To Those Who Say Loving The Prophet Too Much Leads To Shirk, by Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said
“Allah Guides to His Light Whom He Wills.” (Surah An-Nur)
Bismillah-ir Rahman-ir Raheem
Loving Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is the religion; and knowing his station (peace be upon him) is the religion! Loving him (peace be upon him) is a PART of the religion, and if you do not have this part you do not have the religion! Shaykh Faid Mohammed Said tells us why.
[cwa id=’cta’]
Whilst in Makkah, during my recent trip, I had the opportunity to converse with some of the scholars of Makkah; may Allah Most High bless the scholars, one of whom said: “I think people are exaggerating when they speak about the love of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and I fear their exaggeration will lead them to shirk (polytheism).”
I said: may Allah bless you and open the doors of goodness for you, I understand your concern is about tawhid (the oneness of God), but we should see what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said:
In a Hadith, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said if a person possesses three things he will taste the sweetness of faith:
- the first is to love Allah Most High and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) more than anyone or thing,
- second, to love whom you love for the sake of Allah Most High, and
- third, to dislike returning to deviance after having been saved and guided from it by Allah Most High as much as he would hate being thrown into the fire. (Imam Muslim)
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said in this hadith that the first of the three is to love Allah Most High and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); he did not say love Allah Most High and then love the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)! The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) used the word and because loving the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is loving Allah Most High!
In another hadith, narrated in Muslim and Bukhari, the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said: None of you believe until he loves me more than himself, his children and his parents.
And as narrated in Bukhari (6257), Syedina Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) said, “O Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), I love you more than anything but myself.”
To which the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) replied: “No! I swear by the One in whose Hand is my soul, you cannot claim iman until I am more beloved to you than yourself!”
Then Syedina Omar (may Allah be pleased with him) said: “Now, by Allah Most High, you are more beloved to me than myself!”
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him): “Now, Ya Omar, you can claim iman!”
Recalling this hadith, I said to our brother that the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) were not even worried about loving him (peace be upon him) more than themselves!
If you think you are trying to compare between Allah Most High and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), and in doing so you say to yourself that you do not want to make them on the same level (to avoid shirk), and hence you think to lower the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) slightly to insure the safety of your iman – that is the danger that should cause us to worry!
Our love for the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is love for Allah Most High!
This is confuses some as they are unable to understand Allah Most High, and so they are fearful of relating or mixing – this fear in itself is shirk!
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said in a hadith that we should love Allah Most High for all the blessings He bestows upon us, love the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) because Allah Most High loves him, and to love the family of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) because of our love for him!
So our love for Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is love for Allah Most High!
The Qur’an describes aspects of the station of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and Allah Most High love for him. Allah Most High teaches us in the Qur’an in Surah Ash-Shu’ara (82), that Ibrahim (peace be upon him) begged Allah Most High for forgiveness: “And I hope that He will forgive my sins on the Day of Judgment.”
And what did Allah Most High say to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in Surah Al-Fath: “That Allah has forgiven you for what preceded of your sin and what will follow and complete His favor upon you and guide you to a straight path.”
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is begging Allah Most High and Allah Most High is giving the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) without him even asking!
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) said in Surah Ibrahim (35): “…protect my children and I from worshipping idols”
And Allah Most High said to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) in Surah Al Ahzab (33): “…Allah intends only to remove from you the impurity, O people of the household, and to purify you completely.”
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is begging for purification, and Allah Most High is granting the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his family full purification!
In Surah As-Saffat (99), Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) states that: “Indeed, I will go to my Lord.”
And in Surah Al-Isra (1), Allah Most High says: “Glory to the One who took His slave at night…”
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is going and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is being taken!
In Surah Ahli-Imran (173), Allah Most High relates to us the words of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him): “Allah Most High is my Sponsor and He is the best of Sponsors.”
And in Surah Al-Anfal (64), Allah Most High says to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him): “Oh Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), Allah Most High is your Sponsor…!”
Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) is stating the Allah Most High is his Sponsor, whilst Allah Most High is telling us that He is the Sponsor of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)!
In Surah Ash-Shua’ra (87), Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him) asks Allah Most High: “And do not disgrace me on the Day they are [all] resurrected.”
And in Surah At-Tahrim (8), Allah Most High says: “…the Day when Allah will not disgrace the Prophet and those who believed with him.” (peace be upon him)
Not only did Allah Most High tell us that there will be no disgrace upon the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), but that Allah Most High will also not disgrace the believers because of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)!
Within all these ayat we see the greatness of Prophet Ibrahim (peace be upon him), Khalilullah, the one that Allah Most High chose as a friend, the one described as an entire ummah, the one in whose lineage all the subsequent Prophets reside, but yet we see the greatest station in the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)!
Loving the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) is faith. If the ummah were to have this love, we would not be where we are now. Do not fear shirk for the one who loves; we should fear for the one who does not love. LOVE IS NOT THE CAUSE OF OUR ISSUES; IT IS THE LACK OF SUCH LOVE!
May Allah Most High guide us to iman, and make us worthy of following the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
May Allah Most High reward our friend with the best, as he made us cry in the House of Allah Most High!
Our encounter reminded us of the great ulema of the past, in that once they had a discussion and they felt the outcome of the discussion in their heart, they would leave whatever stance they were upon. As such, we were humbled to meet this alim, as it reminded us of the great ulema: Imam Shafi (may Allah be pleased with him) held the opinion that you cannot benefit from the skin of a dead animal or the child of a dead animal because Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to not benefit or use anything from a dead animal (narrated by Imam Ahmad). In a discussion that took place between the great scholar Ishaq ibn Rahaway (may Allah be pleased with him) and Imam Shafi (may Allah be pleased with him), the later stated that he believed that one could not benefit from the skin of a dead animal, to which Imam Ishaq (may Allah be pleased with him) said that one can benefit from the skin of a dead animal if it is cleaned properly, as that was mentioned by Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Upon hearing this, Imam Shafi (may Allah be pleased with him) left his opinion because of the hadith that was narrated, and coincidentally, Imam Ishaq (may Allah be pleased with him) left his opinion upon hearing the hadith narrated by Imam Shafi (may Allah be pleased with him)!
Our brother reminded us of them.
May Allah Most High bless us and open our hearts to the love of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). Allahumma salli alaa Syedina Muhammad wa alaa Ahli Syedina Muhammad, fi kulli lamhatin wa nafasin ‘adada maa wa see-a-hu ‘il-muLLAH
