By Abdul Samad Ali
“Love”, according to Shibli, “is what obliterates everything from the heart except the Beloved.” Al-Hajweri then explains,
But what Love is, in reality, cannot be described by the word ‘love’, for love is a feeling and feelings cannot be expressed by words. Love is a Divine Gifted and cannot be achieved by effort. Man is finite but love is infinite, and the finite has no control over the infinite.”
The point is, we try to express this love for our Master Muhammad ﷺ in the month of His Blessed Birth – Rabiʿ al-Awwal – but between one Rabiʿ al-Awwal to the next, we do everything that offends “our Beloved”. God knows how weak we are, even “our Beloved” knows. He ﷺ is the one to whom our deeds are presented every morning and evening; He ﷺ is the one who asks God to forgive us for our transgressions and praises God upon seeing the little good that we do.
Were it not for his concern, his enemies would have been crushed by the very mountains that surround them. Were it not for his solicitude towards us, we would not have been blessed with the light of guidance. But we still don’t know and can’t comprehend who “our Beloved” is. He ﷺ is the Beloved of God. God did not love anyone like He loved him nor did He bring anyone as close to His presence as He brought him. What is this rank before the Divine Presence? What Sayyidna ʿUmar and Sayyidna ʿAli saw was nothing but the shadow of “our Beloved”, then what about us? What we know of him is nothing compared to what our Lord has given to our Master Muhammad ﷺ. He is the Beloved of the Great Lord.
O God allow us to realise! O God grant us the ability to love our Master Muhammad ﷺ as he should be loved. You know our sinful states, but we hope that by loving Your Beloved, our Master Muhammad ﷺ, we attain salvation. And by loving His Family (Ahlul Bayt) our loved ones will attain eternal bliss. Allahumma Ameen!
اللهم صل على سيدنا محمد عبدك ونبيك ورسولك النبي الامي وعلى آله وصحبه وسلم تسليماعدد ما احاط به علمك وخط به قلمك واحصاه كتابك والرضاءعن ساداتنا ابي بكر وعمر وعثمان وعلي وعن الصحابة اجمعين وعن التابعين وتابع التابعين لهم باحسان الى يوم الدين
Farewell O Blessed month of Rabiʿ al-Anwar.
29 Rabiʿ al-Awwal, 1436
