A generation ago, Islam and Muslims were looked at and treated differently. Today, the Muslim community’s image has changed and is continuously changing. There are several new things the non-Muslim world is learning about Islam, sometimes through correct sources, but mostly by the misrepresentation of Islam. The general behavior of the masses today is to label an entire community, especially Islam and Muslims with a certain name tag. Islam has been in media focus continuously for decades now; so much so, that they take a bite out of Islam to sell their news. Some opinions are imposed on us, and some are propagated without verification. We have been humiliated in a few instances and few make national rules specifically for us to follow. They insult our Prophet 
and claim ‘freedom of speech’. The scenario of the Muslim ummah is like few separated armed soldiers in the middle of showering arrows; and the irony is, they don’t know how to use their weapons. It’s becoming tougher by the day for us to protect our children from this hostile environment. Hence, we need to equip ourselves with necessary skills to live in this world of vibrant emotions, which question our faith and our existence everyday.
Always, in the quest to find how to handle tough situations, recalling the sunnah is the correct direction to look into. How did our Prophet react to the humiliations he was subjected to? Or in other words, how would he have reacted to such global humiliations today? Let’s take a glimpse. 
They call it “The Year of Grief”, in the biography of Prophet . He lost the two most important (emotional and political) supports in his life, Khadeeja 
and Abu Talib, and faced two of the most harshest conditions (of opposition) he was subjected to ever in his life (persecution in Makkah and expulsion from Taif), in that year. He was broken from inside. He was so devastated after the final subjugation of the year (return from Taif) that he wasn’t in his senses on his way away from Ta’if. In a response to Aishah’s question, he mentions,
“ I did not come back to myself until I was at Qarn Ath-Tha’ aalib. I then raised my head…:” (Qarn Ath-Tha’ aalib is today’s As-Sail Al-Kabeer; it is the Meeqaat – place to stop enter into the inviolable state of being a pilgrim – for the people of An-Najd). When he supplicated to Allah 
, Jibreel 
came with the Angel of Mountains. He was then given an offer of crushing the people of Makkah between the two mountains if he willed. Can we imagine anybody acting with mercy and compassion in such a situation with so much power at his disposal?
He refused the offer and said “No, rather I will proceed slowly (and patiently and deliberately) with them. I instead hope that Allah will bring out from their progeny those who will worship Allah alone, without associating anything (i.e., any partner) with Him.” 1
In the details of this trip, it is also found that he rejected Zaid bin Harithah’s 
suggestion to leave both Makkah and Ta’if and go to some other land where such difficulties weren’t faced. He refused his suggestion with an answer overflowing with tawak’Allah (Trust in Allah). He said:
O Zaid, indeed Allah will provide relief and a way out from (the situation) you see (right now). And indeed, Allah will support and help His religion, and will grant victory to His Prophet 2
Do we understand the meaning of crushing between the mountains? A punishments (azaab) from Allah which He previously gave to the people of Loot, Nooh, Thamood, Fir’aun and Shoaib. It was about to befall on people of Makkah and the Prophet stopped it in his year of grief. The reason: his mercy and compassion. He neither chose to punish them (Makkans), nor intended to abandon them. He had a hope that Allah will bring a better people from the progeny of Makkans who will worship Him alone. Today, we see the flag of tawheed waving high in the skies of the whole country. Not even a single chance is given to deviate, even in the case of the grave of their kings. Sadly, our response to a simple frown from a disbeliever is to abandon him completely.
The Prophet’s mission was to spread Islam, and he was doing it with a vision. He did not blame others for the slow success of the mission. Rather, he supplicated to Allah regarding his weakness and confirmed that he will never lose hope in Him and will continue to please Him . The supplication below is worth taking a lesson on how to behave in times of distress. He supplicated:
O Allah, to You do I complain of the weakening of my strength, of my few options, of the way people humiliate me, O Most- Merciful of the merciful ones, You are the Lord of the weak ones, and You are my Lord. To whom will You entrust me? To a distant (stranger) who will show me unwelcoming face, or to an enemy, whom You have given control over my situation? If You are not angry with me then I do not mind, though safety from You is easier for me. I seek refuge with the Light of Your Face, which brings light to darkness, and upon which the affairs of the world and the Hereafter become right – from Your anger descending upon me, or Your displeasure befalling me. I will continue to seek Your Pleasure, until You become pleased (with Me). And there is neither might nor power except with You. 3
Mercy and compassion are two wings we fly on in calling others towards Islam. The same two emotions towards our brethren can save us from disunity as well. We as Muslims, are subjugated multiple times in the name of terrorism and followers of an “oppressive” religion, yet we give little attention to how our role model had handled the situation of his own belittlement for half of his life.
Aren’t the people whom we despise, the same to whom we need to give dawah (call to Islam) to? Aren’t we supposed to do our job (of calling them to Islam) rather than complaining of them doing their job of mocking Islam? How can we make them respect our sentiments when they don’t respect our religion and God? Aren’t the people whom we despise, the same to whom we need to give dawah (call to Islam) to?
We on the other hand, are very shy to introduce Islam and tawheed to non-Muslims, complain a lot, do not review ourselves, hardly give our best and rely on Allah , lose hope quickly, forget our ultimate goal and deviate to displease Allah .
The irony is that we now think that enemies of Islam (or their progeny) can never be guided to the straight path by Allah hence, we never think of them as potential Muslims. We need to develop our tawakkul on Allah , put in our best efforts, and be merciful and compassionate. These are my thoughts but I would love to read what you think about this? What do you think has been missing among us? Leave a comment below!
- Sahih al-Bukhari ↩
- Zaad Al-Ma’ad, 2/6 ↩
- As-Seerah An-Nabawiyyah As-Saheehah (1/186) ↩
14 replies on “A Glimpse of our Prophet’s Mercy”
As Salamu Alaykum Warahmatullahu Wabarakatehu,
Inshaa’Allah, this comment finds everyone in the best of health and an ever state of increasing emaan, ameen!
Inshaa’Allah, through seeking the right knowledge together we can follow our beloved Prophet Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) by being patient, humble, observing humility, forgiving, kind, hopefull, persistent, consistent and most importantly putting our trust always in Almighty Allah, our Creator.
We are all responsible to help make a positive difference worldwide, Inshaa’Allah!
May Almighty Allah have mercy and guide us all to righteousness! Ameen!
JazakAllahu Khair,
Was Salamu Alaykum Warahmatullahi Wabarakatuh
Mahmooda Wahab
Humble Servant of Almighty Allah
BIAS Student at Islamic Online University
Wa alaikum assalaam wa rahmatullah wa barakatahu sis. Mahmooda,
Jazakumallah khair for your kind words. Indeed, we all need guidance and it can only be gained through right knowledge. IOU cannot reach everyone, but IOU students can make a significant difference, insha’Allah.
Abu Aaishah
Asselam alykum , I think the most important thing that we Muslims desperately need is the knowledge of our own deen. Islam is strange to Muslims. I guess that is part of the prophecy
Agreed; but Allah takes into account our intentions and efforts. Believe me, we mostly give a part of our 100% effort. May Allah make us strong in imaan.ameen.
The people of our Ummah are rather concerned about petty issues like these (I agree that insulting prophet (ص) is indeed a heartbreaking incident for all of us, but their thinking and approach is what need to be changed) than the thaqwa and Imaan we need to keep up in lives. People just respond out of emotions towards the prophet (ص) before thinking of the fact that such a response would indeed cause damage to his (ص) ‘s and Islam’s reputation. People fail to look back to sunnah, fail to learn and understand the seerah. In my place, Fiqh is given utmost importance (which is good ما شاء الله ) but the foundations of faith aren’t strong. Lessons from the Quran and seerah need to be injected into the hearts of our kids so that people would not be able to misinterpret Quran and Ahadeeth for their own purposes. I wish we all could help ourselves in this course. جزاك الله خير
We need an international institution and an appointed Caliph, someone the Muslim ummah can respect, perhaps an Islamic preacher or a learned mufti, to guide the ummah and do Dawah.
Subhanallah. It is true we are shy to introduce Islam. I had stayed with my house help who is a non muslim for 5 years before I was brave enough to ask her what she knew about Islam. I was shocked to hear the response. One year down the line she has still not taken the Shahada but we r still talking about Islam.Let’s take an effort and start small to spread our deen. In sha Allah
As Salaamu Alaikum,
Dear Brother Abu Aaishah,
Your point is absolutely true at the very beginning of the Prophethood of Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihyi wasalaam. Compassion of Prophet Muhammad Sallallahu Alaihyi wasalaam is for primarily his Ummah be out of Hellfire by accepting Islam and by practicing Islam correctly. His compassion is NOT just for non-Muslims; but, for them to accept Islam Islam so that they would not end up in Hellfire by the entrapment of Shaitans. It would be wrong to say that his compassion is to ignore or satisfy the non-Muslims who attack Islam. I have known that Prophet Muhammad sallallahu alaihyi wasalaam not only have compassion for his Ummah and the non-Muslims but also he practices justice and fairness between his followers Muslims and the non-Muslims; that is, if non-Muslims break their promises and breach it to attack Muslims, he sits by the side of Muslims, his followers; and his fair & just natures prevail in this case for the Muslims.
In today’s world, we, Muslims, not only need the compassionate hearts but also the knowing souls, that is, Muslims need to draw a line between compassion for non-Muslims to invite to Islam as long as this compassion natured acts do not break the commands of Shariah set down by Quran, Hadeeths, and Fiqh. Also, all Muslims need to be just and fair by obeying the Chastity – I can not break any laws that have been sourced from the commands of Allah for I can ONLY break myself against these laws.
How do we, Muslims, correct ourselves? Muslims have drifted in the systems that deviate from Islam already. It is not only necessary to setup system accordingly with Qur’an and Hadeeths and Fiqh, but also necessary to build up the character building of each and every Muslim by the principles of Islam. In every system, the system itself is administered and operated by the very humans whose caprice that no humans can get rid of and whose errors can be forgiven by Allah; thereby, caprice & errors of humans can never be eliminated, resulting in relocation of caprice & errors in every corrected systems. Therefore, only by correcting the people, systems will be corrected. Thus, by correctly following Qur’an and Hadeeths and Fiqh, Muslims can become moral & noble humans who are equal as Allah’s servants; yet, who have different gifts and talents endowed by Allah, eliminating the class-formation and replacing the usurpation, embezzlement, and humans’ capricious natures with Ikhlas, Taqwa, Tawak’Allah, patience, and perseverance.
How can it happen to correct all people? Well, it starts with me: my heart, my soul, my intentions, my thoughts, my words, and my actions. If each and every Muslim on earth stays away from un-Islamic systems (avoiding Haram) and endeavors to be steadfast on Islam (doing Lawful) so as for Muslims to rise above the impediment, even if not to overcome all the tests/storms of life, just to attempt our best (refraining from things not known as Halal or Haram), insha Allah, sooner or later, the Only uncountable – Blessings of Allah will pour on us by undergoing Mercy of Allah in each of the Muslims.
In pragmatic sense, apart from having compassion towards the oppressors, liking a person or befriending a person has more to do with what each person likes or dislikes (common likes & dislikes) in this modern world. I agree to have compassion for non-Muslims so that they may become Muslims; but, it must not be against just nature and fairness of Islam as well as not be against the Shariah of Islam.
Wa alaikum assalaaam brother Yaseen,
Jazakumllah khair for your kind words and points of action. As you said ikhlas, taqwa, tawakkul, sabr and musabirah play important role in spreading the correct Islam.
It should be noted that mercy and compassion should not be misunderstood by letting the insultors of our beloved prophet go just like that. I hope to cover this next time bi’iznillah.
Abu Aaishah
Excellent explanation, we need this kind of step now, i just wanted to give something from my side, we now know from u what our Prophet SAW was and is. but u would have added some of the ayats from Qur’an that whould have been more beautiful. As an example i ca tell
Surah Al Imran, aya no 186
Surah Nisa, aya no 144
Surah Mai’dah, aya no 13 etc…
Here ALLAH SW told himself that what we need to do when some1 says something bad about us and also our Prophet SAW….
I know ur point was to portrait our Prophet SAW only, but life of Prophet SAW and Qur’an is the same thing… so i think we can add them together… and obviously ur article is great by itself…
Thx a lot for sharing and keep sharing…
Jazakumallah khair sister. Indeed you are true. Mai’dah:13 is another example. I will keep your words in my mind next time.
Alhamdulillah, this is an amazing article. May Allah SWT reward you
The problem that muslim ummah is facing is that from childhood we are asked to follow a particular imam(eg. imam malik..etc) or particular jamat like sunni ,wahabi ,or ah le hadith..etc..rather than just teaching that we are jst a muslim nd the follower of prophet muhmmad saw…nd nt anything else..
An inspiring article. The problem is that we have been over taken by the love of Dunia coupled by the mass propagation against islam which has taken a twist to an extent that muslims were divided into groups, such as liberal, muslim, extremist, fundamentalist and moderate muslim. Our scholars themselves are part of the problem we need mass education on our religion.