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Friday Sermon] This Is How To Love The Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him)!

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4 years ago

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Imam Murtadha Gusau

By Imam Murtadha Gusau

In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

All praise is due to Allah, the Lord of all creation. May the salutations of Allah, His peace and blessings be upon our beloved Prophet, his family, his companions and his true and sincere followers until the Last Day – then to proceed:

Dear brothers and sisters! As Muslims, we are commanded to love the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) and to follow in his path without religious deviations or innovations, in order to worship Allah Almighty in the way that He commanded. Sometimes, unfortunately, our claims of love fall short, and thus there are signs that we can reflect on in order to analyse how much love we truly have for the greatest human being to walk this earth, Peace and blessings be upon him.

Respected servants of Allah! The strength of love for the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) is connected to the Muslim’s faith. When his faith increases, his love for the Prophet (Peace be upon him) increases. Loving the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is an act of obedience to Allah and a means of drawing closer to Him. Loving the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is one of the obligatory duties in Islam.

It was narrated that Anas (RA) said: The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said:

“None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his father, his child and all the people.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

You can increase your love of the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) by realising the following:

1. He was sent by his Lord who chose him above all of creation to convey the religion of Allah to mankind. Allah chose him because He loved him and was pleased with him. If Allah were not pleased with him, He would not have chosen him. So we must love the one whom Allah loves and be pleased with the one with whom Allah is pleased. We must realise that he is the close friend of Allah (Khalil) and that close friendship is a higher status and it is the highest degree of love. Jundub (RA) is said to have narrated that:

“I heard the Prophet (Peace be upon him) say: ‘I declare before Allah that I have no close friend from among you. Allah has taken me as a close friend as he took Ibrahim as a close friend. If I were to have taken a close friend from among my Ummah, I would have taken Abu Bakr as a close friend.” [Muslim]

2. We should realise the high status to which Allah has raised him, for he (Peace be upon him) is the best of mankind. It was narrated that Abu Hurairah (RA) said:

“The Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) said: “I will be the leader of mankind on the Day of Resurrection, the first whose grave will be opened, the first to intercede and the first to be asked to intercede.” [Muslim]

3. We should realise that he suffered trials and difficulties in order to bring Islam to us. We should remember that the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) was persecuted, hit, slandered and insulted; the closest people to him disowned him and accused him of being a madman, a liar and a sorcerer. He fought the people in order to protect the religion so that it could reach us; they fought him, expelled him from his people and homeland, and gathered armies against him.

4. We should follow the example of his companions who loved him deeply and sincerely. They loved him more than wealth and sons, and more than their own selves. There follow some examples of that:

“It was narrated that Anas (RA) said: I saw the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) when the barber was cutting his hair and his companions were going around him wanting to ensure that his hair would fall only into someone’s hand.” [Muslim]

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It was narrated that Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) said:

“On the Day of Uhud some of the people fled and left the Prophet (Peace be upon him), but Abu Talhah stood before him covering him with a shield. Abu Talhah was a powerful archer who broke two or three bows that day. When a man passed by carrying a quiver containing arrows, he would say: Give them to Abu Talhah. Whenever the Prophet (Peace be upon him) raised his head to look at the people, Abu Talhah would say: “O Prophet of Allah, may my father and my mother be sacrificed for you, do not raise your head lest you be struck by an arrow shot by the enemy. My neck is before your neck.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

5. You should follow his Sunnah in word and deed, so that his Sunnah is the path you follow in your whole life, and you put his words before any other words and put his command before everything else; and you should follow the Aqidah (belief) of his noble Companions, and the Aqidah of the Tabi’in who followed them, and the Aqidah of those who followed their path until the present day, namely Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama’ah, and avoid bid’ah (innovation).

We ask Allah to help us to love His Messenger (Peace be upon him) and to make him dearer to us than our children, parents, families and our own selves.

Dear and respected servants of Allah! Also, following are some signs that you love Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) sincerely:

1. You follow the message that he conveyed (the Qur’an): This entails reciting, studying, and implementing the rulings of the Creator that were revealed through His Messenger. Belief in the divine scripture is just one part of faith; implementing its rulings in your life is another. Study the Qur’an on a daily basis. Recite, understand, implement, and memorise what you can.

2. You love to follow the Sunnah: Every individual will vary in their love of the Sunnah and thus their love of the Messenger (Peace be upon him). The more you love the Sunnah, the more you’ll try to implement it in your life. You’ll never hear the words “It’s just a Sunnah” coming out of your mouth, primarily because you’ll do anything to follow his path. Instead, every time you learn about a Sunnah, you’ll be eager to implement it in your life. When you learn that something contradicts the Sunnah, you tend to stay away from it lest you fall into religious innovation (Bid’ah). You also ensure that what you’re doing on a daily basis is legitimate and has some basis in the Qur’an or his Sunnah (Peace be upon him). Study the Sunnah from an authentic source and implement it into your life.

3. You study his Sirah and encourage others to do so: Every Muslim should study the biography of the Prophet (Peace be upon him); his compassion, his love, his dedication, his sincerity, his beauty, his exalted character, his concern for his Ummah, and what he went through to convey this message to the rest of the world. The companions used to teach their children the Sirah from a young age. This is one of the greatest signs you love the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him) because you want to know more about him and his life, and oftentimes you’ll see those who love him study the sirah multiple times. Study the Sirah from a reputable, authentic source. You have so many resources in this day and age that there’s no excuse for not reading a summarised version of the Sirah or listening to a video series. Furthermore, encourage your family and friends to also study the sirah and share gems from your studies in order to encourage others.

Studying the Prophet’s Sirah is a sign for our love for the Prophet (Peace be upon him); one cannot truly love someone except that they must know about them. This love for the Prophet (Peace be upon him) should supersede our love for our fathers, mothers, relatives, children and even ourselves.

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By studying the Sirah we learn about the sacrifices and struggles made by the Prophet (Peace be upon him) in his life to spread Islam. This love must be sincere love for him and it must be translated into obeying him in what he commanded and following his example as a way of life. Imam Shafi‘i would say:

“لَوْ كانَ حُبُّكَ صَادِقاً لأَطَعْتَهُ, إنَّ الْمُحِبَّ لِمَنْ يُحِبُّ مُطِيعُ”

“If your love is sincere, you would have obeyed Him. For verily the lover for the one he loves, obeys him.”

We must understand, to love the Prophet (Peace be upon him) is an obligation for every Muslim.

Shaykhul-Islam Ibn Taimiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

“The reason why it is obligatory to love the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and venerate him more than any other person is that we cannot attain the greatest good in this world or in the Hereafter except at the hands of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), by believing in him and following him. That is because no one can be saved from the punishment of Allah, and the mercy of Allah cannot reach him except by means of the Prophet (Peace be upon him), by believing in him, loving him, being loyal to him and following him. This is the means by which Allah will save him from punishment in this world and in the Hereafter. This is the means by which he will attain what is good in this world and in the Hereafter.” [See Majmu‘ al-Fatawa, volume 27, page 246]

Let us spend time every day to study the life of our beloved Prophet so we can increase in love for him. How is it we spend so much time knowing friends, spouses, people we admire, but we do not spend time learning about the best of mankind.

Read even a minimum of 15 mins a day on the Sirah of the Prophet (Peace be upon him). Start with the book ‘The Sealed Nectar’ by Shaykh Safiyur-Rahman Al-Mubarakpuri, then move to more advanced books.

4. You ask Allah to send prayers upon him often: Saying “Allahummah salli ala Muhammad” in any of its appropriate variations is asking Allah to send peace and blessings and mercy upon the beloved Messenger, and every time you do it, Allah Almighty will send upon you 10 times the blessings and mercy in your life. Furthermore, every time you send salutations upon him, an angel appointed next to the Messenger (Peace be upon him) to conveys your prayers to him. Finally, the more you send prayers upon him, the closer you’ll be to him on the Day of Resurrection and the more of his intercession you’ll have on that severe day.

Try to at least begin the basic habit of sending 10 prayers upon him in the morning and 10 in the evening and work your way up from there throughout the day and night, especially every time you remember him or when his name is mentioned (Peace be upon him).

5. You love the things he loved and the people he loved: This includes acts of worship (fasting Mondays and Thursdays or praying at night) and countless Sunnan (such as using the siwak) as well as the people he loved and those who loved him, such as Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Ali, his entire family, and the companions in general. This is a litmus test for many who claim to love the Messenger but believe in fabrications against his noble companions.

6. You frequently remember his life and wish to be with him: When you love someone, you find yourself thinking

The more you love the Messenger of Allah (Peace be upon him), the more you’ll refer back to his life and the more you’ll pray that Allah grants you reunion with him in the Hereafter, in the highest levels of Paradise.

Dear brothers and sisters! I have no doubt, no any Muslim worth the name will be happy or will support, agree or accept an insult on the personality of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him), and at the same time we are telling the whole world with a strong voice that wallahi, you cannot also love the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) by going against his Shari’ah or his laws!

Prophet (Peace be upon him)’s Shari’ah prohibited you to take the law into your own hands, you are doing it or inciting people to do so all in the name of showing your love to him, which is a great lie!

His Shari’ah prohibited you to punish anybody through burning with fire, and you are doing it all in the name of loving him (Peace be upon him)!!

Imam Abu Dawud (may Allah have Mercy on him) collected three Hadiths in a chapter of his Sunan called:

“The Detestable Nature of Burning the Opposing Forces (in Military Confrontation) With Fire.”

The first two Hadiths narrated by Abu Hamzah al-Aslami and Abu Hurairah – may Allah be pleased with them – include the following clear prohibition:

“No one may punish using fire other than the Lord of the Fire (Allah).”

The third Hadith narrated by Abdullah Ibn Mas’ud – may Allah be pleased with him – includes the wording:

“It is not befitting for anyone to punish using fire, other than the Lord of the Fire (Allah).”

All the three Hadiths were classified as “Sahih” (authentic) by Shaykh Al-Albani (may Allah have Mercy on him) in his checking of the Sunan. In Silsilatul-Ahadith as-Sahihah, he adds a discussion of the authentic narration of when Ali, the fourth Caliph of the Muslims, ordered some people to face the death penalty by fire. When news of this reached Ibn Abbas, he disapproved of the decision and relayed a Hadith of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) with a similar wording:

“Do not punish with the punishment of Allah!” [Bukhari]

Imam at-Tirmizi also collected it in his Jami’, adding that when this comment got back to Ali, he said, “Ibn Abbas has spoken correctly.”

So the narrations clearly prove the impermissibility of harming or killing people with fire, in both wars and punishments for crimes, as understood and narrated by at least four of the Companions.

Allah is the only One who has the right to punish anyone with fire.

Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) commanded us to listen to and obey our leaders, but we said No, and still claiming that we love him (Peace be upon him)!!!

“So let those who oppose the Prophet’s command beware, lest fitnah strike them or a painful punishment.” [Qur’an, 24:63]

And lastly, my message to all of you is the saying of Allah Almighty:

“Say: “Our Lord will assemble us all together (on the Day of Resurrection), then He will judge between us with truth. And He is the (Most Trustworthy) All­Knowing Judge.” [Qur’an, 34:26]

O Allah, grant us true and complete love for your Messenger and his Sunnah and allow us to be upon his path in this life and to rejoice with him in the next life.

We ask Allah to help us to love His Messenger (Peace be upon him) and to make him dearer to us than our children, parents, families and our own selves.

All praises and thanks are due to Allah alone, Lord of the worlds. May the peace, blessings and salutations of Allah be upon our noble Messenger, Muhammad, and upon his family, his Companions and his true and sincere followers.

Murtadha Muhammad Gusau is the Chief Imam of Nagazi-Uvete Jumu’ah and the late Alhaji Abdur-Rahman Okene’s Mosques, Okene, Kogi State, Nigeria. He can be reached via: gusauimam@gmail.com or +2348038289761.

This Jumu’ah Khutbah (Friday sermon) was prepared for delivery today, Friday, Shawwal 19, 1443 AH (May 20, 2022).

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

 

Atiku Abubakar, the 2027 presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress (ADC), has raised concerns over an unsolicited credit alert to his private bank account, describing the transaction as a severe breach of financial privacy.

In a statement posted on X on Friday, Mr. Abubakar’s media aide, Phrank Shaibu, disclosed that the former Vice President received the funds from an unknown individual, with the payment narration reading “Contribution Electioneering Campaign.” Shaibu emphasized that neither Mr. Abubakar nor his campaign team solicited, authorized, or had any prior knowledge of the sender or the transaction.

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The aide underscored the gravity of the incident by pointing out that the account involved is a strictly private one, the details of which are not in the public domain.

“This raises a fundamental question: How did unknown persons obtain the confidential banking details of a private citizen?” Shaibu queried.

While the credited amount could not independently be verified, Shaibu warned that the circumstances carry troubling implications for national security.

“If the private banking information of a former Vice President and a leading presidential candidate can be accessed and deployed for reasons yet unknown, then no Nigerian’s financial privacy is safe,” he stated.

Shaibu further expressed suspicion that the breach may have been facilitated by individuals with privileged access—a development he characterized as a grave abuse of power. Such exposure, he noted, could leave account holders vulnerable to kidnappers, terrorists, bandits, and fraudsters.

Consequently, Mr. Abubakar’s camp has placed the Nigerian public and security agencies on notice, citing this incident as the latest in a litany of suspicious occurrences ahead of next year’s general elections.

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Kano SUBEB: N1bn for 100 Classrooms But Not a Single Location Disclosed, Says Watchdog

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August 7, 2026

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

A transparency advocacy group, Tracka, has raised serious concerns over the inability of the Kano State Universal Basic Education Board (SUBEB) to provide records showing where more than ₦1 billion reportedly spent on renovating 100 classrooms was actually executed.

According to Tracka’s findings from the Kano State 2025 Fourth Quarter Budget Implementation Report (BIR), over ₦1 billion was disbursed for the classroom renovation project. However, the organisation said the absence of specific project locations in the official report has rendered citizen oversight nearly impossible.

In a bid to obtain clarity, Tracka submitted a Freedom of Information (FOI) request to Kano SUBEB on May 19, 2026, seeking the names of contractors, specific project locations, and implementation statuses. The request was signed by Tracka State Officer, Maryam Usman, on behalf of the organisation’s Head, Joshua Osiyemi.

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In a statement released to journalists, Tracka disclosed that rather than furnish the requested details, Kano SUBEB responded that it had no record of the locations where the renovations were carried out. The board reportedly directed the Tracka team to only one site – Jili Primary School in Rimin Gado Local Government Area – where repainting and repair works were confirmed to have been undertaken.

“The lack of specific location has made tracking very difficult,” Tracka stated. “We wrote an FOI to SUBEB Kano State Universal Basic Education Board in May 2026, but they responded saying they do not have a record of the locations where renovations have been done. The only school they directed us to was Jili Primary School, Rimin Gado, and we saw that repainting and repairs have been done at the school.”

Tracka further revealed that SUBEB referred the organisation to the Kano State Ministry of Education for information on the remaining project locations.

The advocacy group has now called on the Ministry of Education to urgently make public the full breakdown of the classroom renovation programme, including all project locations, contractor details, and complete expenditure records.

“We were directed to the Kano State Ministry of Education for information on the locations of this project. We implore the ministry to provide the public with the full breakdown of this project, including locations and spending,” the organisation added.

The development has reignited debates over budget implementation transparency in the state, particularly given that the reported sum – exceeding ₦1 billion for just 100 classrooms – averages roughly ₦10 million per classroom, a figure that Tracka suggests warrants thorough public scrutiny.

As of press time, the Kano State Ministry of Education had not issued an official response to Tracka’s demands.

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By Yusuf Danjuma Yunusa

 

 

A chieftain of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, Solomon Dalung, has said he will institute a fresh legal challenge against President Bola Tinubu’s educational qualifications ahead of the 2027 general elections.

 

Mr Dalung, a former Minister of Youth and Sports Development, alleged that unresolved questions surrounding Tinubu’s qualifications remained the “greatest threat” to Nigeria’s democratic transition and vowed to challenge the President’s eligibility in court.

 

He made the remarks during a media briefing at his residence in Jos, Plateau State, where he also accused the All Progressives Congress, APC-led administration of weakening opposition parties and undermining Nigeria’s multiparty democracy.

 

According to him, the ruling party had intensified efforts to weaken the opposition by encouraging defections of elected officials.

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“The political parties, who are actors in democracy, have also been destroyed. This attribute of destroying political parties started with the President buying governors to defect into his political party (APC). Thirty-one of them have gone there, yet he is still not certain of 2027,” Mr Dalung alleged.

 

He also accused the President’s Chief of Staff, Femi Gbajabiamila, of sponsoring litigation against opposition political parties to weaken them ahead of the next general election.

 

“The sponsor of all the litigation is Gbajabiamila; he should come out clean if he is denying it. The 2027 transition is under attack because democracy cannot exist with only one political party under a multiparty democracy constitutionally guaranteed,” he said.

 

Mr Dalung further alleged that President Tinubu was apprehensive about facing a united opposition because of what he described as unresolved issues surrounding the President’s educational qualifications.

 

“Tinubu is afraid of contesting election not because he didn’t want to contest, but because he is the most unqualified person to be nominated to contest election,” he said.

 

He claimed that legal challenges to Tinubu’s qualifications in 2023 failed because the Supreme Court held that the matter was a pre-election issue.

 

“And to the best of my knowledge, Tinubu has not gone to any school since 2023, so all the fake certificates that have been presented have not been remedied,” Mr Dalung alleged.

 

The former minister also made fresh allegations regarding Mr Tinubu’s educational records and National Youth Service Corps, NYSC, documentation, claiming they contained inconsistencies.

 

He insisted that the Constitution clearly stipulates the qualifications required to contest for the office of President and maintained that the ADC would seek judicial interpretation of Tinubu’s credentials as submitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC.

 

“So the greatest threat to the transition is the qualification of Tinubu. We will go to court,” Mr Dalung declared.

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