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Fatwa CenterDifference between loving Allaah and loving His Messenger
Question
Assalam U Alikum, Sheikh I want to know about the Love for Allah and the Love for the Prophet(S.A.W). There is a Hadith where Prophet(S.A.W) said no of you have faith until he loves me more than his father , mother, son, wife and even himself. Also we have to obey and love Allah, when we obey and love Allah that is worship of Allah.And in same way we have to Love and obey Prophet(S.A.W), is it not making Prophet(S.A.W) at par with Allah. Do we have to Love Allah and Prophet(S.A.W) equally.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
There is no doubt that the love of Allaah is an obligation as well as the love of the Prophet . However, there is no comparison between the two, in principle, let alone saying that they are the same. Allaah is the Creator, the Most Gracious and the Benefactor. He is the one who bestowed His Favor upon the Prophet through the blessing of Prophecy; Allaah Says (what means): {And you were not expecting that the Book would be conveyed to you, but [it is] a mercy from your Lord. So do not be an assistant to the disbelievers.}[Quran 28:86]
Therefore, the Prophet was bestowed the bounty of Prophecy, and him being sent as a Prophet to us is a Bounty from Allaah to us; Allaah Says (what means): {And We have not sent you, [O Muhammad ], except as a mercy to the worlds.}[Quran 21:107]
Hence, the love of Allaah should be above the love of any creature no matter how great his status is. Also, the love of the Prophet is a part of the love of Allaah.
On the other hand, what the love of Allaah necessitates differs from what the love of His Prophet necessitate: the love of Allaah necessitates worshipping Him Alone and no one else should be worshipped beside Him, neither an angel close to Him nor a Prophet sent from Him. This is indeed the meaning of the first part of the Two Testimonies of Faith, which is the testimony that no one has the right to be worshipped except Allaah.
Also, the love of the Prophet necessitates loving him and obeying him in what he conveys from Allaah. So, Allaah is only worshipped through the way shown to us by His Prophet and no statement of any human being should be given priority over his statement, and this is the meaning of the second part of the Two Testimonies of faith, which is the testimony that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allaah. Therefore, the first is the uniqueness of the One who is worshipped (Allaah), and the second is the uniqueness of the one who is followed (the Prophet ). For more benefit, please refer to Fataawa 117537 and 85555.
What should be noted here is that there is a distinction between the rights: so, the right of the Creator cannot be the same as the right of a creature.
It should also be noted that the understanding of some people of the love of the Prophet may lead them to extol his love, and to exaggerate in praising him to the extent of considering him at a higher status than his real status as a slave of Allaah, in a way that some acts of worship that should only be directed to Allaah are directed to him, like supplication, seeking help, making a vow, and so forth. Indeed, the Prophet warned us against extolling him as he said: “Do not extol me as did the Christians extol ‘Eesa (Jesus) the son of Mary; I am only a slave, so say ‘the Slave of Allaah and His Messenger’.” This Hadeeth was narrated by Al-Bukhari from ‘Umar 
.
In fact, those people take a position at the opposite extreme to those who ran away from the Prophet and did not follow him, whereas Islam lies between going to excess and falling short.
Allaah Knows best.
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