Religious Evolution

Allah subhanahu wa ta`ala said:

"Say: If your fathers, your sons, your brothers, your wives, your kindred, the wealth that you have gained, the commerce in which you fear a decline, and the dwellings in which you delight are dearer to you than Allah and His Messenger, and striving hard and Fighting in His Cause; then wait until Allah brings about His Decision (torment). And Allah guides not the rebellious folk."

Quran Soorah At-Tawbah 9:24

Thus, the essence of love should be due to Allah and His Messenger, so too with the obedience. For the obedience is due to Allah `azza wa jal and His Messenger, and pleasing is due to Allah and His Messenger,

"But it is more fitting that they should please Allah and His Messenger (Muhammad sallallahu `alayhi wa sallam) if they are (true) believers."

Quran Soorah At-Tawbah 9:62

Sister these are your words:

"I never implied first that we should sacrifice for the prophet"

And again I never said that you said that we should sacrifice for the prophet I was merely commenting on this part of the Hadith.

But this is what Allah asks of us. I DID NOT attribute anything to Allah(SWT) that he did not state in His Word

Ok so you're going by Allah's word which I agree but what I'm saying in your attempt to make an example of whom to love more in degrees I was saying your attempt alone defines the state of love we have for specific entities see your bold paragraph.

How can you judge something as inadequate when Allah(SWT) has asked us for this, our love? Do you know better than Allah(SWT)?

Sister philosophically speaking as was mentioned earlier God is simply using the temporal words of mankind to relate to us in our language so that we may know him--partially. Although what our emotions feel for God I still say they are inadaquate in essence only not when we speak of them. They are inadequequate in my opinion because God being beyond all things physically comprehensible including words no words can accurately or even poetically describe him. This was my point. As you mentioned earlier that our intentions, not words matter. To say "I love Allah" as words themselves are inadequate expressions in the sense of their definitive term because our emotions towards Allah are nothing more than what we may share here on Earth if asked, we would say that we love God more.

I know pryayer is good communication to the divine and I understand that prayer is also means of uniformity with the believers. I cannot say that prayer is inadequate as prayer like any other communicative form is means to spiritually connect with God. Now Sister Mishmish common sense would tell you that it doesn't take  a religious doctrine i.e Qur'an for God to tell you "To love me" you just know that you loved God more than anything else. So by you saying that you're going by what God says proves difficult to me that you would just find out that God told you to love him when you converted to Islam. Come on you knew this before convertin to Islam so I highly doubt the Qur'an would teach you that aspect at least however if I'm wrong then I'm wrong.

Without direct religious infleunce as a young child I was taught God was greater than me. I was taught that we should love God because God made the univere and all things aesthetically wonderful. Religious schools that I went to only enhanced this. Islam basically is the same way. We are not taught by doctrine to love God but our religious environments teaches us. So consequently by this example I can furthermore say that in coming to Islam and learning it, it is easy to conclude that we should have love for the prophet, but that love should never superceed what we have for God. We should not build mosques with the prophet's name on equal footing as God's. We should never invoke Muhammad's (or call upon saints as our intercessors) influence on our lives rather call upon the Creator of the universe. This is my point....

I never implied first that we should sacrifice for the prophet, the Hadith mentioned clearly states that our love for the prophet should superceed that of our family and children. In actuality, sacrifice would also encompass that love. But I'm not commenting on that in particular. sister instead of taking parts of my statements perhaps reading the entire paragraph would be of service to you when I said:

>>>>Sister you even surprise me! We make all kinds of comparisons to our world and to God! How can we say we "love" God when God is beyond such a physical quality?<<< Me

Our love for our parents is as unexplainable as our love for God! For instance we can say that we love our parents because they taught us what we know. They raised us, nurtured us the only distinction is because we can say that God is the author of those elements that allowed our parents here on earth to nurture us. My point is how we express something to God consequently is compared to how we express ourselves on earth. If not sister I challenge you to find another word which is not human related that is the same as "mercy" that we say (or do) that is expressed towards God. but this is besides the point.

You said:

I attribute nothing to Allah that He has not stated in His Word. I do not believe that the love I feel for another person, the Prophet, or for Allah is the same emotion that Allah(SWT) feels. How could I even have any idea of what Allah(SWT) feels other than what He has stated in the Quran? Nor did I write anything even close to this in my post.

Also sister you did attribute something to Allah by definition for you said:

But the love we feel for Allah(SWT) should go beyond any love that we feel for any human

You did attribute to Allah by definition on what love for Allah is just as you mentioned in the latter part of your statement. Any words such as saying "we love" allah are inadequate any words in my opinion. What God states in the Qur'an are limited words because he is using the human alphabet in order to help us understand. God being the greatest entity in the universe in relaity is beyond anything said or done in his name. The prophet perhaps being close to this divine entity is revered because people need a tangible figure to get as close to the divine as possible.

My point here is to show that "love" for the prophet should be no greater than we love a dear friend who has done something great for us as you mentioned sister. However in my personal belief I couldn't possibly love the prophet more than my family because my family are physically there for me something the prophet at this point cannot do. We are humans who need physical reaction and attention and sometimes spirituality cannot cover that aspect. Our love for God is definitely great than the prophet's as ytou have mentioned but in my point I'm basically stating the love of God consequently is no different emotion than we already express now.

Let me respond to you Mishmish yours will be in bold:

Astafra'Allah. 

I think this can only be called worship of the Prophet if that is what the intention is. All Prophets and Messengers have asked their followers to turn from their worldly lives and those who would not accept the message, and follow them. This would be showing greater love for God and His Messenger, whoever the Messenger, than you show for yourself or your family.

This is true that all prophets have asked their followers to turn away from their worldly pleasures, I mean, the materialism that leads people astray. I have to disagree that one does not have to intend to believe in the matter which I presented above you can indirectly worship without decleration of that worship. For instance Shi'ites seem to hold a high reverence for Ali more so than the prophet--it seems. Although Shi'ites may claim that they only show him honor in respect of his deeds the invocation of Ali's name in prayer the belief in "saints" and thus which show much more reverence of these worldly figures proves different.

If a Muslim sees the Prophet Mohammed(PBUH) as more than a man, that is on that individual's head. Not on Islam, as the Quran and the Prophet(PBUH) both forbid this.

You should love the Prophet Mohammed as a Messenger of God and as one would love someone who has done a great deed for you by bringing the Message. But the Message originates from God, and all of the Prophets were just men entrusted with God's Word. No more, no less.

True but erecting mosques with the prop[het's name next to God's is reverencee much greater than one who is entrusted with God's word. This has been proven.

No one is asking you to sacrifice yourself or your family for the Prophet(PBUH). Do you mean sacrificing your life or your belongings or what?

Loving the Prophet(PBUH) for the sake of Allah(SWT) is different than sacrificing for him. Although the type of sacrifice is important. If someone asked you to sacrifice your life for your child's would you? If we sacrifice only for God, then we would not sacrifice for our families, our friends, our fellow Muslims, or human beings.

You are a police officer, you may sacrifice your life for your job. It all depends on your intentions.

Sister Mishmish if you read my statement again I was merely making the example of the prophet Abraham who almost sacrficed his son Issac because God commanded him to. I was merely saying that, we should love God more and our willingness to sacrifice our families and children for God, not a messenger. Thus my belief in opposition to that hadith reference we should love Allah more than we love ourselves, family and children. You said if we sacrificed for God then we would not do it for our family, Muslims etc...Ah but in essence we would.

The fact that we are directly obeying God's commandment which he calls for in Islam in principle is the essence of a true Muslim. God calls us to do different tasks. God may have called me to be a Police Officer and if need be, if I were to sacrifice my life for a child it is for God and in essence to the Muslim community because I would be an example of a Muslim who gave his life as a selfless act thus reflecting the principle nature of Islam.