HADITH THIRTY NINE: LOVING OUR HOMETOWNS
When the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم would return from a trip and see the walls of Madinah, he would speed up his camel, and if he were on another animal, he would prompt it to speed up, out of his love for Madinah.
Reported by al-Bukhari (1802)
Commentary
We can love a city for religious or worldly reasons, or both. The best cities on earth are Makkah and Madinah. Allah loves them, blessed them, and they deserve the love of every Muslim.
Loving Makkah and Madinah
Makkah and Madinah conjure up the memory of Islam itself. And for that, their love is in the blood of every Muslim. Makkah houses the first and best Masjid on earth, and Madinah is the beacon of Islam. The revelation commenced in Makkah and blossomed in Madinah. And from Madinah, it radiated to the rest of the world. No matter where we come from, our spiritual roots are in Makkah and Madinah. They are our home, our
destination, and our dream.
Makkah was the birthplace of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم, so he naturally loved it. But it was much more than that. Makkah is the best city on earth. The following hadith sums it well. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«By Allah, you are the best of Allah’s lands and the most beloved of Allah’s lands to Him. And were it not that I was forced to leave you, I would not have left.»
Reported by al-Tirmidhi (3925) and al-Albani declared it sahih (Sahih al-Tirmidhi, 3925)
You can feel the longing in this farewell. Just before his exit from his hometown, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم paused to take what he thought was his last look and told of his love for the Mother of all Cities. It was not just that he grew up there and spent all of
his life. It was more than that. It is the land that Allah loves the most, and leaving what Allah loves is difficult. But the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم sacrificed the beauty and comfort of Makkah for the sake of a greater love: the spread of Islam. Allah commanded him to migrate because what Allah loved was elsewhere. And he pursued what Allah loved no matter where it took him.
We all have hometowns that we love. Leaving such a place feels like uprooting a plant: a severance of connections and memories that leaves us empty for a long time. Some of us leave our hometowns willingly, while others are forced out. If the former is difficult, the latter is traumatizing. But we have solace in the life of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم who was chased out and they even tried to kill. There are people today who are expelled from their homes and flee for their lives. In those unbearable times, remember your Prophet. Allah protected him and gave him refuge in another blessed land. It was not easy. But it bore the most excellent fruit later. And so, if you ever find yourself in
a situation like that, remember that Allah can give you more than what the transgressors are trying to take away from you.
The second best place on earth is Madinah, the city of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. He built his Masjid there, and Islam spread from it to the rest of the Peninsula and beyond. But it was challenging. Not only was it a new city that needed adjustment, but it was
not as well to do as Makkah. And it was not healthy because of its infamous plagues. Therefore, the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم made the following du‘a:
«O Allah, Ibrahim—Your Khalil, Your servant, and Your Prophet—prayed to You for the sake of the people of Makkah. And I am Muhammad—Your servant and Your Messenger—and I am praying to You for the sake of the people of Madinah as Ibrahim prayed to You for Makkah. We pray to You that You bless their sa‘ and mudd [i.e. the food they measure] and their harvest. O Allah, make us love Madinah as You made us
love Makkah, and transfer its plague to Khumm [i.e. outside Madinah]. O Allah, I forbid [i.e. declare sacred] what is between its mountains as You forbade on the tongue of Ibrahim the Haram [of Makkah].»
Reported by Ahmad (22630) and al-Albani declared it sahih (Sahih al-Targhib, 1198)
The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم declared Madinah a haram like Makkah. And He asked Allah to put barakah in it, remove its plagues,and make it close to the hearts of the believers. This is your city, O believers! The city that your Prophet loved. How much did he love it? When he would come back from his travels and catch a glimpse of Madinah, he would rush back to it because he could not stay away anymore. How could the hearts of the believers not long for Madinah after hearing this? How could anyone stay away from it? Can anyone stay away from their heart? The Prophet’s صلى الله عليه وسلم longing would show itself repeatedly when he came back to it.
We were heading back with the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم from the battle of Tabuk. When we reached the outskirts of Madinah, he said, «This is Tabah. And this is Uhud, a mountain that loves us and we love it.»
Reported by al-Bukhari (4422)
Tabah is another name for Madinah, which means the Fragrant or the Pure. And it is both fragrant and pure. And what about the Mountain of Uhud? You gaze at this majestic mountain, and you remember it shaking beneath the feet of the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم. It loved him, and he loved it. It is not a figure of speech: Uhud feels. Everything around us has consciousness and glorifies Allah, even if we do not sense it. Allah said:
And there is not a thing except that it glorifies and praises Allah, but you do not comprehend their glorifications.
Al-Isra (Q17:44)
Things around you have emotions and can love. And they love the believers. Allah said after the demise of Pharaoh and his soldiers:
The heavens and the earth did not cry over them.
Ad-Dukhan (Q44:29)
This tells you that they cry over the believers. So, if you want everything to love you—literally everything—then love Allah, and even the walls of your house will love you.
Praying in Makkah and Madinah is unlike praying anywhere else. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«A single Salah in my Masjid is better than a thousand elsewhere, except al-Masjid al-Haram [in Makkah]. And a single Salah in al-Masjid al-Haram is better than a hundred thousand elsewhere.»
Reported by Ahmad (14694) and al-Albani declared it sahih (Sahih al-Jami‘, 3838)
The extraordinary reward for praying in these two masjids is a reflection of Allah’s love for them and the virtue of the two blessed cities. These two Masjids—in addition to al-Aqsa in Jerusalem—are the only three masjids of extraordinary virtue.
Abu Dharr once asked the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم :
“O Messenger of Allah, what masjid was built first on earth?” He answered, «Al-Masjid al-Haram.» I asked, “Then?” He answered, «Al-Masjid al-Aqsa.» I asked, “How many years were there between the two?” He answered, «Forty years. If you are elsewhere, whenever it is time to pray, then pray, for the virtue is in doing that.»
Reported by al-Bukhari (3366)
The Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم was telling Abu Dharr that these two masjids—in addition to his masjid—are the only ones of distinction. Besides them, all others are equal in virtue: when it is time to pray, pray in any of them.
The three also share the distinction of being the only masjids worthy of traveling to. The Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم said:
«Travel should not be initiated except to three masjids: al-Masjid al-Haram, the Masjid of the Messenger صلى الله عليه وسلم, and Masjid al-Aqsa.»
Reported by al-Bukhari (1189)
These are the best three masjids on earth. And for that, they deserve the love of every Muslim.
For al-Aqsa, according to one hadith, a single Salah in it is worth two hundred and fifty (Sahih al-Targhib, 1179). In another hadith, Prophet Sulayman S prayed to Allah to forgive all the sins of one who visits al-Aqsa solely for the sake of Allah (Sahih al-Targhib, 1178). In these difficult times, we need to revive the love of al-Aqsa in our hearts and the hearts of our children and renew our attachment to it.
Loving our hometowns
We have personal and religious reasons for loving any place on earth. We love our hometowns, scenic areas, vacation destinations, and anywhere we can shop. Religiously, we love masjids and institutions of religious learning. The religious and personal can sometimes coincide as well as clash. We can love our Umrah or Hajj trip because it brings us closer to Allah and because it is a vacation or an opportunity to shop. And as long as the main motivation for this trip is religious, we can love Makkah and Madinah for both reasons. We love going to masjids because they are the houses of Allah, and they are where we meet friends and socialize. Similarly, as long as the religious reason is the dominant one, the two loves can coexist without contradiction. We can love scenic routes because they are naturally appealing and because they remind us of Allah’s Beauty. Our hometowns may be places of impiety, pitting religious and natural loves against each other. If continued residence in any place, no matter our personal feelings, is religiously harmful, migration to a more pious area is mandated. Religious love, in this case, must take precedence. This is why many of the Prophets of Allah Q migrated and left everything behind for the sake of Allah.
This leads us to comment briefly on nationalism. The nationalism I am referring to is not the natural love we have for our birthplace. What I mean by it is the modern political construct that unites people as citizens in a specific geographic area, binding them to the land and its political system, and distinguishing them from different citizens in different regions. Islamic love and belonging are much broader and more merciful than the nationalist one. We love any pious land even if we were never to set foot in it, and we migrate from a sinful land even if we were born there. We are not servants of lands but servants of Allah. And as servants of Allah, we move wherever we may be more pleasing to Him. We cannot love a sinful co-citizen more than we love a pious non-citizen. I may personally love my co-citizen because we share the same language, culture, and cuisine. But if they are displeasing to Allah, I cannot put them ahead of the pious just because the latter was born in a different country. We can love our homeland as much as we want. But we cannot love it more than we love Allah and what Allah loves.
DR. ALI ALBARGHOUTHI
Comments
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.
John Doe
23/3/2019Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam, quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat.