Sister Claudia Azizah wrote: When I embraced Islam over eleven years ago, saying the two shahadas was main and first part of the process. I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His messenger. Until today I am still in the process of seeking to understand the extent and greatness of these two statements. Honestly, learning about our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him) was not only the first point on my agenda after embracing Islam. This is something I would do differently today.
In retrospect, learning about our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and building a personal connection with him from the very beginning would have made some things easier. Why do I say that?
The Prophet Said
Sister Claudia continuous: as new Muslims, we are sometimes overwhelmed by all the new things, the teachings, the practices and also the diversity in the teachings. We read (often unstructured) in the internet or try to understand books that were given to us.
Today, I wished that somebody would have told me to work on my love for Prophet Muhammad. I wished that somebody would have taken me and told me about this amazing person our Prophet was. About all these heart-warming and heart-breaking real-life-stories. About his feelings and not just his words.
Instead, I read narrations from our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) and what he said. Although I tried to follow his words, I was not able to fully connect.
How to Build a Connection
Our beloved Prophet (peace be upon him) was in constant remembrance of Allah.
When he said ‘alhamdulilah’ after eating it was a sincere and profound expression of the inner state of his self. He felt a deep gratitude inside his heart for what Allah had given him. This deep felt gratitude then made him express this feelings in words and utter it loudly by saying ‘alhamdulilah’.
Learning about Our Prophet
After hearing my teacher’s explanations, I knew that I wanted this connection with Prophet Muhammad. I wanted these feelings. But it was still difficult for me to get this personal connection with our beloved Prophet. Then I started reading about his life.
I was especially impressed by the way our Prophet Muhammad treated people who did not treat him well. He showed mercy to those who did not show mercy to him.
Stories of Strength and Mercy
It were these stories of character, strength, and mercy that really touched my heart. And I started feeling a bond develop between my heart and our beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him).
For example, the story about a blind Jewish beggar whom the Prophet fed regularly despite the fact that he always spoke bad about him. And he did it in such a soft, gentle and merciful way like no other human being can do.
Our beloved Prophet fed him every morning with his own hand despite the fact that this beggar would always talk bad about him and curse him. And he never revealed who he was.
After our Prophet Muhammad passed away from this temporary world, his closest companion Abu Bakr As-Siddiq went to feed this beggar. He had heard from his daughter, the Prophet’s wife that that was one of the deeds of the Prophet. Once Abu Bakr As-Siddiq started feeding him, the beggar immediately recognized that it was not the person that had fed him before.
The beggar then described that before he always held the hand of the person feeding him. And he would make the food fine before feeding it to the beggar. Abu Bakr then cried and informed the blind beggar that the Prophet was no more.
This story really moved my heart and it does until today. It shows the amazing strength and the profound mercy of our Prophet. He was sent as a mercy to all the worlds, including this Jewish beggar who always talked bad about him.
A Letter to the Beloved
There are so many of these stories that can help us build a stronger and deeper connection with this best human being that has ever walked the earth. Besides reading his life story, there are other ways we can strengthen our relationship with our Beloved (peace be upon him).
Praises on the Prophet
In this special month of the Prophet’s birth, let us try and increase to send shalawat, praises, on him. As conversion is a process, so is building our connection to our Beloved Prophet.
We can always go deeper. We can always understand more. And we can always try to see and feel more. Our Prophet Muhammad was sent as a mercy to all the worlds, including our small personal world.
