People often get angry because someone says a word that is out of place, or something that detracts from their honesty or integrity. When someone is keen to be fair to people and he is accused of being unjust, he takes the accusation to heart. If he is honest but an accusation is leveled at him that implies dishonesty on his part, he is exceedingly hurt. When there is nothing in his conduct to provide justification of any kind for the accusation, he feels terribly aggrieved. In any such situation, the person’s reaction is interesting to monitor, particularly if he occupies a position of leadership.
It is important, therefore, to gauge the reactions of the Prophet (peace be upon him) to such incidents, because to all Muslims, he provides the example to follow. God says in the Qur’an: “You have in the Prophet a good example to follow, for those of you who hope to earn God’s pleasure and to be successful on the Day of Judgment.” (33: 21) Last week we gave a couple of examples of how the Prophet conducted himself in a manner that wins people’s hearts when he was roughly treated. We will provide some more examples, hoping to show that such forbearance was his normal behaviour, which came to him naturally, without affectation of any sort.
Abdullah ibn Masoud reports: “God’s Messenger divided some property between people. A man commented: ‘This division has not been meant to please God!’ I reported this to the Prophet and his face changed color. He then said: ‘May God have mercy on Moses. He was hurt far worse but he remained steadfast.’” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad and Al-Baghawi).
The fact that a change of color was visibly apparent in the Prophet’s face suggests that he was really hurt by the unjustified remark. Had it been said of a ruler and he came to know of it, he would have taken measures that would give vent to his anger.
That would bring the person concerned into trouble. It would have also ensured that no one would be able to ever utter something of this sort. After all, it is a personal attack that questions intentions. For this to be said of God’s Messenger is greatly offensive, to say the least.
What did the Prophet say or do to stop such remarks? Nothing more than to recall the attitude of an earlier prophet in similar situations: “May God have mercy on Moses. He was hurt far worse but he remained steadfast.” Thus, the Prophet sets the example for us to follow: When any of us is hurt by an unfair and unjustified remark that questions his motives and integrity, the best thing to do is to forbear and leave it to God to ensure that justice is done.
Yet the Prophet was only a human being who is affected by everything that normally affects ordinary human beings. It is true that God has given him the ability to rise above ordinary human concerns so as to give the best example to follow in all situations, but this does not mean that his feelings are not as keen as any other person. In fact, he was very sensitive, which means that what hurts other people would hurt him even more. Yet God always guided him to the best attitude. During the Battle of Uhud, in which the Muslims suffered defeat, the Prophet was injured, with his front teeth being broken. He also suffered other injuries. “As he wiped the blood off his face, he said: ‘How could any people be successful when they have stained their Prophet’s face with blood as he called on them to believe in their Lord?’ God revealed the verse that says: ‘You have no say in the matter.’” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad and Ibn Majah)
Here we see the Prophet showing a very natural reaction to his injuries. Such people who are prepared to attack their prophet physically and inflict injuries on him, aiming to kill him as some of them were determined to do: how can they be successful? Natural as this feeling is, God sets all values right. It is not up to the Prophet or anyone else to decide. Should these people subsequently believe and mend their ways, they will have all the benefits that faith brings. This was what happened later. The people of Makkah, who were the enemy in that particular battle, subsequently changed their attitude and believed in Islam. They were among its most committed advocates. And they were very successful indeed.
Therefore, the Prophet kept this in mind. When he later suffered some misfortune, he took it lightly, putting matters in the proper perspective. Jundub, a companion of the Prophet, reports: “As the Prophet was walking one day, he hit a stone and tripped. His toe was bleeding. He looked at it and said: ‘You are but a bleeding toe, and what you have suffered is merely to serve God’s cause.’” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Ahmad and Al-Baghawi)
As we have seen, the Prophet would not reply to any personal remark that accused him of any wrong. He was not given to retaliation, not even when he was truly hurt. Abu Saeed Al-Khudri reports: “We were attending God’s Messenger as he was dividing some booty. A man said to him: ‘Messenger of God! Be fair.’ The Prophet said to him: ‘Why! Who will be fair if I am not? A true loser I am if I would not be fair.’ Umar said: ‘Messenger of God! May I have your permission to strike his head off?’ The Prophet said to him: ‘Leave him alone. He has companions whose prayer and fasting are so good that any of you will be dissatisfied with his own prayer and fasting when comparing them to theirs. They read the Qur’an, but it will not go beyond their collar bones. Yet they will slip away from the faith like an arrow passes through game. Their distinctive mark is a black man among them whose upper arm looks like a woman’s breast, or like a shaking piece of flesh. They will rebel at a time when the community will be divided.” Abu Saeed says: “I have certainly heard this Hadith as the Prophet said it, and I bear witness that Ali ibn Abi Talib fought them, and I fought with him. After the battle, he ordered a search for the man and he was brought to him. I saw him exactly as the Prophet described.” (Related by Al-Bukhari, Muslim, Abu Dawood, Ahmad and Ibn Majah)
In this Hadith, the Prophet felt angry as a man criticized his distribution as unfair. But he did not retaliate. He only told the man that he, i.e. the Prophet, would have lost everything if he did not divide the booty in all fairness.
When Umar sought permission to kill the man in punishment for what he said, the Prophet told him to leave him alone. He then changed the whole drift of the conversation to spare the man further blame or embarrassment.
He alerted his companions to some future events. His description of the rebels applied most certainly to the Khawarij who rebelled against Ali, the fourth Caliph, at a time when there was already much tension and division among Muslims with Mu’wiyah and Ali fighting the Battle of Siffeen.
