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Love for the Prophet is integral part of Islam

Love of the Prophet breathes life into our practice of religion.

Love for the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) is an integral part of a Muslim's faith. Our faith is not complete without love for our dear Prophet. The Quran says: "The Prophet is preferable for the believers even to their own selves."-(Holy Quran 33:6)
The Prophet is reported to have said: "None of you becomes a believer until I am dearer to him than his children, his parents and all mankind." (Bukhari and Muslim). Some versions add: "his life, his wealth and his family"
Love of the Prophet breathes life into our practice of religion. Without it our religion reduces to an empty adherence to a set of dead rules and rituals.
At one level it seems clear why the faithful should love the Prophet: he is their teacher, guide and leader and it is impossible for him to teach, guide and lead them if they don't love him. But there is a deeper meaning in the principle that love for the Prophet is essential for faith.
Love of the Prophet is love of all the beauty and nobility of character, truthfulness, justness, humility and inner strength of which man is capable. It means to acknowledge, cherish and glorify all the potential of goodness and greatness that God has created within man.
The Prophet was not only the perfect man but also the representative man who on the day of judgment will represent mankind and plead on their behalf for their imperfections and weaknesses before the throne of God.
Thus love of the Prophet, on the one hand puts us on the road to perfection by making us cherish it dearly and on the other hand it helps us accept our imperfect humanity.
The message Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) gives answers for all the problems we face today. But how many of us have actually explored the message he brought? Do we really know the message?
The Quranic code of life sent to us though our beloved Messenger of Allah still remains untouched, only to be 'recited' when we are in trouble or a calamity afflicts us. How many of us consult his way in our practical lives whether it's a matter of celebration or woe?
We never see the Prophet telling a lie, deceiving a human or even an animal, breaking a pact or a promise. He forgives and prays for the humiliating tribal chiefs of Taif and the people who throw stones at him.
He rejects social inequality and all sorts of racial supremacy and lays down in his final sermon, the basic charter of human rights: "An Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action."
 The way the believers can bless the Prophet is by reciting one of the several forms of durood that are traditional and that pray to God to keep blessing the Prophet more and more.
 (The writer is a former KT staffer)
 

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