 Allah SWT says that the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ he takes precedence for the believers over their own lives. That the Prophet ﷺ is more dear to the believers than their own lives, they prefer him over themselves ﷺ. In a rigorously authenticated hadith in Bukhari in Muslim, he said peace and blessings of God be upon him. I swear by the one who holds my soul in his hand. He said none of you truly believe or none of you are a perfect believer until I am more beloved than his parents, than his children and the whole of humanity. And the muhaditheen, the scholars of hadith, they say about this hadith that this hadith indicates two types of love. There is a hub aqli, there is a love that is rooted in the rational faculty. This is someone who loves the Prophet ﷺ because they know that it's good for him and the muhaditheen use an analogy like someone who is ill, someone who has a disease and they take a pill even though the pill is bitter, they take it anyway because the intellect, the rational faculty, the aql dictates to him that this is something good for me. But then there is another type of love because when you get to know the Prophet ﷺ, when you get to know him, when you have ma'rifah of him ﷺ, this type of hub aqli converts to hub imani, a hub that is based on iman because we know that a requisite of muhabba of true love is ma'rifah, you have to know someone before you can love them. How did the Sahaba manifest their love for the Prophet ﷺ? Look at the hadith that they mentioned, Al-Shama'il al-Nabawiyah, Abu-Isa Tilmadi mentions 55 chapters about the Prophet ﷺ. The first chapter is called, Babu Ma Ja'a Fi Khalkhi Rasulillah, the chapter that comes describing the physical characteristics of the Prophet ﷺ, I wonder what does this have to do with anything? Abdullah Ibn Umar mentioned a hadith that there are 11 some say 17 white hairs on the entire head of the Prophet ﷺ and they are concentrated at the temple. And he said, This is from the Surat Hud and its sisters, meaning the few Suras after it. Why does he mention this? Why is this important? Why do we have to know the number of white hairs on the head of the Prophet ﷺ? Why did the Sahaba mention it? They mention it because they loved him, they loved him and when you love someone you want to know everything about that person, don't you? You just don't want to know what that person said, but how did they say it? What did they look like? How did they walk? How did they talk? How did they eat? This is why the Sahaba mention these things, because they are annihilated in the love of the Prophet ﷺ. And this love is for Fisbeerillah. This is for the sake of Allah ﷺ, Imam Ali Karama Allahu Wa Jaha, he said, He said the Prophet ﷺ was more beloved to us than anything, even more so than cold water. Look at the analogy. What does cold water mean for the desert Arab? It means life itself. This is an analogy for life itself. We loved him more than life itself. No one knows the religion better than the Sahaba. Khairunnaas Qarni, the best generation is my generation, he said Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam. This is someone annihilated in the muhabba and the akhlaaq of the Prophet ﷺ, Fisbeerillah, the affairs all about Allah ﷺ. Abu Bakr al Siddiq, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, he said to the Prophet ﷺ, this is mentioned many, many books including Kitab al-Shifaab, Qadi i'iyah and many, many others, that he came to the Prophet ﷺ and said, Ya Rasulullah, I prefer Abu Talib. To become Muslim over Abu Qulhaifa. I prefer Abu Talib, who is Abu Talib? He is the uncle of the Prophet ﷺ, the man who raised him, his paternal uncle. I prefer your uncle to become Muslim over Abu Qulhaifa. Who is Abu Qulhaifa? The father of Abu Bakr al Siddiq. He is saying, I prefer your uncle to become Muslim and go to Jannah over my own father. This is Abu Bakr al Siddiq, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. Why did he say that? Because the Prophet's happiness is his happiness. When the Prophet ﷺ would smile, the Sahaba would smile. When he would cry, the Sahaba would cry. There's many, many stories like this, demonstrating the deep love they had for him, Khubeib ibn al-A'adi al-ansari, radiallahu ta'ala anhu, who was taken by Quraish during a wartime situation in prison during the sacred months and then taken outside of Mecca to a place called Tan'im, where they basically crucified him, Khubeib ibn al-A'adi, radiallahu ta'ala anhu. And they said to him, as he was hanging on the stake, the Quraish, the mushriqin of the Quraish, they were jeering and deriding him and saying, don't you wish that Muhammad was in your place? And you were safe at home with your family? Listen to the response of Khubeib ibn al-A'adi. He said, I don't wish a thorn to prick the finger of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. And then he said, Ya Allah, there is no one here to convey my salam to your Habib. And according to ibn Hisham, the Prophet ﷺ was in a Majlis in Madinah to Munawwara at that time. And Zaydi ibn al-Haditha and others were around him and suddenly there came upon him a feeling like the revelation was descending. And he said, Wa alaykum as-salam wa rahmatullah ya Khubeib. What has happened? O Messenger of God, Khubeib, your brother is being martyred in Mecca. And Abu Sufyan ibn Harb, who was there at the time, obviously was not Muslim at this time. He said an interesting comment that began, watered some seeds in his heart that grew into iman later on. He said, I have never seen anyone love anyone like the companions of Muhammad ﷺ. On the day of Ghazwat Uhud, the Prophet ﷺ was under siege. The Sahaba, about 30 of them made a human shield around his physical person ﷺ, 360 degrees around him. One of them was Nusayb al-Bintuqab, a female companion that had come to give water to the Mujahideen. And now she found that the Prophet ﷺ is under siege. She picks up a sword and stands in front of an armed horseman named Abdullah ibn Qami'a who had just killed Musa'ab ibn Umair, thinking Musa'ab was the Prophet ﷺ. And he started shouting, I have killed Muhammad ﷺ. And shaitan ﷺ, he heard this on the other side of the battlefield. And he began this battle cry amongst the mushriqeen, Qutila Muhammad ﷺ, they left the battlefield. Go protect the city of Medina, losing heart, taking the wind out of their sails. Because they heard their beloved had been killed. Nusayb al-Bintuqab stood her ground, picked up a sword. And in front of this man, Abdullah ibn Qami'a, who realized that this was Musa'ab, now the Prophet ﷺ is here. So he begins to charge and she stands in front of his horse. And he turns the blade over because he won't kill a woman on the battlefield in jahali rules of engagement, pre-Islamic rules of engagement. You don't attack women and children. You have so-called first world countries right now dropping bombs on innocent civilians of men, women and children. This is barbaric. This is barbarism. All of these tactics is haram according to Shari'a. Dropping neutron bombs, hydrogen bombs, these are haram according to our Shari'a. But other people do it, so-called first world nations right? Rehabilitik, whatever it takes by any means necessary. But this mushriq who just had believed he had killed the Prophet ﷺ, he's not going to attack a woman. He has the common decency not to attack a woman on the battlefield. So he stops dead in his tracks and he pulls, he turns the blade over and he begins tapping her on the shoulder from his horse, meaning get out of the way. Nusayiba says in the hadith, I wanted to run away. I turned around, my beloved is under siege. I stood my ground and then he increases the severity of the blows, fracturing her clavicle. She falls, he goes around. And her son was there, Zaid, and he comes running, ummi, ummi, my mother, my mother. And what did she say? She says to Zaid, get away from me and protect the Prophet ﷺ. An nabi'u awla bil mu'mineena min anfusihim. The believers prefer the life of the Prophet ﷺ over their own lives. When the Prophet ﷺ came into Madinah to Munawwara, he stayed in the house of Abu Ayyub al-Ansari, radiya Allah ta'ala anhu, and it was a two story house and Abu Ayyub put them on the ground floor because he said it's easier for you to come in and out. People are going to visit you. So Abu Ayyub and his wife were on the second floor. And after a couple of days, it suddenly occurred to Abu Ayyub al-Ansari. This is an insight into the thought process of a companion of the Prophet ﷺ. After a couple of days, he said, ah, we're walking above the head of the Prophet ﷺ. This is su'a adab. This is bad adab with the Prophet ﷺ. We're walking above him. This is a sahabi. No one knows the deen better than the sahaba. No one knows the khaydu, nas, karni. This is the best generation. So he came down. Ya Rasulullah, I'm sorry. Let's switch places. And the Prophet ﷺ said, don't worry about that. It's okay. It's easier for me. Don't worry about that. But Abu Ayyub and his wife would shimmy across the walls of their room so they don't walk above his head, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He said, bring him food and he wouldn't eat the whole plate. And he and his wife would look at the plate and try to determine which part of the dish he entered his hand into the dish so they could eat from that same side. This is mentioned in our traditions. And one time he didn't even touch the plate. And Abu Ayyub al-ansari, he ran downstairs in a panic. Oh messenger of God, did I breach adab with you? What happened? Did I offend you? Did my wife offend you? Please forgive us. What happened? What happened? What happened? He said, no, no, no. There's onions in this. I speak with Jibril alayhi sallam. I don't eat onions sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa sallam. There's three reasons why you love according to the ulama. Jamal, kamal and ihsan. Jamal means beauty, physical beauty. When someone's beautiful, you naturally incline towards that person. And according to our aqeedah, no one was more physically beautiful than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. So much so that our mother A'isha, radiallahu ta'ala anha, she said if the women of Yusuf would have seen my Yusuf, they would have cut their hearts. Forget about their hands. Abu Huraira said, ma'ra'aytu shay'an, ahsanu minhu. I have not, he didn't say ma'ra'aytu, rajulan, basharan, insanan, I have not seen anything more beautiful than him sallallahu alayhi wa la alayhi wa sallam. And then kamal, perfection, inna ma'bu'ithtu li utammima makarima l-akhlaq. He said sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, I was only sent to perfect your character. Wa innaqala ala khuluqin na'zeem, verily you dominate magnificent character, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. A perfect equilibrium, the perfect adamic creature, al-insanul kamal, a perfect equilibrium of Jamali and Jalalic attributes in the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Physical beauty, perfection and ihsan. And no one has shown us more ihsan, bi idnillah, than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. No human being. He is a means of our guidance, he is the subab of our hidaya, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He is our shafi' on the yawm al qiyamah, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, bi idnillahi ta'ala, again all of the affair, the entire affair is about Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, but Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala sent us a messenger and Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala tells us in the Qur'an to obey the messenger. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala gives us a verse in the Qur'an called ayatul imtihaan, the verse of examination. We have to take a test, an examination, like you take the bar exam or the CPA exam, we have to test ourselves. قول إن كنتم تحبون الله فتبعني يحببكم الله ويقفلكم ذروبكم والله غفور الرحيم. This is called ayatul imtihaan, the verse of examination. Say if you really love Allah, a lot of people claim to love God, Muslims, Jews and Christians, a lot of people claim to love God. Say if you love Allah, follow me. Say tell them O Muhammad, if you claim to love Allah, follow me. You have to have ittiba' of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Then will Allah love you. يحبب, this verse is in the jasif mood, present active jasif, المداري المجزوم which means it's responding to something, it's a result clause. If you love Allah, follow me, then will Allah love you, then will Allah love you and forgive you your sins, subhanallah. It's a lot of people that are made to believe and this is really coming out of evangelical Christian preaching, the prosperity gospel and a lot of Muslims are buying into this kind of theology, this rhetoric that basically states that the amount of love that God has for you is commensurate with the amount of money in your bank account. So the wealthier you are, the more God loves you, very simplistic worldview. What kind of theology is that? That's not what the Quran is teaching. What is the Quran saying? That the level of love that Allah SWT has for you is commensurate with the amount of ittiba' with the amount of adherence you have to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa la alihi wa sallam. This is how to capture the love of Allah SWT. But let's look at this verse a little bit closer because we have to have tadaabbor and tafakkur of the Quran. If alaya tadaabbaruna al Quran, Allah asks us don't they reflect deeply, tadaabbor means to penetrate something to its end, to find the end of something. Do they not penetrate the meanings of this Quran? Do we just listen to you? We have no idea what it's saying. We don't make an attempt to learn Arabic, to learn orlum al Quran. It's just elevator music. We're bored in tarawih. Is this what the Quran is for? Afalaya tadaabbaruna al Quran. Do we not reflect on the Quran? Qul, Allah says Qul. What is Qul? Present active imperative. Who is Allah talking to? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. You know there is some du'at, they stand in front of Christian audiences and they say the Christian audience. You know the name Isa alayhi sallam is in the Quran five times more than the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. And this is a true statement, this is a true statement but very misleading because a person who hears that might be led to believe that Isa alayhi sallam is five times more important than the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and it's five times the muqam of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. It's part of our belief that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is sahib, maqam mahmud, khayr khalkillah, imam al mursaleen, habiburabbil aleameen. These are exalted titles, he is the best of creation. So why is it that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, he mentioned five times in the Quran and Isa alayhi wa sallam mentioned 25 times, Musa alayhi wa sallam over 70 times? What does that mean? Why does that happen? The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is speaking directly to the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and which servant is more honored by the king? The one that the king is talking about in the third person who is not even there or the one that the king invites to the throne room and speaks to him directly and says Qul say, this is our Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. He speaks to him directly sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. We have to think about the Quran. Allah SWT says, Wallahu Rasulahu ahakku an yurduhu. Allah and His Messenger, it is more befitting that you please Him. Now if you read this in Arabic at the first glance, you might think there is a grammatical error in the Quran because there are two subjects mentioned, Allah and Rasulahu ahakku an yurduhu. You think who? Who is singular? Mu'frat al Ghaib. It should be ahakku an yurduhu maa. It should be muthanna. It should be dual. But why the singular? This is not an error. This is not a mistake. According to Imam al Qurtubi, he said this ayah demonstrates a close intimate relationship between the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and Allah SWT his Lord and that he says that Allah SWT made the Prophet's pleasure his pleasure. When you please the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you automatically please Allah SWT. When you anger, when you anger the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, you automatically anger Allah SWT. Fatima tun bida'atun minni fa man aghdabaha fa man aghdabani wa man aghdabani fa qad aghdaballa. Subhanallah. Fatima is a piece of my flesh. Whoever angers her angers me. Whoever angers me has angered Allah SWT. He said the Qur'an says, ma yuti ar Rasul, fa qad ataa Allah. Whoever obeys the Messenger is obeying Allah that there's a unity, there's a oneness, there's an equality on the level of obedience, not on the level of ontology. This is where with all due respect our Christian friends made a grievous error in their theology when they say that Isa alayhi wa sallam and God share an ontology, they're ontologically the same. Whereas we know Lahut and Nasut, Divinity and Humanity are never mixed, maraja al-Bahraini yaltakian baynahuma barzakhun laya baqian, they never mix. But what does it mean? It means the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is a perfected agent of Allah SWT. All of his actions are guided. All of his words are guided. In the hadith Qutsi and Sahih Bukhari, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam said, Allah says my servant does not draw close unto me with anything more beloved to me than his fara'id wa la yasalu abdiya taqarrabu ilayya bin Nawafil and he continues to draw close unto me with his supragatory acts of worship, hattahu hibbah until I love him and then I become the eye by which he sees, I become the hand by which he grabs and I become the foot by which he walks and if you were to ask anything from me I shall surely give it to him. It's hadith Qutsi, sound hadith, rigorously authenticated. What does it mean? We can't take haqeefi. Allah doesn't become your eye, Allah doesn't become your hand, Allah doesn't become your foot. La yasaka mithlihi shay'un. Mahmatasawar tabibalik, fallahu yayish bihudalik. Whatever you can think of that is not Allah SWT. What does it mean according to Abu Qasim al-Junaid, Rahimahullahu ta'ala? He says this means that Allah SWT safeguards the entire limbs, all of the limbs of this person. He becomes a perfected agent of Allah SWT. A person who is upon total guidance from Allah SWT, Allah SWT says you did not throw when you threw. When the Prophet SAW picked up some stones and threw them at the Quresh and it goes, what butter? Allah says you did not throw when you threw, Allah threw. Allah threw. That's what the Quran says, what does that mean? Allah incarnated? No, we don't believe in hulul and tajzim. These are Christian beliefs, these are Hindu beliefs. What does it mean? It means that the actions of the Prophet SAW are totally guided by Allah SWT. This is the meaning of it. One najmi iza hawaa maa dallah sahibukum wa maa ghawa wa maa yantiku anil hawaa inhua illa wahyu yuha allamahu shadeedul qawa. By the star when it goes down, your companion is not being misled nor is he, nor is he astray. And he never speaks. Yantiku is fi'al mudareh, this is a present tense verb. We have to learn some Arabic, all of us should try. A present tense verb is usually negated by lam alif, laa laa yantiku. But here, wa maa yantiku anil hawaa. This maa means never. Never does the Prophet SAW speak from his hawaa, from his caprice, never. Everything he says is wahee. Shall we write down from you? One of his companions said, Abdullah ibn Amr al-A'as, shall I write down from you when you're angry? Should I record that? Waladhi ba'athani bil haqh, waladhi ba'athani bil haqh, by the one who sent me in truth, laa yakhruju minhu illa al haqh. Nothing comes out of this, nothing comes out of this except the truth. Sallallahu alayhi wa ala aalihi wa sallam, subhanallah. We have to read the Qur'an at a deeper level, we're running out of time. But these verses we read sometimes we think they're mundane, we pass over them. But they're deep verses. We could talk about that maybe later inshallah ta'ala, but I want to end with this inshallah that we have to submit sometimes to Allah and His messenger. We have to just submit. Sometimes we try to over rationalize things, right? We have to understand that the aqal is useful, no doubt about it. We can't make sense of the world without it, we can't function. But we have to believe in things sometimes that are super rational, that we cannot explain them rationally. Because they come in our scripture, ta'alil khata'i, and oftentimes unfortunately we try to over rationalize and it affects our taslim and istislam, it affects our submission and resignation to Allah SWT, like the brother who told me one time during Ramadan he wasn't fasting, he said why aren't you fasting, oh fasting was for back then. You know people back then they need to store food for a month, you know brother they need to store food. Oh really? Yeah you don't know this. I'm a post-modern, you know I'm a progressive, you're an antiquated traditionalist, you don't know what you're talking about. Buying into this bifurcation that you have Muslims who really understand the Quran and they're antinomian, they don't even follow the shari'ah, subhanallah, right? And you have these traditionalists who don't know what they're doing, who believe in fairy tales. We believe in fasting, is very clear. The brother who said why do I have to wash my left hand if I break my wudu, what does my left hand have to do with the other thing? What does it have to do with it? What does it have to do with it? What do you want me to say? We submit to Allah SWT, we don't over rationalize, we believe in super-rational transmission, they're called mutagayyabat or sam'ayyat, right? So the story in the Quran, Musa A.S. with Bani Israel, they come to the Bahar and Fir'aun is behind them. And what did Bani Israel say to Musa A.S.? Inna la mudirakun, we're done. This is what their akal suggested to them. There's an ocean in front of us, Fir'aun and his junud are behind us. This is over, we're going to get slaughtered. But they forgot who they were dealing with, Rasulullah Musa A.S. Who is Musa A.S. dealing with? The one who describes himself by saying, إذا قرضا أمرًا فإنما يقول له كن فيكون Whenever he decrees a matter, he says to it be and there it is. So Allah SWT said to Musa A.S. by way of وحي ادرب البحرة بأصاق Strike the sea with your cane, with your staff. Musa A.S. didn't say, oh, oh, oh, let me think about that. Doesn't make sense to me, sorry Allah, doesn't make sense to me. What's that going to do? Okay, maybe I'll try. No, no. مباشرة, immediately Musa A.S. struck. Because he knows who he's dealing with. Allah SWT. Who are we dealing with? This is what we have to ask ourselves. The Prophet SAW was invited to a meal. He took some sahaba, the house of Abu Urbaid. We'll end with this Insha'Allah, Ta'ala. Abu Urbaid, he cooked a goat and the Prophet SAW, he said, Serve me the forequarter, the shoulder of the goat. This hadith in the Shama'il An-Nabawiyah and other books. Serve me the forequarter of the goat. And he said, here you go, O Messenger of God. The Prophet SAW took a few bites and he passed it to the sahaba. He did not eat a lot, SAW. He did not eat a lot. When he could have eaten a lot. When his sahaba were starving, he would starve with them, tying rocks around his stomach to stave off hunger pangs. This is the man of the people. He took a few bites and he passed it. And then he said, Now will you have the right, give me a shoulder. Here you go, took a few bites and passed it. And then he said, Now will you have the right. Serve me another shoulder. Ya Rasulullah, What kind of shatim in the right? So, O Messenger of God, how many shoulders does a goat have? Only two. What do you mean, serve me another? Right? Why? Because for Abu Urbaid, this is what his intellect dictated to him. This is what the aqal told him. So he stopped, hesitated. Listen to the response of the Prophet SAW. He says, I swear by the one who holds my soul in his hand. If you had just kept quiet, you would have served me a shoulder every single time I asked you. Why? Who are we dealing with? The Prophet SAW. Who is he dealing with? Allah SWT, Allah has power over all things. Don't marginalize the Prophet SAW. Don't render his sunnah null and void as some dark forces in this country are trying to do. Trying to say, oh, he's historical, he's historicized. It has nothing or little to do. The rand corporation says this. They have a proposed hermeneutic of the Quran. The Prophet's sunnah has little or no relevance to Muslims' lives today. Muslims are buying into this. We shouldn't buy into this. Marginalizing the sunnah of the Prophet SAW. Is this what the Quran says? No, it sure does not. We submit to the guidance of the Prophet SAW. Allah SWT, pray for the Prophet SAW. O you who have believed, pray for him and give him peace. Allahumma salli ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammadin, kamma salli ta'ala Ibrahim. Wa ala ala Ibrahim fil ala alamin, innaka hamir al-Mujir. Allahumma baareka ala Muhammadin wa ala ali Muhammadin, kamma ba'rahta ala Ibrahim wa ala ali Ibrahim. Fil ala alamin, innaka hamir al-Mujir. Allahumma innana salluka binuri wa chikal kareem. Wa bi haqq alaik husna al-khatimah, inda al-mamad. Lana wa li ahbabina wa bi jami'il al-muslimin. Ya ar-Rahman r-Rahmeen. Allahumma ahdina fee man hadeid. Wa aafina fee man aafaid. Wa tawallana fee man tawallayt. Wa baareklana fee ma aateid. Waqina sharra ma qateid. Rabbana la tuzeh qalubana ba'da idha hadeitana. Wahabal lana milladunka rahmah. Innaka anta al-wahab. Rabbana aatina fil dunya hasana wa fil akirati hasana. Waqina abad al-naar. La ilaha illa anta subhanaka innakunna min al-zalimin. La ilaha illa anta subhanaka innakunna min al-zalimin. La ilaha illa anta subhanaka innakunna min al-zalimin. Ya muqaliba al-qulub al-absar. Thabbed qulub an'a dinik. Ya muqaliba al-qulub al-absar. Thabbed qulub an'a ta'ateik. Wa sallallahu ala Sayyid al-Muhammadin wa ala alihi wa sahbihi wa sallam. Alhamdulillahi rabbil alameen. Inna Allah ya'amur ab al-adidi wa al-ahsani wa ita idhi al-kurba. Wa yana anil fahshai wal munkarib al-baqi. Alhamdulillahi rabbil al-qulub al-absar.