Where The Clouds Can't Reach

I feel like sometimes we distance ourselves from Nabi ﷺ. We place him ﷺ at such a height that following in his footsteps begins to feel almost impossible.

I know that might not sit well at first, so just hear me out. I’m trying to put something into words, and they may not come out perfectly, so bear with me.

We have taken Nabi ﷺ as our role model. He ﷺ is perfect in every sense, as beautifully expressed by Sayyidinā Hassan ibn Thabit رضي الله عنه:

But sometimes, instead of holding Nabi ﷺ as a role model, we unintentionally place Nabi ﷺ so far beyond us that we begin to feel we could never come close to following him.

Of course, we cannot reach his maqām (status).

But we take that admiration to such an extent that trying to follow his character and actions begins to feel distant, almost like a story rather than something lived.

And I honestly think this is from Shayṭān.

He makes us feel that by placing Nabi ﷺ so far beyond ourselves, we are honouring him ﷺ. But in doing so, we unintentionally distance ourselves from his Sunnah.

When in reality, if we read the Sīrah with love, not just as a timeline or a collection of events, something changes.

We begin to see that our Nabi ﷺ was human.

He ﷺ smiled.

He ﷺ cried.

He ﷺ experienced joy and loss.

He ﷺ had moments of strength and moments of difficulty.

And in that, there is a closeness.

There are two incidents I’ve come across recently, that helped me understand this a little better.

The first is the night before the Battle of Badr. Our Nabi ﷺ stood in his tent, turning to Allah, making duʿā’, pleading with Him. My Nabi ﷺ hands were raised so high that his cloak fell from his shoulders (Ṣaḥīḥ Muslim). He ﷺ called upon Allah with such humility and need, he ﷺ taught us how to beg, how to plead with Allāh.

Not because he lacked trust. But because he showed us what it means to turn to Allah fully.
He ﷺ cried real tears, tears that soaked the ground beneath him.

And the second is much lighter.

It is mentioned in some narrations, that Sayyidinā Ka’b ibn Malik رضي الله عنه was eating dates while he had a sore eye. Eating dates would have worsened it, so Nabi ﷺ advised him saying: "Oh Ka'b you're eating dates when you have a sore eye?"

To which he replied, “Yā Rasūlallāh, I’m eating with the other eye.”

And Nabi ﷺ smiled.

Such a simple moment. But so human. So warm.

These are just small glimpses from the Sīrah, but they remind us of something important.

Not that Nabi ﷺ was anything less than perfect, but that his perfection was lived — in moments we can recognise, relate to, and learn from.

And that’s what makes following him ﷺ possible.

I hope that when we return to the Sīrah, we don’t see it as something distant or unreachable.

But as something we can step into, slowly, sincerely, one sunnah at a time.

May Allah grant us the ability to adopt from the Sunnah and increase us in love for our Nabi ﷺ.

- Bint al-Qalm (عفي عنها )