Photo: Collected
In the light of the holy Quran we come to know of the ihsan, that is the mercy, of the Prophet Karim (pbuh); Almighty Allah has declared the Prophet (pbuh) Rahmatullil Alamin. Almighty Allah says, And I have sent you only as a mercy to the worlds, that is as Rahmatullil Alamin (Sura Ambiya-107). Allah has also said, the Prophet Karim (pbuh) is closer to the believers than their own selves (Sura Ahzab-06).
The matter of mohabbat, that is love, among human beings is innate and inborn. No person of understanding can be devoid of love in his life. Almighty Allah and His beloved Prophet Hazrat Mohammad Mostafa (pbuh) must be loved more than one’s own life. In the tarjamatul bab of Bukhari Sharif it is mentioned, hubbe rasul sallallahu alaihi wasallam minal iman – love for the Prophet (pbuh) is part of faith. Narrated from Hazrat Anas ibn Malek (ra). He said, the Prophet (pbuh) said, none of you will be a believer until I am dearer to him than his father, his children and all people (Bukhari, hadith no-14).
Among the creation, not only human beings but mountains too loved the Prophet (pbuh). Narrated from Hazrat Anas (ra). He said, the Prophet (pbuh) said, indeed Uhud is a mountain. It loves us and we too love it (Muslim, hadith no-3237). We know that a tree cannot speak, but a tree too greeted the beloved Prophet (pbuh) with salam. These are proofs of prophethood, miracles. Narrated from Hazrat Ali (ra). He said, ‘We were in Makkah with the Prophet Karim (pbuh). We went out with him to one of the outskirts of Makkah, and we were passing through mountains and trees. As soon as we passed the trees and the mountains, they greeted us with salam saying, Assalamu alaika ya Rasulullah sallallahu alaihi wasallam (Jame Tirmizi, hadith no-3624).
Writer: Khatib, Siddike Akbar (ra) Jame Mosque, Mohammadpur, Dhaka
At a glance
Both the hadith collections cited in the write-up were compiled in the ninth century. Sahih al-Bukhari was compiled by Abu Abdullah Muhammad ibn Ismail al-Bukhari (died 870 AD); work on the book was completed in Bukhara in about 846 AD and it contains 7,563 hadith including repetitions, while by Ibn Hajar Asqalani’s count the number excluding repetitions is 2,602 – this description appears in the English Wikipedia entry.
Sahih Muslim was compiled by Abul Husain Muslim ibnul Hajjaj an-Nishapuri (born about 822, died 875 AD); it contains 7,275 hadith including repetitions across 56 chapters and, by Muhammad Fuad Abdul Baqi’s count, 3,033 excluding repetitions. Among the Kutub as-Sittah it ranks next after Bukhari and the two together are called the ‘Sahihain’ – the same source carries this information.
