Question:
Who should we love the most?
Answer:
Loving Allah and then the Prophet Muhammad is, without doubt, a requirement and the sign of true faith in our religion of Islam.
Allah Most High says,
Say, “If your parents, and your children, and your siblings, and your spouses, and your relatives, and the wealth you have acquired, and a business you worry about, and homes you love, are dearer to you than God, and His Messenger, and the struggle in His cause, then wait until God executes His judgment. God does not guide the sinful people. [Quran 9:24]
In his tafsir, Imam ibn Juzayy mentions that this ayah clearly shows the obligation of loving Allah and His messenger more than everything else.
The Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) said, “None of you [truly] believes until I have become more beloved to him than his father, his children, and all of humankind.” [Bukhari]
This ayah and this hadith clearly shows that Allah is first and then His beloved Prophet Muhammad (Allah bless him and give him peace)
The Love of Parents
The scholars mention that it is necessary to love and show gratitude to our parents after Allah and His messenger. Nowhere else does Allah command appreciation and shukr or gratitude to anyone else other than one’s parents. Allah Most High says in the Quran about gratitude to our parents,
“We have entrusted the human being with the care of his parents. His mother carried him through hardship upon hardship, weaning him in two years. So give thanks to Me, and to your parents. To Me is the destination.” [Quran 31:14]
Loving both one’s mother and father means showing gratitude and honoring them, and holding them in the highest esteem.
Allah knows best.
[Imam] Yama Niazi
Checked and Approved by Shaykh Faraz Rabbani