I Am In Love...

Salam.
It was a special day last Monday.

All Muslims in the world celebrate (or should be celebrating) Maulidur Rasul, or the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). It is an interesting thing to say that we are celebrating a birthday of a person, without knowing him personally. Such is the beauty of Islam. However, a friend argued that we celebrate the prophet’s birthday because we are showing our love to him. Whether this can be agreed upon is another story, however, I don’t think anyone of us are ‘in love’ with the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

Let me give a story that comes in Hadith. (I am using my own words.) There was once a poor guy came to see Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), he said he was poor and needed money. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Go and ask from Saidina Usman r.a.” (Usman r.a. is a very rich sahabat of the prophet as he was one of the most successful bussinessman at that time). The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) also said, “By the Lord Al-Mighty, ask Usman to give you something.”

The person went to see Usman. Usman asked, “What brings you here?”. And the poor guy says, “The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) sent me here because I asked him for some money as I am poor. The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked you, so that in the name of Allah the All Mighty, for you to give me some money.” Saidina Usman went into his house and come out with a few dinars and gave that man.

The poor guy unsatisfied with what happened went to see the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) to argue about this. He said, “Dear prophet, I went to see Usman as you instructed. And asked him to help me by the al-Mighty. However, he just gave me a few dinars and sent me away. I need more.”

The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said, “Go again to Usman and ask for more.” And the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) said “This time, ask Usman by the Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) blessing, to give you something.”

He went to see Usman again. This time he said, “The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) asked you, so that with the blessings of The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), for you to give me some money.” Upon hearing this Usman reached for the poor guy’s hand and brought him straight into his house and warehouse were all his richness were and said, all this is for you! Take everything!”

As Usman was really insisting on him to take everything, the poor guy was confused and got scared if Usman was mad at him and that’s why Usman are saying things like that. So, he ran away and went as fast as he could to the see The Prophet Muhammad (pbuh). Seeing this guy didn’t take anything but running away made Usman to run after him.
Both were then in front of the prophet. The Prophet asks, ‘What happened?’. And the poor guy tells his story. The prophet asks saidina Usman, why he did that and Usman explained,

“When he first came, he said give him something by the name of Allah the All Mighty. I gave a few dinars because Allah doesn’t need any of this wealth that we posess. Moreover, even if I give a small amount of money, Allah will give a lot more to me. That’s why I just gave him just a few dinars. But when he came the second time, he said give him something by the prophet Muhammad’s blessing. You are the reason why everything in this whole world exists, you are the rahmat for this whole alam. Everything is made for you to lead. If you are not here, we wouldn’t be in the blessing of Allah. That’s why, I said to him to take everything he wants too.”

When I heard this story, I could feel that we are not even close to that kind of love to the prophet. How many of us knows about what happened to the prophet when he was going to die?

How many of us knows the basic information of the prophet?
Who is his mother and father?
What time was he born?
Who was the two person who gave milk to him when he was a baby?
When did he receive his prophecy?
What was his plan to invade Makkah?
What did he do to his enemies?
How many wars did he went to?
How did he dress like?
Who are his wives?
Who are his children?
When did he perform his Haj?
When did he last received the revelation from God?

At the end of the day, we can see to ourselves and think, do we even know this guy named Muhammad that we say is our prophet? Some will get angry about what I am saying, but think deep, real deep. Nowadays, we know artistes, politicians and entertainers more than anything else. Round the clock information about a person from birth to death, in just a click.

But that gratitude was never given for a person who was the reason for all of us to be here in this world, the rahmat to this whole world.

Our prophet Muhammad (pbuh).

“None of you is a true believer unless I am closes (dearer) to him than his own parents, children and all others.”
(Related by Ahmad, Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Al-Nassaie and Ibn Majah)

p/s: Where is the love?