Life is full of pains that we suffer due to others. One makes an embarrassing joke, another throws an insult, and so on. Many people intrude into others’ private matters, others argue in public gatherings, others have different viewpoints and opinions, and so on.
Some of us exaggerate matters in the mind and are unwilling to forgive and forget. Some of us are too proud to accept people’s excuses and forgive them. Some people punish themselves by not forgiving others. Their hearts are often filled with envy that keeps their thoughts busy and constantly torments them. How fair is envy! It begins with the one who harbours it and ends up killing him.
Therefore, do not torment yourself. There are certain things in the world that you simply cannot punish anyone over. Have a big heart, forget the past and continue to live your life as normal. When the Prophet saw entered Makkah as a conqueror and the people felt secure, he came to the Ka’bah and made Tawaf on his camel. When he finished the Tawaf, he called ‘Uthman bin Talhah and took from him the keys to the Ka’bah. The Ka’bah was then opened up to him and he entered. When he entered, he saw the images of angels and other beings from Quraysh’s imagination, based on their ignorance. When he saw the image of Ibrahim with arrows, as if he was raffling with them, he said,“May Allah curse them! They depicted our Shaykh raffling with arrows to divide the food! What has Ibrahim got to do with these arrows?’” (Refer to Quran 5:3)
“Ibrahim was neither a Jew nor a Christian, but he was a monotheist Muslim, and was not from the polytheists.” He thus ordered that all such images be effaced. He then found a pigeon made of wood, broke it with his hands and threw it away. He then stood at the door of the Ka’bah while the people had gathered around in the mosque from the Muslims and the disbelievers to watch him. He prayed two units of prayer and made his way to Zamzam. He looked into the well and asked for some water to be fetched, which he drank from and made wudhu with, as the people hastily began to seek blessings from the remaining water. The pagans were left amazed. They said, “We have never seen or heard of a king being treated with this much respect.”
He then approached Maqam Ibrahim and moved it away from the Ka’bah as it was previously attached to it. He then stood at the door of the Ka’bah and began to look at the crowds – how much I wish I was with them! – and then gave a sermon:
“There is no one worthy of worship but Allah! The one who has no partners! He has been true to His servant and aided him, and single-handedly destroyed all the armies! Indeed, every retribution for life, murder, or usury is under my feet, except the caretaking of the Ka’bah and providing water to the pilgrims.”
He then laid down some of the rules of Shari’ah, saying, “For the one who is killed in the act of manslaughter with a whip or
a stick, the blood-money for his life is a hundred camels, forty of them pregnant.” He carried on with his sermon and looked at the leaders of the Quraysh and said, “O Quraysh! Allah has ridden you of pre-Islamic pride, and the pride in your forefathers. Men are descendants of Adam and Adam is made from dust!”
He then recited, “O mankind! We have created you from a male and a female, and made you into nations and tribes, that you may know one another. Indeed, the most honourable of you with Allah is the most God-fearing of you. Indeed, Allah is All-Knowing, All- Aware.”
He then began to focus on the faces of the disbelievers, as he was at the pinnacle of strength and dominion standing by the door of the Ka’bah, while the disbelievers were in the depths of disgrace and weakness. This was the place where they had rejected and humiliated him. This was the place where they had dropped filth over his head whilst he prostrated. Today, the disbelievers of the Quraysh were standing in front of him, defeated, disgraced and humiliated.
He said, “O Quraysh! What do you think I will do to you now?”
They rose up and said, “You will be good to us. You are an honourable brother to us, and the son of an honourable brother.” Amazing! Had they forgotten what they used to do to this honourable brother? Had they forgotten about their insults: ‘Crazy, magician, soothsayer?’ If he really was an honourable brother and the son of an honourable brother, then why did they wage war against him? What about the torture they had inflicted upon the weak and poor Muslims?
Bilal was standing there. Right in front of them! The marks on his body were still vivid! There was the tree where Sumayyah was murdered along with Yasir! Here was their son, ‘Ammar ,with the Muslims!
