His Mercy toward His Opponents
Indisputably, Muhammad’s (peace be upon him) mercy did not stop at His followers, who responded to His call, supported Him and became of His companions. His mercy rather extended to His opponents who made their efforts to harm Him and stop His call and launched the war against Him. Narrated by Abu Huriarrah (may Allah be pleased with him), “The Prophet was asked to curse the unbelievers, but He replied, ‘I have not been sent to lay a curse upon men but to be a mercy to mankind”. (Muslim: 2599)
When the Prophet (peace be upon him) was treated cruelly by His opponents in Makkah, He went to al-Ta’if to call its people to Islam. However, they did not respond to His call and stoned His feet and until blood spurt out from his feet. In such situations any man in His place would tend to exact revenge on those who injured Him and rejected His call. On the contrary, Muhammad’s mercy was more comprehensive and much more forgiving. Aisha, the Prophet’s wife (may Allah be pleased with her) reported, “She asked the Prophet, ‘Have you encountered a day harder than the Battle of Uhud?’
The Prophet replied, ‘Your tribes have troubled me a lot, and the worse trouble was the trouble on the day of Aqaba when I presented myself to Ibn ‘Abd-Yalail bin’Abd-Kulal and he did not respond to my demand. So I departed, overwhelmed with excessive sorrow, and proceeded on, and could not relax till I found myself at Qarnath-Tha’alib’.”
In spite of all these sufferings, which Muhammad (peace be upon him) had by the disbelievers in Makkah and Ta’if, He did not rush down Allah’s punishment to destroy them, pray against them or curse them. But He said, “I hope that Allah will let them beget children who will worship Allah alone, and will worship none besides Him.” (Al-Bukhari 3231 , Muslim: 1395)
His Mercy with Animals
It is not strange for the man who has all this kindness and mercy established deep in His heart to act mercifully toward a weak animal, which cannot speak out to express its pains, fear and sufferings. Thus, we see Muhammad (peace be upon him) forbade killing an animal for game or entertainment.
He advised His followers to be kind to animals even when slaughtering them. He once said to a man who threw a goat on its side and then started sharpening his knife, “Do you want to kill it twice? Why did you not sharpen the knife before throwing it on the ground?” (Al Hakim: 4/231 , Al Tabarani in AI-Awsat: 3590)
He told His companions, stressing the importance of showing mercy to animals, how a woman was cast away to hell because of a cat and how a man was forgiven for saving a dog’s life; He said, “A woman was cast away to hell only because she had withheld food and water from her cat and refused to set it free, so that the cat might satisfy its hunger by eating worms and insects.” (Al-Bukhari: 3318) , Muslim: 2242)
He (peace be upon him) said, “A traveler who was thirsty saw a well in the way. He got inside the well and when he came out he saw a dog licking mud due to thirst. The man realized that the dog was as thirsty as him, so he got into the well again, filled his leather sock with water and carried it out holding it with his teeth. Thus, he quenched the thirst of the dog. Allah was pleased with this act of kindness and pardoned his sins.”
The companions asked, “O Messenger of Allah, is there recompense in the matter of beasts and wild animals also?”
The Prophet replied, “There is recompense in regard to every creature that has a living heart”. (Al-Bukhari: 2363 , Muslim: 2244)
