His Leniency
Leniency was the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) character in all His conditions: in His pleasure or anger, in His happiness or sadness, and even in ones of pain and suffering.
On the day when He faced many hardships and His people stoned His feet until they become clotted and bled, He invoked Allah for their sake, saying, “O Allah guide my people for they have no knowledge.” On one occasion, He was told to pray against those who caused Him harm but He replied, “Indeed, I was not sent to invoke curses”. (Muslim: 2599) Indeed, His mercy came over His anger and His leniency came over His severity.
Muhammad (peace be upon him) realized that a cruel word would appeal cruel action, and the one who has a harsh heart will make people evade Him, turn their faces away, and never interact with Him.
The one who contemplates the Qur’an will find that it attributes a high status to leniency, and commands the practice of leniency. Moreover, it drew the Prophet Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) attention to it. Allah says, “And if you had been rude (in speech) and harsh in heart, they would have disbanded from about you. So pardon them and ask forgiveness for them …”(3: 159)
The Qur’an also recommends leniency as an initial and best option in inviting people to Islam. It considers lenience a fundamental upon which D’awa to the Islamic creed would depend. In the Qur’an, Allah the Almighty guided Muhammad (peace be upon him), by saying, “… and lower your wing to the believers” (15: 88); i.e., show them, O Muhammad, kindness and leniency. Arabs say someone is of lower wing when he is respectful and kind to others. It is a Qur’anic call to being considerate, kind, and lenient when dealing with others, as communicated in the Qur’anic distinguished way of expression.
Allah the Exalted also commanded the same manner when dealing with one’s adversaries, saying, “And be patient over what they say and avoid them with gracious avoidance.” (73.10)
Gracious avoidance means not to cause any harm to your adversary; and if he or she intends to harm you, you ignore him. In this verse, Allah has commanded the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) to show patience for the abuse He may hear from His adversaries; a feeling of patience devoid of arrogance or self-defence. But rather, leave their matter for the disposal of Allah, along with gracious avoidance, which will have no bad effect in their hearts, so as not to deter them from accepting His call in the future or listening to Him, and following His guidance. However, His gracious avoidance did not affect the intimacy or break down the bridge of communication between Him and his opponents.
Allah reminds us of the difference between leniency and kind treatment on one hand – and roughness and bad treatment on the other, saying, “And not equal are the good deed and the bad. Repel (evil) by that (deed) which is better; and thereupon the one whom between you and him is enmity (will become) as though he was a devoted friend.” (41:34)
The meaning of this verse is to be patient with harm caused to you by your enemies and repress the anger you may be inflected with; be kind to the one who treats you badly, and treat the source of your pains in the most kind and lenient way, so as to heal their cruel hearts and turn their toughness into passion and love for you. The Qur’an provides leniency towards enemies to the extent that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would treat them in the kindest way as in “as though he were a devoted friend”. (41:34)
In doing so, He actually seizes their hearts to listen to His words and follow His guidance, thus He saves them from the transgressions in which they have indulged.
Other verses in the Qur’an have made it clear that leniency was the attitude of all prophets; when Allah sent His Prophet Moses and his brother (may Allah’s peace and blessing be upon them) to the tyrant Pharaoh, saying, “Go, both of you to Pharaoh. Indeed, he has transgressed. And speak to him with gentle speech that perhaps he may be reminded or fear (Allah).”(20: 43-44)
Moreover, the Qur’anic verses go further to underlie the highest level of leniency, easy speech and kindness in the case of the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). When he invited his father to Islam, his father shouted at him. Allah, the Most High, recounts his reply to the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) in the following verse, “(His father) said, ‘Have you no desire for my gods, O Abraham? If you do not desist, I will surely stone you, so avoid me a prolonged time.” (19-46)
Abraham’s (peace be upon him) reply to his father was so gentle and kind, (Abraham) said, “Peace will be upon you. I will ask forgiveness for you of my Lord. Indeed, He is ever gracious to me.”(19 : 47)
In fact, all prophets (may Allah’s peace and blessings be upon them all), unlike others, have reached the highest degree of kindness and leniency in their manners as mentioned in the above Qur’anic verses.
Muhammad’s View of Leniency
Indeed Muhammad (peace be upon him) has looked at the good manner of leniency as one of the basic features of the Muslim’s character. He taught His Ummah (nation) that Allah likes the person who is kind and lenient and that He likes all about the manner of leniency in all affairs; He says, “Allah likes kindness in all matters.” (Al-Bukhari: 6024 , Muslim: 2599)
He taught His Ummah (nation) that kindness adds beauty to everything it is associated with, “Kindness is not to be found in anything but that it adds to its beauty and it is not withdrawn from anything but it makes it defective.” (Muslim: 2594)
He used to enjoin his companions to show kindness and leniency; He says, “O Allah! Treat gently those who rule over my Ummah with gentleness.” (Ahmed: 23816)
He considered leniency to be one of the gracious blessings that if it is found among any family, they have to realize that Allah has blessed them with much good. He says, “When Allah wishes good for people, He grants them leniency.” (Ahmed: 23906)
Of course, showing leniency and kindness has much better results than other negative manners. Believing in this, Muhammad (peace be upon him) advises kindness to his wife Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her), he says, “Allah is kind and loves kindness. He gives for kindness that which He does not give for cruelty and that which does not give for something else, except that.” (Muslim: 2593)
On the other hand, when a person is deprived of kindness and leniency, he has actually lost something precious and gracious in his life. The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) underlined this fact in the following hadith, He says, “He who is deprived of kindness is deprived of good:” (Muslim: 2529)
Moreover, Muhammad (peace be upon him) was always careful to instruct His messengers and the men He would send out to other territories to abide to this good manner.
For example, on an expedition, He commanded Anas and Abu Musa Al Ashlar’, “Bring glad tidings and do not drive people away, make things easy and do not make them difficult:” (Al-Bukhari: 3038 , Muslim: 1733)
Furthermore, Muhammad (peace be upon him) emphasized that such good character is worthy of saving the one who has it from the hell; He says, “Shall I not tell you whom the (hell) fire is forbidden to touch? It is forbidden to touch a man who is always accessible, having a polite and tender nature.” (At-Tirmidhi : 3038)
When Kindness Prevails
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) placed great emphasis on kindness and easiness in all His affairs and relationships, regardless of their importance or with whom He is dealing. Aisha the wife of the Prophet (may Allah be pleased with her) recounts an incident between the Prophet and some of His opponents showing how kind and lenient He was, she narrated, “a group of Jews entered upon the Prophet and said, ‘As-Samu-Alaikum! (death be upon you).
I understood it and said, ‘Wa-Alaikum As-Samu wal-la’ n’ : (death and the curse of Allah be upon you).
Allah’s Messenger said,’Be calm, O Aisha ! Allah loves that one should be kind and lenient in all matters:” (Al-Bukhari: 624 , Muslim: 2165)
When a Bedouin came and stood urinating in the mosque, the companions of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said, “Stop it! Stop it!”
But the Messenger of Allah said, “Do not interrupt him; leave him alone.”
So they left him until he had finished urinating; then the Messenger of Allah called him and said to him, “In these mosques it is not right to do anything like urinating or defecating; they are only for remembering Allah, praying and reading the Qur’an,” or words to that effect.
The Prophet then set a marvelous example of this incident before His companions.
He said, “The example of this man and me is like a man who has a she-camel who bolts from him. People chase it and they only make it shy away more. The owner calls to them to stay clear of him and his she-camel, saying, ‘I am more compassionate and better to it than you: He goes in front of it and takes some clods of dirt and drives it back until it comes and kneels.”
Mu’awiyah Bin Al Hakam said, “When I came to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), I learned many things about Islam, including what He told me, “if you sneeze, say ‘Al Hamdu lillah: (thank Allah) And if another person sneezes and says ‘Al Hamdu lillah ‘say ‘May Allah grant you mercy: Accordingly, while I was praying with the Prophet a person sneezed, so I said ‘May Allah grant you mercy; during the prayer. Hearing that, the people who were praying with us stared at me as a sign to stop speaking during the prayer. Seeing that, I feared them and said, ‘Why you look at me like this?’
But they began saying ‘Subhana Allah’ as a sign to stop talking again during the prayer. At this time, I kept silent and continued the prayer. When the Prophet (peace be upon him) finished the prayer, He said, ‘Who has spoken?’
The people answered, ‘This Bedouin’.
The Messenger of Allah (may my father and mother be ransomed for him) called me, and I have never seen a teacher of high morals like Him; He did not scold, beat or abuse me. On the contrary, He called me and said, ‘It is not allowed to speak during the prayer other than glorifying Allah and reading Koran … etc.” (Muslim: 537)
