We express our respect, love and admiration for individuals in our lives on a regular basis. One of the basic requirements for this expression is to account for the likes and dislikes of the object of our admiration. For instance, if we wanted to express our love for our mother, as we all should, we need to understand her likes and dislikes. Then express our love using the means that she prefers. This can be in the form of any activity that is dearer to her. This may be something for her or something that she enjoys her children perform like cleaning their room or doing good at school etc. Expression of love, respect and admiration comes in many forms. However this is never expressed through the means preferred by the subject. If a son does not obey his mother and pays no attention to her advice. Yet claims to express his love by making his favorite dessert for her. His mother will not be very impressed by this effort. To express his love for her, his first order of job is to listen to her and obey her. Or at the very least his expression of love should account for her preferences and not his own. True love and admiration solely and only considers the likes and dislikes of the object and not the subject.
لَقَدۡ كَانَ لَكُمۡ فِىۡ رَسُوۡلِ اللّٰهِ اُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ
Al-Qur`an 33:21
Allahﷻ says Prophet Muhammadﷺs life is an example for all generations to come after him until judgement day. He spent his entire life showing us how much he cares about being obedient to Allahﷻ. He advised us to follow in his footsteps in worshipping Allahﷻ. Prophet Muhammadﷺs ultimate happiness was when companions followed the commands of Allahﷻ using his example. Not the way the companions preferred but the way Allahﷻ preferred as shown to us by Prophet Muhammadﷺ. This is very clear through his sunnah. This is the way to express our love, respect and admiration for Rasoolullahﷺ (Prophet Muhammadﷺ). When our expression of love for him does not take into account his likes and dislikes, this attempt will fall short of impressing him. For instance, one of the most important teachings of Rasoolullahﷺ was for men to be at the masjid for 5 mandatory daily prayers. A true follower of Rasoolullahﷺ does not let his desires come in the way of following his sunnah. He tries his hardest until his last breath and instead of justifying his failures admits his shortcomings and gets back up again. Many activities these days are labelled as an expression of love for Rasoolullahﷺ. So many of these activities were never mentioned by Rasoolullahﷺ. But the ultimate travesty is being heedless of his sahih sunnah while performing these extra curriculars. In many cases these extra-curriculars are the very reason for our heedlessness.
We need to educate ourselves about the preferences of Rasoolullahﷺ and get to work in implementing them in our daily lives as best as we can. Coming up with our own ways to celebrate the life of Rasoolullahﷺ while being heedless of Al-Qur`an and sahih sunnah makes no sense. If we fail, we should ask Allahﷻ for guidance (hidayah), patience (sabr) and protection from devils (shaitaan) tricks. Then we should try again. Fail again? Ask Allahﷻ and try again. And the story continues until our last breath. Little by little we get better in some things and may fail at other things. But we do it with a pure heart loyal only to Allahﷻ and Rasoolullahﷺ above our culture, forefathers, community, friends and our ownselves. This is the struggle and test of life and the one who perseveres in this battle is the successful one in the sight of our Lord and Rab Allahﷻ.
وَمِنَ النَّاسِ مَنۡ يَّقُوۡلُ اٰمَنَّا بِاللّٰهِ فَاِذَاۤ اُوۡذِىَ فِى اللّٰهِ جَعَلَ فِتۡنَةَ النَّاسِ كَعَذَابِ اللّٰهِؕ
Al-Qur`an 29:10
Among men there are those who say, “We believe in Allah”, but when they are persecuted in (the way of) Allah, they take the persecution of men, as equal to the punishment of Allah
وَاسۡتَعِيۡنُوۡا بِالصَّبۡرِ وَالصَّلٰوةِ ؕ وَاِنَّهَا لَكَبِيۡرَةٌ اِلَّا عَلَى الۡخٰشِعِيۡنَۙ
Al-Qur`an 2:45
And seek help through patience and prayer; and indeed, it is difficult except for the humbly submissive [to Allāh]
We may claim to be a follower of Rasoolullahﷺ but the only question that matters is, does Rasoolullahﷺ think so? On the day of judgement we will get this answer. Our hope is he doesn’t turn his face away in disgust. For that would be a tragedy a true follower cannot bear. There are no second chances on that day. The time is now. Allahﷻ has given us all kinds of chances today. We have to ask ourselves if we truly want to see Rasoolullahﷺ welcome us with open arms and a smile on his face when he spots us in the mayhem of the ultimate day (yaumuddeen).
We can follow Rasoolullahﷺ using this simple LRI approach –
- Learn the authentic sources – Al-Quran and his sahih sunnah
- Ponder and reflect upon these articles
- Try our best to implement them in our daily lives
This simple formula has all the ingredients to display our love for Rasoolullahﷺ. In simple words, true love of Rasoolullahﷺ will inspire us to be obedient to our Lord and Rab Allahﷻ. And true love and fear of Allahﷻ will inspire us to love, respect and admire our Rasoolullahﷺ. Allahﷻ has shown us every single thing we need to know with Al-Quran and the example of Rasoolullahﷺ. One life is not enough to follow entirety of Al-Quran and sahih sunnah. So we need not invent new ways to appreciate him. We need to express our love for Rasoolullahﷺ the way he prefers by following Al-Qur`an and sahih sunnah. Not the way we want or the way our culture dictates. We need to keep our intentions pure and ask Allahﷻ for guidance regularly.
