Compassion of the Prophet

I am going to talk about a person who became the representative of compassion in its highest sense among human beings. This person is Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, who showed his compassion through his behaviors in a perfect sense. As he said, he was sent as a Mercy to all worlds by Allah.

He had only one purpose in life: Allow every human being to know God! His primary mission was to show each person the way to the happiness in both worlds; this world and the hereafter. So, he wanted to get everyone into his ship, as every prophet would do.

Let’s talk about some of the incidents that show us the compassion of the Prophet. First of all, we can say that he was not only compassionate towards his followers but also to the people who were opposed to him and his message. He actually prayed for them so that they realized the truth.

The first example that I want to mention is the incident of Taif. When the Prophet’s uncle Abu Talib passed away in Mecca, he was left without protection, so he went to Taif to seek refugee there and also to convey the message of Islam. However, people in Taif were not welcoming, they ridiculed and mocked him. None of them accepted his message. They even threw stones at his body and chased him for about 2 miles. Eventually, the prophet was wounded, and his body was bloodied.

Finally, he rested under a tree and prayed there to God. And of course he was so sad and psychologically it was the most painful incident in his life, as he told to his wife Aisha later on, because the people of the Taif and their treatment had upset him very much.

While he was praying to God, an angel descended and said:

“Allah knows what they did to you O Muhammad, would you so wish, I will crush the whole nation of Taif who plotted against you and hurt you that much, between these two great mountains.”

And the prophet answered:

“No, I never want that. I hope that Allah raises believing people from their descendants, who worship none but Allah.”

The prophet did not want the people of Taif destroyed, because human life was important for him. First, maybe he wanted to give them a second chance, and second, he believed, their grandchildren might accept Islam. So he did not act, out of anger or revenge. Then, the angel was surprised by his respond and said:

“How benevolent and compassionate you truly are! You are just as your Lord described you!”

Another similar incident happened during the Battle of Uhud where he lost his tooth, and where his lips and cheek were injured. During the battle, when his companions saw his face bleeding, some of them asked him to invoke God’s wrath upon them, who put him through such grief. But he did not incline, to their requests. He said:

“I was sent not to curse the people, but to call them to mercy.”

Morever, he asked Allah to forgive them because they do not know! So he asked forgiveness for the people who didn’t even have mercy on him!

Another thing is that in this same battle, he lost 70 Muslims including Hamza, his beloved uncle, who was also Muslim. After the battle ended, he saw that the Meccan women had mutilated all the Muslim corpses. Obviously, this was so painful for the Prophet to see.

Five years later, the person who killed the prophet’s uncle, came to the presence of the prophet and asked forgiveness because, he was regretful and he said that he accepted Islam. This person was called Wahshi. And the prophet forgave him and welcomed him to the religion. He did not tell him that ‘because you killed my beloved uncle, you deserve death, or you deserve this or that punishment’. He just said that ‘if you stay around me or keep close to me, I might remember my uncle and his mutiliated body, So I may not show complete compassione towards you because of that.” He suggested that if Wahshi would stay away from his eyes for a while, it would be better for both of them.

Actually Wahshi was hired by a Meccan woman who was called Hind, the wife of Abu Sufyan, to kill Hamza. After the battle, Hind took Hamza’s heart out, and bit it with the feelings of anger and revenge. This woman also went to the prophet and asked forgiveness five years later. And the prophet forgave her immediately without asking anything…

He also forgave many leaders of the polytheists who fought against him such as Abu Sufyan, and İkrima the son of Abu Jahl, without giving them any punishment. They were all free; with no punishment, no retaliation. Morever, he honored them among their people. He tried not to offend them after their conversion to Islam because they were the leaders of Mecca…

If he was not that generous and forgiving, he wouldn’t reach to the hearts of the people and they would not accept Islam…He forgave all the people of Mecca when he entered the city at the end. He did not allow his companions to touch or hurt them, even though they were so angry at the Meccans, for they expelled them from their homeland. However, he did not punish them, even though he had the opportunity to do this.

 So his compassionate personality, is maybe one of the reasons for getting many followers within a very short period of time. Allah says to His messenger in the Qur’an, that

“It is God’s mercy that you were tolerant and merciful with people around you. Had you been harsh and hard-hearted, they would not be around you, they would surely have gone away from you.”

The prophet’s opponents realized his good treatment towards themselves when he returned to Mecca. At the end, all of his enemies surrendered to his message willingly… What made him successful is that: he did not retaliate, he was just in his affairs and he practiced what he preached. He did not repel evil with evil; rather, he removed evil by being a good example himself. He had a mission, and he tried to accomplish it, as best as possible, without losing one single person.

I want to end my words with the hadith of the prophet which I really like: He said:

“Be merciful to those on earth, and you will be shown mercy by the One above the heavens.”