“You will be raised on the day of judgement with those you loved in this world.”

This hadith¹ from the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) needs to be addressed and reflected upon by everyone because of the direct question it poses: Who do you actually love? It might seem like the answer is simple: “I love my family and friends,” you might respond. If we find ourselves producing typical answers, then we need to dig deeper and ask more meaningful questions to ourselves. Questions like, “Who do we wish we could be like?” and, “Who do we look up to?”

The answer lies solely in our heart of hearts that can be seen by none other than Allah. But in a moment of brutal honesty, we can see in our actions, clearly depicted, that we admire and love people who do not renew our faith in Islam and who deviate us from our end goal; Jannah. Whether it be an actor, athlete or simply a friend, it is vital for us not to become obsessed in our need to be like them.

In verses 166 and 167 of Surah Al Baqarah, Allah tells us:

When they face their punishment, those who have been followed, will disown their followers and all their ties shall break. Those who followed will say ‘If we could only return to the world, we would disown them as they have disowned us today.’ God will thus show them their actions as a cause for bitter regret and remorse. They shall never emerge from the fire.

This example of the Day of Judgment is not very different from what happens in real life: Wouldn’t the people we love and admire in this life disassociate from us too if they ever had to sacrifice something they love (their money, fame, etc.) for us individually? It makes little sense then that our loyalties still lie with people who could not care less about us, and whom we know will be a great cause of regret and remorse on the Day of Judgment.

As Muslims, we are given only the sunnah² of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to follow and it is almost shallow for us to admire and follow people only achieving worldly success when we have been given a greater purpose in life. Our wise and far-seeing Prophet once said, “I leave with you the Quran and the sunnah. As long as you hold fast to them both, you will never be misguided.” As Muslims, we should hold ourselves to a high standard because it is the Messenger and Prophet of Allah (peace be upon him) who we truly love, and him, who we hope to rise with on the final day inshaAllah.

¹Hadith: Holy traditions

²Sunnah: Teachings, sayings, approvals/disapprovals of the Prophet Muhammad