(40) Whip me gently!
What has preceded does not mean that we should not criticize at all. Often it is required to criticise others, including your son, wife or friend. It is, however, possible to delay your criticisms slightly or to use subtle tactics. Let him retain some of his honour.
After the Prophet Peace be upon him conquered Makkah, he became well-respected amongst the Arabs, and people began to enter into Islam in multitudes. The Prophet Peace be upon him then decided to lead an expedition to Hunayn. The pagan army arrived in its best form and began to line up. The horses lined up first, then the foot soldiers, then the women, then the cattle followed by grazing livestock. The Muslims were great in number that day; twelve thousand altogether.
The pagans had reached the valley of Hunayn before the Muslims and managed to conceal some of their units in both sides of the valley behind rocks.
When the battle started, the Muslim troops began to enter the valley and as they did, the disbelievers started to attack them from all angles with stones and arrows. The people became confused and the Muslim horsemen began to retreat. The first people to flee from the battle were the Bedouins.The disbelievers gained an upper hand and prevailed.
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The Prophet Peace be upon him turned around and saw the troops fleeing, blood flowing, and horses colliding into each other. He ordered ‘Abbas to call out, “O Muhajirun! O Ansaar!” Upon hearing the all, they returned and the Prophet Peace be upon him managed to stand his ground with eighty or a hundred men, until Allah gave them victory and the battle came to an end.
When the war booty was collected and brought to the Prophet Peace be upon him, those who fled from the battle in fear of spears and arrows were the first ones to come to the Messenger of Allah Peace be upon him wanting a share of the booty. The Bedouins persistedly demanded of the Prophet Peace be upon him saying, “Give us our share of the booty! Give us our share of the booty!”
How strange! Your share of the booty? Since when do you have a share in it if you did not even fight? How can you ask for a share in the booty when he was calling out to you and you were not responding? However, the Prophet Peace be upon him wouldn’t scrutinize such issues, for the world did not mean anything to him.
They began to follow him and kept repeating, “Give us our share!” They gathered around him, thereby restricting his path forcing him into the trees. Due to overcrowding, he was brushing against the trees as he walked, and in the process his cloak got stuck in a branch and fell off his shoulders exposing his stomach and back.
But the Prophet Peace be upon him did not become angry. He only turned to them and gently said, “O People! Please hand me my cloak.
I swear by the One Who has my soul in His Hand, if I had livestock as many as the trees of Tihamah, I would have distributed it amongst you and then you would have known that I am neither miserly, nor cowardly, nor a liar.”
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Surely, if he was a miser he would have kept everything for himself. If he was a coward he would have fled. If he was a liar, the Lord of the Worlds would not have aided him.
The Prophet Peace be upon him had many such great moments. Once he was walking along with some of his Companions as they passed by a woman crying over the grave of her child.
The Prophet Peace be upon him said to her, “Fear Allah and have patience.”
The woman was crying and overwhelmed with grief and did not recognise the Prophet Peace be upon him. So she said, “Leave me alone! What do you care about my calamity?”
The Prophet Peace be upon him remained silent and simply walked away from her. He had conveyed to her what he had to and had realized that the woman was not in a state to receive advice more than what she had heard. Some of the Companions turned to her and said, “This is the Messenger of Allah!”
The woman felt remorse over what she said. She got up to look for the Prophet Peace be upon him and reached his home. She found no one at the door so she sought permission to enter and said, “O Messenger of Allah! I did not know it was you. I will have patience now.”
He replied, “Patience is to be observed at the moment a calamity strikes.” (al-Bukhari and Muslim)
Kill gently…
“Verily, Allah has enjoined excellence with regard to every-thing.
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So, when you kill, kill in a good way; when you slaughter, slaughter in a good way; so every one of you should sharpen his knife, and let the slaughtered animal die comfortably.”
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