Hadith No. 13 – Sahih al-Bukhari

Salam,

Bismillah.

Did you ever say this about a person: ‘I love him/her more than anyone in the whole wide world’? If yes, I won’t ask you who it was. If no, I’ll give you an opportunity to say it, inshaAllah. =)

Volume 1, Book 2, Number 13:

Narrated Abu Huraira:

“Allah’s Apostle said, “By Him in Whose Hands my life is, none of you will have faith till he loves me more than his father and his children.”

Some important things about the Hadith:

• Prophet (SAW) swears by Allah:

To emphasize on the importance of the statement being made.

• Warning:

Love Prophet (SAW) the most, or you won’t have Faith.

• ‘Father’

Take it as ‘parent’. It applies to both, mother and father.

There’s a common dilemma among people: ‘How can we love Prophet (SAW) the most? He’s not even alive!’

Well, the answer is pretty simple. When you love a person, you stop asking questions, you don’t argue, you give them the utmost preference, you say yes all the time, you make the effort to please them, they’re on your mind 24/7. Do I need to go on describing love?

Loving Prophet (SAW) the most would mean, I’ll get to know more about him, I’ll obey him, I’ll try to be exactly like him, when I’m given options, I’ll choose the way of the Prophet (SAW) etc.

Note that the Hadith talks about parents and children, the people we love the most (generally). Giving preference to the Prophet (SAW) over them is really hard. For example, in trying to follow the Sunnah, a girl eats two meals a day. Her mother has a problem with that. She thinks her daughter eats too less and her health is getting affected. What should the daughter do? I’ll let you answer..

Lastly,

Love strengthens Faith.

Wassalam.