Dealing with Mistakes by Repeatedly Reminding People to Fear Allaah

jundub ibn ‘abd-allaah al-bajali reported that the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) sent a group of muslims to fight some mushrikeen, and they met in battle. one of the mushrikeen was ambushing individual muslims and killing them. one of the muslims wanted to catch him out and kill him. [jundub said:] “we used to think that that man was usaamah ibn zayd. when he raised his sword, the mushrik said ‘la ilaaha ill-allaah,’ but he [usaamah] killed him. a messenger came to the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) and reported to him about what had happened in the battle. when he told him about what had happened to the mushrik who said laa ilaaha ill-allaah, the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) sent for usaamah and asked him,

‘why did you kill him?’ he said, ‘o messenger of allaah, he had caused much grief to the muslims, he killed so-and-so and so-and-so,’ – and he named a number of people – ‘i attacked him and when he saw the sword he said laa ilaaha ill-allaah.’ the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said, ‘and then you killed him?’ usaamah said, ‘yes.’ he said, ‘what will you do when laa illaha ill-allaah comes on the day of resurrection?’ he said, ‘o messenger of allaah, pray for forgiveness for me.’” the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) simply said, “what will you do when laa ilaaha ill-allaah comes on the day of resurrection?” he did not say any more than that. (reported by muslim, ‘abd al-baaqi edn., no. 97).

according to a report narrated by usaamah ibn zayd, he said:

“the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) sent us out on a military campaign and we reached al-haraqaat near juhaynah in the morning. [during the battle] i caught a man and he said, ‘laa ilaaha ill-allaah,’ but i stabbed him. then i felt bad about that, and i mentioned it to the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him). the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said, ‘he said laa ilaaha ill-allaah and you killed him?’ i said, ‘o messenger of allaah, he only said it because he was afraid of my weapon.’ he said, ‘how can you know what is in his heart? how can you be sure whether he was sincere or not?’ he kept repeating this until i wished that i had not become muslim until that day [because embracing islam wipes out all sins that came before - translator].” (reported by muslim, no. 69)

one issue that may be included under the heading of reminders is reminding people about the power of allaah. an example of this follows:

muslim (may allaah have mercy on him) reported that abu mas‘ood al-badri said:

“i was beating a slave of mine with a whip, and i heard a voice behind me saying, ‘listen abu mas‘ood!’ but i did not pay any attention to the voice because i was so angry. when the voice got nearer to me, i realized that it was the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him), and he was saying, ‘listen abu mas‘ood, listen abu mas‘ood!’ i dropped the whip from my hand (according to another report: the whip fell from my hand out of respect for him). he said, ‘listen abu mas‘ood, allaah has more power over you than you have over this slave.’ i said, ‘i will never hit a slave again.’” according to another report he said: “i said, ‘o messenger of allaah, he is free for the sake of allaah.’ he said, ‘if you did not do this, the fire of hell would blow in your face, or the fire would touch you.’ ”

according to another report also narrated by muslim, “the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) said:

‘certainly allaah has more power over you than you have over him.’ so he freed him.” (saheeh muslim, no. 1659)

abu mas‘ood al-ansaari said:

“i was beating a slave of mine when i heard someone saying from behind me, ‘listen, abu mas‘ood, listen, abu mas‘ood.’ i turned around and saw that it was the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him). he said, ‘allaah has more power over you than you have over him.’… i never beat any slave of mine after that.” (reported by al-tirmidhi, no. 1948. abu ‘eesa said, this is a hasan saheeh hadeeth).