Pardon and Forgiveness (2/4)

Anas ibn Malik dray Allah be pleased with him) said, "While the Prophet (Peace be upon him) was sitting, we saw him smile such a wide smile that his front teeth appeared. 'Umar said, 'May my parents be ransomed for you, what is it that made you smile, O Messenger of Allah?' The Prophet (Peace he upon him) answered: “Two men of my nation knelt before the Lord of Glory, so one of them said. 'O Allah, settle the injustice of my brother towards me.' So He said, 'What would you do with your brother who has no more good deeds left?' He said, 'O Lord, let him carry some of my misdeeds.' The eyes of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) overflowed with tears, then he said: “That is a great day on which people will need their misdeeds to be carried for them. So Allah said to the petitioner, 'Raise your gaze and look', so he raised his gaze and looked and he said. 'O Lord, I see cities and palaces of gold festooned with pearls: For which prophet, is this? Or for which person of ultimate belief is this? Or for which martyr is this?' The Almighty said. 'This is for whoever pays the price.' The man then asked, 'O Lord, and who has that [enough to pay the price]?' He said, you have it.' He asked, 'With what?' He answered. 'By pardoning your brother.' He said, 'O Lord, I have pardoned him.' So Allah said. 'Then lake your brother by the hand and lead him into Paradise.' The Prophet then said: ‘Fear Allah and mend the relations between you, as Allah mediates between Muslims.’"

We find in the book Sahih Al-Bukhari, "Two men cursed each other before the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and one of them became furious, his face red and his jugular vein bulging. The Prophet (Peace be upon him) looked at him and said, “I know a phrase that would rid him of this were he to say it: I seek refuge with Allah from the accursed Satan; and if he is standing he should sit, and if he is sitting he should lie down or perform ablution."[1]

In one of his supplications, the Prophet (Peace be upon him) used to say, "O Allah, you belittle the great and exalt the small, extinguish it for me, [the fire of anger]." Similarly, he would say, "O Allah, Lord of the Prophet Muhammad, forgive me of my sin rid me of the grudge in my heart, and save me from misleading infliction." [2]

'Abdullah ibn 'Umar (may Allah be pleased with both of them) was reported to have said, "A man once came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and asked, Messenger of Allah, how often should I pardon a servant?" He answered, "Seventy times every day." [3]

Believers have big hearts, and big hearts arc not good soil for resentment to take root. In fact, resentment is a strange element to such hearts. On the Day of Resurrection a call will be made, "Let he whose reward is with Allah rise." And only those who have pardoned will rise. They will be received by angels who will ask, "What is the cause of your superiority?" They will reply, "When we were aggravated, we would exercise patience, and when we were offended we would show tolerance." So, they will be told, "Enter Paradise, the best reward for those who do righteousness." There are many verses and hadiths that urge us to pardon offenders and discourage us from returning one bad act for another. Allah, the Almighty, says, “And not equal is the good deed to the bad. Repel (evil) by that (deed) which is better; and thereupon, the one between whom you and him is enmity (will become) as though he was a devoted friend.”[4] Likewise, the Prophet said, "He who [merely] reciprocates in relationships is not the true maintainer of relations. The true maintainer of relations is the person who maintains relations with those of his relatives who have severed relations with him."[5]

A man came to the Prophet (Peace be upon him) and said to him, "O Messenger of Allah, I have folks with whom I maintain relations while they boycott me. I treat them with tolerance while they treat me unfairly, and I do good to them while they do bad to me." The Prophet (Peace be upon him) said, "It is as if you are feeding them ashes, and you will have support with you against them as long as you remain as such.” [6] Thus, we see that the Prophet (Peace be upon him) urges us to maintain good relations with our relatives; visiting them, inquiring about them, and providing help to whomever among them may need it even if they have offended us.

Here we shed light on one form of pardon in spite of ability to harm in retribution. A man once said to ‘Umar ibn Al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him), "I swear by Allah that you do not rule with justice, and do not give with generosity." 'Umar was enraged as was seen on his face. Another man then said to him, "O Ruler of the Believers, do you not hear the Words of Allah, “Show forgiveness, enjoin what is good, and turn away from the foolish (i.e. don't punish them).”[7] He is one of the ignorant." 'Umar responded, "You have spoken the truth, it is as if you extinguished a fire." He then pardoned the man and did not punish him. ‘Umar (may Allah be pleased with him) was highly considerate of the Book of Allah and often used to contemplate it."[8]

We now present a form of pardoning as demonstrated by the best of creation, the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) when he pardoned the Jewish woman who poisoned the meat of a sheep he was to eat. Before he ate from it, the sheep spoke and said to the Prophet (Peace be upon him), "My bone tells me that it is poisoned," and it mentioned the name of the woman who had poisoned it. The Prophet (Peace he upon him) sent for the woman and asked her, "Why did you do what you did?" She said, "I have been told by my people what you know very well, so I said to myself, 'If he is a king, I will be relieved, and if he is a Prophet, Allah will inform him.'" So the Prophet (Peace be upon him) pardoned her.[9]

(Continued)