1. To Develop Love
The main reason we should study Seerah is in order to develop the proper love of Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him) in our hearts.
Loving Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) is ‘Ibaadah, it is worship. It is part of our religion to love our Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him).
Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) said:
“None of you will attain true faith until you love me more than your parents, your children and all of mankind.”
(Bukhari, Book of Belief)
We do not really become true believers until we love Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) more than anyone and anything else. It is part of Islam to love Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him).
‘Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) came to Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) and said:
“O Rasulullah, I love you more than everything else except myself.”
Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) told him “until you love me”, meaning you have not really attain the complete faith until you love me more than your own self.
So ‘Umar bin Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) came back and said:
“O Rasulullah, now I love you more than my own self.”
Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) said: “Al aan imaan – Now you have attained the complete faith.”
The Ummah today loves Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him). If any Muslim is asked: “Do you love Muhammad (peace and blessings be on him)?” they would reply ‘yes’.
So even though the Ummah today, with the shallow and very basic information that the masses of Muslims have about Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him), they still love him. However, we cannot have complete Iman and faith, until we have truly developed deep love for Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) as the Companions had done.
We want to develop love and we need to develop love for Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him) and the way we can do this is to study his life, study his Seerah. In this way, we will love him more, the more we study and learn about him.
AllahTaa’la says:
“Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives or your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and fighting in His Cause, then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the people who are Al-Faasiqoon (the rebellious, disobedient to Allah).”
(Surah Taubah: Verse 24)
This Quranic verse states that our love for Allah and His Messenger and for striving in the cause of Allah and His Messenger, should be paramount to everything else.
This is our first very important reason for studying the Seerah of Rasulullah (peace and blessings be on him)
Adapted from Imam Anwar Al Awlaki
