 As-salamu alaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh. I wanted to talk, inshallah, today about a topic that hopefully we all know about, and we're all very, that we all are interested in. I mean, I think this event has the title of the slides that you'll see. It's on the, celebrating the beloved of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, the Prophets of Islam, of course. But this topic that I wanted to talk about specifically is on love, because this is really ultimately a gathering of love, where we're coming here to celebrate the birth month of the Prophets of Islam. We're coming here as a testimony of our love for him, as well as for our community, for one another. So I think this topic of love is something that we should explore together. So, Bismillah. So, what is love? Anybody want to shout out some answers? This word that we throw around a lot, that we hear a lot? And I know there's a lot of people who have opinions about it, but what is it? Yes? Respect, masha'Allah. That's beautiful. Anyone else? What does love mean to you? Yes? Care, devotion, beautiful. I love these terms, worth, worthy? Oh, mercy, I'm sorry, mercy, mercy, masha'Allah. What else? Yes? Attachment, very nice, masha'Allah. Beautiful. Yes? Deep reverence? Deep reverence. Beautiful answers. I hope everybody's paying attention. These are beautiful. Yes? Affection, yes. Alhamdulillah, all of them, I think, are correct answers. Yes? Surrendering, masha'Allah, surrendering. Amazing. Yes? Obedience, wow. Have you looked at my slides? Because you're going to see stuff then, masha'Allah. So, if you look up the word love, the dictionary definition actually has it divided into both a noun and a verb, which I think is important. Because as some of your answers, some of the ways that we define love reflect our emotions, right? They're things that we feel. But then there's other things that are more actionable. So here are the ones that I just pulled from the internet. But an intense feeling of deep affection, which was said, a great interest and pleasure in something. That's how many people use this term love, right? And then actionable love is where you feel a deep affection for someone and express it, right? And then, or just to enjoy something very much. So this is different ways that we experience love. As I said, many people throughout the course of history have, of course, given their interpretations of this word or this concept. One, I thought that was really interesting were the Greeks, the ancient Greeks. They actually divided love into eight different types of love. So I thought it was good to explore this a little bit. Because, of course, in the course of our lives, we're going to experience different forms of love. In fact, just recently with some of my students, I was going over the beautiful hadith that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala's mercy is divided, which is a form of love, right, is divided into 100 parts, one part, which is in this earthly realm, right? Insha'Allah, this is a beautiful hadith. You should know this hadith. But I was going over it with my students and explaining to them that that one part of Allah's love, this one part that he's distributed in this world, is responsible for, or the source of, I should say, every form of love that we experience. So all the different love that you have for your family members, your friends, your community members, every person who you feel an attachment to, a strong bond to, is sourced from this one part of mercy that Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala has distributed in the world. And then where are the remaining 99? Who knows? Where are they? With Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala. And when are we going to experience or see that? Yes. On the Day of Judgment, in the Hereafter. Inshallah, all of these are correct, right? The remaining 99 parts of Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala has reserved for the believers on the Day of Judgment. So this should give us immense hope and, of course, should increase our love for Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta'ala, because if all of the love that we experience in this earthly realm, not just between human beings, by the way, even between animals, amounts to only one part. And 99 are remaining for us. Inshallah, we're accounted amongst the believers. Wow, right? Just sit with that for a moment. Wow. But here are different experiences of love that we may have felt before, right? And you can look at the terms, and then they show the sources of them. So I thought it was interesting because, again, we sometimes have very shallow understanding of these terms that we hear a lot. We'll say I love you without really thinking about the depth of what we're saying. Or maybe we do feel deeply, but we don't know how to express it. So it's good to understand the potentiality of the feelings that we have. But also to try to figure out what is the purest form of it? Because there's so many forms, but what is ultimately the purest form of love, right? And that's really, I think, the question at the heart of what we as believers should hope to answer or get at least an answer to at some point in our lives. What is that, and can we feel that? Can we experience true, pure, unadulterated love? Because there's so many different experiences of love. Now, you may have seen this picture before, but I love this picture. It's one of my favorite pictures to use in my slides, because it's conveys so much or so much power in this picture. What is this? What are these? Anybody know? Good, so you've seen this picture before. A lot of people are surprised to learn these are actually all different forms of water. So they're not different liquids, right? If you look at it on first glance, you might think, OK, there are different drinks here. There's juice here. There's tea here, coffee. But it's actually water. And as you can tell, to think that some of this is water is pretty, I think, revolting. We would not want to drink every cup here. We would want to drink only the purest cup, because that's what water means to us. So in the same way, when we think of love, we should want to remove and filter through all the things that we attach our hearts to that are not deserving, because there's a lot of things that people become attached to, even people. People become attached to other people. People become attached to material things. And all that does is take away and distract you from the highest form of love, what we should really attach our hearts to, of course, which is Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la. And so we need to look no further than to look at what does Allah Subh'anaHu Wa Ta-A'la think of love, right? How does he define love? What does he tell us about love? What is this word according to him, since he is the source of love? We don't even know, I mean, if you really think about it, how do we even know what love is? It's because it's part of his attribute, right? He's Al-Wadud. So without, you know, the only way that we even feel this emotion is through him. Therefore, we should look to him to at least try to understand how does he want us to love, right? And this is where you will see in chapter 3 verse 31 to 32. This is the answer. Say, if you love God, follow me, and God will love you, and forgive you your sins. And God is forgiving, merciful. And say, obey God and obey the messenger. If they turn away, then truly, God does not love the disbelievers. This is the formula. This is the highest form of love. And in this verse is everything we need to know about how we should love and what type of love we should be preoccupied with. Because, you know, worldly love will come and go. And I'm sure many people in this room have experienced heartbreak before because of worldly love. But when you love Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, your heart will never be broken. In fact, the opposite will happen. When you put your efforts into loving Allah and his messenger, your heart will become stronger and more fortified, and nothing can break it. No one can break it. You can receive the most devastating news ever. But because your heart is entrenched and drowning in the love of Allah and the provasai sadam, you will stay afloat. So this is really the purest, the highest form. And this is the way that we can navigate this dunya. Without the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala, people drown. Dunya is a place of tribulation, of pain. And it's because people either have insufficient, deficient, or absent love in their heart for Allah that they have a difficult time here. But when we can really focus on developing this, inculcating this, and learning how to get rid of all those other attachments, that's when you start to see this strength that comes and this ability to just endure, inshallah. So I wanted to share one of the most powerful stories of love that we're describing, because I'm describing this amazing love. Well, one of the great stories from the Seerah that I think really conveys this, is the story of one of the companions of the provasai sadam named Jule Bib. If you don't know this story, I really hope that you'll read into it more, but I'm gonna share it with you here. Jule Bib was one of the companions who took, who became Muslim with the Ansar of Medina. And his name actually conveys a lot about him. His name means literally small grown or even deformed. That's the way that it was, he was named. And why? Because he was actually quite small in stature, very frail, very thin, and some of the descriptions say that he was very unattractive as well. He actually looked just not very appealing. And because of that, he was ostracized, he was teased a lot, he was also an orphan. So he had no lineage, no support, no family backing. And this was a time and a place where those things mattered. If you had at least family and lineage, you could be protected. So he had nothing. He had no money, no wealth, no features, no traits about him that anybody deemed worthy, except for, of course, the best of creation, salallahu alaihi wasalam. In fact, he was, and this was prior to Islam, but he was bullied so often that he actually was ostracized from the men of Medina, and he would take refuge and comfort with the women because they were actually compassionate towards him. That's how he was mistreated so poorly. So when he accepted Islam, the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam, of course, saw in him qualities that were beautiful because he didn't look to the outward, right? This is the difference between having the proper sight because we can see, for example, we see things, but if you don't have the discernment to know what's truly of value and what's not, then you're not gonna see things according to their true value. So the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam saw people not for their outward appearance. He didn't judge people based on the way that they were dressed or their status or their names. He looked at character and he looked at, he could penetrate from all of that and see into their soul. And so he saw Jule Biba as being very special and someone of immense worth to the point that he actually went to a very prominent family of Medina who had a daughter who she's not known, we don't know her name, but this woman, this young girl was very sought after. A lot of the Sahaba, she had many suitors. And so the family was a wealthy family and she was quite stunningly beautiful. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam imagined. Here's a man who everybody looks at as being worthless, as nothing. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam chose to be his representative, his advocate to this family. And he went up to the father of this family and he said, I'm asking for your daughter's hand in marriage. And so he of course was so overjoyed because he thought it was the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam asking for himself. And who better than the best of creation to hand his daughter over to? So he was like, he was so happy. And the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam told him, I'm actually not asking on my behalf. And as soon as he asked him then who, assuming that it must be another companion like Abu Bakr, Sayyidin Abu Bakr or Sayyidin Omar or one of the other great companions. And he was told, it was Jalebi, he was shocked, but he didn't want to have bad other but the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. So he said, I need to ask her mother. Let me consult with her. And he immediately went to her and he conveyed that this proposal had come and she had the same initial reaction. The Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was asking for our daughter, how amazing. And he had to tell her, no, no, no, no, no, he's not asking for himself, he's asking for someone else. Who? Jalebi. And she began to scream hysterically. She was like, absolutely not. No way, no way. And al-Duballah, she made some very egregious statements that were, what she said was inappropriate, swearing by Allah that she would never, ever, ever marry her daughter to Jalebi because he was seen as so low and beneath her. Now, I want you to imagine this scene unfolding. You know, she's screaming and her daughter, this beautiful girl who everybody is eyeing and vying for. She hears her mother screaming, comes and says, what's going on? And they tell her that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam has asked for your hand for Jalebi. And this girl, masha'Allah, again, we don't know her name, subhanAllah, what a demonstration of love for the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam and trust in the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. This is true love. She immediately turned to her parents who were like, there's no way we're marrying you to him. Don't worry. And she said, how could you go against the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam? He would never wish anything wrong for me. He would never want anything but my khayr for me. I will accept this proposal. Shocked, right? Everybody's, I mean, this is like a huge shock to everyone that here is this girl who everybody's vying for and she's gonna marry Jalebi, but why did she do it? Because she had that love for the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. She didn't question him. She didn't question that he really wanted her khayr, even if the optics didn't look like something that was good or favorable to other people. She knew in her heart of hearts that because it came from the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam it was worthy. SubhanAllah they were married and they lived peacefully together until Jalebi was one of the companions in a battle again. It's not mentioned which one, but he was martyred. Now this is where SubhanAllah we see the story, I mean, just again, trying to imagine this scene unfolding because here's a man orphaned and we've described how people perceived him but to the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam clearly he was of great importance to the point that during the battle or after the battle the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam turned to his companions asking each one of them if they have found anyone missing from their family, from their people, from their tribe. Did you find anyone missing? Is anyone missing amongst you? And they said so and so and so and so. He again asked, is there anyone missing amongst you? And they said so and so. He then again is asking them, again eagerly trying to locate someone of importance to him and now he reveals it and he says after they've repeatedly said no, there isn't anybody, he says what, but I am missing Jalebi. In other words, he's important to me. You may have found all these other people who are your family members, your people but I'm missing someone very special to me. That's who this man, his rank was with the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam. And so the companions began to search for him and they found that he had been martyred. There were seven bodies laying around him and the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam came heartbroken to see that he had been martyred but of course, he conveyed that what had happened he said that he had been martyred, that he had killed these seven and then one of them must have finally killed him. And then he said this beautifully two to three times, it's reported in the hadith. He said haathaminni wa anaminhu haathaminni wa anaminhu repeating this so that every single person there saw what the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was conveying that you all, all of you at some point thought of this man as nothing but he is from me and I am from him, right? We are the same in other words, we're the same and he made sure to repeat it two to three times and then because he was so small and so frail, jadebib as a person the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam picked him up by his own arms, he didn't need anybody else and if you've ever been around a funeral procession or anything like that, you know, it's not actually very it's not easy to pick up someone but that's how small he was that he was able to lift him and he placed him in the ground, he dug his grave, he buried him himself and that was the story that I think to me anyway, one of many that conveys really love in so many different ways so many forms of love, right? Because again, if you look at this beautiful sister we don't know again her name who is demonstrating to all of us that when you truly love and understand who the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is then you don't question his guidance for you and we live in an age where a lot of people, you know think that their own interpretation of something or they start to question things and they don't sit and think, wait a second who am I ultimately questioning, right? Because the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam first and foremost didn't convey anything from his own self everything that he taught us, everything that he taught us to do or told us not to do is directly revealed to him from Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala so this is something that we can at least learn from her example that as soon as she came to understand that something was from the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam that was enough for her so now all of us have to ask ourselves this question when I read something, when I read a hadith or when I read a ruling that applies to me maybe as a woman or just in general my role, you know, in this faith do I question, you know, where it comes from? Do I sit and have this internal debate thinking is it really good for me or am I truly a lover of the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam am I truly a believer that when if he said something it is Haq, it is true and he completed his mission, right? This is one of the qualities of the prophets is they don't lie and they complete their mission everything that the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam was taught to convey to us has been conveyed the Dean is perfect so there's nobody that's gonna come and suddenly they're gonna have these realizations that haven't been worked out before we have to have the humility to know this so this is how we demonstrate true love if a love is on the tongue but it's not in the heart then there's something missing, right? And that's where again we need to question how can we truly love and also how can we be beloved, right? And this is it the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala the Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam is initiated in the heart this is where it comes it starts here we should truly feel immense love for our creator who gave us existence who gave us all of the blessings that we have and then of course our beloved Prophet salallahu alaihi wasalam for conveying the truth to us we could have been drowning in darkness just like so many people but here we are we have alhamdulillah the gift of Islam because he fulfilled his mission so it should initiate in the heart and then we express it on the tongue we say alhamdulillah wa shukrillah and we mean it we literally mean it alhamdulillah ala ni'mat al-Islam these are words that should like surge through us like alhamdulillah thank you God thank you Allah for making me Muslim I could have been anything thank you and really feel it and then it comes out through the limbs through action it comes out in what sincere submission, gratitude and obedience and so this is a beautiful little excerpt that was in the study of Quran on the tafsir of this verse that I thought was really worth mentioning it says that the Quran mentions God's love for human beings much more often than their love for God that right away should make us all feel really small right that we that Allah is so worthy of our love but subhan Allah we don't show that we don't reflect as much as we should and then it goes on to say in Islamic spirituality it is more important to be considered beloved than a lover of God as reflected in one of the names of the Prophet S.A.W. Habib Allah whose primary meaning is the beloved of God though it can also mean the lover of God the Sufi say that we cannot be the beloved of God without loving him and we cannot love him unless he loves us so this is how again obedience to Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala is how we earn the love of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala and then it's like a beautiful you know a cycle that just continues but it starts with our obedience and so quickly again I might be over time I apologize but the obstacles to our obedience is what we also need to examine because if we're not being obedient if we're in any way having checked out or sometimes you know people fall into ruts and that's normal spiritually you're not always gonna be you know inclining you're gonna have those moments of stagnation that's normal as long as we don't regress or go down but we should always assess what's going on and so the four obstacles is ignorance so if you feel like you're in a rut you need to learn and this is where Alhamdulillah organizations like the Rahmah Foundation and other wonderful initiatives where especially that are in support of women learning from other women we need to support but seek out knowledge don't be the type of person that just is like well I don't feel as motivated as I did last year or last month or in Ramadan what's going on do something about it take action so learn the next is weakness and this is where if you have questions about certain things ask questions it's a very important thing to convey because sometimes again people feel shy but remember what the Prophet's system said about the women of Medina he praised them and said that they did not let their shyness prevent them from asking questions so if you have a check or doubt about something and you want certainty ask questions don't stand in your own way and not to say that anyone is an expert on everything but inshallah we'll be able to get the answers to you through all of the wonderful teachers that we have access to but ask and then long hopes if you are stuck thinking about or if you are if you have what we call tul al amal where it's a disease of the heart you keep putting things off right procrastination this is a disease of the heart you have to stop nobody has promised anything we're not promised tonight let alone tomorrow let alone the next day or the day after so be a person of action be a person who really understands that life is temporal and also unpredictable and that you can't do that if you're gonna run away from death you cannot be realistic about life and have proper goals and really organize your time well if you don't reflect on death enough it's the way to actually get your heart in the right order because again dunya is a place of distraction death is the way to wake up it's like a splash of cold water when you're in a somber state that's how you're gonna wake up is remember death can come and seize you or your loved ones at any minute are you prepared if you're not what are you doing and then the last thing to look at as well is if your risk is not halal if you are consuming anything that's haram and this doesn't I mean most of us inshallah are following the dietary rules but what about the income that we're taking in what are we actually mindful of that are we giving our sadaqah are we giving our zakat are we distributing our wealth as we should to purify it if we're not doing these things and likely we're going to not be able to be on task be on top of our prayers be on top of our other things these are all hindrances these are all obstacles so this is how we again check ourselves for obedience in terms of figuring out what's going on and then the four paths to actually making sure that we're doing things as we should sadaqah we can't say this enough prayers prayers prayers it's the very first thing that we're going to be called on on the day of judgment the very the most important thing that we do if you're not praying your five days but you're going to moled and you're singing the sheets wake up you get that's a problem there's a disconnect there you've got to be praying your five days five prayers and then Quran again Quran is the greatest they care the greatest thing that we can be occupying ourselves with outside of our prayers it's the book of Allah there's no greater speech there's nothing more valuable to listen to to read to engage with you can have a books library full of books but if you don't engage with the Quran again there's a disconnect and if you don't know how to read the Quran this is a problem seek ask email can I get a teacher and I'm not sure I get sisters all the time asking I need to get my just yesterday's parlay I was at an event and a sister who's a mother working very eager to learn Quran because she sees this as a priority that she's neglected this is the kind of discipline we need so reading the book of Allah is found out beautifully with joy and devotion seeking forgiveness and guidance dua we have to continuously make dua always asking dua for ourselves forgiveness for our sins as well as those we love and in the absence of others we shouldn't you know just you don't have to share your dua make them private and they could being in the remembrance of Allah swt doing salawat often and contemplating this is how we get our self back on the path of obedience and again when we come in celebrations like this we're celebrating the the life of the beloved sallallahu sallam the point of this is to bond our hearts but also to check ourselves to check our claims that we make because it's very easy to claim that you love the Prophet sallallahu sallam but if it's not showing in your actions again there's a disconnect so this is where inshallah we can again hold ourselves accountable and truly present with real love and inshallah have the Prophet sallallahu sallam be pleased with us in this life and in the next inshallah Peace be upon you Peace be upon you and peace be upon you