September 3, 2026
In these blessed days of Rabīʿ al-Awwal, I often find myself looking for a way to show my love for the Prophet ﷺ: make more ṣalawāt, attend a gathering where he is praised, read up on the manners with which he carried himself as the best of creation.
What I often miss, and what Shaykh Amin reminded me of this past weekend, is that my love is already there – it’s organic and uncontestable.
We pray the way he prays. We say Allāhu Akbar the way he says Allāhu Akbar. We read the Qurʾān the way he does. We pray two rakʿah in Fajr, four in Ẓuhr, and three in Maghrib because that’s the way he taught us to pray. In everything that we do, we follow him.
Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam.
“You don’t follow someone you don’t love.”
“It is Allah’s faḍl that he has made our love for the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ organic and uncontestable; something that is easy and real. And it is this love that will ultimately lead us to Jannah,” said Shaykh Amin.
Allah says in the Qurʾān:
قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ ٱللَّهَ فَٱتَّبِعُونِى يُحْبِبْكُمُ ٱللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ غَفُورٌۭ رَّحِيمٌۭ ٣١
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (Sūrat Āl ʿImrān, Āyah 31)
“Allah ﷻ, through his eternal and supreme mercy, made sure that every Muslim who practices Islam, and especially the ritual forms of worship, will follow the Prophet’s ﷺ example. Allah has made it easy and frictionless to follow His Rasūl by tying His love to the Rasūl’s beloved example.”
What makes the Prophet ﷺ worthy of this love? We can argue this case from any and every perspective.
In the worldly realm, there’s no human being more intelligent than Muhammad ﷺ. Let’s take it a step further – for those reading who are fans of AI chatbots– there’s no intelligence more intelligent than the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ. Take all of the geniuses, academics, engineers, scientists, educators, and intellectuals – human or artificial – and put them on one side. Take our Beloved Muhammad ﷺ and put him on the other side – absolutely no comparison. Why? Because he, like other ambiyāʾ, can see, observe, communicate with, and learn from Angels. This, in and of itself, separates him from all other intelligence. Movies and cartoons have painted a very childish portrait of angels in our minds. But if we take a closer look at the description of Angel Jibrīl as the Prophet ﷺ described his encounter with him at Ḥirāʾ, we’ll realize their true grandeur.
As Shaykh Amin recounted Rasūlullāh’s ﷺ experience, “I was walking around Ḥirāʾ. Then all of a sudden I saw this humongous figure, gigantic figure, and he was there on the horizon. And he spanned the whole horizon from east to west. It was the same being I saw in the cave of Ḥirāʾ. But this one was spectacular, big, studded with pearls and gems and everything you can think of. And he had 600 wings…”
“Our minds cannot even imagine this – we are not capable… But the Prophet was capable. I saw him. I didn’t collapse. I didn’t die. I didn’t faint. I saw him as I see you in front of me,” Shaykh Amin continued.
Our knowledge is limited by our five senses and by our rational intellect. The Prophets have a supreme advantage over all human beings because they have access to that which comes from Allah through the angels. It is this access that gives Muhammad ﷺ his rank and superiority over every human being.
Listen further as the Qurʾān describes the strength of the heart of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.
لَوْ أَنزَلْنَا هَـٰذَا ٱلْقُرْءَانَ عَلَىٰ جَبَلٍۢ لَّرَأَيْتَهُۥ خَـٰشِعًۭا مُّتَصَدِّعًۭا مِّنْ خَشْيَةِ ٱللَّهِ ۚ وَتِلْكَ ٱلْأَمْثَـٰلُ نَضْرِبُهَا لِلنَّاسِ لَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ ٢١
Had We sent down this Quran upon a mountain, you would have certainly seen it humbled and torn apart in awe of Allah. We set forth such comparisons for people, ˹so˺ perhaps they may reflect. (Sūrat al-Ḥashr, Āyah 21)
In Makkah there are hundreds of ancient mountains – strong, resolute, stubborn, high. Allah addresses us to look at these most formidable structures. They’ve been there for millennia. They haven’t moved. And then He puts their power in perspective. “If We were to reveal the Qurʾān on a mountain, you’ll see the mountain crushed into pieces.” The mountain would not be able to withstand the power of the nūr of the Qurʾān. It would be crushed.
“But the Qurʾān was revealed upon you, O Muhammad ﷺ, and you are still standing. It hasn’t crushed you,” Shaykh Amin reminds us.
Ṣallallāhu ʿalayhi wa sallam.
The Qurʾān is speaking to the metaphysical and physical strength of the mind and the heart of the Rasūl ﷺ to bring this revelation into his presence, contain it, and re-present it.
As you listen to his talk, take home these three points:
Take a minute to let this settle in your mind and in your heart.
Shaykh Amin closes his talk with an urgent plea. As a father of two boys who are rapidly becoming men, I sat up in my seat. He reminded me that I can’t be shy. My children have questions and I need to provide answers, clearly and confidently. Share with them the superiority of the Rasūlullāh ﷺ. I have to be present, listen, and invest in my children. At the dinner table, in those long car rides, in moments of difficulty and ease. This will take effort and time but I have to put in the requisite time and effort. They are not my assets. They are my investments.
Allah reward him for this reminder. I hope you benefit from it as much as I have.
Asif Baki has been a student at Darul Qasim since 2009 – first in the Bay Area, and now back home in Chicago, where he lives with his wife and two sons. By profession, he spent nearly two decades building and launching global products at Microsoft and Google, and today runs Listen Labs, a boutique consulting firm helping executives and teams lead well.
