Dillu Ram Kausari: The Hindu Poet who Loved The Prophet

Ash-Shifa' by Qadi 'Iyad

Chapter Two of Part Two

On the Necessity of Loving the Prophet

Section 1: Concerning the necessity of loving him

Allah says, "Say: 'If your fathers or your sons or your brothers or your wives or your tribe, or any wealth you have acquired, or any business you fear may slump, or any dwelling-places which please you, are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger and fighting hard in jihad in His Way, then wait until Allah brings about His command.'" (9:25)

This is enough encouragement, advice, proof and indication of the necessity of loving him and is sufficient to show that this duty is an immensely important obligation which is the Prophet's due. Allah censures those whose property, families and children are dearer to them than Allah and His Messenger. He threatens them by adding, "Wait until Allah brings about His command." At the end of the verse He considers such people as having done wrong and informs them they are among those who are astray and not guided by Allah.

Anas reported that the Messenger of Allah said, "None of you will believe until I am more beloved to him than his children, his father and all people." (al-Bukhari, Muslim & an-Nasa'i) There is something similar from Abu Hurayra.

Anas reported that the Prophet said, "There are three things which cause anyone who takes refuge in them to experience the sweetness of belief - that Allah and His Messenger are more beloved to him than anything else; that he loves a man only for Allah; and that he dislikes the thought of reverting to disbelief as much as he would dislike being cast into the Fire." (al-Bukhari & Muslim))

'Umar ibn al-Khattab told the Prophet, "I love you more than anything except my soul which is between my two sides." The Prophet replied, "None of you will believe until I am dearer to him than his own soul." 'Umar said, "By the One who sent down the Book on you, I love you more than my soul which is between my two sides." The Prophet said, "'Umar, now you have it!" (al-Bukhari)

Sahl said, "Whoever does not think that the Messenger is his master in all states or think that he is under the dominion of the Prophet does not taste the sweetness of his Sunna because the Prophet, may Allah bless him and grant him peace, said, 'None of you will believe until I am dearer to him than himself.'"

Section 2: On the reward for loving the Prophet

Anas said that a man came to the Prophet and asked, "When will the Last Hour come, Messenger of Allah?" , "What have you prepared for it?" he asked? He replied, "I have not prepared a lot of prayer or fasting or charity for it, but I love Allah and His Messenger." The Prophet said, "You will be with the one you love." (al-Bukhari)

Safwan ibn Qudama said, "I emigrated to the Prophet and went to him and said, 'Messenger of Allah, give me your hand.' So he gave me his hand. I said, 'Messenger of Allah, I love you.' He said, 'A man is with the one he loves.'" (at-Tirmidhi and an-Nasa'i) 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud, Abu Musa al-Ash'ari and Anas related this statement from the Prophet, and Abu Dharr also has something to the same effect.

'Ali said that the Prophet took Hasan and Husayn by the hand and said, "Whoever loves me and loves these two and their father and mother will have the same degree as me on the Day of Rising." (at-Tirmidhi)

It is related that a man came to the Prophet and said, "Messenger of Allah, I love you more than my family and my possessions. I remember you and I cannot wait until I can come and look at you. I remember that I will die and you will die and I know that when you enter the Garden, you will be raised up with the Prophets. When I enter it, I will not see you." Allah then revealed, "Whoever obeys Allah and the Messenger, will be with those whom Allah has blessed: the Prophets, the men of truth, the martyrs and the righteous. And such people are the best of company!" (4:68) The Prophet called the man and recited the verses to him. (at-Tabarani)

In another hadith we find, "A man was with the Prophet, looking at him without turning away. The Prophet asked, "What is wrong with you?" He replied, "My father and mother be your ransom! I enjoy looking at you. On the Day of Rising, Allah will raise you up because of His high estimation of you!" Allah then sent down the verse mentioned above.

In the hadith of Anas, the Prophet said, "Whoever loves me will be with me in the Garden." (al-Isfahani)

Section 3: On what is related from the Salaf and the Imams about their love for the Prophet and their yearning for him

Abu Hurayra said that the Messenger of Allah said, "Those in my community with the strongest love for me are the people who will come after me. Some of them would give their family and wealth to have seen me." (Muslim and al-Bukhari) There is something similar from Abu Dharr.

The hadith of 'Umar, "I love you more than myself," has already been cited. There are similar things from other Companions.

'Amr ibn al-'As said, "There is no one I love better than the Messenger of Allah."

'Abda bint Khalid ibn Ma'dan said, "Khalid never went to bed without remembering how he yearned for the Messenger of Allah and his Companions among the Muhajirun and Ansar, and he would name them. He said, 'They are my root and branch, and my heart longs for them. I have yearned for them a long time. My Lord, hasten my being taken to You!'"

It is related that Abu Bakr said to the Prophet, "By the One who sent you with the truth, I would be happier if Abu Talib [the Prophet's uncle] were to become Muslim than if Abu Quhayfa [his own father] were to. That is because the Islam of Abu Talib would delight you more." 'Umar ibn al-Khattab told al-'Abbas, "Your becoming a Muslim is dearer to me than al-Khattab becoming a Muslim because it is dearer to the Messenger of Allah."

Ibn Ishaq said that the father, brother and husband of one of the women of the Ansar were killed in the Battle of Uhud fighting for the Messenger of Allah. She asked, "What has happened to the Messenger of Allah, may Allah bless him and grant him peace?" They said, "He is as well as you would like, praise be to Allah!" She said, "Show him to me so I can look at him." When she saw him, she said, "Every affliction is as nothing now that you are safe."

'Ali ibn Abi Talib was asked, "How was your love for the Messenger of Allah?" He replied, "By Allah, we loved him more than our wealth, our sons, our fathers and our mothers, and more than cold water in a time of great thirst."

Zayd ibn Aslam said, 'Umar went out at night to observe the people and saw a lamp in a house where an old woman was teasing some wool, saying:

"The prayer of the good be upon Muhammad, may the blessed bless him!

I was standing in tears before dawn. If only I knew,when death gives us different forms,

Whether the Abode will join me to my beloved!"

She meant the Prophet. 'Umar sat down in tears.

It is related that once 'Abdullah ibn 'Umar's foot went numb. He was told, "Remember the most beloved of people to you and it will go away!" He shouted, "O Muhammad!" and the feeling returned.

When Bilal was near death, his wife called out, "O sorrow!" Bilal said, "What joy! I will meet those I love, Muhammad and his party!"

It is related that a woman said to 'A'isha, "Show me the grave of the Messenger of Allah." She showed it to her and the woman wept until she died.

When the Makkans drove Zayd ibn ad-Dathima out of the Haram to kill him, Abu Sufyan ibn Harb said to him, "I ask you by Allah, Zayd, don't you wish that Muhammad were with us now to take your place so that we could cut off his head, and you were with your family?" Zayd said, "By Allah, I would not wish Muhammad to be now in a place where even a thorn could hurt him if that was the condition for my being with my family!" Abu Sufyan remarked, "I have not seen any people who love anyone the way the Companions of Muhammad love Muhammad."

Ibn 'Abbas said, "When a woman came to the Prophet (i.e. from Makka to Madina), he made her take an oath that she had not left because of her husband's wrath or desire for a new land and that she had only left out of love for Allah and His Messenger."

Ibn 'Umar stood over Ibn az-Zubayr after he had been killed and asked for forgiveness for him and said, "By Allah, according to what I know you were someone who fasted and prayed and loved Allah and His Messenger."

the BEST book for this topic by the way is "And Muhammad is His Messenger: Veneration of the Prophet in Islamic Piety" by Prof. Anne-Marie Schimmel.

one follows the commands of the koran and the sunnah because of love of Allah and love of His Prophet! why? because perfect love demands obedience to the beloved!

zahid sahib and kaalchakra sahib,

i believe in my previous posts i have demonstrated quite clearly that what zahid sahib considers only a 'barelvi' trait -i.e. boundless love for the prophet--is not in fact a barelvi thing at all but present in all traditional muslims from the time of the companions. the reason the barelvis emphasise it so vehemently was due to the fact that in the past 150 odd years a group of muslims were born who tried to lessen the love of the prophet amongst muslims--i.e. the deobandis and the wahabis.

religion without love is dead. i answered the theological basis of it by quoting koranic verses and hadith which command us to love the prophet more than anything else but it appears zahid khusk sahib has overlooked it.

as for the omnipresence and omniscience of the prophet that also is NOT only a Barelvi belief but a Sunni belief in general and particularly emphasised by the sufis.

as for the contention by zahid sahib that such love makes muslims inward looking and too pacifist to confront evil then that is not true since this belief has--i have already shown--existed for most of islamic theological history and it doesn't seem to have prevented muslims from confronting evil. indeed, most of the conquerors of india had sufi saints in their retinue who accompanied them and the majority of people who fought in the war of independence of 1857 from the muslims were traditionalists.

i would counter that it is only since certain groups have de-emphasised the love of the prophet that muslims have reached this nadir.

Allah's help is contingent upon love of the Prophet!

zahid, were naqsh bhai to suggest (as I think he he does) that boundless love for Muhammad (and Allah) comes AFTER doing all other things that the Quran requires of a Muslim, then probably there may be less of a confusion.

So from what one gathers, sufis don't claim to supplant the Quran, but in some ways 'transcend' it or at least 'transcend' other people's understanding of it through their LOVE of Muhammad and Allah.

Anyways, naqsh is highly informed of these matters, and can best clarify. Earlier in the discussion, I had even mistaken him for a non-Muslim, but that was clearly wrong, and I apololgized to him for that.

Dear KaalChakra and Naqshbandi Sahib,


Brelvi theology’s foundation is the boundless love for Muhammed. That translates itself into such beliefs as the omniscience and omnipresence of Muhammed. This is the great dividing line between Muslims. This boundless love is Christianity-inspired with the promise of Muhammed’s intercession for the salvation of the believer. Here’s a caveat. What’s the basis of salvation? Good works of the believer according to the teachings of God conveyed by Muhammed or the believer’s boundless love for Muhammed as the messenger of God?

This notion of love or the good works as the basis of salvation has great implications in the shaping of the character of the believer. One sees clearly that Brelvi religion is inward-looking and lacks aggression that one needs for the confrontation of the outer evil, whereas the Deobandi theology is fitter for struggle due to lesser emphasis on the love for Muhammed. The other extreme school of thought is the puritanical Wahabi which almost rules out the notion of love and places the responsibility solely on the believer who could attain salvation on the basis of his good works. Clearly it belongs to the fittest struggle-theologies as endorsed by statistics.

But why boundless love? There are those who always remain within the shadow of the prophet and there are some who dare to look beyond. You might call them daredevil but their urge to get a better sense of what truth is instigates them to do just that. A direct consequence of such an investigative mindset is the disappearance of that blind and irresistible love that is the basis of Brelvi theology.

zahid, I completely understand and appreciate where you are coming from. In fact, it is a pleasure to hear people who think about these things precisely without drowning them in relatively irrelevant issues.

Don't know about laddu sahib, but I personally find your logic compelling, and have no problem with acknowledging it.

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Even more interesting than that discussion is the phenomenal conversation you and naqsh are conducting. If one really believes in Islam, then there is ond message in it, not two, or five, or twenty different messages.

So how sufism fits in all this is an issue of greatest importance, not just for this world, and for the world beyond this life.

We are benefitting from the conversation you and naqsh are conducting and look forward to arriving at some greater clarity than we currently possess. Thanks, zahid.

Dear Laddu and KaalChakra Sahib,

Let me begin with a word on Laddu Sahib’s persistent protest regarding Muslim conquest of the pagan India. I mentioned repeatedly in my previous posts that the motivation behind such invasions was not solely personal gain – though that possibly gave momentum – but the innate urge of the monotheistic beliefs to spread themselves and overturn what they see as false systems. I also gave examples from Christian history both peaceful as in the case of the early Christians and aggressive as the later conquest of the Americas. I also talked about the only substantial expansive campaign in the history, the Hellenism. Here comes the character of the third monotheistic belief of Abrahmic tradition, the Jewish faith into light. When Greeks tried to install Zeus’ statues in the synagogues the monotheistic Geist of the Jewish people couldn’t tolerate that sacrilege and their revolt went into world history as the legendary Maccabean wars. Jews also revolted against the other world power the Romans. It was not merely about their land but primarily about the insult that they felt being subjugated by pagan Greeks and Romans. I urge you Laddu Sahib to consider also this while abusing Islam. Laddu Sahib is overly preoccupied with Indian history and the pain that still lingers due to the Muslim invasions and the following rule and that’s why he doesn’t talk about Christian invasions.

laddu#153:

I have the same question for you that I had for Naqsh. How many Muslims do you know who drink camel piss? So, either they are not true Muslims or it is not a part of their religion.

Re: # 152
btw you forgot the camel pis prescribed by prophet- apart from rape .

Hope zahid and naqsh will continue their discussion.

The precise role of LOVE, and its RELATIVE position, within Islam is a fascinating subject, that might mean more for everyone than the taste of gao mutra (a supposedly refreshing drink that some report enjoying immensely).

Zahid, naqsh, please continue, if you can. We rarely learn as much as from your clear thinking, which is not always exactly the same as ours. Thanks in anticipation to both.

Re: # 150
tahmed saheb
that's the way wolfy's sufi style dawah ends- either in cess or blood pool.

laddu and naqshbandi: I believe you gentlemen have brought the race to the bottom to its logical conclusion - in the pool of animal urine.

Re: # 147
wolfy, better look at your own imaan than preach about my dharma. Do you deny that drinking camel pis is not part of your sunnat?

Naqsh sahib:

"don't try to deny that drinking urine of cows is not a part of your dharma?!"

You have perhaps read more Hindu religious books than I have (which is very little), so could you please tell me which Hindu religious book says that a Hindu must drink cow's urine? Of course, I do know that many Hindus do ascribe medicinal properties to cow's urine.

I am sure you know many Hindus. How many do you know who drink cow's urine? So, either they are not following their "dharma" or it is not part of their dharma( btw, dharma does not mean "religion" as you understand it) .

On a sidenote of scientific trivia, Harvard University gives Ignoble Prizes every year for freakish inventions/discoveries. One of this year's recepient was a Japanese woman who has extracted vanilla extract from cow-dung. She demonstrated her invention and, believe it or not, the judges tasted it and found it yummy. Yuchh!

no laddu.
don't try to deny that drinking urine of cows is not a part of your dharma?!