Download Forbearance of the Prophet (May Allah`s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon

Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
17/4/1436 (6/2/2015G)
Forbearance of the Prophet
(May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him)
Khutbah Topic
His Eminence Sheikh Saud al-Shuraim –May Allah protect him– delivered this Friday
khutbah entitled “Forbearance of the Prophet (May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon
him)” in which he spoke about the the most outstanding traits of the Prophet –May Allah's
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him: his forbearance and pardon towards those who mistreated and
hurt him. Sheikh Al-Shuraim brought to mind some bright examples from the Prophet’s life
showing his mercy towards his enemies, let alone his Companions.
Part One
Praise be to Allah, the praiseworthy Benefactor, the Glorified Owner of the Throne,
the Effector of what He wills! I praise and thank Him (Extolled be He) and I repent unto Him
and ask Him for forgiveness. I bear witness that there is no deity except Allah alone with no
associate, and I bear witness that Muhammad is His Servant and Messenger, who has the
Clear Truth (the Holy Qur’ān), complaisant manners, and an obliging character. He conveyed
the Divine Message, handed in the Trust, exhorted the Ummah and truly performed jihad in
the cause of Allah. May Allah Almighty send His abundant Ṣalāt (Graces, Honours, Mercy),
Peace and Blessing unto him, his noble and pure family, his wives, Mothers of the Believers,
his Companions, and the tābicīn (the contemporaries of the Companions of the Prophet [May
Allah's Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him] after his death) until the Day of Judgement!
Now then,
I hereby reiterate the exhortation of Allah Almighty to His Prophet –May Allah's
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– as well as to those of old and later times, as He (Sublime be
He) said:
We have recommended to the people of the Scripture before you,
and to you (O Muslims) that you (all) fear Allâh, and keep your duty
to Him [Al-Nisā’: 131]
Observe taqwā, O servants of Allah, and heed His commands in public and in private,
in wrath and in pleasure, in what you like and what you dislike. Taqwā is a covenant between
man and his Lord. He who honours his covenant will be loved by Almighty Allah:
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
17/4/1436 (6/2/2015G)
Yes, whoever fulfils his pledge and fears Allâh much; verily, then
Allâh loves those who are Al-Muttaqûn (the pious - see V.2:2). [Ᾱl
c
Imrān: 76]
O people!
No man on the face of the earth is known to have suffered the collusion and
oppression of enemies and the attempts to harm him and his family and to inflict damage on
his livelihood more than the Messenger of Allah –May Allah's Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him,
and may my father and mother be sacrificed for him!
He was subject to all forms of transgression both physical and moral. He was
assaulted verbally and physically. He was accused of being a liar albeit most truthful; he was
accused of lunacy albeit of soundest mind, and he was accused of debauchery and
licentiousness albeit most virtuous.
Decomposing and foul-smelling viscera of slaughtered camel were thrown at him.
One of his incisors was broken, and he was badly wounded in the face, and stoned by
naughty children and ill-mannered people.
O servants of Allah! How would it feel for a truthful man to be called a liar by his
own people? How would it feel for a gentle and merciful man to be mistreated? How would it
feel for a virtuous man to be accused of debauchery? How would it feel for a man in whom
Allah has instilled the most sublime of human traits to be subject to intrigue and machination
by his people who decided to drive him out of his home and force him into exile?
Isn’t such treatment cruel enough to ignite the desire for vengeance and to foment the
spirit of wrath and violence in him and to make him consider the perpetrators as the worst of
Allah’s creation? The answer is “Yes” indeed. But let us listen to his words (May Allah’s
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him) describing his reaction to all those who had tormented him:
It is narrated in the two Sahihs that cᾹ’ishah (May Allah be pleased with her) asked
the Prophet (May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him): “O Allah’s Messenger! Have you
witnessed a day worse than that of Uḥud?” He replied: “The worst that I have experienced
from your people was on the Day of cAqabah. I approached Ibn Abd Yalīl Ibn Abd Kulāl,
but he turned me down. Disheartened, I left him and trudged wearily and aimlessly. When
I regained awareness, I was at Qarn Al-Thacālib –the mīqāt1 for the Najdis. When I looked
up, I saw a cloud protecting me from the sun and Jibrīl (Archangel Gabriel) was in it.
‘Allah Almighty has heard what your people said and seen how they answered your call.’
Jibrīl said. ‘Allah has sent you the angel of mountains; he is at your peck and call; you can
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It is the place (at the outskirts of Makkah) where people coming to perform Hajj or Umrah should wear the
‘iḥrām (the Muslim pilgrim’s garb) and make the niyyah (intention) to do it. Note that there are several mīqāts
around Makkah, depending on the direction from which the pilgrims are coming.
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
17/4/1436 (6/2/2015G)
order him to do whatever you like to them,’ Jibrīl concluded. ‘The angel of mountains called
me, greeted me and said, ‘O Muhammad! Allah has heard what your people said to you. I,
the angel of mountains, was sent by Your Lord to be at your command. If you wish, I can
make Al-Akhshabain (two big mountains) close in on them.’ I replied: ‘I hope that Allah will
guide their progeny to worship Him alone with no associate.’”
Lā ilāha illa Allāh! Allāhu akbar! (There is no deity but Allah! Allah is the Greatest).
What a noble human nature the Master of mankind –May Allah's Ṣalāt and Peace be upon
him– had! How incredibly forbearing he –May Allah's Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– was!
Allāhu akbar! Where do all we stand vis-à-vis whom Allah has commanded us to obey and
follow?
Indeed in the Messenger of Allâh (Muhammad SAW) you have a
good example to follow for him who hopes in (the Meeting with)
Allâh and the Last Day and remembers Allâh much. [Al-Aḥzāb: 21]
Do you think – O servants of Allah– that our Lord will order us to follow the example
of someone (the Prophet) who cannot be followed? Cannot we pardon those who have
oppressed us? Cannot we repel anger with forbearance and ignorance with knowledge?
Seeking Allah’s satisfaction, deliverance on the Last Day and the continuous
remembrance of Allah are presented by Him as conditions to him who would like to follow
the example of his master and the master of Adam’s progeny (i.e. our Prophet –May Allah’s
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him), our Prophet who dedicated his life, time and effort to
annihilate the darkness of jāhiliyyah (pre-Islamic era) with knowledge and guidance. With his
forbearance and wisdom, he prevented corruption. Allah says:
And had you been severe and harsh-hearted, they would have
broken away from about you. [Ᾱl cImrān: 159]
This is how our Prophet’s mercy –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him–
manifests itself towards his people; it is a distinct characteristic of his call and his jihad
against his sworn enemies.
No wonder, servants of Allah, since Allah, who sent the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt
and Peace be upon him– is Most Merciful, Most Affectionate and All-Forgiving. He
nourished his flesh and veins with the milk of Ḥalīmah Al-Sacdiyyah, the Prophet’s wet
nurse, so he acquired the trait implied by her name (Ḥalīmah means, in Arabic, “a gentle and
forbearing woman.”)
In his Sahih, Imam Muslim reported that the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace
be upon him– recited the following Qur’ānic verse:
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
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"O my Lord! They have indeed led astray many among mankind.
But whoso follows me, he verily is of me. And whoso disobeys me, still You are indeed Oft-Forgiving, Most Merciful. [Ibrāhīm: 36]
He also recited the words of Jesus, peace be upon him, as they were revealed in the
Holy Qur’ānic:
"If You punish them, they are Your slaves, and if You forgive them,
verily You, only You are the Almighty, the All-Wise." [Al-Mā’idah: 118]
Then, Allah’s Messenger –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– raised his
hands saying: “O Lord! My Ummah … My Ummah” and cried. So, Allah (to Whom belong
Might and Majesty) said, “O Gabriel! Go and ask Muhammad –and your Lord knows best–
why he is crying.” So Gabriel –Peace be upon him– came to him and asked him why he was
crying, then relayed to Allah –Who knows best– what the Prophet had told him. So, Allah
said: “O Gabriel! Go and tell Muhammad that We will make him pleased with his Ummah
and We will never grieve him!”
It was through such gentle and forbearing human nature that Allah enabled the
Prophet and his Ummah to conquer the earth east and west and to subjugate Arabs and nonArabs alike. Such triumph was possible only when Muslims made Islam a religion of
knowledge, mercy, kindness, ease, and generosity. It is thus that the Prophet –May Allah’s
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– exhorted his Ummah: “You have indeed been sent as
facilitators, and not as people who make things difficult.”
Hence, the Muslim Ummah managed to expand and succeed in its call to (the path of)
Allah, and this was possible thanks to that gentle and forbearing nature, and not to anything
else. This corroborates with the following hadith of the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and
Peace be upon him: "Allah is Gentle and loves gentleness. He rewards for gentleness what
He does not for violence, nor for any other thing." [Narrated by Imam Muslim]
Days had passed, and harsh indeed they had been for the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt
and Peace be upon him– until the conquest day of Makkah arrived. Then, the Prophet –May
Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– besieged the town of those who expelled, cursed, hurt,
and fought him; those who had caused the believers to experience unbearable ordeals. The
Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– entered the Holy Mosque,
circumambulated the Kacbah, then sat in the mosque with people around him. The eyes were
fixed at him, the necks stuck out to see what he would do with his enemies, the young and the
old; perhaps, he would punish them so mercilessly!
Then, he said his famous words: "O People of Quraish! What do you expect I will do
to you?!" They said: “Something good, (because) you are a good brother, and the son of a
good brother.” He said: "I say to you what Yusuf (Joseph) had said to his brothers: ‘No
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
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reproach on you this day’2 Go! You are free." Right then, the dignitaries of Quraish
declared their Islam and repented (to Allah) like Hind, the daughter of cUtbah and cIkrimah
Ibn Abī Jahl. Poets who had already satirized him returned to him apologizing, such as Ibn
Azibacrā and kacb Ibn Zuhair. He forgave all of them and overlooked their evil towards him.
May Allah be pleased with all the Companions of Allah's Messenger –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and
Peace be upon him.
This is the Prophet of Islam, O you who are calling to Islam! This is the Messenger of
Jihad, O you who are calling for Jihad. This is the Beloved One, O you who claim to be
lovers. This is the Messenger of Knowledge, O you who are seeking knowledge. This is the
Messenger of mercy, O you who are inflicted with violence and roughness!
Verily, there has come unto you a Messenger (Muhammad SAW)
from amongst yourselves (i.e. whom you know well). It grieves him
that you should receive any injury or difficulty. He (Muhammad
SAW) is anxious over you (to be rightly guided, to repent to Allâh,
and beg Him to pardon and forgive your sins, in order that you may
enter Paradise and be saved from the punishment of the Hell-fire),
for the believers (he SAW is) full of pity, kind, and merciful. [AlTawbah: 128]
May Allah bless the Qur'ān and the Sunnah for you and me and make the verses, the
remembrance and wisdom they contain beneficial to you and me. This is what I have said. If
it is correct, it is so thanks to Allah, but if it is wrong it is my own fault and Satan's. I ask
Almighty Allah to forgive me, you, and all Muslims from every sin and wrong-doing. We ask
Him for forgiveness and repent to Him, for our Lord is Forgiving and Merciful.
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Sūrat Yūsuf, verse 92.
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
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Part Two
Praise be to Allah alone, and may Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon the Seal of
Prophets!
Now then,
Fear Allah, O servants of Allah, and you must know that mercy, gentleness, and
forbearance which characterised the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him–
was clearly manifest in our ancestors throughout history at war and at peace, in happiness and
in distress. They were as the Sheikh of Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (May Allah bless his soul) said:
"When a believer is capable (stronger than others and in control) he is just and charitable
and when he is oppressed and overcome he is patient expecting reward from Allah."
As the poet Kacb Ibn Zuhair said in front of the Prophet –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and
Peace be upon him:
They are neither happy when their spears hit their targets,
Nor are they worried when they themselves are hit.
An Arab was once asked about some characteristics of the Prophet –May Allah’s
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him. He said: "I noticed that he was neither proud in victory nor
despondent in defeat."
Similarly, O servants of Allah, the Companions and those who followed them
righteously emulated the Prophet. It was confirmed that Abu Bakr (May Almighty Allah be
pleased with him) had advised his army saying: "Go ahead in the name of Allah. Do not kill
an old man, a little child, a woman, or a priest. Do not fell a fruit tree, spoil and destroy
buildings, slaughter a camel or cow except for eating, and drown or burn bees. Do good and
be beneficent, for Allah loves those who are beneficent."
They –May Allah have mercy on them– realised that jihad for the cause of Allah was
legislated as mercy for people, to pull them out of darkness to light. Thus, they were certain
that the afore-mentioned forms of behaviour contradict the purpose of jihad, unlike what the
enemies of Islam did to Muslims in their wars against them, as summarized in the following
Qur’ānic verse:
How (can there be such a covenant with them) that when you are
overpowered by them, they regard not the ties, either of kinship or
of covenant with you? [Al-Tawbah: 8]
In his Ṣaḥīḥ, Al-Bukhari reported Abu Hurairah as saying that the Prophet –May
Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him– had once sent them out on a mission and said to them:
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
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"If you come across so and so, and he named two men from the tribe of Quraish, then
burn them in fire." Abu Hurairah said that they came back to take leave from the Prophet
when they were ready to go, so he said: "I had ordered you to burn so and so in fire;
however, only Allah can torture with fire… (See the rest of the Hadith).”
That was, O servants of Allah, Muhammad's school –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be
upon him– and that was his heritage. Verily, the state of this Ummah will not be set right
except by that which set it right in the first place; for an Ummah led by ignorance, meanness,
harshness, selfishness, and love of vendetta is bound to delay the victory day rather than put it
forward, and to regress rather than progress. If knowledge does not lead it then ignorance will
do, but to humiliation and loss until it becomes like a large bowl of food, inviting the hungry
to it!
If ever there is good or good deeds then knowledge is in the lead; and if ever there is
evil or evil deeds then ignorance will be its fuel, for ignorance is the goal of the enemies in
this Ummah. Moreover, it is the gift given by the ignorant among us to our enemies on a
golden plate. Indeed, he tells the truth the poet who said:
The enemies cannot harm the ignorant
As much as the ignorant can harm themselves.
This is said, send (O you Muslims) –May Allah have mercy on you– your ṣalāt and
peace upon the best creature of Allah and the purest of mankind, Muhammad ibn `Abd Allāh
ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, who was given the Basin3 and the Intercession4, for Allah sent His
Ṣalāt and Peace upon him and then ordered His angles, that are praising His sanctity, to do
likewise and called out to you, O believers, to ask Him to send His Ṣalāt and Peace upon him.
So He (Exalted and Most High be He) said:
Allâh sends His Salât (Graces, Honours, Blessings, Mercy) on the
Prophet (Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon
him), and also His angels (ask Allâh to bless and forgive him). O
you who believe! Send your Salât on (ask Allâh to bless) him
(Muhammad may the peace and blessings of Allah be upon him),
and (you should) greet (salute) him with the Islâmic way of
greeting (salutation i.e. As-Salâmu ‘Alaikum). [Al-Aḥzāb: 56]
O Allah! Send Your Ṣalāt and Peace upon Muhammad and his family! O Allah! Be
pleased with his four Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Omar, Othman and Ali, with all the Companions of
3
The reference is here made to the special basin of water, a river in Paradise which the Prophet (May Allah’s
Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him) has been promised by Allah in the Hereafter. Some scholars say that it is the
River Kawthar mentioned in sūrat Al-Kawthar in the Holy Qur’ān.
4
It is the intercession that will be undertaken by the Prophet (May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him) on
the Day of Resurrection on behalf of all mankind, when all the other prophets excuse themselves of doing it.
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Sheikh Dr. Saud al-Shuraim
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Your Prophet Muhammad –May Allah’s Ṣalāt and Peace be upon him, the tābicīn, and those
who righteously follow them till the Day of Judgement! O Allah! Be also pleased with us all,
along with them, by Your Pardon and Generosity, O You, the Most Merciful, Most
Compassionate of all!
O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and Muslims! O Allah! Grant glory to Islam and
Muslims and fail polytheism and polytheists (who associate partners with You)! O Allah!
Grant victory to Your Religion, Your Holy Book, Your Prophet’s Sunnah, and Your true
servants!
O Allah! Bring an end to the suffering of Muslims! Rescue those in distress, and help
those indebted pay back their debts! Cure those of us and those of the Muslims who are ill, O
You, Most Merciful, Most Compassionate!
O Allah! Give our souls their piety and purify them, for You are the best to do so;
You are their Creator and Owner, O You, the Lord of Majesty and Bounty!
O Allah! Make good our last deeds in everything! O Allah! Protect us against the
humiliation of this worldly life and the torment of the Hereafter, O You, the Living, the
Eternal Guardian!
O Allah! Set right the conditions of Muslims everywhere! O Allah! Set right the
conditions of Muslims everywhere! O Allah! Be on the side of our oppressed brothers and
sisters in their religion everywhere! O Allah! Grant them victory over Your enemy and theirs,
O You, the Lord of Majesty and Bounty!
O Allah! Grant us security in our homelands! Make good our leaders and those
responsible for our affairs, and make our leadership from among those who are fearful of
You, who guard taqwā (fear of Allah), and seek your satisfaction, O You, Lord of al-'ālamîn
(the worlds)!
O Allah! Guide our leader to say and do whatever You love and accept, O You, the
Living, the Everlasting! O Allah! Set right his retinue, O You, the Lord of Majesty and
Bounty!
… Our Lord! Give us in this world that which is good and in the
Hereafter that which is good, and save us from the torment of the
Fire! [Al-Baqarah: 201]
Glorified be You, our Lord, the Lord of Honour and Power! You are free from what
they attribute unto You! May peace be upon the Messengers! The last of our supplications is
all praise be to Allah, the Lord of the Worlds!
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