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THE
MILDNESS AND FORBEARANCE OF GOD’S MESSENGER
Mildness
is another dimension of the character of God’s Messenger, upon
him be peace and blessings. He was a bright mirror in which God
reflected His Mercy.
Mildness
is a reflection of compassion. God made His Messenger mild and
gentle, not harsh and stern. Due to his mildness, God’s
Messenger gained many converts to Islam and surpassed numerous
obstacles on his way to ultimate victory.
After the
victory of Badr, the Battle of Uhud was a severe trial for the
Muslim community in Madina. Although God’s Messenger was of
the opinion that they should face the enemy on the outskirts of
Madina, the majority of the Muslim army urged him to go out into
the open for a pitched battle. When the two armies met each
other at the foot of Mount Uhud, God’s Messenger positioned
fifty archers in the pass of ‘Aynayn and ordered them not to
leave their place without permission, even if they saw that the
Muslims had won the victory decisively.
The
Muslim army, one third of the enemy in number and equipment, had
almost defeated the Makkan polytheists at the beginning of the
battle. Seeing the enemy fleeing the battlefield, the archers
forgot the Prophet’s command and left their positions in
pursuit of them. However, Khalid ibn Walid, the cavalry
commander of the Makkan army, saw this and, riding round the
mountain, attacked the Muslim army from behind. The fleeing
enemy soldiers turned back, and as a result, the Muslims, caught
in the cross-fire, experienced a reverse. More than seventy
Muslims were martyred and God’s Messenger was wounded. He
might have reproached those who urged him to come into the open
for a pitched battle and the archers who left their place
contrary to his orders. But he did the reverse and showed
leniency to them. The Qur’an says:
It
was by the mercy of God that you were gentle to them; if
you had been harsh and hard of heart, they would have
dispersed from about you. So pardon them and ask
forgiveness for them and consult with them in the affair.
And when you are resolved, then put your trust in God;
surely God loves those who put their trust (in Him). (Al
‘Imran, 3.159)
This
verse shows, besides the need for leaders to be mild and lenient
to those who make well-intentioned mistakes, the importance
which Islam attaches to consultation in public administration.
The
mildness and forgiveness of God’s Messenger was a reflection
of God’s Names, the All-Mild, the All-Clement and the
All-Forgiving. God does not stop providing for people despite
their rebellion or unbelief. While the vast majority of people
disobey Him either in unbelief and explicit or implicit
association of partners with Him or transgression of His
Commandments, the sun continues to send them its heat and light,
clouds come to their aid with their tears - rain - and the earth
never stops feeding them with its various fruits and plants.
This is because of the Clemency and Forgiveness of God Almighty,
which God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings,
reflected through his compassion, mildness and forgiveness.
Like the
Prophet Abraham, whom he used to say that he resembled, God’s
Messenger was mild, imploring, clement and penitent (Hud,
11.75), and also gentle to believers and full of pity and
compassionate for them (al-Tawba, 9.127). Abraham, upon
him be peace, was never angry with people, however much they
tormented him. He wished for good even for his enemies. He
implored God and shed tears in His Presence. Since he was a man
of peace and salvation, God made the fire into which he was
thrown cool and safe for him (al-Anbiya’, 21.69). Like
him, God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was
never angry with anybody because of what was done to him. When
his wife ‘A’isha, may God be pleased with her, was made the
object of a slander, he did not think to punish the slanderers
even after ‘A’isha was cleared by the Qur’an. Bedouins
often came to his presence and behaved impolitely, but he did
not even frown at them. Although extremely sensitive, he always
showed forbearance towards everybody, whether friend or foe. His
sensitivity was such that if, for example, a needle pierced his
finger, it would give him more pain than others feel when
speared. Despite this, he tolerated all the impudence of people.
As
recounted earlier, he shared out the spoils of war after the
Battle of Hunayn, when a man named Dhu l-Huwaysira objected,
saying: ‘Be just, o Muhammad!’ This was an unforgivable
offence against the sacred character of a Prophet whose role was
to establish justice in the world. Unable to endure such
offences against God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings, ‘Umar reacted: ‘Let me kill this hypocrite, o God’s
Messenger!’ But the Messenger did nothing other than say:
Who
else will show justice if I am not just? If I do not show
justice, then I have been lost and brought to naught.1
According
to another version, he said:
If
I am not just, then, by following me, you - the people -
have been lost and brought to naught.2
In
addition, he implied that that man would later take part in a
seditious movement, which came true during the Caliphate of ‘Ali.
Dhu l-Huwaysira was found dead among the Kharijites killed in
the Battle of Nahrawan.
As
related by Anas ibn Malik, a Jewish woman offered a roasted
sheep to God’s Messenger after the conquest of Khaybar. Just
before he took the first morsel to his mouth, God’s Messenger
stopped and told the others at the meal not to eat of it,
saying: This sheep tells me that it is poisonous. Nevertheless,
a Companion, named Bishr, died immediately after he took the
first morsel. The Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings,
sent for the woman and questioned her on why she tried to poison
him. The woman replied:
If
you are really a Prophet, the poison will not affect you.
If you are not, I wanted to save people from your evil.
God’s
Messenger forgave the woman for her conspiracy to kill him.3
While the
Prophet was once returning to his house after talking to his
Companions in the mosque, a Bedouin pulled him by the collar and
said rudely: ‘O Muhammad! Give me my due! Load up these two
camels of mine. For you will load them up with neither your own
wealth nor the wealth of your father.’ To this impertinence,
God’s Messenger gave the response, without showing any sign of
offence: Give that man what he wants!4
Zayd ibn
San’an narrates:
Once,
God’s Messenger borrowed some money from me. I was not
yet a Muslim then. I went to him to collect my debt before
its due time, and insulted him, saying; ‘You the
children of ‘Abd al-Muttalib, are very reluctant to pay
your debts!’ ‘Umar became very angry with this insult
of mine and shouted; ‘O enemy of God! Were it not for
the treaty between us and the Jewish community, I would
cut off your head! Speak to God’s Messenger politely!’
However, God’s Messenger smiled at me and, turning to
‘Umar, said: Umar, pay the man his debt! And add to
it the amount of twenty gallons because you have
frightened him!
‘Umar
relates the rest of the story:
‘We
went together. On the way, Zayd spoke to me unexpectedly:
‘O ‘Umar! You got angry with me. But I have found in
him all the features of the Last Prophet recorded in the
Torah, the Old Testament. However, there is this verse in
it: ‘His mildness surpasses his anger. The severity of
impudence to him increases him only in mildness and
forbearance.’ In order to test his forbearance, I
uttered what I uttered. Now I am convinced that he is the
Prophet whose coming the Torah predicted, so, I believe
and bear witness that he is the Last Prophet.’5
The
mildness and forbearance of God’s Messenger sufficed for the
conversion of Zayd ibn San’an, who was one of the Jewish
scholars of the time.
God’s
Messenger himself was extremely meticulous in practising the
religion. Nobody could imitate him in performing supererogatory
prayers. Despite being sinless, he spent more than half the
night praying in tears, and sometimes fasted two or three days
successively. Every moment, he took a further step towards the
‘praised station’ set for him by God. However, he was very
tolerant towards others; in order that his Umma should not be
put under a heavy burden, he did not perform the supererogatory
prayers in the mosque. When a complaint was circulated about an
imam (prayer leader) because he prolonged the prayer, the
Prophet climbed the pulpit and said:
O
you people! You cause aversion in people from prayer.
Whoever among you leads a prescribed prayer should not
prolong it, for there are among you people who are sick or
old or who are in urgent need.6
Once his
congregation complained to God’s Messenger about Mu’adh ibn
Jabal that he prolonged the night prayer. His love for Mu’adh
did not prevent the Messenger from reproaching him, saying, Are
you a trouble-maker? Are you a troublemaker? Are you a
trouble-maker?7
The
mildness and forbearance of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace
and blessings, captured the hearts and preserved the unity of
the Muslims. As stated in the Qur’an, if he had been harsh and
hard-hearted, people would have dispersed from about him. But
those who saw him and listened to him were endowed with Divine
manifestations to the extent that they attained the rank of
sainthood. For example, Khalid ibn Walid was the general of the
Quraysh who caused the Muslims to experience a reverse in the
Battle of Uhud. However, when he was not included in the army
that went out for a military campaign on the day following his
conversion, he was upset and sobbed.
Like
Khalid, Ikrima and ‘Amr ibn al-‘As were among those who did
great harm to God’s Messenger and the Muslims. When they
believed, each became a sword of Islam drawn against
unbelievers. Ibn Hisham, the brother of Abu Jahl, converted to
Islam shortly before the death of God’s Messenger, upon him be
peace and blessings. He became so sincere a Muslim that just
before his martyrdom at the Battle of Yarmuk two years after the
death of God’s Messenger, he did not drink the water that
Hudayfa al-‘Adawi offered him, asking him to take it to the
one lying nearby groaning for water. He died, having preferred
his Muslim brother over himself.8
Those
people attained high ranks in the enlightening atmosphere of God’s
Messenger, upon him peace and blessings. They were included
among the Companions, those regarded and respected as the most
virtuous people after the Prophets by almost the whole body of
the Muslim Ummah since the earliest days of Islam. In order to
explain their greatness, Said Nursi, the great Muslim revivalist
of the twentieth century, says:
I
had been wondering why even the greatest of saints like
Muhyi al-Din ibn al-‘Arabi are unable to attain the rank
of the Companions. One day God Almighty enabled me to
perform in prayer a prostration, which I have succeeded in
doing only once during my life. I concluded that it is
impossible to attain the ranks of the Companions because
all the prostrations of the Companions were like that in
meaning and merit.9
It was
God’s Messenger who brought up the Companions. It is enough to
establish the greatness of the Companions that they succeeded
despite their small number in conveying Islam to the farthest
areas of Asia and Africa within a few decades, and Islam was
rooted in those areas so deeply that, despite the concerted
efforts of the global enemy powers for centuries backed with all
kinds of machinery and technological facilities, to remove it
from the surface of the earth, it continues to gain new momentum
every passing day and is the sole alternative for the future
salvation of humankind. The Companions, may God be pleased with
them all, developed from the wretched state of the pre-Islamic
Age of Ignorance to being guides and teachers of a considerable
part of mankind until the Last Day, and the vanguard of the most
magnificent civilization of history.
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, was a man of
absolute balance. His universal compassion did not prevent him
from executing Divine justice, and his mildness and forbearance
did not go to extremes of overlooking any breach of Islamic
rules or self-humiliation. For example, in a military campaign,
Usama ibn Zayd threw an enemy soldier to the ground. When he was
about to kill him, the man confessed belief. However, judging
that confession to be due to fear of death, Usama killed the
man. When informed of the incident, God’s Messenger, upon him
be peace and blessings, became so angry with Usama that he
reprimanded him severely, saying: Did you cleave his heart
open and see (whether his confession of belief was due to fear
of death)? He repeated this so many times that Usama said
later: ‘I wished I had not yet become a Muslim on the day I
was scolded so severely.’10
Likewise,
one day, Abu Dharr got angry with Bilal and insulted him,
saying: ‘You, the son of a black woman!’ Bilal came to God’s
Messenger and reported the incident in tears. The Messenger
reproached Abu Dharr, saying: Do you still have a sign of Jahiliya?
Repentant of what he did, Abu Dharr lay on the ground and said:
‘The head of Abu Dharr will not be raised (meaning he will not
get up) unless Bilal put his foot on it to pass over it.’
Bilal forgave him and they were reconciled.11
Such was
the brotherhood and the humanity Islam created between once
savage people.
1.
Muslim, “Zakat,” 142, 148; Bukhari, “Adab,” 95, “Manaqib,”
25.
2. Bukhari, “Adab,” 95; Muslim, “Zakat,” 142.
3. Bukhari, “Hiba,” 28; Abu Dawud, “Diyat,” 6.
4. Abu Dawud, “Adab,” 1; Nasa’i, “Qasama,” 24.
5. Suyuti, al-Khasa’is, 1.26; I. Hajar, al-Isaba,
1.566.
6. Bukhari, “‘Ilm,” 28, “Adhan,” 61.
7. Muslim, “Salat,” 179; Nasa’i, “Iftitah,” 71;
Bukhari, “Adab,” 74.
8. Hakim, Mustadrak, 3.242.
9. Said Nursi, Sozler, Istanbul, 1986, 459.
10. Muslim, “Iman,” 158; I. Ma’ja, “Fitan,” 1.
11. Bukhari, “Iman,” 22.
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