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Is it the only month to express love and devotion? No…
not at all. Every heart should be suffused with love of the
Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam) all the time all
the year, all life, as it signifies perfection of Faith and
beauty of Islam. It is food of souls, cure for ills and relief
for eyes. A heart not kindled with the love of Rasoolullah
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam) is inhabited by darkness,
desolation, wretchedness and stoniness. A heart deprived of
his love is filled with unbearable stink and filth.
Our Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam) is a role
model for entire humanity. If one does not love him, one does
not love humanity. Such a person is a beast in man’s
clothing. The Holy Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam)
says, “None of you can become a perfect Muslim until
he loves me more than his family and your property.”
The paramount demand of his love is to follow his ways and
advices. Love of Allah also demands of us to love His dearest
Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam). Anything pertaining
to love of Allah operates in two dimensions — One, Allah’s
love for his servant; two, servant’s love for Allah.
The first dimension of love is testified by one’s following
the Holy Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam). A person
who claims to love Allah but he does not follow His Prophet
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam) is making a claim without
any testimony, and a claim without testimony is not accepted
anywhere. When a person fulfills the demands of the first
dimension of love, he is rewarded with the second dimension
of love – Allah’s love for him. The following
verse of the Holy Quran also deals with this subject.
Allah Ta’ala addresses His Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe
wasallam), “Say, (O Muhammad, to mankind): If you love
Allah, follow me; Allah will love you and forgive you your
sins. Allah is Forgiving, Merciful.”
This verse is thus called the verse of love.
Hazrat Sohail bin Abdullah (rahimahullahu) says that love
of Allah is signified by love of Quran, and love of Quran
is signified by love of the Prophet, and love of Prophet is
signified by love of his Sunnah.
Rites performed in the name of love nowadays are of no use
if we do not follow the Sunnah. If a person does not perform
these self-innovated rites – flags, sweets, processions
and lighting, but he adheres to the Sunnah of the Holy Prophet
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam), he is undoubtedly a real
love and he does not need to give a proof of his love.
Books of Hadith, Seerah and Islamic history are witness that
none of the Sahaba, Tabaeen, saints, `Ulama and Islamic jurisprudents
ever adopted the ways for expression of love that we have
adopted and made them part of Shari`ah.
We celebrate the birth of Prophet while they followed the
ways of Prophet. There is much difference between results
of celebrating and following. Those who just celebrate are
entangled with superficies having no access to the pith and
marrow. Those who follow give preference to the marrow and
essence, and do not hesitate to sacrifice their lives for
gaining it.
It is a general observation that Bidaats vanish from a society
where Sunnahs are prevalent and conversely, Sunnahs depart
where bidaats take hold. Isn’t is an eye-opener that
the rites that we consider as essential part of Shari`ah have
no sign in the early and glorious period of Islam. Islamic
jurisprudents, who exhaustively mentioned the rules of bath
and ablution, did not make the slightest mention of rites
to be performed in the month of Rabi-ul-Awwal. Were they deprived
of love and oblivious of its demands? No… by God, it
was not so.
If they were not lovers then no one in the world is lover
of Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam). Their hearts
were so kindled with the love of Rasoolullah that every action
of theirs reflected their love. Their love was not confined
to their speeches and slogans. Rather, their love was reflected
in their homes, their gatherings, their solitude, their villages,
their cities and everywhere. They did not need to show their
love because their politics, their social behavior, their
conduct, their preaching, their jihad manifested their love.
A fragrance need not explain that it is a fragrance.
They had zeal to carry forward the mission of the Prophet
(sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam). They left their homes
and their beloved homeland with their hands carrying the Quran
and their hearts imbued with spirit to spread the Prophet’s
message. That’s why, their graves are found jungles
of Africa, wilderness of China and mountains of Afghanistan.
It was love that moved them to follow the Prophet (sallallahu
‘alaihe wasallam), and it is our love that diverts us
from the way of Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe wasallam).
It was their love that instilled life into them and it is
our love that has rendered us frozen.
Not a single day passes without witnessing disgrace of Muslims.
The entire Ummah is in a mesh of problems. The land of Palestine
is bloodstained. Jews flocking in from all around the world
have thrown them out of their lands. Our brothers in Palestine,
Iraq and Afghanistan are facing miseries, hunger, poverty
and prosecution. Two Palestinian leaders have been martyred
in broad daylight one after another. But we are unmoved, callous
and indifferent.
O celebrators of Prophet’s birth! Get aware of true
love and realize its demands so you not only describe the
beauty of Prophet’s black ringlets but also mention
the battles of Badar and Hunain and get ready do something
for the suffering Ummah. It is the real demand of love and
reward of adherence to the Holy Prophet (sallallahu ‘alaihe
wasallam).
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