Prophets Life and
Mission as a Messenger
Mission as a Messenger
Treating them with his merciful nature
The authentic hadith collection mention an incident in which Prophet Muhammad ﷺ was alone and an enemy suddenly came from behind to kill him: Narrated Jabir bin Abdullah (r.a) “we took part in the Ghazwa of Najd along with Allah's Messenger ﷺ and when the time for the afternoon rest approached while he was in a valley with plenty of thorny trees, he dismounted under a tree and rested in its shade and hung his sword (on it). The people dispersed amongst the trees in order to have shade. While we were in this state, Allah's Messenger ﷺ called us and we came and found a bedouin sitting in front of him. The Prophet ﷺ said, “This (Bedouin) came to me while I was asleep, and he took my sword stealthily. I woke up while he was standing by my head, holding my sword without its sheath. He said, 'Who will save you from me?' I replied, 'Allah.' Then something forced him to drop his sword. I then picked up the sword and said, ‘Who will protect you from me.’ But Allah's Messenger ﷺ did not punish him.”[1] The bedouin’s name was Ghwarath ibn al-Harith. The Prophet did not punish him, in fact, he was forgiven and later accepted Islam and became a Muslim. This is how the Prophet ﷺ treated his personal enemies. However, there were times when he punished those who were enemies of the state and committed crimes against its people. But even after such crimes committed, many were provided opportunity to gain forgiveness. The story of Prophet Yusuf (alaihi salaam) (Joseph) in the Quran is worth mentioning here. He had eleven brothers. Due to their jealousy of him, they plotted to take away his life. They lured him to the forest and pushed him in a well. After a while, a caravan passing by, saved him and sold him as a slave in Egypt. After serving a master for some time, he was alleged with a crime of attempting to commit an immoral act with his master’s wife. Due to this charge, he remained in prison for several years. After his ability to interpret a dream of the King of Egypt he was saved from the prison and absolved of the crime he was alleged for. The master’s wife also accepted that Yusuf (alaihi salaam) was in fact innocent, and it was she who tried to commit an act with him. After such long suffering and trial when Yusuf (alaihi salaam) was given a post of a vizier (prime minister) due to his sincerity, honesty and truthfulness that everyone observed, one day his brothers arrived in Egypt, faced him after several years: “They (Brothers said) said, ‘By God! God really did favour you over all of us and we were in the wrong!’ but he said, ‘You will hear no reproaches today. May God forgive you: He is the Most Merciful of those who are merciful.’”[2] Prophet Yusuf (a.s) did not take revenge, throw them in prison, torture them, did not curse nor abuse them neither physical nor verbal. In fact, the only thing, he said, “You will hear no reproaches today. May God forgive you: He is the Most Merciful of those who are merciful.” Amazingly, another Prophet said the same words, after bearing twenty years of persecution and difficulties from his people. After entering the city of Makkah, with his strong army and finally defeating the Qurayshis who had been persecuting Prophet and his followers for more than past two decades, including continuously waging battles against them for last ten years, this is what Prophet Muhammad ﷺ declared: “O Qurayshis! What do you think I will do to you?” The Qurayshis said, “You are a generous and good brother. You are a generous and good nephew. We think you will do good things about us.” Thereupon, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said “My situation and your situation are like what Joseph (Yusuf) said to his brothers. I am saying to you what Yusuf said to his brothers, "You will hear no reproaches today. May God forgive you: He is the Most Merciful of those who are merciful.” “You can leave; you are free.”[3] It is quite common about human nature that most people are humble, kind and merciful usually when in they are in a weak and helpless position. It is only a few who are truly merciful when in a position of power and being in control of everything and that is what proves that they truly own a merciful nature. Whether in position of power or no, the Prophet displayed his merciful nature at all times as expressed in the Quran: "It was only as a mercy that We sent you [Prophet] to all people."[4] References: [1] Narrated in Al Bukhari in Sahih Al Bukhari [2] Al Quran 12:91–93 [3] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conquest_of_Mecca [4] Al Quran 21:107
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AuthorZaid Shaw Archives
September 2019
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