Pardon and Forgiveness (4/4)

Anas (may Allah be pleased with him) reported another such situation saying, "I was walking with the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and he was wearing a garment that had a rough lining. He was pursued by a Bedouin who grabbed him violently, and I saw that the lining of the Prophet's garment left a mark on his shoulder due to the violence of that tug. He then said, ‘Muhammad, order that I be given from the Wealth of Allah that you possess.' The Prophet (Peace be upon him) turned towards him, and smiled and ordered for an apportionment to be given to him."[1]  Indeed, he was created to be the Prophet of Mercy. He did not treat the Bedouin in the same manner, hut he gently answered him and ordered a generous apportionment to please him.

Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) also demonstrated an excellent example of repressing anger. Once when the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was sitting with his Companions, a man insulted Abu Bakr and hurt his feelings. When Abu Bakr did not respond, the man insulted him again. Once more, Abu Bakr did not respond, and the man insulted him yet a third time. This time, Abu Bakr retorted. At that, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) stood and left the gathering. Abu Baker called after him, "Are you upset with me, O Messenger of Allah?" He (Peace be upon him) responded, "An angel came down from the sky to refute what he said to you, but when yon retorted, he left, and I would not remain seated if the devil came and sat." [2]

Thus, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) wanted to inform us that one's reaction to harm should not reach the point of falling into the traps and snares of the devil, i.e. to be defeated by him. Rather, one should resist anger and repel the schemes of the devil back to him.

It is said that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) owed a debt to a Jewish man by the name of Zaid ibn Sa'nah. The man wanted to collect the debt ahead of the agreed time so he stopped the Prophet (Peace be upon him) on the way to Al-Madinah and said, "You sons of "Abd Al-Muttalib are procrastinators." Upon seeing this, ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab became extremely angry and said, "Give me permission, O Messenger of Allah, to cut his neck," But the Prophet (Peace be upon him) said to him, "We needed you to react differently, 'Umar. You should have ordered me If? Pay back in a good manner, and ordered him to claim his property in a good manner. Go 'Umar, give him his due and grant him twenty measures of dates above that."[3] This situation demonstrates that denying rights and procrastination are attributes that no believer should have. Islam urges ns to claim our debts with good manners and forgive offenders, for that has the best effect in diverting oppressors from their oppression and guiding them to the path of truth. In this incident, the Jewish man embraced Islam and became a good Muslim.

What would happen if the world applied such a rule with sincerity and certitude? Undoubtedly, life on earth in that case would be an expedited paradise Full of tolerance as its essence, and love as its system. We find a wonderful example in the following dialogue between the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and ‘Abdullah ibn Ubayy. 

He went to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said, "O Messenger of Allah, I was informed that you wish to kill my father for what was reported to you about him. If you are to do so, order me to do that and I will fetch you his head. By Allah, the tribe of Al-Khazraj has never known anyone to revere his father more than I, and I fear that if you order another man to kill him, I will not be able to bear to see the killer of my father walking among people, and I would kill him. If I do that, I would have killed a believer for a disbeliever and go to the Hell-fire. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, "No. let us show Mm gentleness and good companionship as long as he remains alive."[4]

In this example, we see how intent the Companions were on maintaining the integrity and purity of their hearts, and their love for the Prophet (Peace be upon him), in application of the same quality, it was reported that ‘Ali ibn Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) was in the war of Siffin and wanted to kill a certain disbeliever. Just as he was about to do so, the disbeliever spat in his lace, so ‘Ali (may Allah be pleased with him) left him. When he was asked why he had left the man he answered, "I wanted to kill him for the Sake of Allah, but when he spat in my face, I feared that I might kill him in self-revenge." This proves his sincerity, for the only type of anger that is accepted in Islam is anger for the Sake of Allah.

Examples from the lives of the successors

A man once cursed 'Umar ibn 'Abd Al-'Aziz in public. ‘Umar said to him, "If you want the devil to stir me with the vanity of power to do to you today that for which you will take revenge tomorrow, I will not," and he pardoned him.

In another incident, Mu'awiyah (may Allah be pleased with him) who was the Commander of the Believers, owned a piece of land adjacent to the land owned by ‘Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr. Occasionally the laborers working for Mu’awiyah who would cross through Az-Zubayr's land causing him to become angry with Mu'awiyah. Az-Zubayr wrote Mu'awiyah a letter saying, "You son of the liver-eating woman, when you receive my letter, forbid your laborers from entering my land or else you will find harm from me."

Mu'awiyah summoned his son, Yazid, gave him the paper, and asked him for his opinion. He responded, "In my opinion, you should send someone to bring you his head." Mu'awiyah replied, "Would you like me lo guide you to something belter and closer to maintaining good relations?" He then wrote on the back of the paper, "Son of the disciple of the Messenger of Allah, Son of Dhalu An-Nitaqayn (the woman of the two belts), when you receive my letter, annex my land to yours and my laborers to yours. By Allah, if the world was between you and me, I would have brought it to you. Peace be upon you." 'Abdullah ibn Az-Zubayr cried when he read the letter of Mu'awiyah.