1. The Great Love of the Companions to Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم

2. Allah said in al-Qur’an praising Prophet Muhammad: يقول الله سبحانه وتعالى في القرءان الكريم: {لقد جاءكم رسول من أنفسكم عزيز عليه ما عنتم حريص عليكم بالمؤمنين رءوف رحيم} ويقول تعالى {وإنك لعلى خلق عظيم} وقال جل جلاله {النبىُّ أولَى بالمؤمنين من أنفسهم}.

3. Allah sent to us a great Prophet who is kind and generous and very highly mannered. Yes, we love you o Prophet of Allah more then our souls, more then our parents, you are the messenger of Allah, we love you more then our hearts and children. We sacrifice ourselves for your sake o Prophet of Allah, the most beloved to us, the most beloved to Allah

4. You are the one who came with Islam, and taught us faith and the way to Paradise. Yes, we love him more then our selves. Dear brothers and sisters, listen to what he said: “one is not a complete believer until I’m more beloved to him then his father, son and all the people”. And he surely is the most beloved to us than anything else.

5. And hear this story, once the Prophet while giving speech a companion asks him “when is the day of judgment” so the Prophet said to him: “What have you prepared for it”? the companion said: “I did not prepare much except that I love Allah and his messenger” so the Prophet said to him: “on the day of judgment, one shall be along with whom he loves”! What a great tiding it is to know this. We love you o Muhammad, you are the one with the highest status and best of the creations.

6. Notice the love of the companions to our Prophet (peace be upon him), for, in the grand conquest of Badr, the day the Prophet told the companions about Quraysh’s attack, Sa^d bin Mu^adh stood up and addressed his most beloved leader, speaking to the Prophet, listen to what these great words that he said

7. He said: “O Messenger of Allah, we believed in you completely, and we testify that everything you conveyed was the truth, and we gave you our trust in following you, so go ahead and take us where you wish, yes for, if he asked us to go through an ocean of thorns we would go, he is the beloved to Allah, he speaks through the revelations.

8. Listen to what he said “lead us where you wish we are with you, for we swear by Allah if you ask us to go through this sea we will and none will disobey”. Dear brothers, this is due to the great love the companions have to the Prophet (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam)

9. and this great love moved the words in the heart of Sa^d, and he said “with you we do not fear facing the enemy, we’ll be patient in the war, take us relying on Allah, may Allah show you what pleases your eyes in us”. So the Prophet was pleased with that, and happiness appeared on his face from such words.

10. And listen dear brothers and sisters to what al-Hafidh ibnul- Jawziy narrated from the route of ‘Anas may Allah have mercy upon them, look how great the love of the female companions was to Prophet Muhammad, the master of mankind

11. he says “In ‘Uhud, people claimed that the Prophet died to the extent that women were screaming in al- Madinah, he said a woman from al- ‘Ansar came and they brought to her, her brother, father, husband and two of her children, they were brought to her as martyrs, they had died in the battle, she asked what’s this?

12. She was told that’s your husband and your sons and father, and so she asked what about the Prophet of Allah? She’s checking if the Prophet is in good condition, she was not concerned in seeing her family killed as she was concerned on checking on the Prophet, because of her extreme love and admiration to the Prophet, she asked how is the messenger of Allah? They told her He’s fine and in good health

13. she said let me see him, she went to him and held the side of his garment and said: “Ya Rasulallah, all the calamites after your safety are easy, even if my family was killed, my husband, and child, and even if my father and brother were killed, what’s important is that you stay safe o messenger of Allah”. This was their love to the Prophet (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam).

14. And listen to what Khubayb bin ^Adiy may Allah have mercy upon him did, he was taken as a hostage in Makkah, and was taken far to be beheaded, to be killed, listen to what he said to them, he said “give me time to pray two rak^ah”, so he prayed two rak^ah quickly and said to the blasphemers “if it wasn’t for the fact that you would wrongly think that I’m scared of death, I would have prolonged my prayer, but just so that you don’t think I’m scared from death”.

15. They brought to behead him, they tortured him, and raised him on a stick to behead him, they told him “Do you prefer that you are with your family and Muhammad is in your place”? He said: “I swear by Allah I don’t love to be with my family while Prophet Muhammad is touched with even a thorn in his foot”, he means even if I and my family were killed, I don’t wish for the Prophet to be in my place at all, rather not even be hurt with a thorn in his foot!

16. And there is Abu Talha may Allah have mercy upon him in ‘Uhud, the Prophet of Allah tells him “throw o Abu Talha”, he was given the arrows and started throwing them at the blasphemers, the Prophet wanted to observe what happens in the battle, so Abu Talha says to him: “Do not worry, I would rather have the arrows go in me and die rather then you o Messenger of Allah, this is more beloved to my heart then you getting hurt or Prophet”. This was their love to the Prophet (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam)

17. Listen to what the great female Companion lady Nasibah daughter of Ka^b said, listen to what she did in ‘Uhud, this woman was brave and courageous Mujahidah in ‘Uhud, what did she do? She had gave allegiance to the Prophet and would go with him to his conquests and battles. One day in ‘Uhud when she saw the enemies surround the Prophet, what did Nasibah bintu Ka^b do?

18. She drew her sword and entered between the lines of the two armies smiting right and left till she came standing in front of the Prophet and she started to defend him pushing the people away, she takes the hits in her body to protect the Prophet, till the Prophet said to her “Who could bare what you are baring o ‘Ummu ‘Umarah”? this great Sahabiyah was taking the hits to shield the Prophet with her body, until she saw her son hit and injured in the battle, yet she did not stop defending the Prophet,

19. she remained fighting while telling her son “o son get up and fight back” while she’s defending the Prophet, she did not go to him and leave defending the Prophet, and so the Prophet said “whenever I look to my right or left I would find Nasibah fighting defensively”. Eventually she left the battle after she got injured with a big injury in her neck, she continued treating that injury for a year as it kept bleeding, and before the first scar dried she heard a caller calling, so she wrapped her injury and took her sword fighting again until she died.

20. This was their love to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam), this is their love to Muhammad, this is their defense to the Messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam). Dear beloved, the Prophet is the one whom taught us how to love him. Our Master Abu Bakr during his immigration with the Prophet, he would walk once in front of the Prophet and once behind him and once from his right and once from his left, being concerned from any harm getting to the Prophet and then he entered the cave before him. Also Imam ^Aliy Radiallahu ^Anhu, slept in the Prophets bed and covered himself with his burdah.. and many other incidents.

21. Listen to what Bilal al-Habashiy the mu’adhin of the messenger of Allah said when dying. As he was dying his wife says “How sad..” and he says to her “rather say what a joy, tomorrow we shall meet the loved ones, Muhammad and his companions”. He said “What a joy tomorrow we’ll meet the Prophet and his companions”, yes, dear beloved ones, that was their love towards the messenger of Allah (Sallallahu ^Alayhi wa Sallam).

22. And our situation and our love to the Prophet carries us to celebrate his honorable birth, anywhere we are, and in the month of Rabi^ul- ‘Awwal, because this celebration is a good innovation, and among the good deeds that one could do for the sake of Allah, so let us welcome the month of goodness.

23. Dear honorable audience, Allah ordered us to stay steadfast on his religion, and ordered us to adhere to loving Prophet Muhammad till death, so stay steadfast on the religion of Prophet Muhammad, and his way and his creed, and on the Tawheed that he taught, that Allah is one with no partners, that Allah exists without a place, He is clear from the bodily attributes of the creations, He is not a body nor composed of bodies, He is not an image, He is not limited to a size or quantity.

24. Allah has no form or shape, because He said in al-Qur’an {Laysa Kamithlihi Shay’} which means {Absolutely nothing resembles Allah”. The Prophet taught us that Allah created the world and does not resemble it, He does not need it, He exists without “kayf” or a manner of being, whatever you imagine in your minds, Allah is different from it.

25. He taught us the belief in the Prophets and in their impeccability against blasphemy or enormous sins or small mean sins, he taught us that all the Prophets are clear from fornications and they are all effortful in delivering the call of Islam. He taught us that the religion of all Prophets is one religion, it is Islam, the religion of the angles, the religion that Allah accepts for us as he informed us in Qur’an that {Islam is the only accepted religion by Allah}.

26. And he warned us form the blasphemy with its three categories, blasphemous beliefs, blasphemous doings, and blasphemous sayings, and he taught us that returning to Islam would be by leaving out all the blasphemy and uttering, saying, the two testifications of faith and not just by asking Allah for forgiveness while in kufur.

27. Dear brothers and sisters, increase your love to Prophet Muhammad the master of all creations, keep loving him, for, he is the one who said: “The person on the day of judgment shall be along with those whom he loves”

28. And we love what you love and those who you love, yes we surely love you O Muhammad, we love you o Messenger of Allah, the best of Allah’s creations.

29. O Allah we ask you to grant us seeing in the dream your beloved Prophet Muhammad, o Allah enable us to visit his grave, o Allah cure us by a glimpse from him, o Allah grant us his intercession, and let us die in al-Baqi^ near him, o Allah accept from us the good deeds in this mawlid, and make it in our balance, ameen.