 I would like to spend this khutbah looking at a couple of different things, the qualities of the quintessential believer's character, Akhlaq al-Mu'mineen, and also what that translates into when we look at love of Allah in His Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa la alihi wa sallam. Allah says in the Quran, وَإِنَّكَ لَعَلَى خُلُكِنْ عَظِيمِ, speaking directly to the Prophet Muhammad, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam. And here Allah, He says, Now, the particle A'la in Arabic, usually the word that precedes A'la is something that is tangible or concrete. This is standard Arabic. But in rhetoric, when an intangible, something that is not concrete, something that is abstract, follows A'la, the meaning of that is tamakkun. It is mastery. Verily, verily, you have mastered magnificent character. This is what Allah is saying to His Habib, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. This khuluk of the Prophet, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam, He has mastered ethics, إِنَّ مَا بُعِذْتُوا لِوْتَمِّمَا مَكَارِمَا الْأَخْلَاقْ He said, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, I was only sent to perfect character or noble ethics. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, الْبِرْلُوا حُسْنُوا الخُلُكْ That righteousness is good character. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, إِنَّ مِنْ أَحَبْ بِكُمْ إِلَيَّا وَأَقْرَبِكُمْ مِنِّي مَجْلِسًا يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ أَحَاسِنُكُمْ أَقْلَاقًا That indeed the most beloved of you to me and the closest of you to me on the يوم القيامة are those of you who are best in character. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, أَكْمَلُوا المُؤْمِنِينْ إِمَانًا أَحْسَنُهمْ خُنُقًا That the most perfect believers are those the most perfect believers with respect to faith, faith, إيمان are those who are best with respect to character. He said, sallallahu alayhi wa alihi wa sallam, مَا شَيْءٌ أَثْقَلُوا مِنْ مِزَانِ الْمُؤْمِنِ يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ مِنْ خُلُقٍ حَسَنْ أَوْقَمَا قَالَا عَلَيْهِ السَّلَاتُ وَالْسَلَامِ There is nothing weightier on the scale of a mu'min. On the يوم القيامة there is nothing heavier, weightier than good character. This is what he said, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. However, when we talk about good character, we are not talking about good character in lieu of performance of righteous action. We do not imagine an absolute bifurcation between إيمان and عمل that these two things are not mutually exclusive. In other words, somebody who says, I don't need to fast and pray and give zakah because I have good character. Such a person is living in a state of gurur, delusion, because righteous action is a function of good character. The ibadat of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was a by-product of his good character. To give you one example, Abu Huraira radiallat al-A'nhu wa al-Adha he relates a hadith in which he says كان رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم يُسَلِّ حَتَّ تَلِمَ قَدَمَا that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he used to pray until his feet would swell. فَقِلَ لَهُ and it was said to him تَفْعَلُوا هَذَا وَقَدْ جَاكَا أنَّ اللَّهَ سُفْحَانُوا وَ تَعْلَا فَضْغَثُرَ لَقْ مَا تَقْدَمَا مِنْ ذَمْبِك وَمَا تَأْخَرْ Do you do this to yourself? And it has been revealed to you that Allah has forgiven your future and past sins. And of course the sin of a Prophet is different than our sin. The Erlamas say, the theologians say the sin of a Prophet is leaving an act of great virtue for an act of lesser virtue but he's still virtuous like عبَسَ وَتَوَ اللَّهَ He's still virtuous. So with respect to deliberate disobedience there is no question. But look at the response of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Do you do this? Why do you do this? Allah has forgiven you. Shall I not be a grateful servant? His prolonged prayer was a reflection of his character virtue of shukr. So if you really love somebody you will demonstrate that love. This is Habibullah sallallahu alayhi alayhi wa sallam He is the and he loves Allah and when you love someone you will naturally show your love towards that person. Imam al-Hassan, he asked his brother Imam al-Hussain to ask their father Sayyidina Ali about the character of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Sayyidina Ali, he relates a long hadith and will give you some highlights. The full hadith is in the shema'il of Imam al-Tirmidhi. What exactly is this? Khuluq azeem that Allah s.a.m. mentioned in the Quran. Sayyidina Ali, he said he said The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was always cheerful he was jovial he was affable he was easy going imperturbable you couldn't get him angry very easily. This is the opposite of someone that you're afraid to be around. You have to walk on eggshells as they say around certain people because you might say something and it will set them off. This is the opposite of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam was mild mild mannered he was gentle he was not harsh or coarse Allah s.a.m. says in the Quran It is part of the incredible mercy of Allah s.a.m. that you have lean you have gentleness if you were harsh or hard-hearted you would have seen people flee from your presence the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's character was one of gentleness but he was principal he did not compromise when it came to Tauhi and when it came to theology and when it came to Islamic morality Abrahamic morality attacked right now especially in universities he did not he wasn't to use the language of the youth he wasn't a sell-out but he had beautiful character and he had long suffering he was for bearing Ibn al-A'as fought against him for over 20 years over 20 years he is trying to actively kill the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he showed him beautiful character I was in a masjid one time in a youth halakha and the Christian brother was in the masjid and the Christian brother was asking some questions they weren't disrespectful they were just questions academic questions and another brother walks into the masjid and he says he listens for two minutes to the Christian and he says to us you know these kufar Allah SWT sealed their hearts he's made them blind he's deaf in their ears I said who are you talking about this brother you just met you're calling him a kathar already you know anything about him to say someone's a kathar means you're consigning this person to the flames of hell yes his belief is kufar he worships Isa alayhi sallam kufar this is clear but you don't know this person's end don't give up on him the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam did not give up on people Amr ibn al-as became Muslim eventually and the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam showed him so much ihsan so much love so much love that Amr ibn al-as he thought that he was the most beloved person to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam made you feel like you were the most important person so Amr ibn al-as he was feeling some juraah so he came to the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam and he said to him Ya Rasulullah O messenger of God who do you love the most amongst the people expecting the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam to say oh it's you isn't it obvious look how I treat you and the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam he said Aisha he said his wife our mother Aisha may Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala be pleased with her no one knows a husband like a wife that's what I tell the brothers in counseling no one knows you like your wife right and look to how she describes the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam we'll get to some of these hadith inshallah ta'ala so then Amr ibn al-as he said from the men don't worry about the women who do you love the most from the men and the prophet said abu ha her father not abu bakr the father of her Aisha summa man umar and then Amr ibn al-as he said he named a few other men but I wasn't one of them I shouldn't have asked him but this is the prophetic ethos that make you feel sallallahu alayhi wa ta'ala and people had longing for him the sahaba loved him with an incredible love because he is the most praised sallallahu alayhi sallam said sallallahu alayhi sallam sallallahu alayhi sallam sallallahu alayhi sallam he said the prophet sallallahu alayhi sallam was more beloved to us than anything when you say she that means creation because this comes from something that's willed into being Allah s.w.t is not a she Allah s.w.t is not willed into being Allah s.w.t is the one who willed into being so Sayyidina Ali said the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa ta'ala he was the most beloved thing to us even more so than cold water over extreme thirst what is the analogy here for the Arab for the desert Arab what does cold water represent it represents life itself that they love the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa ta'ala more than life itself this is the love of Sahaba and Nabi'u Awla bil mu'minina nin and fusihim the prophet is closer to the believers the prophet is more beloved he's more dear to the believers even more so than their own selves even more so than their own selves they prioritize the likes the love of the prophet over the love of their own families this is a Hadith I swear by the one who holds my soul in his yad none of you truly believe until I am more beloved to him than his parents his children and the whole of humanity I swear by the one who holds my soul in his yad his children and the whole of humanity well how do we gain this love for the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa ta'ala this incredible love how do we get this type of which is unconditional love is through intimate gnosis intimate knowledge this is the way you cannot love something you don't know what are you always talking about this is how you can tell what you love what's on your tongue the heart is a revelator of the tongue whatever's coming out of your mouth is proceeding from the heart if you're always talking about this or that celebrity or food or some tv shows what are you talking about money even your family your children this is what you truly love I'll tell you a horror story a muslim doctor told me he worked in a hospital the muslim ward of the hospital he said you won't believe how many muslims refuse to say the shahada when they're about to die A'udubillah nasalallahu ala afya wa salama because of the point of death the reality hits home and whatever's in your this is what's going to come out you don't want to hear that you want to hear your favorite song you want to be around your kids and family you want that old story about high school or college this is dangerous the affair is serious we have to take our lives seriously don't fall for this frivolity and play take it seriously cultivate love of the messenger his love is love of Allah sometimes people say this is a misguided statement they say if only we loved Allah as much as we love the prophet this is a misguided statement the only reason why we love the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is because he's Rasulullah Rasulullah the messenger of God construct noun absolute noun who is the owner of Rasul Allah why do we love the Quran some words on a page in a book why do we love this book kitab Allah the book of God why do you love the Kaaba a few bricks bait Allah this is why cultivate love for the messenger through noses of the messenger ma'rifah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam how do we gain ma'rifah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam people they don't know one hadith i read an article one time the Christian newspaper it was called the greatest book never read the greatest book never read and it was about the bible and this christian journalist he said he went to churches at random and asked people coming out of a church people who were parishioners in a church who just attended church and he asked them at random can you name the four gospels of the new testament he said 50% of church going christians could not name the four gospels of the new testament matthew mark luke and john they couldn't name them i told this to my teacher he said don't be surprised maybe 50% of Muslims who walked out of salat al juma could not quote one hadith of the prophet muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam addeenu al nasiha ballihoo anni walaw aya convey from me even one one statement one statement wa ma arsalnaa ki illa rahmatin lila alameen we did not send you except as an incredible mercy for all of humanity we quote this aya 21107 in the Quran and people say what does that mean how is he a mercy to all of humanity we can't give an adequate answer the Quran is a bold book is very bold because the author is Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala but we have fallen short we have fallen short collectively of defending the speech of Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala in the Quran and people have skewed perceptions of our messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam of how he dealt with people how he dealt with his enemies how he dealt with sahaba when the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam passed away many sahaba never recovered they never recovered Sayyidina Bilal he couldn't even do the azal in madina he had to leave madina because everything in madina reminded him of his beloved sallallahu alayhi wa la'ali wa sallam the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam's message saved Sayyidina Bilal sallallahu alayhi wa la'ali wa la'ali in every way possible when he was being tortured by his so called slave master in the burning deserts of Mecca it was the Risala of the Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that took him from that position and put him on the Kaaba to give the azan you don't think he loves the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam you know these are the die for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he couldn't even make azan everything reminded him of the Prophet he went to Syria where he lived for over a year Imam Asufki says that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam came to Bilal in his dream and said what is this aversion O Bilal why are you estranged to me isn't it about time for you to visit me in madina isn't it about time Sayyidina Bilal comes into madina after a year and as soon as he comes in to the sacred precincts of madina tul-malawara he begins to weep uncontrollably he can't stand it he goes into the masjid and Sayyidina Abu Bakr sadaq he sees him and he says this is Bilal give us one azan like he used to give in the days of the messenger sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and Sayyidina Bilal said I can't do it Sayyidina Umar saw him give us one azan like he used to give let us remember the aiyam of the messenger he said I can't do it so al-hasanayn Imam Hassan and Imam Hussein the grandchildren of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam who look like the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam according to our sources from the neck down Imam Al-Hussain looks like the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam from the neck up Imam Al-Hussan looks like the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam so here Sayyidina Bilal is looking at the reflections prophetic reflections illuminations of refractions of the prophetic light he's looking at them and he said give us one azan he said I'll do my best he climbs the tower he says allahu akbar allahu akbar allahu akbar allahu akbar ashadu wa la ilaha illa Allah ashadu wa la ilaha illa Allah ashadu anna Muhammadan and he fell down he collapsed he collapsed his knees give up he couldn't even say the name of his beloved sallallahu alayhi wa sallam unconscious in the swoon that carry him out of there this is the love of Sahaba we have to cultivate this love we have to cultivate this love through ma'rifah inshaAllah ta'ala I'll say this and ask forgiveness of Allah for you God is the most merciful alhamdulillahi rabilalameen wa salatu wa salamad rasoulillahi wa a'la sahadatina wa immatina abibaqa'r'umal othman wa alee wa radhiyallahu ta'ala ashabi rasoulillahi ajma'in we need to cultivate the love of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam through ma'rifah how do we gain ma'rifah read the seerah of the prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam and if you've read it And if you read it again, read it another time, read it in a different language, read a different translation. Keep reading with an intention of ma'rifah that leads to ma'habbah. Get to know the Messenger, sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Get to know what he's done for us. In Sahih Bukhari, we are told Kitab al-Anbiya that human beings on the Yom al-Qiyamah, they will go to different prophets and they will ask for Shafa'ah and they will say Nafsi Nafsi, Nooh alayhi s-salam, Musa alayhi s-salam, Ibrahim alayhi s-salam, Isa alayhi s-salam. All of these prophets, Nafsi Nafsi, they will go to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam I am for this. And he will go make sajdah beneath the Arsh of Allah SWT. Ya Muhammad, irfa'r asak wa shfa'at yushaffa. Oh Muhammad, raise your head and ask. Raise your head and ask. Ask what? What will the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam ask for? Shafa'ah for his ummah. You see our parents are responsible indirectly for our earthly existence. Ultimately Allah is the cause of everything. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam is the cause of our eternal existence. He is al shafi'ah wa al mushaffa. He is the one who intercedes and the one whose intercession is accepted by Allah SWT. Wadtuha wa layli iza sajah. Ma wadda'ak rabbuka wa ma khala. Wala al akhirat khayru laka minal ula. Wala saufa yu'ateeka rabbuka fataradah. Soon will your Lord give you something and immediately it will please you. Imam al-Suyuti mentions when this ayah was revealed to the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam he said, I will never ever be pleased while even one person from my ummah is in the fire. This is the concern. It crushes him that you should perish. Deeply concerned is he about you. Get to know him through sira. Get to know him through khasa'is. Through literature that speaks of the unique qualities, the distinctive qualities of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. Qualities that no other prophet had but him. Imam Abdul Aziz, Ibn Abdul Salam in his book Bida'a to Surah al-Fitafdil al-Rasool. Get this book. It's very short. Treat us 40 pages. 42 types of distinction. He mentions that the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam has immanence over all the other prophets. I'm not making distinction. Allah subhanahu wa ta'ala makes a distinction. Prophets have different degrees and his degree is the highest. Read khasa'is. Read the shama'il of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam that deal with his outward and inward qualities. The Sahaba described his character. His khuluk. They also described his khalq. His physicality. Why would they describe his physicality? One time a student said to me, this is just a waste of time reading about the physical description of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam. I asked him, did Sahaba waste time? They wasted time? Sahaba? He said, no, they waste no time. Then why did they mention these things? Why did they mention he has 11 white hairs on his temples? Why did they mention something so minute? Why? Because they loved him. And you want to know everything about your beloved. You just don't want to know what your beloved said. You want to know everything. How was he standing when he said it? What did he look like? What color was his turban? What did his beard look like? What did his sandals look like? This is the Sahaba obsessed with the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wa sallam because this obsession is healthy because ultimately it's for the sake of Allah swt. Everything is about Allah swt.