He longed to meet us. At the graveyard of Madinah he wished aloud that he had seen “our brothers”, the believers not yet born, and said he would know them by the marks of wudu (Muslim 249, sahih (Muslim)). He kept his one assured dua as intercession for his ummah (Bukhari 6304, sahih (al-Bukhari)).
“I wish we had seen our brothers”
Abu Hurayrah narrates that the Prophet ﷺ came to the graveyard of Madinah and greeted the dead. Then he spoke about people who had not yet been born.
السَّلاَمُ عَلَيْكُمْ دَارَ قَوْمٍ مُؤْمِنِينَ وَإِنَّا إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ بِكُمْ لاَحِقُونَ وَدِدْتُ أَنَّا قَدْ رَأَيْنَا إِخْوَانَنَا. قَالُوا أَوَلَسْنَا إِخْوَانَكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ قَالَ أَنْتُمْ أَصْحَابِي وَإِخْوَانُنَا الَّذِينَ لَمْ يَأْتُوا بَعْدُ. فَقَالُوا كَيْفَ تَعْرِفُ مَنْ لَمْ يَأْتِ بَعْدُ مِنْ أُمَّتِكَ يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ فَقَالَ أَرَأَيْتَ لَوْ أَنَّ رَجُلاً لَهُ خَيْلٌ غُرٌّ مُحَجَّلَةٌ بَيْنَ ظَهْرَىْ خَيْلٍ دُهْمٍ بُهْمٍ أَلاَ يَعْرِفُ خَيْلَهُ. قَالُوا بَلَى يَا رَسُولَ اللَّهِ. قَالَ فَإِنَّهُمْ يَأْتُونَ غُرًّا مُحَجَّلِينَ مِنَ الْوُضُوءِ وَأَنَا فَرَطُهُمْ عَلَى الْحَوْضِ
Peace be upon you, home of a believing people. We will follow you, if Allah wills. I wish we had seen our brothers.” They said, “Are we not your brothers, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “You are my companions. Our brothers are those who have not come yet.” They asked, “How will you know those of your ummah who have not come yet, Messenger of Allah?” He said, “If a man had horses with white blazes and white legs among horses that were all black, would he not know his own horses?” They said, “Of course, Messenger of Allah.” He said, “They will come with their faces, hands and feet shining white from wudu, and I will go ahead of them to the Basin.
The Companions had something no one after them can have: they saw him, and he gave them that name, companions. Brotherhood is wider. Every believer shares it (Qur’an 49:10), and he used it for Muslims he would never meet.
He also named the sign he will know us by. In a herd of black horses, a horse with a white blaze stands out to its owner. A believer’s face, hands and feet will shine the same way, from a lifetime of wudu. The Basin is his pool on the Day of Resurrection, where he will be waiting.
“My ummah, my ummah”
’Abd Allah ibn ’Amr ibn al-’As narrates that the Prophet ﷺ recited two prophets’ words about their people: Ibrahim’s plea for those who followed him (Qur’an 14:36), and ’Isa’s plea for his people (Qur’an 5:118).
فَرَفَعَ يَدَيْهِ وَقَالَ اللَّهُمَّ أُمَّتِي أُمَّتِي. وَبَكَى فَقَالَ اللَّهُ عَزَّ وَجَلَّ يَا جِبْرِيلُ اذْهَبْ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ وَرَبُّكَ أَعْلَمُ فَسَلْهُ مَا يُبْكِيكَ فَأَتَاهُ جِبْرِيلُ - عَلَيْهِ الصَّلاَةُ وَالسَّلاَمُ - فَسَأَلَهُ فَأَخْبَرَهُ رَسُولُ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم بِمَا قَالَ. وَهُوَ أَعْلَمُ. فَقَالَ اللَّهُ يَا جِبْرِيلُ اذْهَبْ إِلَى مُحَمَّدٍ فَقُلْ إِنَّا سَنُرْضِيكَ فِي أُمَّتِكَ وَلاَ نَسُوءُكَ
He raised his hands and said, ‘O Allah, my ummah, my ummah,’ and wept. Allah, Mighty and Majestic, said: ‘Jibril, go to Muhammad, though your Lord knows best, and ask him what makes him weep.’ Jibril came and asked him, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ told him what he had said, though He knows best. Allah said: ‘Jibril, go to Muhammad and say: We will please you concerning your ummah, and We will not grieve you.’
Allah already knew why he wept. The reply He sent is one of the most hopeful lines in the Sunnah for anyone in this ummah.
The dua he kept for us
لِكُلِّ نَبِيٍّ دَعْوَةٌ مُسْتَجَابَةٌ فَتَعَجَّلَ كُلُّ نَبِيٍّ دَعْوَتَهُ وَإِنِّي اخْتَبَأْتُ دَعْوَتِي شَفَاعَةً لأُمَّتِي يَوْمَ الْقِيَامَةِ فَهِيَ نَائِلَةٌ إِنْ شَاءَ اللَّهُ مَنْ مَاتَ مِنْ أُمَّتِي لاَ يُشْرِكُ بِاللَّهِ شَيْئًا
Every prophet has a dua that is answered, and every prophet hurried to make his. I have kept mine hidden away as intercession for my ummah on the Day of Resurrection. It will reach, if Allah wills, everyone of my ummah who dies without associating anything with Allah.
The prophets before him each used that dua in this world. He kept his for the Day of Resurrection, and for us.
Holding us back from the Fire
إِنَّمَا مَثَلِي وَمَثَلُ النَّاسِ كَمَثَلِ رَجُلٍ اسْتَوْقَدَ نَارًا، فَلَمَّا أَضَاءَتْ مَا حَوْلَهُ جَعَلَ الْفَرَاشُ وَهَذِهِ الدَّوَابُّ الَّتِي تَقَعُ فِي النَّارِ يَقَعْنَ فِيهَا، فَجَعَلَ يَنْزِعُهُنَّ وَيَغْلِبْنَهُ فَيَقْتَحِمْنَ فِيهَا، فَأَنَا آخُذُ بِحُجَزِكُمْ عَنِ النَّارِ، وَأَنْتُمْ تَقْتَحِمُونَ فِيهَا
My example and the people’s is that of a man who lit a fire. When it lit up what was around it, moths and the creatures that fall into fire began to fall into it. He kept pulling them out, and they kept getting past him and rushing in. I am holding you by your belts, away from the Fire, and you rush into it.
The Qur’an describes the same care:
لَقَدْ جَاءَكُمْ رَسُولٌ مِنْ أَنْفُسِكُمْ عَزِيزٌ عَلَيْهِ مَا عَنِتُّمْ حَرِيصٌ عَلَيْكُمْ بِالْمُؤْمِنِينَ رَءُوفٌ رَحِيمٌ
There has certainly come to you a Messenger from among yourselves. Grievous to him is what you suffer; [he is] concerned over you and to the believers is kind and merciful.
Half the people of Paradise
In a tent with his Companions, he asked whether they would be pleased to be a quarter of the people of Paradise. They said yes. A third? Yes. Then he said he hoped they would be half (Bukhari 6528, sahih (al-Bukhari)). In Muslim’s narration they called out “Allahu akbar” at each step (Muslim 221, sahih (Muslim)).
What we send back
The care runs both ways. When a Muslim sends blessings on the Prophet ﷺ, it comes back tenfold:
مَنْ صَلَّى عَلَىَّ وَاحِدَةً صَلَّى اللَّهُ عَلَيْهِ عَشْرًا
Whoever sends blessings on me once, Allah sends blessings on him ten times.
And it reaches him: “Allah has angels who travel the earth, conveying to me the salam of my ummah” (Nasa’i 1282, sahih (al-Albani); our translation). He asked for more of it on Fridays: “Send many blessings on me on that day, for your blessings are shown to me” (Abu Dawud 1047, sahih (al-Albani); da’if (Zubair Ali Zai); our translation).
This week
On Friday, send blessings on the Prophet ﷺ more often than you usually do. The words you already say in every prayer, after the tashahhud, are a good place to start. Then, before one prayer each day, make your wudu slowly and fully: the face, hands and feet he said he will know us by.
Read next: What do we owe Muslims we will never meet?
Qur’an and hadith on this page
- Qur’an 9:128
- Bukhari 6304, sahih (al-Bukhari)
- Bukhari 6483, sahih (al-Bukhari)
- Bukhari 6528, sahih (al-Bukhari)
- Muslim 199, sahih (Muslim)
- Muslim 202, sahih (Muslim)
- Muslim 221, sahih (Muslim)
- Muslim 249, sahih (Muslim)
- Muslim 408, sahih (Muslim)
- Muslim 2284, sahih (Muslim)
- Abu Dawud 1047, sahih (al-Albani); da’if (Zubair Ali Zai)
- Nasa’i 1282, sahih (al-Albani)