to see him.
So this sahabi who is interacting with him daily, I mean he's interacting daily, says, Ya Rasulullah, what am I gonna do in Jannah without you? Literally, that's exactly what he's asking. What am I gonna do when I don't have access to you? And the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
(Bukhari hadith 6171, Muslim hadith 2639)
If you love me, then you will see me up there. You will be with those whom you love.
Now, I have a longer class I've given online. You can listen about the barzakh, and about heaven and hell, and about Jannah. And I explain this, and that is that people in Jannah will have access to all of the people in Jannah for visitation, even if they don't live at the same level.
So you'll be able to visit. And that's one of the blessings of Jannah. Even if you're not at the same level, you'll be able to visit.
So in Jannah, the goal is to get there. Once you're there, you'll be able to interact with all of the sahabi, all of the luminaries. You'll be able to see the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and interact with him.
That's one of the perks of Jannah. So the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم taught us: أَنْتَ مَعَ مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ Anas ibn Malik said, when this news spread throughout Madinah, in other words, this news became a cataclysmic item, news item, news flash. You don't have to be like Abu Bakr and Umar to be with the .in Jannah صلى الله عليه وسلم Prophet
Because even amongst the sahabi, there's hierarchy, right? Even amongst the sahabi, you had the elite, and you had the average. And they're like, their average is way better than ours. But they had amongst themselves.
And Anas ibn Malik said, and listen to this, and with this I conclude it:
(Bukhari hadith 6171)
We were never happier than the day we heard that we shall be with the Prophet even if our deeds don't match his deeds. It made them so happy that their hearts were jumping for joy.
Conclusion and Final Supplication
And he said in the whole seerah, from the day the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم came to Medina, that was the happiest day, then the second happiest day. We were never happier than the day we found this fact out. Their love was a continuous love.
It wasn't a one-off love. Their love was a love that they kept on thinking, what are we gonna do when he goes to Jannah? How are we gonna interact with him? Then they find the good news. Don't worry.
You get up there, and he'll be there as well.
Brothers and sisters, our deeds are not anywhere close to that of the sahaba. But make sure, no matter how sinful you are, make sure no matter what sins you do, make sure your heart is full of love for Rasulullah صلى الله عليه وسلم. Genuine love.
Not just a fake love, a love that you wanna study him, a love that you wanna embody him, a love that at least you try, you try to follow some of his sunnahs. You don't have to be perfect, that's not gonna be possible. But a genuine love of the heart.
And inshaAllah, inshaAllah, if you have that love, then the hadith of Anas ibn Malik applies to those who have that love: (أَنْتَ مَعَ مَنْ أَحْبَبْتَ - anta ma'a man ahbabt)
So we ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala جل جلاله to bless us all with the mahabba of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to increase our love for our nabi, our habib, our mustafa. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to allow us to be of those who follow his sunnah, who defend his honor, who study his seerah.
We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be resurrected with him and his companions on the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be invited by him on his hawth and fountain on that day. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be fed from his blessed hands, a sip from the fountain of Kawthar.
After that sip, we shall never be thirsty for all of eternity. We ask Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala to be amongst those whom the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم will make shafa'ah for on the Day of Judgment. We ask Allah جل و عز to be of those who enter Jannah with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and who live with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and interact with him.
"with those whom Allah has blessed - the prophets and the steadfast affirmers of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And excellent are those as companions."
"May Allah reward you [with] goodness, and peace, mercy, and blessings of Allah be upon you."