We have not sent thee but as a mercy to all the worlds

The audience are getting ready for the Eighth Lecture. I hear their talking about how quickly the lectures have gone by. Meanwhile Dr. Adam entered the room, welcomed the audience and greeted them.

I believe it is time, in this eighth lecture, to consider a verse from the Holy Quran , namely, “We have not sent thee but as a mercy to all the worlds” (Al-Anbiyaa, 107). I have deliberately postponed discussing it till after the interesting humane round which we have been through together, contemplating the merciful manifestations of the Prophet, pbuh, in his dealing with all the categories of people he came in contact with, be they friends, enemies, young or old, male or female, animal or bird.

Those attitudes and pictures immediately invoke in our minds the above Quranic verse, the meaning of which I propose to review with you, as expounded by various scholars, particularly as I have deliberately read a great deal on it and have realized that there are several points of view regarding its meaning.

I have found that some of them confine his mercy to his followers, in particular, and say that it refers to the believers only, and that this is clearly evident in the actual facts: he fought those who denied his message and they fought him have died as infidels.[1]

Others are of the opinion that the Prophet, pbuh, was a mercy and guidance in himself. Those who adopted it have benefited therefrom, and those who turned away from him have not benefited from this mercy.[2]

It is as though we say that this physician is skilful and is a mercy to the people of this town. Thus, those who recognize him, trust him and go to him will benefit from his knowledge, in which case the physician would be a mercy for them, and those who turned away from him and ignored him would not benefit from his mercy.

The majority of those whose writings I have read regarding the meaning of this verse are of the opinion[3] that it was general and applied to all the creatures to which the term “world” applies, though some of them have restricted the meaning of the term to mankind. However, the consensus is that it applies to all living creatures. This is the reasonable meaning, which is attested by the manifestations referred to above, many of which I hope you will remember.

However, I must admit that it is not enough to shed light on the manifestations of mercy for all creatures, which prompts us to expand a bit on the subject. Therefore, I apologize and request you to be patient and I promise to be as concise as possible.

The verse in question indicates that there is a kind of inseparable correlation and conjunction between the person of the Prophet, pbuh, and the trait of mercy, in any and all cases. This meaning is consistent with the reference of the verse to all creatures, because, in his daily life, the Prophet did not deal exclusively with the believers, nor with people only.

It is not difficult to refer to the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, towards the believers, as its manifestations are varied and numerous, and their occurrences are innumerable, whether in the field of legislation and the associated leniency and appreciation of the circumstances, or in the field of the social and personal relations, which are so many that they evoke in the minds of all those who accompanied the Prophet, pbuh – and there were thousands of them – a particular circumstance, a pleasant memory or an affable dialogue. In fact, the books on the Prophet’s traditions provide us with many of those instances.

Now we come, dear audience, to the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, towards the unbelievers, which I propose to mention to you in the form of brief points lest I should lose your attention.

The first aspect: The presence of the Prophet, pbuh, in their midst has precluded the sending down of the punishment of eradication, as happened to some nations before them, such as the peoples of Aad, Thamood, and Lot. This aspect is explicitly mentioned  in the Quran: “But God did not choose thus to chastise them while thou wert still among them” (Al-Anfal, 33). This is an incomparable mercy, which the unbelievers have benefited from.

The second aspect: The Prophet, pbuh, strongly refused to invoke God’s punishment on them. Had he done so, God would have responded to his invocation, just as He has responded to the invocation of other prophets, against their people such as the invocation of Noah, “And Noah said, ‘O, my Lord, leave not on earth any of those who deny the truth’” (Noah, 6) and drowned all of them, except only a few who were with Noah in the Ark.

The companions of the Prophet, bpuh, have asked him to invoke God’s imprecation on the unbelievers of Mecca in the battle of Uhod, saying, “”O, Messenger of God, invoke God’s imprecation on the idolaters,” but he said, “I am not sent to curse people, I am sent as a mercy.”[4]

This took place at the Battle Of Uhod, in which the Prophet, pbuh, was badly wounded, and some of his closest friends were killed. And yet, he refused to curse them. The same scene was repeated at the Battle of Hunain and when the Muslims were harmed by Thaqif and they asked the Prophet, pbuh, to curse them, but he surprised them when he said, “O God, forgive Thaqif, and prayed for them not against them.”[5]

The third aspect: The Prophet, pbuh, did not treat them on a reciprocal basis, as we have seen in details. They had tortured him and his companions, but he did not torture them. They imposed against him and his companions the policy of starvation but he did not reciprocate. They forced him to leave Mecca but he did not do the same. They killed his prisoner companions but he forgave their own.

The fourth aspect: The Prophet, pbuh, had done his best to avoid clashing with them. He had forbidden his companions to fight against them for thirteen years, and when he did fight them, he was keen on ending the conflict speedily. Proof of this is the paucity of the battles between them, as well as the small number of casualties.

The effect of this exercise of mercy was evident in the successive conversion to Islam of thousands of unbelievers, and all the people of Mecca embraced Islam when he captured Mecca.

The fifth aspect: The appreciation of all the unbelievers of the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, and his pity on them, as evidenced by the way he treated them. You will remember what happened when they came to ask for his assistance in matters of livelihood, although they had rejected his message and had been hostile to him.

The third category was the hypocrites.

The hypocrites were a category of people who were living in Medina with the Prophet, pbuh. They pretended to believe in his message but hanged on their disbelief inwardly. They adopted this strategy as they had seen how he treated people on the basis of their surface behavior and pretensions and how he left what they hid to God; so they adopted this mean strategy.

This is not the time or place to dwell on the dangers which were faced by the Prophet, pbuh, and his companions on account of the hypocrites.

Let me just refer in brief to the attempt by Abdullah bin Salool, the leader of those hypocrites, to defame the honor of the Prophet, pbuh, by accusing the Prophet’s wife, Aisha, who was his beloved spouse, of committing adultery. This accusation resulted in a revelation that showed the lie of this slander and proved the innocence of Aisha: “Numerous among you are those who would accuse others of unchastity; deem it not a bad thing for you ;nay , it is a good thing for you” (Al-Noor, 11).

Other damage affecting the Muslims was the withdrawal of Abdullah bin Salool with a third of the army at the Battle of Uhod, which had a bad effect on the souls of the Muslims. Such damage was also the result of the collaboration of the hypocrites with the enemies of the Prophet, pbuh, on every occasion.[6]

The Prophet, pbuh, has shown mercy to those people, despite their enmity and the danger they represented, in the foremost[7] of whom was Abdullah  bin Salool, the Prophet’s staunchest enemy. Following are some of such instances:

The first instance: the Prophet, pbuh, did not expose them to the public, although he knew their names, God having informed him of them, but he concealed their identity, which is a striking indication of his mercy towards them, and of his mercy towards their sincere relatives, in order to spare such relatives from embarrassment.

The second instance: He did not kill any of them, although they deserved to be killed, because they constituted a more serious danger for him than that of the remote unbelievers. So he left them alone and treated them as Muslims.

The third instance: The Prophet, pbuh, used to reprimand the hypocrites without specifying any of them. He merely warned against the evil of hypocrisy and read the Quranic verses that warn hypocrites against the grievous torture that awaits them. This approach has been successful, for many of them abandoned hypocrisy and became good Muslims. Thus, concealing their identity and refraining from killing them out of mercy for them, made them reconsider their position, repent and they became good Muslims.

I should mention in all honesty, and out of respect to the audience, that some scholars have recognized these attitudes but objected to their being considered as manifestations of mercy because hypocrites do not deserve mercy[8]. This, in any case, is a matter of opinion.

The fourth category who benefited from the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, are the “People of the Book”, i.e. the Jews and the Christians. Such mercy can be indicated in the following manifestations:

The first manifestation: is that the Prophet, pbuh, has endowed them with a privilege that he denied to the Arabs – his folks and tribe – when he accepted their sticking to their faith, but did not accept that from the Arabs, when he gave them the choice of embracing Islam or war.

This is indicated in giving the Jews and the Christians the choice between embracing Islam or payment of tribute, which is a sum to be paid in return for the protection given to them by the Muslims.

I would like, now, to move from the age of the Prophet, pbuh, to the Seventh Century of Hegira, when Holagu entered Baghdad and captured a number of Muslims, Jews and Christians. The Sheikh of Islam, Ahamd bin Taimiyyah went to him requesting that the prisoners be freed. Holagu offerd to release the Muslims and keep the Jews and Christians, for he had nothing to do with them. But Ibn Taimiyyah rejected his offer and said that they should be released before the Muslims, because they were under their protection. Holagu admired his attitude and released all of them.[9]

The second manifestation: The Prophet, pbuh, exercised justice towards all those who lived under his protection. This was what God has ordered him to do: “If they come to thee for judgment, thou mayst either judge between them or leave them alone; for if thou leave them alone, they cannot harm thee in any way. But if thou dost judge, judge between them with equity. Verily, God loves those who act equitably.” (Al-Ma’idah, 5)

The third manifestation: The Prophet, pbuh, was keen on giving a good treatment to the “People of the Book”, and sought to close the doors that lead to their being exposed to any harm. I have read an episode to the effect that at the time of the Prophet, pbuh, there was a small Christian community living in a quarter by the name of Suq al-Nabt .[10]

I cannot remember any case of any Christian being killed during the life time of Muhammad, pbuh, while, regrettably, the Catholics under Karlos V killed in 1521 more than half a million Christian Protestants, and burnt 230 thousand Protestants, as well.[11]

Dear audience, the Prophet’s meeting with the delegation of Najran Christians reflects his good treatment of Christians of his time . Najran was a neighborhood close to Mecca. Its inhabitants were Christians who came to Medina and were well received by the Prophet, pbuh. He expounded to them the truth of Islam and left them to make their own choice, which they did. They chose to stick to their faith, and he left them alone. Then they asked him to send one of his companions to help them in the administration of their affairs and solve their problems. He said he would send them a trustworthy man, Abu Obaidah bin Al-Jarrah, whom he called “The Trustee of this nation”.[12]

In another episode, the Prophet pardoned the Jewish woman who had put poison in the food she offered to him. He also forgave Labid, the Jew who had tried to harm him. He told his wife, Aisha, that he had pardoned him because he did not want to provoke people, out of mercy for all of them.

The fourth manifestation: Among the objectives of the Quran, which the Prophet, pbuh, sought to realize, was the integration of the People of the Book in the community, through permitting Muslims to marry their women, mix with them socially, and eat their food.

The Prophet, pbuh, used to accept their invitation to eat, to visit the sick among them, and to offer his condolences in their afflictions. The Holy Quran has sympathized with the Najran Christians whose king had burnt them on account of their faith, and God menaced him with torture.

The fifth manifestation: The Prophet, pbuh, has demonstrated to the People of the Book the distortion and changes that had occurred in their religion. Such a step was painful to them, though it was a bitter frankness and among the manifestations of mercy. The proverb says, “Your friend is the one who frankly tells you the truth (about yourself) and not the one who (merely) believes you.” Having done that, he left them to make their free choice.

The sixth manifestation: The Prophet, pbuh, has secured the possessions of the Jews and the Christians, their lives, their places of worship and even their food and drinks. He left them completely free in respect of what they eat and drink, provided this did not hurt the feelings of Muslims in light of the well known rule: “Harm should not be inflicted nor should any harm be reciprocated.”

These manifestations have been provided, without limitation, for they are much more than was mentioned. They are merely instances that clearly indicate the extent of the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, towards the followers of other religions.

It was a good coincidence, dear audience, that the divergent view of the nature of Jesus Christ had clearly surfaced during the time of the Byzantine Hercules, who was a contemporary of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, (575-642). The Byzantines used to say that Christ had two natures, a divine one and a human one, while his subjects in Egypt and Syria believed that the Word was incarnated and became flesh and blood and that god became Christ. These were the Jacobeans.[13]

The differing parties did not know that at the time they held such widely different views, there was Muhammad, pbuh, who had the full truth.

It should be pointed out, dear audience, that the manifestations of mercy emanating from the Prophet, pbuh, towards those adversaries, has come to be a way of dealing with the People of the Book by the Muslim rulers who succeeded him, as I have pointed out that Muslims are bound to follow the Prophet, pbuh, in all his sayings and deeds.

I have gone through the pages of history and found that the Muslim’s treatment of Christians did not depart from the way drawn for them by the Prophet, pbuh, and I can regrettably say that the history of the Prophet, pbuh, with the Quraish unbelievers has repeated itself, as the history of Muslims with Christians is similar thereto.

The Muslims have treated Christians with forgiveness, mercy and tolerance, while the Christians have treated Muslims with utter cruelty in many cases in Spain, the Inquisition Courts and the Crusades.

I apologize for this digression, but this is the information I have come across to and wished to share with you. I hope that you follow up on them in their sources.   

Let me remind you of what we have said in the first lecture in respect of the wretchedness of humanity before the advent of Prophet Muhammad, pbuh, in all aspects of life.  These conditions have been recognized by all who have written thereon. Hence, the advent of Muhammad, pbuh, was a mercy to all humanity.

All those who have studied the aforementioned conditions have conceded that there were cruelty and wrong doing therein, and all who have studied the life of the Prophet, pbuh, have admitted the existence of the manifestations of mercy in all aspects thereof.

This view will help us in understanding God’s statement, “We have not sent thee but as an evidence of Our mercy towards all the worlds” (Al-Ambiyaa’ - 107)

It was necessary that the system of mercy be complete and include all creatures, for it is inconceivable that people should be merciful towards one another, and practice forms of cruelty and torture towards other creatures, be they animals or birds. We have pointed out that morality is indivisible.

I would not be far from the truth if I say that the practice of mercy towards other than humans is a form of gradual education that implants this quality of mercy in the character of human beings. Thus, it is not easy for a person to simply divest himself of some qualities that preclude the exercise of mercy towards his brothers in humanity, such as selfishness, the desire of vengeance and hating those who harm him. It is as though mercy towards animals is a means and an end at the same time.

When the Prophet, pbuh, says to his companions, “He who does not show mercy will not be shown mercy[14]” and “Have mercy on those on earth and He Who is in Heaven will have mercy on you,”[15] his companions, who were Arabs, the well known masters of rhetoric, understood from such statements that what is required of them is the general and universal mercy if they were to benefit from the mercy of God, and not one that is confined to a certain category or particular genus of creatures.

Because the inhabitants of the earth that are referred to in the statements of the Prophet, pbuh, are those who are close and remote, friends and foes, young and old, males and females, animals and birds, none of them will receive God’s mercy unless they practice it, out of conviction and love for all of them.

The Prophet, pbuh, has specifically enjoined against forms of sport in which animals are a part thereof and are subjected to injury. Thus bull-fighting is outlawed (haram), cock-fighting is haram, and taking animals and birds as targets to be shot at is haram.

This culture has been implanted in the minds of the companions of the Prophet, pbuh. Thus, Abdullah bin Omar passed by some people who were targeting a bird to which they aim there arrows, and said that God curses those who do such things and the Messenger of God, pbuh, has cursed those who take any living creature as a target.[16]

Dear audience, my admiration for this approach has increased when I read what psychologists have said that a person who sees pictures of animal torturing or the scenes of cruelly and killing will develop a cruel heart and a daring in his character that makes such scenes seem natural and ordinary, and will no longer be inclined to be merciful or tolerant towards others.

In brief, the Prophet, pbuh, does not wish to see on earth any picture of cruelty or torture, and does not wish to see any remainder of behavior, whatsoever, that is devoid of mercy, towards any creature whatsoever.

We can say, in contemporary terms, that the Prophet, pbuh, has sought to issue a legislation that provides for the elimination of every behavior that is contrary to mercy, in all its forms and manifestation and in all fields of life.

I agree, in this respect, with those who say that the mercy of the Prophet, pbuh, was, at first, out of the ordinary for the conscience of humanity, in view of the remoteness of the reality of spiritual life from the actual facts of life. But ever since then, humanity has come closer and closer to the horizons of these principles, and their oddness have given way to normalcy in the conscience of humanity and has adopted and implemented them, albeit under different names,

All humanity has been affected, willy or nilly, consciously or unconsciously, by the morality of mercy which was preached by Muhammad, pbuh, and the shades of mercy are still operative for those who seek such shades.[17]

Dear audience, I detect some sort of boredom and distraction, and I believe that I am responsible for this academic approach. As some of you have stopped taking notes, I renew my promise to provide you with hard copies of these lectures.

I promise you something else after a short break, namely, to move on to another topic that is quite attractive to you. See you soon.