Ask yourself honestly what the Prophet ﷺ looks like in your imagination. For a lot of us who drifted, the picture went grey: a stern, distant figure made mostly of rules, the man whose name gets invoked to tell you to stop doing things. If that is the Muhammad ﷺ in your mind, then you have been missing him your whole life, because that is not him.
The real one was the gentlest human being who ever walked the earth. He smiled more than he frowned. He mended his own sandals, played with children, wept easily, and was so soft with people that the rough hearts of the desert melted around him. Tonight you meet him properly. And it is very hard to meet the real him and not come to love him.
Just for today
Say once, slowly: 'Allahumma salli wa sallim ala nabiyyina Muhammad' (O Allah, send Your prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad). You are sending a greeting to the man who, fourteen centuries ago, thought about you and longed to meet you. Send it once tonight, and mean it. Nothing more is needed.
“There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.”
Start with how the Qur'an describes him, because it describes a tenderness most people never associate with him. It says his own heart ached over the hardship of his people, that he could not bear to see them suffer, that he was desperate for their wellbeing:
His gentleness was not a personality quirk. It was the thing Allah praised him for above all else. Of everything that could be said about him, Allah chose to highlight his character:
Ten years, and never once a harsh word
What was he actually like to live with, day to day? We do not have to guess. Anas ibn Malik served him as a young boy for ten years, in his home, through good days and hard ones, and this is his testimony:
And here is the thing the rules-only picture gets exactly backwards. He did not come to make your life heavy. The entire reason he was sent, the headline Allah puts on his whole mission, is the opposite of a burden:
And he was thinking of you
There is a moment, narrated about him, where he told his Companions that he longed to meet his 'brothers,' and they asked, are we not your brothers? And he said, no, you are my companions; my brothers are the ones who will come after, who will believe in me without ever having seen me. He was talking about you. Across fourteen centuries, the most beautiful man who ever lived missed you, specifically, and called you his brother, his sister.
This is who you drifted from imagining was stern. Follow him not because someone is making you, but because once you actually meet him, you want to walk wherever he walked.
“O Allah, send Your prayers and peace upon our Prophet Muhammad.”
Carry this with you
If you remember nothing else, remember who he actually was.
He was the gentlest, not the harshest.
The stern, rules-only figure in your imagination is not him. He smiled, played with children, and in ten years of service never once said a harsh word.
His character was the point.
Of all Allah could praise him for, He chose his character: a great moral character, a mercy to all the worlds. He came to lighten the load, not add to it.
He felt your suffering.
The Qur'an describes him aching over his people's hardship, desperate for their wellbeing. That tenderness reached forward to you, too.
He called you his brother.
He longed for those who would believe without seeing him. He meant you. Follow him not by force, but because meeting him makes you want to.
A du'a to come to love him
You were told to follow him before you were ever introduced to him, and that is part of why it felt like weight instead of warmth. Meeting him first changes the whole thing. You do not follow the gentlest man who ever lived because you must. You follow him because, once you see him clearly, you cannot imagine walking anywhere else.
So send him your greeting tonight, the way you would reach toward someone who loved you before you existed. And ask Allah to put the love of him into your heart.
O Allah, the one reading this grew up with a grey, stern picture of Your Messenger ﷺ and never met the real him. Introduce them properly. Put into their heart the love of the most beautiful man who ever lived, the mercy to the worlds, who called the believers after him his brothers. Gather them with him. Ameen.
Questions
Why do Muslims love the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ so much?
Because of who he was: the Qur'an calls him a mercy to all the worlds and praises his great character, and those who knew him best described a man of extraordinary gentleness, who never returned harshness, served others, and ached for people's wellbeing. The love is a response to his character, not an obligation imposed on top of it.
Wasn't he strict and all about rules?
That is a common impression, and it is backwards. He was famously gentle and easy on people, choosing the lighter of two options whenever he could, and he warned against making religion harsh. He taught limits, yes, but as a merciful guide, not a stern enforcer. The Qur'an itself says had he been harsh, people would have scattered from around him.
How do I learn to actually love him rather than just respect him from a distance?
By getting to know him, the way you grow to love anyone: learn his life, his habits, how he treated children, enemies, the poor, his family. Send salawat upon him (asking Allah to honor him). Love tends to grow with familiarity, and his life rewards every hour you spend with it. The Seerah, his biography, is where to begin.
What does sending salawat on the Prophet ﷺ mean?
It is asking Allah to send His praise and peace upon him, for example saying 'Allahumma salli ala Muhammad.' It is a way of honoring him and expressing love, and the Prophet ﷺ taught that whoever sends one greeting upon him, Allah sends ten upon them in return. It is a small, beautiful habit that keeps him close to your heart.
Did he really say later believers are his brothers?
Yes, it is narrated that he expressed longing to meet those who would believe in him without having seen him, and called them his brothers. Different wordings are recorded. It is one of the most moving glimpses of how he thought of the believers who would come long after him.
Qur'an citations (9:128, 68:4, 21:107) verified against the canonical text (English Saheeh International; Arabic Uthmani script, edition ar-uthmani-minimal; via quran.ai). The hadith of Anas serving the Prophet ﷺ for ten years is from Sahih al-Bukhari 6038 and Sahih Muslim 2309 (agreed upon). The narration of the Prophet ﷺ longing for his 'brothers' who would believe without seeing him is recorded in collections including Sahih Muslim 249 and Musnad Ahmad, with varying wordings. The reward of tenfold for one salawat is from Sahih Muslim 408. The teaching that he chose the easier of two options is from Sahih al-Bukhari 3560 / Sahih Muslim 2327. Wordings here are faithful renderings. FOR SCHOLAR REVIEW: confirm all hadith wordings and references before publication.
Carry it today
He was the gentlest, not the harshest.
The stern, rules-only figure in your imagination is not him. He smiled, played with children, and in ten years of service never once said a harsh word.
What stayed with you?
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