بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate
Assalaamu alaykum
Dear Friends
I pray that that you are well.
Say "If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins; for Allah is Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful." Qur'an AleImran 3:31
When you love somebody, you would put them in high esteem, think about them a lot, you would sacrifice yourself for them. So love is not lip service, not something you can just claim how you feel. There is no love without giving. Love is not an abstract feeling, but a feeling and an action.
'Umar ibn Al-Khattab, Allah be pleased with him, loved the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, very much and one day he told the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, "O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than everything except myself." The Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, told him, "Not until you love me more than yourself." 'Umar came back and said, "O Messenger of Allah, now I love you more than everything including myself." With that the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, said to him, "Now you have attained a complete faith."
If you love the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you would consider his sunnah to be more important than your own interest and when the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, ask to do something in the hadith you would be willing to do it regardless of what people think of you. You should not just think the sunnah as the outward sunnah but also how the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant peace, lived his life. He lived his life being an example, teaching and fighting in the way of Allah.
In order to know about the Prophet, Allah bless him and grant him peace, you have to put time learning Islam. People often complain about not having the time to study the religion, not even to go to weekly Islamic study groups at the masjid or yearly Islamic conventions because they are busy (you name it what they are busy about), busy working, working hard for time is difficult. But this is not an excuse.
As Muslims, you need to work for this life and work for the next life. You cannot do for one and forget the other. You need to do for both. So you have to work harder. In order to succeed, you have to cut your sleep, you have to cut your entertainment and idle time, you have to stay away from arguing, fighting, backbiting and gossiping. A Muslim can't afford to waste time. Allah already ordained the exact amount of time you are in this world. Your clock is ticking. Every minute that passes by, you are that much closer to death--to meeting your Creator. What have you prepared for that moment?
May Allah bless our time and only take us at the highest of Iman. Ameen. Please don't forget us in your night prayers. Jazakallahu khairan.
And Allah knows best.
Wassalaam
