To love the Prophet is to refuse hatred

As millions of Muslims around the world prepare to celebrate Mawlid, the birth of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), a question deserves to be asked: what does it really mean to love the one you consider your role model?

The Prophet (PBUH) occupies a unique place in the consciousness and lives of Muslims. He is their model, their guide and their benchmark on the path that leads to God: “You certainly have, in the Messenger of God, an excellent example to follow for anyone who hopes in God and the Last Day” (Quran, 33/21).

But what does it mean today to follow his example in a world riddled with provocations, hatred, discrimination and violence? How can we remain faithful to the one we love when our faith, our beliefs or our symbols are attacked?

For Muslims, the Prophet (Psl) is first and foremost a man entirely turned towards God, a man of prayer, patience and trust. Despite the immense responsibilities that were his, despite the persecutions, conflicts and trials, he devoted part of his nights to prayer and meditation. When his wife Aisha asked him why he put himself through such efforts when God had forgiven him, he replied: “Should I not be a grateful servant? » (Reported by Bukhari and Muslim)

This word says something essential: faith is not primarily an affirmation of identity. It is an inner transformation.

The Prophet of peace and mercy

When the Prophet (PBUH) arrived in Medina, after thirteen years of persecution in Mecca, among the first words attributed to him are these: “Spread peace, feed the hungry, maintain the bonds of kinship and pray at night when others sleep: you will enter Paradise in peace” (Reported by Tirmidhi).

An entire spiritual program is contained in these few words. Man is not on earth to sow fear, foster hatred or destroy life. He is called to protect, nourish, reconcile and make life grow.

Muslim tradition also records many gestures of gentleness, forgiveness and compassion towards children, the poor and needy, the vulnerable and even those who were hostile to him. Forgiveness, in this tradition, is not a weakness. It is a force that allows us not to become like the one who harms us.

This is why the love of the Prophet (PBUH) cannot be reduced to emotional manifestations when he is insulted. It should first be reflected in our behavior.

Do not respond to hatred with hatred

It is understandable that a believer would be hurt when someone makes a mockery of what they hold sacred. Caricatures, insults or provocations targeting religions can deeply offend those who experience them as an attack on their identity and dignity.

But this injury must never become a justification for violence. The Quran calls believers to repel evil with what is better and not to let the hatred of a people lead them to injustice. Loyalty to the Prophet (PBUH) therefore does not consist of denying the injury, but of refusing that it transforms the believer into an unjust person.

It is precisely in the test that fidelity to a teaching is measured. If we claim to love the Prophet (Pbuh), we must ask ourselves how his teaching invites us to react to insult. Certainly not through violence or blind revenge. Anger at insult or injustice can be human and understandable. What is important is not to let it become hatred, injustice or violence against innocent people

A word attributed to Jesus in the Gospel can resonate with particular force here: “Lord, forgive them, for they do not know what they are doing” (Gospel according to Luke 23/34). This word belongs to the Christian tradition; for Muslims, it echoes the many Quranic and prophetic calls for forgiveness, restraint and justice. It recalls a universal spiritual intuition: not letting the evil committed by others determine our own conduct.

The real challenge is therefore not to respond to provocation with more provocation. It is about remaining human when you yourself are humiliated.

Respect others without giving up your beliefs

The life of the Prophet (PBUH) obviously cannot be reduced to a simplified and idealized image. He was a preacher, a man of spirituality, a husband, a father, a community leader, a diplomat and, in the context of his time, a military leader. The sîra includes episodes of peace as well as episodes of conflict. The conflicts of this era must be studied with their causes, their rules, their limits and their context. They can never become a permission to mechanically transpose the war logic of the past into the present.

It would therefore be as dangerous to transform the Prophet (Psl) into an exclusively warlike figure as to erase the historical realities of his existence to retain only a watered-down image.

The real question lies elsewhere: how to understand these different aspects in their historical context and, above all, what spiritual and ethical lessons should we draw from them today?

In Medina, the Prophet (Psl) established with the different communities present a framework of coexistence and common responsibilities. Muslim tradition also preserves many teachings calling for respecting people placed under protection and not subjecting them to injustice.

Respect for others does not mean abandoning one’s own convictions. It means accepting that human dignity depends neither on the religion, nor on the origin, nor on the opinions of those who find themselves in front of us.

What sîra do we pass on to our children?

This is where, perhaps, our most important responsibility lies.

When I was a child, many of the stories we were taught about the life of the Prophet focused mainly on battles, dates, combats, prisoners and conquests. For a long time, I received a partial image of Muhammad: that of a man essentially confronted with war.

More than forty years later, I fear that some teachings have not changed enough.

We must teach our children sîra in all its richness: prayer, spirituality, patience, family, solidarity, justice, forgiveness, dialogue, but also the historical and political realities in which the Prophet (Psl) lived.

It is neither a question of rewriting history nor of hiding difficult episodes. It’s about teaching them with intelligence, context and discernment.

Above all, we must move away from a pedagogy based on fear, permanent prohibition and victimization. A child who is taught that the outside world is constantly hostile will naturally end up building against it.

Conversely, a child who is taught that his faith commands him to do good, to respect his neighbor, to protect the weak, to dialogue with those who think differently and to respond to injustice without becoming unjust in turn will be able to fully live his faith while being a full citizen.

The love of the Prophet as a school of life

I deeply love the Prophet (PBUH). This love is not for me a simple religious emotion. It is a school of life.

He taught me to fight the most difficult battle: the one within myself.

He taught me that anger, pride, hatred and the desire for revenge are also adversaries that must be fought.

He taught me to look at the poor, the orphan, the stranger and the suffering as human beings whose dignity obliges me.

He taught me that you can be deeply attached to your faith without despising that of others.

And above all he taught me that the reaction to insult is a test of character.

We will not pay homage to the Prophet (Pbuh) by killing those who insult him.

We will not defend his dignity by degrading that of others.

We will not make people love Islam by responding to hatred with hatred.

Our time needs believers capable of transforming their hurt into words, their anger into commitment, their faith into brotherhood and their love of the Prophet (Psl) into behavior.

To the provocateurs, the polemicists and those who seek to pit us against each other, we can respond without weakness but without violence: we will accept neither the humiliation of our beliefs nor the exploitation of our anger. We will respond with words, education, the law, civic engagement and solidarity. Because defending the honor of the Prophet (PBUH) does not consist of reproducing the brutality of those who provoke, but of revealing, in our actions, the nobility of his teaching.

And to Muslims tempted by revenge, we must remind ourselves of a simple truth: If our love of the Prophet (PBUH) leads us to become violent, then we have lost sight of what we claim to love.

Perhaps the best tribute we can pay to the Prophet (Pbuh) is to ensure that those who meet us, believers or not, find in us more peace, justice, dignity and mercy.

This is how love for the Prophet (PBUH) ceases to be a slogan and becomes a responsibility.

And this is how, faced with those who do not know how to love, we can choose not to forget what we have learned to love.