Source : Islam.ru / 14 May 2014

As Muslims we know that our faith will be incomplete without sincere love towards our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him). How can we understand if our love sincere or not?

Our beloved Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) told us about the signs of true love for him. One of them is to love the Prophet more than ourselves.

 He (peace and blessings be upon him) said “You will not have complete faith till I am dearer to you than your own self”

Please note what our Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) emphasised: “You will not have complete faith…”, he didn’t say “you will not be a believer”.

We should know that sincere love towards our Prophet is the constituent of our faith. It is the integral element without which our faith will be incomplete.  

And what is the main sign of sincere love for our beloved Prophet?

Our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said: “None of you will have complete faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.”

The second caliph, Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) told the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), "I love you more than anything except my own soul." The Prophet replied, "None of you you will not have complete faith till I am dearer to him than his own soul." 'Umar said, "By the One who sent down the Book on you, I love you more than my own soul." The Prophet said, "'Umar, now you have it!" (al-Bukhari)

We should correctly understand that each one who said the words of monotheism (Shahada) are Muslims. But our faith will be not completed till we love our Prophet more than ourselves. The prophet said “now you have it” what does it mean? The prophet implied sincere, clear love towards him that Caliph Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) had reached. 

To increase our faith and to make it deeper and stronger, we should purify our hearts and fill them with clear sincere love for our Prophet.  When we do it, we will reach the highest level of Ihsan.

Therefore, Our Beloved Prophet said “None of you will have complete faith till he loves me more than his father, his children and all mankind.” It means “you will not reach sincerity if I am not dearer to you than anything.

Sincere love towards Prophet implies yearning for him, his family and his companions. It is impossible to love the Prophet without loving his family members. True Muslims are those who love Ahlu Bayt and the companions because our Prophet loved them. It is impossible to love Prophet and be among muhsinin, but at the same time hate the members of his family or his companions. 

Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) said: “Be fearful of Allah about my companions. Be fearful of Allah and don’t make them a point of criticism after me. As whoever loved them, he loved them because of me and whoever hated them he hated them because of me. And whoever hurt them he hurt me, and whoever hurt me he hurt Allah and whoever hurt Allah, Allah would soon grab him.” (Tirmizi / Ahmad bin Hanbal / Bahaqi)

And it is inconceivable to be in love with the Prophet (peace be upon him), and do not love our master Abu Bakr, Umar, Usman, Ali, Khalid ibn Walid, and all the Companions (may Allah be pleased with them).

Indeed, Ihsan is the quality of muhsinin (doers of good deeds)!

Some of us ask, where did we get such a definition of Ihsan, we can reply with the saying of our Prophet (peace be upon him): "Verily Almighty has ordained goodness (ihsan) in everything". And so ihsan should be present in all deeds: in the sales, walking, clothing, etc. Yes, it is advisable to show kindness in relation to clothes. It means to hang your clothes on a hanger or lay them on a definite place, by pronouncing the name of Allah, because He has granted us such an opportunity to cover our bodies and ( 'awrah ).

Goodness (ihsan ) means to be merciful to all creations. For instance, when you see a beautiful flower by the road, do not step on it; do not harm the natural environment, express your good attitude towards all living beings.

Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) also called for not harassing animals by goading them to hurt or cause harm to each other.

Someone took two chicks from a birdnest making the bird fly in panic searching for its chicks. Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him) then asked, “Who has distressed it by taking its chicks?” Then he asked the man to return the chicks.

Some people claim that they are the followers of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), and kill Muslims saying that they are unbelievers. How dare they raise a hand against  Muslims, claiming that they are the followers of the way of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), whereas our Prophet (peace be upon him) was indignant at someone disturbing a bird.

This is one of the numerous occasions of the excellent relationship and benevolent (Ihsan) attitude of the Prophet (peace be upon him) towards animals.

The Prophet (peace be upon him) said: "Fear Allah with regard to livestock. Ride them in a fitting way, feed and drink them on time”

He once entered the garden of a man from the Ansar (Muslims of Madinah) and there was a camel. When the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his house) saw the camel it froze and its eyes started watering. Then the Prophet of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him and his house) came to it and rubbed its ears so it calmed down. Then the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him and his house) said, “Who is the owner of this camel? 

Whose camel is this?” A young man from the Ansar told him,”O Messenger of Allah, it belongs to me.” Then he (peace and blessings be upon him) told him, “Do you not fear Allah with regard to this beast which Allah has let you own? It complained to me that you starve it and tire it by overworking it and using it beyond its capacity.”

As such good attitude towards all living beings is Ihsan and the order of our Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him).