EXEMPLARY FORGIVENESS OF THE ENEMIES After the Salai the Holy Prophet (PBUH) sent for Usman bin ”(?•%, ”who was the custodian of the key of the Ka’bah, and who once refused him to enter the Ka’bah and ill-treated him. Not only the Holy Prophet (PBUH) cn’uusu-d the key to Usrnan bin Talha but also sa;d. ”If any person took the key of Ka’bah from ’Usman bin falha (or his descendants), he will be cruel.”
The Quraysh and their leaders were watching quietiy in the compound of die Ka’bah. Tht Holy Prophet (PBUH) then addressed them: ”O leaders of Makkah! What treatment do you expect from me this dfcy?” They said. ”You aie a noble brother (to the young) and a gentle nephew (to the aged).” The Holy Prophet said, ”I will treat you as Yusuf (Joseph) treated his brothers. You are free from al! fears today. May Al’ah forgive you.” When the Makkhans heard this I they could not believe at first. It touched the deepest cord of the human heart in the audience. He ’(the Holy Prophet) actualK
1 deserved the titles: ”Best of Humanity”? ”The pride of Mankind” and ”The Mercy for Nations.”
156 Political and Cultural History of Islam Thus the Holy Prophet (PBUH) showed an exemplary forgiveness to his enemies. He and his followers had been persecuted and oppressed in Makkah for thirteen years. Their cruel persecution at last compelled the Muslims to migrate to Medina. There were among them those who tried to murder the Holy Prophet. There were also the one who had caused the death of his daughter, an^ the women like Hind (wife of Abu Sufyan) who chewed the liver and the heart of his beloved uncle, Hamzah after he was martyred by her slave, Wahshi, in Uhud. But all these sins were readily forgiven and Krgotten. The worst enemies of Islam were pardoned and every sympathy was shown to them Never in the history was there another victor who showed such love and mercy for the fallen enemy.
The European historians have admitted that ”Through all the annals of conquest there has been no triumphant entry like unto this one.” No conquest was made without bloodshed and no forgiveness was shown like this one to vanquished in the history of the ancient and modern world. World’s history has not produced another similar personality with ..uch an extra-ordinary record of forgiveness, magnanimity and mercy reaching the sublimate heights. ”This breadth of human sympathy and the magnanimous forgiveness is not met within the life of Christ.. He never acquired power to deal with his persecutors.”
Bostworth Smith comments on the conquest of Makkah, ”The»e was nothing left in Makkah that could thwart his pleasure. If evei he had worn a mark at all, he would now, at all events, have thrown it off; if lower aims had gradually sapped ino higher, or his moderation had been directed as Gibbon supposes by his selfish interests, we should now have seen the effect; now would ha*-e hsen the moment to gratify his ambition, to satiate his lust, to glut his revenge. Is there anything of the kind? Read the account of the entry of Muhammad (PBUH> into Makkah; side by side with the entry of Muhammad ivPBUH) into Makkah; side by side with that of Marius of Sulla into Rome. Compare all the attendant circumstances, the outrages that preceded, and the use made by each of his recovered power, and we shall then be in a position better to appreciate the magnanimity and moderation of the Holy Prophet of Arabia. There were no proscription lists; no plunder, no wanton revenge.”4