Loving Him More Than Ourselves

The second reason for studying sīrah: it is to develop the proper love of Muhammad (peace be upon him) in the heart. Loving Muhammad (peace be upon him) is ʿibādah; it is part of the religion to love Muhammad (peace be upon him). He said: "One of you does not attain true faith until you love me more than you love your parents, your children, and the whole world." True faith is not really attained until Muhammad (peace be upon him) is loved more than anything else. So it is part of Islam to love Muhammad (peace be upon him).

ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb (may Allah be pleased with him) was a very honest and straightforward person. He went to the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I love you more than everything except myself" — I love you more than anyone except myself. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) told him, "Until you love me" — meaning you don't really attain complete faith until you love me more than your own self. So ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb came back and said, "O Messenger of Allah, now I love you more than my own self." The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, al-āna: "Now — now you have attained complete faith."

The ummah today loves Muhammad (peace be upon him). If any Muslim is asked, "Do you love Muhammad (peace be upon him)?" they would say yes. But the love can't be very deep and sincere unless the person is known. If there is shallow information about someone, that person can't really be loved a lot. To love a person, that person needs to be known more, and this is especially true with Muhammad (peace be upon him), because the more he is known, the more his personality would impress, the more he would be loved. So even though — among the ummah today, with the shallow information that the masses of the Muslims have about him — he is still loved, deep love for Muhammad (peace be upon him) cannot truly be had unless he is known. The Companions (may Allah be pleased with them), the more they knew him, the closer they were to him, the more they loved him.