Allah says قُلْ إِن كُنتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي يُحْبِبْكُمُ اللَّهُ وَيَغْفِرْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبَكُمْ ۗ وَاللَّهُ غَفُورٌ رَّحِيمٌ “Say, ‘If it is that you love Allah, then follow me, that Allah may love you!’” (Āl ʿImrān 3:31). This course will highlight milestones from the blessed life of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ to serve as signposts as we tread the paths of our own lives. Lady ʿĀʾishah once observed that she never saw anyone more keen on emulating the Prophet than our master ʿAbd Allāh b. ʿUmar b. al-Khaṭṭāb, who was known to tread his footsteps even as he accompanied him! But he would not have been drawn to do so were it not for the emotional, heartfelt nexus he had to the Prophet. The faithful would spontaneously confess their love to him as they sought to emulate every aspect of his supernal character, and countless would volunteer sacrificing their most precious attachments before they would posit random questions unocassioned by any need to do so. Our yearning to love the Prophet ﷺ deeper is not a leap of faith when we know him more intimately. This course purposes to impart such intimate knowledge as would enliven our hearts to experience love in its greatest potentiality. Come let us tread our own paths together, by sinking our feet into the blessed traces of his, to drink from his gentle hand as we cross into our final destination.
I | May Allah Bless and Sanctify His Slave
II | Prophesying the One He Fore-Gave
III | From the Cradle to the Cave
IV | Mecca: Home of the Brave
V | Medina and the Luminous Grave
Taught by El-Hajj Hisham Mahmoud
Recommended reading: Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources by Martin Lings
