As the month of the birth of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) is approaching, it seems like a perfect occasion to revisit some of the good qualities of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) as some so-called extremists are defaming the name of this religion that was meant to bring ease into the lives of people and was called ‘the religion of peace’. The life of our Holy Prophet (PBUH) is full of such stories and events when he left behind lessons of forgiveness, kindness and good deeds by his strong character. Some of them are:
In the beginning years of Islam, when tribes from different corners of Arab gathered in Makkah, he used to visit the camps of tribes incessantly and invited them towards good deeds and to quit the way of disbelief and cruelty. They did not listen to him, and made fun of his words but he never got angry or disappointed or said anything to them, he just continued his work of preaching.
Once a companion caught the baby birds from a nest and their mother started crying and flying around the man with her babies. When Holy Prophet (PBUH) came to know about it, he got really disturbed and ordered the baby birds to be replaced immediately in their nests and advised the people to be sympathetic towards all the creatures including the animals. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) loved his grandsons a lot and used to play with them. They loved most to sit on his back and play horse-riding. A Bedouin came and exclaimed with surprise that how he was able to love the children so much as he was never able to love them like this. To this our Holy Prophet (PBUH) said, “What can I do if you have got a heart void of any love!”
Every year, when the fresh fruit of new season arrived, first of all our Holy Prophet (PBUH) used to share it with the children. When he used to come while riding his animal, he used to make sit a child with him and would give him a ride. Life of our most kind Prophet (PBUH) is full of such examples. When the Holy Prophet (PBUH) was ordered to invite the kingdoms of the world towards a religion of peace and success, he sent them letters. This shows how much he used to give importance for education. Similarly, when the prisoners of war (Ghazwa-e-Badr) were brought, he put a simple condition for their release. He ordered that every prisoner should teach a Muslim to read and write and then he would be free. In time when prisoners were immediately killed or sold as slaves in the market, this kind treatment was really inspiring and astonishing to all.
It was also his saying that acquisition of knowledge has been made compulsory to all the Muslims; men and women.
Whenever his daughter visited him, he would stand up for her, make her sit in his place and showed extreme regard and importance to her. Our Holy Prophet (PBUH) always treated every woman in the gentlest way and prohibited the men from depriving them of their rights and ordered them to be polite with their wives and family members.
Patience and tolerance of Holy Prophet (PBUH) won the hearts of thousands of disbelievers and they entered the safe and peaceful circle of Islam. When our Holy Prophet (PBUH) visited Taaif where he was showered in his blood and he was sitting under a tree, injured and tired that angel Gabriel came to him and asked his permission to crush the town between the two mountains and punish all the inhabitants but the kind Holy Prophet (PBUH) did not permit this and prayed for them. Similarly, when he entered Makkah after the victory and when he was in position to punish everyone who had made him leave his town and who had not let go any chance to harm him and his companions, he declared a general pardon for all. He also pardoned those who had involved in conspiracies in killing many of his followers and close relatives or friends. If we make a thorough research, we come to find that the Holy Prophet (PBUH) never supported or initiated any war. Muslims always defended themselves against the vicious intentions and attacks of disbelievers but never started any war. For instance, in the war of Badr, Quraish of Makkah came out of their city to destroy the Muslims and they were left with no other option except to come out of Madina to defend themselves. Similarly, the Pact of Hudaibia is an example when our Holy Prophet (PBUH) accepted all the unfair conditions of disbelievers just to avoid any kind of conflict and sustain the peace. There was an agreement between Muslims and the Jews of Madina not to do anything against each other but the Jews were always stealthily busy in conspiring against Muslims and make associations with their enemies. Such circumstances were tolerated for a long time and when left with no other option, they were ordered to leave their places. They had full authority to take with them whatever they wished. Even in today’s enlightened and democratic era, we do not have any such example of treatment of enemy.
Similarly, when a Muslim soldier killed a Non-Muslim soldier when he had accepted Islam seeing the death close to him, the Holy Prophet (PBUH) admonished him for this act. Today, we see that hundreds of innocents are killed without any regard or concern and there is no accountability. The Holy Prophet (PBUH) never liked that he should be given any superior treatment and when he was passing by some people who stood up in his honor, he prohibited them from doing so.
He took part in all the works of society like a common man. When the mosque of Quba was being constructed, he worked with common men and did every work like others did.
It was him who taught us how to best serve the guests. He would feed the guest with the best food available at home and would fan him at night so that the guest should not be disturbed by the heat.
Similarly, he had ordered the government officials to give extra importance and respect to the chiefs of tribes. He was well-aware of the human psychology even 15 centuries ago.
But he always liked to sit in the company of poor and less-privileged. He used to treat them with utmost care and honor to sustain their self-respect. The life of Holy Prophet (PBUH) is full of such stories and events that make our hearts full of respect and love towards him. But I would like to remind one small point to our youth; you cannot love the Holy Prophet (PBUH) with writing and sharing his sayings on social websites. If you do love him, you should better read in depth to know about his other unique and kind qualities and then try to adopt them in your lives. Then you would be able to establish your love to the best of prophets on the basis of knowledge and understanding and not on mere sentimentalism.