How the Prophet ﷺ Rose Above Enmity and Insult

CURRICULUM UNIT — Grades 9 & 10

TALK TOOLKIT — Delivering Lectures with Purpose ﷺ How the Prophet Rose Above Enmity and Insult TALK TOOLKIT Rose ﷺ How the Prophet Above Enmity & Insult

In the name of Allah, the Most Merciful, the Grantor of Mercy.

“Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.” While this may be true at some level, it is unnatural for a human being to keep hearing oﬀensive words hurled at ,experienced this ﷺ them and never experience heartache. Even the Prophet Muhammad and thus Allah (swt) said,

َوﻟَ َﻘ ْﺪ ﻧَ ْﻌ َﻠ ُﻢ ٔاَ َﻧﱠﻚ ﻳَﻀ ُﻴﻖ َﺻ ْﺪ ُر َك ﺑ َﻤﺎ ﻳَ ُﻘﻮﻟُ َﻮن ِ ِ And We certainly know that your chest tightens from what they are saying. {15:97}

However, the greatest danger that hurtful words pose is not the potential heartbreak they may .in our hearts ,ﷺ cause, but when they challenge the legitimacy of Islam, or its Prophet

called into question ﷺ The pagans of Mecca understood that delegitimizing the Messenger his entire message, so they attempted to wash away his immaculate track record as aṣ -Ṣ adiq al-Amīn (the Truthful and Trustworthy one) with as much repetition of the words “poet”, “magician”, and “madman” as possible. And nowadays, we ﬁnd the accusation of our Prophet being a warlord who founded a death cult being echoed at every turn. We can be sure that ﷺ this bombardment will rattle the faith in our hearts and the hearts of our children if it is underestimated and not immunized against properly.

than a ﷺ There is hardly any greater immunity against these distorted images of the Prophet study of his life. Studying the Sīra liberates people from the manipulative illustrations of the and allows a person to witness for themselves why Allah described ,ﷺ Prophet Muhammad him as “but a mercy to the worlds” [21:107]. It develops within a person a sense for which are depictions of his normative practices, and which were ﷺ snapshots” of the Prophet“

1 exceptions to the norm. Then, as one studies further, he or she begins to realize that even these “exceptions” were not trivial hiccups in his character, but rather another dimension of his superior persona and universal mercy that many simply fail to understand. Conversely, not studying the Sīra adequately subjects a person to doubt this truth, and believe the incomplete as enough evidence to pass a verdict of guilt on ﷺ story given to them about the Prophet him.

Yaqeen Institute compiled a thorough list of incidents showcasing how the Prophet never avenged himself, consistently rose above enmity and insult, and treated ﷺ Muhammad his enemies in ways many of us fail to treat our friends! The paper is titled 70 Moments of Moral Greatness, and today’s lecture will be a few incidents from it—hopefully to motivate us to study his life a little better, and enhance our conviction in Allah’s words, “And you [O Muhammad] are certainly upon great character.” {68:4}

A Conquest Like No Other

who kept his head lowered out of humility ﷺ The Muslims ride into Mecca, led by the Prophet to Allah to the point that his beard almost touched his saddle. These were the streets they were dragged through in humiliation, and these were their torturers standing right before that some of the Companions were saying, “O Abu Sufyân, today is ﷺ them. It reached him ﷺ the day of [your people’s] slaughter. Today, the Ka‘ba is not a sanctuary.” In response, he said, “Rather, this is the day in which Allah will glorify the Ka‘ba, and the day when the Ka‘ba will be garbed.” In another narration, “Today is the day of mercy. Today, Allah will honor Quraysh.”

at the Ka‘ba, and he asked ﷺ After securing the city, everyone gathered before the Prophet them with modest tenderness, “O gathering of Quraysh, what do you think I will do to you?” They said, “Only good, [O] noble brother, son of a noble brother.” Ending the moment of declared, “I will only say to you what Joseph said to his brothers, ‘No ﷺ suspense, he blame will there be upon you today.’ {12:92} Go, for you are unbound.”

rose above it all, immortalizing himself with this grace in one of the most ﷺ The Prophet remarkable events in human history. Even the Ansar marveled at this profound benevolence,

2 to the point that some said, “This man has been overcome by his hopefulness for [returning to] his town, and by compassion for his kin.” Abu Hurayra (rA) said, “And then revelation came, was receiving revelation, it was not hidden to us. When it came, none of us ﷺ and when he until the revelation ﬁnished. When the ﷺ would dare raise his eyes to the Messenger of Allah said, ‘You have said that this man has been ﷺ revelation concluded, the Messenger of Allah overcome by his hopefulness for his town?’ They said, ‘Yes, this took place.’ He said, ‘Never! I am the slave of Allah and His Messenger; I migrated to Allah and towards you. [My] living is with you and [my] dying is with you.’ They (the Ansar) turned towards him in tears and said, ‘By Allah, we only said what we said because of how protective we are of Allah and His ,said, ‘Certainly, Allah and His Messenger believe you ﷺ Messenger.’ The Messenger of Allah and excuse you.’

What just happened with Quraysh was beyond comprehension, even for some of the Ansar’s understood that comprehending this action of complete and ﷺ beautiful hearts. He unconditional forgiveness was diﬃcult. Thus, he said, “And excuse you.”

A Mercy Misunderstood

seems to have sometimes stepped ﷺ Some people ﬁnd it problematic that the Prophet outside his tolerant and forgiving norm. Studying his Sīra makes it undoubtable that he was inclined to gentleness, forgiveness, and mercy as the default. But how then do we understand incidents of combat or execution?

.wished this could be avoided, but found it sometimes inevitable ﷺ Firstly, be sure that he :was the one who said ﷺ After all, he

ﻻ ﺗَﺘَ َﻤ ْﻨﱠﻮا ﻟ َﻘ َﺎء َاﻟﻌ ُﺪوﱢ ِ “Do not wish to confront the enemy” [Sahih Muslim]

,was the ﬁrst one whom Allah addressed in His words ﷺ and he

َوان َﺟ َﻨ ُﺤﻮا ﻟ ْﻠﺴﱠﻠﻢ َﻓ ْﺎﺟ َﻨ ْﺢ ﻟَ َﻬﺎ َوﺗَ َﻮ ْﻛﱠﻞ َﻋ َﻠﻰ اﻟﻠﱠﻪ ۚ ِٕ ِ ِ ِ And if they incline to peace, then incline to it and put your trust in Allah. {8:61}

3 commitment to mercy was ultimately a means of ﷺ Secondly, understand that the Prophet’s devotion to God, so it could not interfere with his obedience to God, and at times the justice .take an assertive or valiant stand ﷺ and wisdom of God necessitated that the Prophet

and Abu Bakr (rA) weeping from the fear of God when ﷺ Example: We ﬁnd the Prophet verses were revealed after the battle of Badr criticizing their decision to “compassionately ?and Abu Bakr (rA) more merciful than God ﷺ spare” the captives. Were the Prophet Impossible; for Allah is the Most Merciful who endowed them with such mercy. However, Allah knows best that extending limitless mercy is incompatible with other noble values such as justice and societal preservation.

Humans have always struggled to strike the perfect balance between competing values, like mercy and justice. This requires an external reference to determine it, namely revelation & prophethood. Allah (swt) says,

َﻓ َﻠﻤﱠﺎ َذ َﻫ َﺐ َﻋ ْﻦ ا ْﺑ َﺮاﻫ َﻴﻢ اﻟﺮ ْﱠو ُع َو َﺟ َﺎء ْﺗ ُﻪ ْاﻟ ُﺒ ْﺸ َﺮ ٰى ﻳُ َﺠﺎدﻟُ َﻨﺎ ﻓﻲ َﻗ ْﻮم ﻟُﻮط ِٕ ِ ِ ِ ِ ٍ انﱠ ا ْﺑ َﺮاﻫ َﻴﻢ ﻟَ َﺤﻠ ٌﻴﻢ ٔاَ ٌوﱠاه ﻣﱡﻨ ٌﻴﺐ * ﻳَﺎ ا ْﺑ َﺮاﻫ ُﻴﻢ ٔاَ ْﻋﺮ ْض َﻋ ْﻦ ٰ َﻫ َﺬا ۖ ِٕ ِٕ ِ ِ ِ ِٕ ِ ِ And when the fright had left Abraham and the good tidings reached him, he began to argue with us regarding the People of Lot. Certainly, Abraham was forbearing, grieving [i.e., hurt by human suﬀering], and frequently returning [to Allah]. O Abraham, give up this plea… {11:74-6}

Here, Allah praises Ibrahim for grieving for human suﬀering, but also as someone who resigns Allah hated for .ﷺ to God’s decision despite that. Allah wanted that balance for his Prophet to adopt the ways of the heartless around him, or a passivity that ﷺ Prophet Muhammad would result in the merciless becoming brazen and taking advantage of his apparent executing the poet Abu ‘Izza ﷺ weakness or the defenseless among humanity. The Prophet after Uḥud after releasing him the previous year without ransom at Badr is one example of may have wished to forgive him again, for he did forgive others repeatedly, but ﷺ that. He instead said, “By Allah, you will not strut in Mecca saying, ‘I deceived Muhammad twice.’”

Islam came to engage reality, including the fact some people will never be as ethically conscious as others, and will continue to violate so long as their aggression is not countered

4 with strength. Just as surgical amputation should be generally avoided, but could be a necessary last resort to save one’s life, sometimes mercy is embodied in sacriﬁcing lives to save many more. Excessively focusing on the recipient of the harshness blinds one from noticing the mercy this actually entails for so many others.

Conclusion

Respected brothers and sisters, today’s talk is not an adequate foundation to help us consistently showed compassion, honor, and nobility when ﷺ understand how the Prophet insulted and attacked. Let us renew our commitment this afternoon to rehearse those 70 Moments of Moral Greatness, a free publication found on the website of Yaqeen Institute. It will inshallah yield us many fruits, including:

was a man of mercy and sublime ﷺ Crystallize for us how the Prophet Muhammad 1 character. Honest historians throughout the centuries have recognized and admired this about him, and so such appreciation should be carried by his followers more than anyone.

did not seek the mere praise of this world, but ﷺ Remind us that the Prophet Muhammad 2 sought its betterment through his moving example. Therefore, his followers are expected to draw from his magnanimous example, and be inspired to demonstrate mercy and did. Surely, all of the cruelty and ﷺ benevolence in the face of insult, just as their Prophet today pales in comparison to the vicious ﷺ bigotry hurled at the followers of Muhammad attacks he endured.

Finally, we must remember not to be provoked out of our prudence at the next caricature or Although it hurts us to see him insulted, it .ﷺ attempt to defame our beloved Muhammad to see us responding in uncalculated ways that could be employed to ﷺ would pain him further demonize his legacy. Show restraint, and channel this rightful anger into a ,was. As Allah (swt) said ﷺ determination to let the world know who he truly

ﻟَﺘُ ْﺒ َﻠ ُﻮنﱠ ﻓﻲ ٔاَ ْﻣ َﻮاﻟ ُﻜ ْﻢ َو ٔاَ ُﻧﻔﺴ ُﻜ ْﻢ َوﻟَﺘَ ْﺴ َﻤ ُﻌﻦﱠ ﻣ َﻦ اﻟﱠﺬ َﻳﻦ ٔاُوﺗُﻮا ْاﻟﻜﺘَ َﺎب ﻣﻦ َﻗ ْﺒﻠ ُﻜ ْﻢ َوﻣ َﻦ اﻟﱠﺬ َﻳﻦ ٔاَ ْﺷ َﺮ ُﻛﻮا ٔاَ ًذى ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ ِ

َﻛﺜ ًﻴﺮا ۚ َوان ﺗَ ْﺼﺒ ُﺮوا َوﺗَ ُﺘﱠﻘﻮا َﻓﺎنﱠ ٰ َذﻟ َﻚ ﻣ ْﻦ َﻋ ْﺰم ْاﻟ ٔﺎُ ُﻣﻮر ِ ِٕ ِ ِٕ ِ ِ ِ ِ

5 You will surely be tested in your possessions and in yourselves. And you will surely hear from those who were given the Scripture before you and from those who associate others with Allah much abuse. But if you are patient and fear Allah - indeed, that is of the matters [worthy] of determination. {3:186}

.ﷺ We ask Allah to ﬁll our hearts with love for Him and His Messenger .ﷺ We ask Him to beautify our character as He beautiﬁed it for His Messenger ,in how he controlled his anger ﷺ We ask Him to help us emulate the Prophet Muhammad forgave his abusers, and won the hearts of even his enemies. and ,ﷺ And we ask Him to extend His choicest mercy upon the entire ummah of Muhammad especially upon his family and Companions. Ameen.