His Patients
Muhammad (peace be upon him) kept preaching His message, of Islam, unto His people secretly and publicly during the sixty three years of His life. During this period, He faced all sorts of pain, sufferings and trials. However, He was always been patient and persistent, in His way, to the end.
At the beginning of His call to Islam, He used to head people in their gatherings and crowds, in all occasions particularly during the months of the Hajj (pilgrimage), calling to !man (having faith in Allah, the one God, and adopting the religion of Islam) every person He met, whether a free man or a slave, a strong or a weak man, and a rich or a poor man.
In spite of all feelings of anger mounting against Him and His call in Makkah, He never felt frightened or withdrawn; instead He continued inviting people and preparing truthful men to carry His message along with Him. To achieve this, He would gather Muslims at their home, away from the sight of Quraysh, until the earlier group of Muslims were formed up strong in their faith and in their message.
Muhamad (peace be upon him) showed patience for all sorts of torture and oppression against Him and His followers after the Quraysh decided to remove His call and destroy it. For a period of over ten years, the Quraysh considered earlier Muslims as insurgents, and so disbelievers declared killing them and launched a defamatory campaign (of mockery, disbelief and defamation). Moreover, they accused Muhammad of madness, magic, lying and prophesy. Against all these accusations, Muhammad was patient and steadfast in His way, hoping Allah would support Him and grant Him victory over His opponents.
Abu Hurairah reported, “Abu Jahl tried to injure the Prophet (peace be upon him) in the sanctuary of the Kaaba. Abu Jahl swore that he would rub the Prophet’s face in the dust when the Prophet came to pray. He intended to put his foot on the neck of our beloved Prophet and force it into the sand as he performed the sajdah (one prostration). Just then the Prophet came into the sanctuary and began to pray. With his friends watching, Abu Jahl went forward to attack the Prophet. Suddenly Abu Jahl turned back, as if running from something.” (Muslim: 2797)
Abdullah bin Mas’ud (may Allah be pleased with him) reported a more blatant behaviour from Muhammad’s people in Makkah where they exceeded all values and decencies; he said, “While Allah’s Messenger was praying beside the Kaaba, there were some Quraysh people sitting in a gathering. One of them said, ‘Don’t you see this (who does deeds just to show off)? Who among you can go and bring the dung, blood and the abdominal contents (intestines, etc) of the slaughtered camels of the family of so-and-so, and then wait till he prostrates and put that in between his shoulders?’
The most unfortunate among them (Uqba bin Abi Mu’ait) went and brought them) and when Allah’s Messenger prostrated, he put them between His shoulders. The Prophet remained in prostration and they laughed so much so that they fell on each other. A passerby went to Fatima, who was a young girl in those days. She came running — and the Prophet, who was still in prostration. She removed them and cursed upon the Quraysh to their faces”. (Al-Bukhari: 240 , Muslim: 1794)
One of the severest aspects of torture inflected upon Him (peace be upon him) is narrated by Urwa bin Al-Zubair; he said, “I asked Abdullah bin Amr, ‘What was the worst thing the pagans did to Allah’s Messenger?’
He said, ‘I saw Uqba bin Abi Mu’ait coming to the Prophet while He was praying.
Uqba put his sheet round the Prophet’s neck and squeezed it very severely.
Abu Bakr came and pulled Uqba away from the Prophet (peace be upon him) and said, ‘Do you intend to kill a man just because He says, ‘My Lord is Allah, and He has brought forth to you the Evident Signs from your Lord’?” Al-Bukhari (3678)
Once pagans intensified their torture and persecution of Muhammad (peace be upon him) and His followers, until some of His followers sought His assistance. Let’s leave the recount of the incident to His companion Khabab bin Al-Art (may Allah be pleased with him). Narrated by Khabab bin Al-Art, We complained to Allah’s Messenger (peace be upon him) about our state, while He was leaning against His sheet cloak in the shade of the Kaaba. We said, ‘Will you ask Allah to help us? Will you invoke Allah for us?’
He said, ‘Among those who were before you a (believer) used to be seized and, a pit used to be dug for him and then he used to be placed in it. Then a saw used to be brought and put on his head, which would be split into two halves. His flesh might be combed with iron combs and removed from his bones, yet, all that did not cause him to revert from his religion by Allah! This religion (Islam) will be completed (and triumph) till a rider (traveler) goes from Sana’a (the capital of Yemen) to Hadramout fearing nobody except Allah and the wolf, lest it should trouble his sheep, but you are impatient’!” (Al-Bukhari: 3612)
Muhammad (peace be upon him) and His followers continued to face sufferings and persecution caused by the Quraysh who agreed with other tribes in Makkah to ostracize Banu Hashim, Banu ‘Abdul Muttalib and Banu ‘Abdu Manaaf in the Ravine of Abi Talib, agreeing not to trade with them, nor to contract marriages with them, nor to speak to them, nor to sit with them until they delivered the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to them.
They wrote all of this in a document and they attached it to the ceiling of the Kaaba. They remained isolated and extremely oppressed for about three years until they suffered greatly. Abu Talib died six months later, while Khadija died some days after him. Consequently, the trials inflicted upon the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), by the foolish among His people, increased in severity; and so he went to Ta’if, hoping that they would help Him; and He called them to believe in Allah, but He did not find anyone among them who would give Him shelter, nor did He find any helper.
Instead, they hurt Him and treated Him in a manner worse than that of His own people. With Him was Zaid Ibn Harithah, and He remained among them for ten days, during which time He did not leave any of their leaders without talking to them, but they said, ‘Leave our city.’ And they incited the foolish among them to stand in wait for him, and throw stones at Him, until His feet were bleeding and Zaid shielded Him with His body until His skull was fractured and He returned to Makkah dejected. (Zaad al Ma’ad: 3/31)
Muhammad (peace be upon him) kept calling people to Islam in seasons of Hajj (pilgrimage) and in their market places. Narrated by Abdel Rahman bin Abi Al Zanaad, in that his father said, a man called Rabiah ibn ‘Abbad Ad-Daili told me, “When I was a youngster, I once watched with my father, Allah’s Messenger preaching Islam to the Arab tribes saying ‘0 sons of … (calling their respective names), I am Allah’s Messenger sent to order you to submit to and worship Him and nothing else beside Him, and to believe in me and protect me until I carry out what Allah has entrusted me with.’
A cross eyed, bright-faced man was behind him, who used to say, after he had finished, ‘O sons of … this man wants you to forsake Al-Lat and Al-Uzza (two prominent idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs) and your allies of the jinn, the children of Malik ibn Aqmas and to substitute for them these innovations and nonsense he has brought. Do not harken to him, nor follow what he preaches. I asked my father who that man was and he told me that it was Abu Lahab, the Prophet’s uncle’.” (Ahmad: 18525)
Muhammad (peace be upon him) also was patient for the sufferings and pains inflicted upon Him in many situations following His Hijra (migration) to Medina, at the very beginning of His confrontations with His enemies. Sahl bin Sa’d(may Allah be pleased with him) who was asked about the injury which the Noble Prophet (peace be upon him) got on the day of the Battle of Uhud, He said, “The face of the Noble Prophet was injured, His front teeth were damaged and His helmet was crushed. Sayyidatina Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her), the daughter of the Holy Prophet (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon her), was washing the blood (from his head), and Sayyidina Ali bin Abu Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) was pouring water on it from a shield. When Sayyidatina Fatima (may Allah be pleased with her) saw that the bleeding had increased on account of (pouring) water (on the wound), she took a piece of mat and burnt it until it was reduced to ashes. She put the ashes on the wound and the bleeding stopped. “(Al-Bukhari: 2911 , Muslim: 1790)
In spite of all these sufferings and pains, the Prophet (peace be upon him) was reported as telling His companions about the value of forgiveness, clemency, and tolerance. Narrated by Abdullah, “As if I am looking at the Prophet while He was speaking about one of the prophets whose people have beaten and wounded Him, and He was wiping the blood off His face and saying, ‘O Lord! Forgive my people as they do not known.” (Al-Bukhari: 3477 , Muslim: 1792)
