All Praise and Thanks is for Allah, Salutations and Peace be upon the Messenger of Allah.
The Seerah (Biography) of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ is filled with so many lessons that it may need one ages to ponder over and reflect about. The life of the Prophet ﷺ has many facets to it, and thousands of books have been written on the various aspects and lessons derived from it.
One thing which is very evident and clear is that throughout his blessed life, the Prophet ﷺ in his days of ease and hardship kept giving the believers ‘good hope’, and he ﷺ made the Sahaba (his companions) look at matters of ease and difficulty with a positive light. The Prophet ﷺ did not ‘loose hope in the hopeless’, for he knew guidance is in Allah’s Hands, and the Prophet ﷺ did not stop calling ‘the defiants’ to the truth, for Allah is ‘The Turner of The Hearts’.
The believers as well, should take heed from these incidents and change their outlook about life and rectify their hearts. These examples should help us in our ‘Call To Islam’ In-Sha-Allah.
- When in Makkah, the polytheists asked the Prophet ﷺ for miracles. When the Prophet asked Allah to assist him with miraculous feats, Allah gave the Prophet ﷺ two options, one- that miracles are shown to the polytheists and if they don’t accept Islam after that, they’ll be destroyed with an affliction like the previous nations.
Two- That miracles aren’t shown to them but the option of thinking over about Islam remains and they’ve ample opportunity to accept Islam. The Prophet ﷺ chose the latter option because he wanted the polytheists of Makkah to accept Islam instead of being destroyed by a punishment from Allah.
It was narrated that Ibn ‘Abbassaid: “Quraysh said to the Prophet ﷺ: “Pray to your Lord and ask Him to make (the mountain) As-Safa gold for us, and we will believe in you”. He ﷺ said: “Will you do that?” They said: “Yes”. So he ﷺ prayed, and Jibreel came to him and said: “Your Lord, may He be glorified and exalted, conveys greetings of Salaam to you and says to you: ‘If you wish, As-Safa will become gold for them, then whoever among them disbelieves after that, I will punish him in a way that I have never punished anyone in the worlds, Or if you wish, I will open for them the gate of repentance and mercy.” He ﷺ said: “Rather the gate of repentance and mercy.” [1]
[The Prophet ﷺ later requested Allah for the miracle of splitting the moon and Allah granted it to him but Allah did not punish the Makkans as the Prophet ﷺ did not want them to be destroyed.[2]]
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In Makkah when the Prophet ﷺ and his companions were being oppressed-two of those oppressors were ‘Amr bin Hisham (Abu Jahal) and ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab.
The Prophet ﷺ asked Allah to guide one of the two ‘Amrain (‘Amr or Umar). He ﷺ did not think that these enemies of Islam would be devoid of any goodness- he ﷺ supplicated for them. As a result Umar ibn Al-Khattab accepted Islam.
Narrated Ibn ‘Umar : “That the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “O Allah! Honor Islam through the most dear of these two men to you: Through Abu Jahl or through ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab.” He said: “And the most dear of them to Him was ‘Umar.”” [3]
- The Prophet ﷺ went to At-Taaif and called their chiefs to Islam. They rejected him and weren’t courteous to him. The Prophet ﷺ was dejected and sad. Then the Angel of the mountains of Al-Akshabayn (At-Taaif) and Jibreel came to the Prophet ﷺ and asked his permission to crush At-Taaif between the two mountains. The Prophet ﷺ didn’t allow them to be destroyed but hoped that their progeny would one day worship Allah alone. By the end of 8-9A.H, all of At-Taaif had accepted Islam.
It has been narrated on the authority of `Aisha, the wife of the Prophet ﷺ who said to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ :
“O Messenger of Allah, has there come upon you a day more terrible than the day of Uhud?” He ﷺ said: “I have experienced from your people and the hardest treatment I met from them was what I received from them on the day of `Aqaba.
I presented myself to Ibn `Abd Yalil bin `Abd Kulal[4] with the purpose of inviting him to Islam, but he did not respond to me as I desired.
So I departed with signs of (deep) distress on my face. I did not recover until I reached Qarn At-Tha`alib. Where I raised my head, lo! near me was a cloud which had cast its shadow on me. I looked and lo! there was in it the angel Jibril who called out to me and said: ‘Allah, The Honoured and Glorious, has heard what your people have said to you, and how they have reacted to your call. And He has sent to you the Angel in charge of the mountains so that you may order him what thou wish (him to do) with regards to them’.
The Angel in charge of the mountains (then) called out to me, greeted me and said: ‘Muhammad, Allah has listened to what your people have said to you. I am the Angel in charge of the mountains, and your Lord has sent me to you so that you may order me what you wish. If thou wish that I should bring together the two mountains that stand opposite to each other at the extremities of Makkah to crush them in between, (I would do that)’. But the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said to him: ‘ (No) I rather hope that Allah will produce from their descendants such persons as will worship Allah, the One, and will not ascribe partners to Him.’”[5]
- As Abu Talib lay on his deathbed, the Prophet ﷺ tried his best to call his uncle, his firm supporter, Abu Talib to Islam. Abu Talib however, was still adamant on accepting the true faith. Abu Talib’s life ended as disbeliever, yet the Prophet ﷺ kept asking Allah to forgive Abu Talib- till Allah disallowed supplicating for the forgiveness of the dead disbelievers.
Narrated Sa`eed bin Al-Musaiyyib from his father:
“When the time of the death of Abu Talib approached, Allah’s Messenger ﷺ went to him and found Abu Jahl bin Hisham and `Abdullah bin Abi Umaiya bin Al-Mughira by his side.
Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said to Abu Talib, “O uncle! Say: None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, a sentence with which I shall be a witness (i.e. argue) for you before Allah. Abu Jahl and `Abdullah bin Abi Umaiya said, “O Abu Talib! Are you going to denounce the religion of `Abdul Muttalib?” Allah’s Messenger ﷺ kept on inviting Abu Talib to say it (i.e. ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah’)
While they (Abu Jahl and `Abdullah bin Abi Umaiya) kept on repeating their statement till Abu Talib said as his last statement that he was on the religion of `Abdul Muttalib and refused to say, ‘None has the right to be worshipped but Allah.’
Then Allah’s Messenger ﷺ said, “I will keep on asking Allah’s forgiveness for you unless I am forbidden (by Allah) to do so.” So Allah revealed (the verse) concerning him; “It is not fitting for the Prophet ﷺ and those who believe that they should invoke (Allah) for forgiveness for pagans even though they be of kin, after it has become clear to them that they are companions of the fire (Quran Surah At-Tawbah 9:113).””[6]
- When the comapnions of the Messenger of Allah were being oppressed, Khabbab bin Aratt requested the Prophet ﷺ with a feeling of desperation to ask Allah’s assistance to free them from this trouble. The Prophet ﷺ not only reminded them about the sufferings of the believers of the past, but he ﷺ also gave him good hope and informed Khabbab of the good times that will follow these hard times to come!
Narrated Khabbab bin Al-Arat: “We complained to Allah’s Messenger ﷺ (of the persecution inflicted on us by the infidels) while he was sitting in the shade of the Ka`bah, leaning over his Burd (i.e. covering sheet).We said to himﷺ, “Would you seek help for us? Would you pray to Allah for us?” Heﷺ said, “Among the nations before you a (believing) man would be put in a ditch that was dug for him, and a saw would be put over his head and he would be cut into two pieces; yet that (torture) would not make him give up his religion.
His body would be combed with iron combs that would remove his flesh from the bones and nerves, yet that would not make him abandon his religion. By Allah, this religion (i.e. Islam) will prevail till a traveller from Sana (in Yemen) to Hadramaut will fear none but Allah, or a wolf as regards his sheep, but you (people) are hasty.”[7]
- When the Leader of the Munafiqeen (hypocrites) ‘Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salool died, his son ‘Abdullah ibn ‘Abdullah bin Ubai- a pious Sahabi- came to the Messenger of Allah to ask for the Prophet’s cloak to shroud his father in it. The Prophet ﷺ not only gave him his cloak, he also went and led the Salatul-Janaza of the Munafiq. He also asked Allah to forgive him, till Allah disallowed him from asking forgiveness for the Munafiqeen (Hypocrites).
7. During the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet ﷺ was injured, his helmet was crushed, his forehead got a deep cut and he lost a front tooth. The Prophet’s blessed face was drenched in blood as he lay on the ground because of the hit.
The Prophet ﷺ at the very spur of disgusting act by the polytheists cried out- “How can a people who bleed their prophet be successful?” At that very instant Allah corrected the Prophet and revealed-
“Not for you is the decision; whether He turns in mercy towards them or punishes them; verily they are the wrongdoers.” (Quran 3:128)
Implying that it was not for the Prophet ﷺ to decide on the fates of people who have hurt him and that the final decision rests with Allah, because it was highly likely that the very enemies who planned to take his life may later on accept Islam.
And that is what happened- the belligerents of Uhud- Khalid bin Al-Waleed, ‘Amr ibn Al-‘Aas, Abu Sufyan bin Harb and ‘Ikrima bin Abi Jahl successively entered Islam only to serve the religion of Allah as its fine soldiers. Subhan-Allah even as the Prophet ﷺ was bleeding, Allah was directing him not to lose hope in his enemies and not to decide on their fate! [8] [9]
- Before The Battle of Khandaq, the Muslims were digging in the open end of Madinah, preparing a trench as a barrier for the incoming swarms of the polytheists. The Muslims overworked, were short of supplies and delayed their prayers because of the urgency of the need of the trench.
A huge rock came underway in the section that Salman Al-Farisi was digging; the rock wasn’t giving in to any blows and stood strong. The Prophet ﷺ then went in and broke it down with three blows of his pickaxe, with this- and the dire conditions that the Sahaba were in, he prophesied that the Muslims would soon conquer the Palaces of Persia and Rome. In such a situation of difficulty, where the Munafiqeen (hypocrites) were mocking that ‘We are (struggling) in a ditch and he promises us the palaces of Persia and the Roman Empires’[10]– the Prophet ﷺ was giving the Muslims high hopes and aspirations.[11]
As the Prophet lived throughout the Madinan phase of his blessed life- which was just ten years- he was involved in teaching the Muslims their obligations and prohibitions, battling the enemies of Allah and failing the plots of the hypocrites. Yet in those times of trials he prophesied that the Muslims would one day conquer the towering empires Rome and Persia! He, because of Allah’s Guidance, was infusing hope and spirit into the hearts of the believers. The Prophet ﷺ passed away, and the times came to pass when the treasures of the two super powers lay at the feet of the Muslims.[12]
- A neighbour of the Prophet ﷺ was a Jewish lad. He fell ill and was on the verge of death. The Prophet ﷺ visited him and called him to testify to the true faith which he did Alhamdulillah.
This shows that even when a disbeliever was at the verge of death, our beloved Prophet ﷺ did not lose hope and called the boy to Islam.
Anas bin Malik reported that a Jewish boy used to serve the Prophet ﷺ. The boy became ill and the Prophet ﷺ went to visit him. He sat by his head and said, “Become a Muslim.” The boy looked at his father who was also sitting by his head. His father said to him, “Obey Abul-Qasim.” So the boy became a Muslim. The Prophet ﷺ left saying, “Praise be to Allah who has saved him from the Fire!”[13]
- When the Leader of the Munafiqeen (hypocrites) Abdullah bin Ubai bin Salool died, his son Abdullah ibn Abdullah bin Ubai- a pious Sahabi- came to the Messenger of Allah to ask for the Prophet’s cloak to shroud his father in it. The Prophet ﷺ not only gave him his cloak, he also went and led the Salatul-Janaza of the Munafiq. He also asked Allah to forgive him, till Allah disallowed him from asking forgiveness for the Munafiqeen.
Narrated Ibn `Umar : When `Abdullah bin Ubai (the chief of hypocrites) died, his son came to the Prophet ﷺand said, “O Allah’s Messenger! Please give me your shirt to shroud him in it, offer his funeral prayer and ask for Allah’s forgiveness for him.”
So Allah’s Messenger ﷺ gave his shirt to him and said, “Inform me (When the funeral is ready) so that I may offer the funeral prayer.” So, he informed him and when the Prophet ﷺ intended to offer the funeral prayer, `Umar took hold of his hand and said, “Has Allah not forbidden you to offer the funeral prayer for the hypocrites? The Prophet ﷺ said, “I have been given the choice for Allah says: ‘(It does not avail) Whether you (O Muhammad) ask forgiveness for them (hypocrites), or do not ask for forgiveness for them. Even though you ask for their forgiveness seventy times, Allah will not forgive them. (Quran, Surah At-Tawbah 9:80)”
So the Prophet ﷺ offered the funeral prayer (for him) and on that the revelation came: “And never (O Muhammad) pray (funeral prayer) for any of them (i.e. hypocrites) that dies.” (Quran, Surah At-Tawbah 9:84)[14]
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The Prophet ﷺ taught us to have good hope about Allah and His Plans. He ﷺ said: Allah the Exalted says: I am as my servant expects me and I am with him as he remembers me.[15]
This means that alongside fulfilling all means to reach his aims and desires, the Muslim should always hope positively from Allah. Allah will respond to His servant as he expects of Allah.
The Prophet ﷺ also said: Allah says: If he thinks good of me, he will have it. And if he thinks evil of me, he will have it.[16] [17]
May Salutations and Blessings be upon The Prophet, His Ahlul-Bayt and His Companions. May Allah make this beneficial for all of us. Aameen.
-Abu Muaaz Mohammed bin Thajammul Hussain Manna (Teacher in Madrasathul-Huda Al-Islamiyyah and Peace Mansion).
Footnotes:
[1] Musnad Ahmad 2166. Shaikh Al-Albani said: It is Sahih as per the conditions of (Imam) Muslim. See As-Sahihah 3388.
[2] ‘Abdullah bin Mas’ood narrates that: “The moon was split in the time of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, (but) the Quraysh said, “This is from the magic of Muhammad, let’s wait to see what the travellers say, Muhammad can’t trick everyone (by magic)”, so when the travellers arrived, they said the same (and confirmed the splitting of the moon)”. Abu Dawud At-Tayalisi 1/38 (Translation adapted from As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah by Ibn Katheer rendered into English by Professor Trevor Le Gassick).
[3] Jaami’ At-Tirmidhi 3681. Sahih according to Shaikh Al-Albani.
[4] One of the chiefs of the Thaqeef tribe, from At-Taaif.
[5] Sahih Muslim 1795, Sahih Al-Bukhari 3231.
[6] Sahih Al-Bukhari 1360, Sahih Muslim 24.
[7] Sahih Al-Bukhari 3612.
[8] See Jaami At-Tirmidhi 3003. Imam Abu ‘Eesa At-Tirmidhi said that this Hadith is Hassan Sahih.
[9] See Jaami At-Tirmidhi 3004. Sahih according to Shaikh Al-Albani.
[10] At-Tabrani Al-Kabeer 11/376, 12052. Majmua Az-Zawaid 6/132. Al-Haythmi said that the men of this narration are Sahih except for Abdullah bin Ahmad bin Hambal and Nuaim Al-Ambari who are Thiqah (trustworthy).
[11] Sunan An-Nasai 3176.
[12] See Sahih Muslim 2900, 2962 and Sunan Ibn Majah 3996.
[13] Al-Adab Al-Mufrad, Arabic- Book 1, Hadith 524. Sahih according to Shaikh Al-Albani.
[14] Sahih Al-Bukhari 1269.
[15] Sahih Al-Bukhari 6970.
[16] Musnad Ahmad 8833, Sahih by Al-Albani.
[17] Shaykh Saalih Al-Fawzaan said: Thinking positively of Allah must be accompanied by avoidance of sin, otherwise it comes under the heading of feeling secure from the plan of Allah. Thinking positively of Allah whilst taking measures that lead to good and refraining from measures that lead to evil comes under the heading of praiseworthy hope. As for thinking positively of Allah whilst failing to do obligatory duties and doing haraam actions, that comes under the heading of blameworthy hope and feeling secure from the plan of Allah.
Al-Muntaqa min Fataawa ash-Shaykh al-Fawzaan (2/269). (Quoted from islamqa.info 150516)
Saheehus-Seerah 