The Lover Who Is Truthful in His Love

بسم الله الرحمن الرحيم
In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate

Assalaamu alaykum

Dear Friends

I pray that you are well.

Love is indescribable. Words cannot explain the true essence of love. Pictures cannot display the nature of love. Actions fall short of exhibiting the quintessence of love. Life revolves around love. The Earth spins on the axis of love. Love is seen between a lioness and a cub. Love is sensed between a mother and a child, a student and his teacher. What is love?

Instead of defining love, the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam described the implications of love. The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam said,

“Your love for something blinds and deafens.” [Abu Dawud]

The Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, answered the question for us. When a person is underwater, he neither sees anything, nor does he hear anything. Just as water barricades a person from seeing and hearing his environs, similarly when a person dives in the ocean of love, he is blinded and deafened from all around him. Love submerges an individual into another realm; all he sees is the radiance of his beloved. All he smells is the sweetness of his beloved’s fragrance. Nights are cold without the remembrances of the beloved, sunny days are dark for the lover and sweet becomes bitter. The agony and cries of separation overcome every emotion crossing the heart.

Afflictions reveal the truthful person and the liar and distinguish between them. How excellent this piece of poetry by one of them is:

"It is at times of dissatisfaction not at times of satisfaction
that the lover becomes identifiable from the hater." [Shaykh ‘Ali Bin Wafā Ash‑Shādhilī 1359‑1405]

There is no route, no pathway nor bridge between us and Allah except for His beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam. Allah has established a principle: Whosoever wants to be saved from the upcoming torment, the imminent horror of the Hellfire, then he has no other way out but to cling onto the life of His beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wasallam.

Once love is embedded in the heart for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam, with every footstep and every breath, the Sunnah will be flowing from our lives. The moment we become observers of the Sunnah, Allah will wrap us in His love. This is how simple the formula of success is.

قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّـهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّـهُ وَيَغْفِرْ‌ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّـهُ غَفُورٌ‌ رَّ‌حِيمٌ ﴿٣١

Say, [O Muhammad], "If you should love Allah, then follow me, [so] Allah will love you and forgive you your sins. And Allah is Forgiving and Merciful." (31) [Qur'an, AleImran 3:31]

The 8 steps to gain the love for the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam:

1) Study the seerah of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam and the life of the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them)

2) Study the characteristics (e.g the shamaa'il) of the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam

3) Recite salawaat (salutations) on the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam in abundance

4) Memorize his Sunan (Sunnahs) and embody them through practice

5) Recite and learn the Qur'an

6) Read the stories of righteous predecessors and the books they wrote

7) Be in constant remembrance of Allah.

8) Do not forget what the Prophet sallallahu alayhi wasallam did for his ummah.

May Allah enable us to follow the footsteps of His beloved Messenger sallallahu alayhi wassallam and increase our love for him sallallahu alayhi wassallam. Ameen.

And Allah knows best and He alone grant success.

Allahumma salli 'ala Muhammad wa 'ala aalihi wa sahbihi wassallam.

Wassalaam