Recently, I heard a story about a young Palestinian woman who saw the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ in a dream amid the ongoing aggression and massacres there. She saw the Prophet ﷺ taking the hands of a group of wounded and weak people, and with his noble touch, he healed them, and their faces lit up with life and hope anew.

This vision seemed to me a great message and noble consolation: that knowing the Prophet ﷺ is the first step to understanding and loving him. The Quran describes him with the most beautiful attributes, including: “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” (At-Tawbah: 128). Can the Messenger of Mercy be anything but this? The Prophet ﷺ promised us that he will meet us after his death and rejoice in our goodness, which greatly strengthens our hearts with hope.

All verses and hadiths herald that our treatment in this world and the hereafter is linked to hope in him ﷺ. There is no greater or truer hope than hope in the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Therefore, the foundation of our love for him is certainty that he holds our hands in this world and the next. Place your hopes in the Prophet ﷺ and you will be saved, for no hardship or injustice occurs outside the scope of his mercy and the intercession of his light.

Reflect on how many hardships the Prophet ﷺ faced in his life and how his words were always a source of comfort and peace for his companions. For example, during the migration when they were in the cave hearing the footsteps of the enemy and the clashing of swords, he said to his companion: “Do not grieve; indeed Allah is with us.” Imagine that this reassurance has echoed for thousands of years until it reached us who live centuries after him! How many distressing situations did he remove from his companions in life and after death; sometimes with a word, his blessed presence, or a noble touch. From the religious companions to the blind, many nations of his Ummah ﷺ have overcome great trials by his blessing: from wars to famines to successive oppression. His physical and spiritual presence remains the support of the believers.

Thus, we must face our individual and collective pains with steadfast hope in him ﷺ.

The Prophet ﷺ lived to be a beacon of hope for people in their lives and deaths. Every year, the spring of lights reminds us of this. There has never been a time for the believers without trials and tribulations, but they were never a cause for despair because their constant support is the Prophet of mercy ﷺ. Through the centuries, poets and scholars have sung that hope in him is the path to salvation in this world and the hereafter. The praises of the Prophet ﷺ — from the “Burda Poem” to the “Mawlid” — confirm that praising him, remembering him, singing his virtues, reading and reflecting on them increases our strength and patience, not weakness.

The Prophet ﷺ remains in every era a beacon of hope for all of us. But the lesson does not stop here; our responsibility is to live as he ﷺ lived, to be ourselves lamps of hope for those around us, for every suffering and needy person, regardless of their religion or gender. Our hearts, villages, cities, and institutions must be islands of safety and hope, working and praying together. To see the suffering and extend our hands to them.

In short, there are two messages I want to remind myself and my brothers at the beginning of this blessed month, Rabi’ al-Awwal: First, to be like our ancestors with great hope in the Prophet ﷺ, believing that he is our intercessor and refuge, loving him with all our hearts.

Second, to convey this hope to those around us, so that we ourselves become hope for others.

We ask Allah to pour the blessings and mercy of His Prophet ﷺ upon every suffering person, in Palestine and all over the world, and to make us all among the people of hope and salvation, Amen.