Preface:
Prophet Muhammad PBUH is the noblest and most virtuous personality among Allah’s creations and he has given the highest status from Allah almighty. Loving and following him is an essential part of believers’ faith and without it, nobody can be a complete Muslim, Allah’s messenger said:
لاَ يُؤْمِنُ أَحَدُكُمْ، حَتَّى أَكُونَ أَحَبَّ إِلَيْهِ مِنْ وَالِدِهِ وَوَلَدِهِ وَالنَّاسِ أَجْمَعِينَ
None of you truly believes until I am more beloved to him than his child, his father and all the people. (Sunan Ibn e Majah:67)
Allah says:
قُلْ إِنْ كُنْتُمْ تُحِبُّونَ اللَّهَ فَاتَّبِعُونِي
If you (really) love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you. (Surah A’al e Imran: 31)
This means that it is very important to love the Prophet PBUH more than everything and this love cannot be accepted in the court of Allah unless the Prophet is obeyed in all matters of life. So, studying Seerah to love with the prophet and to follow his footsteps should be a top priority for every Muslim.
Remember that Seerah is a complete biography of Allah’s Messenger PBUH that guides you to increase your love for him, teaches you to spend all events of your life under his blessed teaching, fosters your spiritual journey and makes you more near to Allah Almighty. Almighty Allah said in the Quran:
لَقَدۡ كَانَ لَكُمۡ فِىۡ رَسُوۡلِ اللّٰهِ اُسۡوَةٌ حَسَنَةٌ۔
There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone.(Surah Ahzab:21)
Meanings that you have a complete guideline in the Seerah of Prophet to manage all fields of your worldly life and get complete success in the form of Janna in the day of Judgment. Only one thing is needed and required from you “read, learn and follow the Seerah of Allah’s messenger”! In Sha Allah
The Meaning of Seerah:
Seerah (سيرة) is an Arabic word that means the ‘biography’ or ‘life story’ of a person in general. Therefore some time we use the word “Seerah” for the life journey of other people, like the Seerah of Sabaha (companions). To use this word for others we use their name with this word
like “Seerah Sihaba” etc. But In the Islamic context, especially the “Seerah” term mainly refers to the biography of the Prophet Muhammad PBUH.
Seerah gives you a detailed history of the Prophet’s PBUH life, like before his birth, after his birth, before his prophethood and after he became a prophet, his efforts to spread Islam, his dawah journeys, his migration, the battles and challenges he faced and especially all fields of his personal life, etc.
Importance of studying and knowing Seerah:
After revealing the Holy Quran, Allah assigned the responsibility of interpreting and explaining it to his messenger so that he (PBUH) would act on the commands of the Qur’an in the mirror of his life. Allah says:
وَأَنْزَلْنَا إِلَيْكَ الذِّكْرَ لِتُبَيِّنَ لِلنَّاسِ مَا نُزِّلَ إِلَيْهِمْ وَلَعَلَّهُمْ يَتَفَكَّرُونَ (النحل:44)
And we revealed to you the message that you may make clear to the people what was sent down to them and that they might give thought.
Ayah says that studying the Seerah gives Muslims insights into the Prophet’s PBUH character, his teachings, and the context in which the Quran was revealed. It serves as a guide for Muslims on how to live according to the teachings of Islam. Therefore, Sayyeda Aisha said that:
The Holy Quran also is the Seerah book of Prophet PBUH.(Sahih Muslim:746)
Here, some important points are discussed that describe the value and importance of knowing Seerah:
1. Knowing the prophetic personality:
By studying the Seerah of the prophet, all aspects of his life become clear to us, such as how he behaved with society as a son, as a father, as a husband, as a son-in-law، as a father-in-law and as part of society.
It is also known about the life of Prophet ﷺ before prophet hood that even before prophethood, he ﷺ was the owner of a great personality. This is the reason, when the disbelievers of Makkah denied the invitation of the Prophet (ﷺ), Allah presented his life before his prophet hood as proof of the truth of the Prophet (ﷺ). Allah said:
فَقَدْ لَبِثْتُ فِيكُمْ عُمُرًا مِنْ قَبْلِهِ أَفَلَا تَعْقِلُونَ
I had remained among you a lifetime before it. Then will you not reason? (Surah Younas:16)
When you study the biography, you will know details about his life before and after prophethood and how he lived as a part of society.
2. Understanding Islam:
The Prophet ﷺ has been sent as the last messenger of Islam. He ﷺ explained all the points of Islam in detail in front of the Companions in his 23 years of life. On the occasion of the verse announcing the completion of Islam, he asked the Companions that.
Have I conveyed the complete religion to you? Then the Companions replied that surely you have completely conveyed the religion Islam to us. (Sahih Bukhari: 1739)
Therefore, if someone wants to understand Islam deeply in its true sense, then he should has to read Sirat-ul-Nabi in detail Then Islam will be completely clear to him. So Seerah is a major way to understand Islam.
3. Increasing Our Love to Prophet:
Allah chose the prophet Muhammad ﷺ to guide mankind and make Loving and following him is part of our faith of all Muslims. The Prophet ﷺ said,
“None of you will attain true faith until you love me more than your parents, your children, and the entire world.” [Sahih Bukhari:14]
‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab once said to the Prophet, “O Rasoolullah! I love you more than anything except myself.” The Prophet commented that his faith was incomplete. He had to love the Prophet even more than his own self. ‘Umar said, “O Prophet! Now I love you more than myself.” The Prophet said now you have attained the complete faith. (Sahih Bukhari:6632)
The companions of the Prophet loved him more than anything else, as they knew him well. So, they followed him the most and experienced true faith. Studying Seerah will help you to learn his great virtues, which will increase your faith. In sha Allah.
5. Knowing and Following the Best Human Being:
Allah blessed Prophet Muhammad ﷺ with the entire noble attributes and unique characteristics that make him the best among all the creations. Allah says in the noble Quran,
And Allah has revealed to you the Book and wisdom and has taught you that which you did not know. And ever has the favor of Allah upon you been great. (Surah An’Nisa:113)
Allah commands us to follow the footsteps of the Prophet ﷺ in many verses of the Quran, such as:
O you who have believed, obey Allah and obey the Messenger and do not invalidate your deeds.(Surah Muhammad:33)
He was a great personality having the examples of honesty, compassion, patience, leadership, and more. By studying his Seerah, you can learn all the best virtues and become a better person.
6. Defending Prophet’s Honor:
When the opponents of Islam are not able to compete with Islam in the field of argument, they adopt high tactics and use negative words about the Messenger of Allah. As Muslims, it is our responsibility to acquire complete knowledge of Sirat, adopt it and spread this knowledge among the people. Allah said:
O if you do not aid the Prophet – Allah has already aided him. (Surah Awtobha: 40)
Surely if we get the knowledge of Seerah and defend the personality of the Prophet PBUH, then we will be very lucky.
7. Improving Your Spiritual Growth :
Acquiring the knowledge of the life of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ renews the faith of a Muslim. He feels himself in the time of the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) and his faith increases because when the Companions were present to the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ), their faith also increased. Thus, Mu’adh bin Jabal said to the Messenger of Allah that when we are with you, O Messenger of Allah, our faith increases.(Sahih Muslim:2750)
The increase in faith means that a person is protected from the attacks of Satan, which brings him closer to obedience to Allah and away from sins.
8. Learning the principles of social life:
Allah Almighty did not send His Messenger only as a prophet confined to the mosque or his home; rather he was an individual like other members of the society. Like other people, he also had a social life which has been described in detail in the Seerah books. From the life of the Prophet, a person gets the principles of social life and following them he can become a civilized character of the society. For example, The Prophet said about sitting in the Roads:
Avoid sitting by the road side.” The people then said, ‘O Allah‘s Messenger (ﷺ), we cannot do without those meeting places in which we converse” So he said, “Well, if you insist (on that) give the road its due rights.” They asked, ‘What are the road’s due rights?’ He replied, “Lowering your gaze, abstaining from anything offensive, returning salutations, enjoining the right (Ma’ruf) and forbidding from evil deeds (Munkar). (Sahih Bukhari:2465)
If someone sits on the road and follows the teaching mentioned in the last of above the hadith, nobody can blame him for sitting here and force him to leave that place.
Conclusion
In the above pages, brief points have been written about learning and following the Prophet’s Seerah. The fact is that millions of books have been written all over the world in different languages on various aspects of the Prophet’s biography.
Darussalam has published more than twenty scholarly books on that subject, among which the Seerat Encyclopedia (Urdu/English) and The Sealed Nectar (Al-Raheeq Al-Makhtum) are the most notable. By studying these two books, a person can get detailed information about Seer-ul-Nabi. In Sha Allah
