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All praise is due to Allah. Allah says: {Say (O Muhammad): If you do love Allah, follow me: Allah will love you and forgive you your sins} [Sûrah Imrân: 31].
This verse affirms the believer's love for Allah as well as the relationship between that love and the believer's love that a believer has for the Messenger. There are other verses that add to this understanding.
For instance, Allah says, confirming that our love for Him is the essence of our faith: {O you who believe, if any from among you turn back from his faith, soon will Allah produce a people whom He will love as who will love Him} [Sûrah al-Mâ'idah: 54].
Allah also says: {Say: If it be that your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your spouses, or your kindred, the wealth that ye have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, or the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah or His Messenger, or striving in His cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision} [Sûrah al-Tawbah: 24].
This verse show the honor of having sincere love for Allah and for His Prophet (peace be upon him). The love that a believer has for Allah must be greater than anything. The love that a believer has for Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) should be more than that for any other created being, such as love for family, children, parents, and others.
In an authentic hadîth, the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: «No one truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his son, his father and all other people» [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (14) and Sahîh Muslim (63)].
In another hadîth, it reads: «If anyone possesses three qualities, he will experience the sweetness of faith: That Allah and His Messenger are dearer to him than anything else, to love someone only for Allah's sake, and to hate relapsing into unbelief as he would hate being thrown into the fire» [Sahîh al-Bukhârî (15) and Sahîh Muslim (60)].
The meaning of love is clear. On a most obvious level, it is an emotion, the emotional opposite of hate. It is a function of the heart. Our love for Allah, moreover, is the essence of our worship, since pure and sincere worship means complete love together with the complete humility. The worshipper’s faith in his Lord and his knowledge of Him vary with the degree of the love and honor in which he holds his Lord. The worship which is prescribed by Allah depends on the true state of the heart.
Our love of the Prophet (peace be upon him) is quite different. It follows as a consequence of our love for Allah. We love the Prophet (peace be upon him) because he is the Messenger of Allah, because he is the best in character, because the most sincere and kindest person among all human beings. We love him for what he brought us: the guidance and the true religion. We must love him more than we love any other created being, but still it is from the type of love that we have for a created being, and not the love that we have for the Creator. It is as the Prophet (peace be upon him) said: «No one truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his children, his parents, and all other people» [Reported by Al-Bukhary].
Love for the Prophet (peace be upon him) is a sincere love inspired by knowledge of his great character and his kindness, and by an appreciation of his efforts and sacrifices in calling to Allah and advising the people.
Allah says: {Now there has come unto you a Messenger from amongst yourselves: it grieves him that you should suffer, ardently anxious is he over you: to the believers is he most kind and merciful} [Sûrah al-Tawbah: 128]
Therefore, the love we must have for Allah and the Prophet (peace be upon him) must both be genuine.
The difference between the two is that the love we have for Allah is for His very being, His essence. It is enriched by our knowledge of Allah's most beautiful names and His supreme attributes that inspire reverence, awe, and feelings of glorification, humility and submission to His greatness. This is the love we have for Allah: a love of reverence, veneration, and awe. This is exclusively for Allah and must never be given to any created being.
Our love for the Prophet (peace be upon him) comes as a consequence of our love for Allah. In other words, we love the Prophet (peace be upon him) because he is the Messenger of Allah, and the kindest, most gentle, and ethical human being there ever was. He was kinder and more merciful to people than their own parents are to them. It is obvious that the right of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to be loved, respected and honored, is more than that of parents.
This is a weighty love indeed, since we know that Allah holds in honor the rights of the parents and mentions being kind to them along with His own rights upon us.
Allah emphasizes just how important their rights are by making mention of their rights at the same time that He orders us to worship Him. Allah says: {Serve Allah, and join not any partners with Him; and do good to parents} [Sûrah al-Nisâ': 36]
He says: {Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents} [Sûrah al-Isrâ': 23]
May peace and blessing be upon the Prophet Muhammad and upon all the other Prophets.
I have a problem with this verse
quote: He says: {Your Lord has decreed that you worship none but Him, and that you be kind to parents} [Sûrah al-Isrâ': 23]
i was kind to my parents even when i was beaten whats this mean and please would someone answer it its like they beat me i am kind to them through what Allah says would they be judged or rewarded .
Posts: 1116 | From: WARNING All stressed out & no one to choke | Registered: Sep 2008
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posted
Life TV’s Father Zakaria Botros recently ran a show dedicated to answering the question, “Was Muhammad a messenger from God or Satan?” As usual with these shows, viewers were asked to call in and respond to this question, with poll results revealed at the end of the show.
His co-host in this particular show was an ex-Muslim woman turned Christian, who, a few shows earlier, used to still wear a hijab, but not today---as Zakaria Botros put it, in English, her "new look." She said that such an offensive question—ascertaining the divine or demonic source of Muhammad’s prophethood—would have enraged her in former days, and how, till today even, it makes her feel awkward, uncomfortable. Such was her conditioning.
Botros was quick to respond by saying that it is not he that insults Muhammad but rather Islam’s books. He, once again, insisted that he’s merely a reader, who is bringing to the table what he reads—“So don’t be angry with me!” he says, somewhat tongue in cheek. “If you don’t like it, then go and burn all those books that portray him so and leave me alone!”
He then spent some time making a valid point: that in Islam, it seems that Muhammad’s honor is to be more zealously guarded than even Allah’s. To prove this, he quoted from a famous Arabic manual of law called Kitab Ahkam Al-Koran (“Book of Koranic Rulings”) by the famous scholar al-Jassas: according to this manual, the apostate must not be killed until he has been given several chances to repent and return to Islam. This same book, however, clearly states that whoever offends the name of the prophet (Muhammad) must be killed right where he stands, not given a chance to repent or take back his words.
So, wondered Botros, while the person who offends Allah by essentially rejecting him and trying to break away from his religion gets several chances to repent, not the one who offends Muhammad—thus, according to Botros’ logic, "In Islam, Muhammad has a higher place than Allah."
As for the question of the show, Botros asked a more pivotal question: how does one differentiate prophets from false prophets? He came up with three prerequisites of prophethood as well as three characteristics of prophets. Today we will examine the prerequisites.
PREREQUISITES: 1.A prophet typically receives direct revelations from God 2.A prophet usually does just that—prophesy, usually about the future 3.A prophet’s claim to prophethood is usually supported by miracles
As for receiving direct revelations from God, Botros provided several examples from the Bible, such as Exodus 3:10, where God not only directly communicates with Moses, but also sends him out on his mission. Likewise, the Koran confirms this, by saying that Allah spoke directly to Moses (4:164).
“So, what about Muhammad?” asked Botros; “Did God speak to him direct? Not at all; instead, he was visited by a creature [that is, a created, lesser being], who Muhammad himself was convinced was a demon or Jinn.” (Botros ran an entire episode revealing the many anecdotes in Islamic tradition that indicate that Muhammad was in fact visited by a Jinni, which I hope to translate shortly).
As for the second prerequisite, prophecy, again Botros provided several examples from the Bible of prophets prophesying, such as Psalms 22: 16, which Christians believe foretells the sufferings of Jesus, by nearly two millennia.
Asked Botros: “So, what prophecy did Muhammad bring?” He then quoted from the Koran verses which plainly indicate that Muhammad had no inkling of the future (see 6:50 and 7:188).
To the third prerequisite of prophethood: miracles. Botros indicated the miracles of Moses (e.g., Ten Plagues) and Jesus (raising the dead), which are recorded in both the Bible and Koran.
“So,” asked again, rather dryly, the Coptic priest, “what miracles did Muhammad perform?” Here his co-hostess said that, from childhood, she, as a Muslim, was taught that the Koran is the miracle of Islam and Muhammad—to which Botros gave a chuckle, only to implore the viewers to not be angry with him, that he is not laughing in mockery but rather dismay.
He then insisted that discussing the problems of the “divine” Koran are manifold—linguistically, contextually, grammatically, etymologically—and that he had already dedicated several shows examining these problems. “However, let’s let one single Islamic book that exposes this issue suffice for today.”
After giving the title of the book, Haqa’iq Al Islam (“the Truths of Islam”), he boomed: “Quick, leave the TV set, or send your sons to the stores to buy this book, because we all know from previous experience that whatever Islamic book is used as evidence against Islam on this show is often immediately pulled off the market!”
He then read from page 200 of that book: “The Koran is most magnificent and perfect in language and structure; thus, if something appears wrong, it is not the Koran that is wrong but rather our understanding of language. As for obvious problems or contradictions, we are obligated to overlook these, for faith will resolve these matters.”
He also quoted Sunni Islam’s most authoritative institution, Al Azhar, saying “We must always strive to discover why in certain instances the Koran appears to not follow correct Arabic grammar. If we cannot find an answer, however, then we must leave the matter to Allah.”
The co-hostess said that Muslims believe Muhammad performed other miracles, according to the hadith. Botros responded by saying that that is simply another contradiction with the Koran, which flatly declares that even though the people demanded a miracle from Muhammad, the only one he could provide was the Koran:
"They say: We shall not believe in thee, until thou cause a spring to gush forth for us from the earth. Or (until) thou have a garden of date trees and vines, and cause rivers to gush forth in their midst, carrying abundant water…. No, we shall not even believe in thy mounting until thou send down to us a book that we could read. Say: Glory to my Lord! Am I aught but a man—a messenger?" (17:90-93).
[Stay tuned for part II of, “Was Muhammad a messenger from God or Satan?” dedicated to the characteristics of prophets.]
Posts: 3773 | From: unfinished thought | Registered: Nov 2008
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We all have the right to fair treatment and equality, but life doesn't always give us our rights.
If you read the verse, you are giving your parents their rights. You are being good to them.
The thing is they are not giving you your rights. That is not your fault or problem. It is theirs to deal with when the time comes.
Being kind could also mean staying away from conflict. Not sitting around to be abused. Making a separation between you all.
If someone is not playing fair with you and you are trying your best to be fair and do all you can to help them but just run into too much conflict and it affects your normal life too much, the best thing to do is back right off. Get out of the situation.
We need peace too in our lives too Posts: 3416 | Registered: Oct 2007
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Right i see i understand ok but what about an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth i am looking alot into this lately i want to hurt someone as they done to me .
-------------------- "Most men are accredited fools shortly after they leave the womb.” Posts: 1116 | From: WARNING All stressed out & no one to choke | Registered: Sep 2008
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