The Prophet's Example: Honoring A Captured Enemy

Opening Praise and Du'a

الحمد لله رب العالمين، والصلاة والسلام على أشرف الأنبياء والمرسلين، نبينا محمد وعلى آله وصحبه أجمعين، قال الله سبحانه وتعالى في القرآن المجيد:

Amma ba'd.

An Analogy: The Murderer at Your Door

I want us to all think and imagine that we are fathers, and every single one of us has a number of children — many children — and we love these children. These children are the most beloved things to us, the most beloved people to us, that we would do anything to protect them, we would do anything to make sure they are happy, to make sure they are protected.

Now, there is this other individual outside of our house, and whenever our children leave this house, leave our home, this individual takes them and he captures them, he takes them and he tortures them, he imprisons them, and he even spills their blood, he kills them. These are our children, these are the most beloved individuals to us, and there is someone out there who is a danger to them, there is someone out there who is trying to hurt our children. So imagine how much hatred, how much, how enraged we will be when we hear about this person, and even if we see this person, our blood will boil.

Now one day we come into our house, and we see this same individual — this same murderer of our children — inside our house, and he's chained up, he's locked up, he can't move. Now what will we do to this person? Will we make him feel every single ounce of pain? Will we inflict the same amount of pain that he inflicted on our children? Will we make him feel every single ounce of pain that he made our children feel? Let us think about — yes, this person, he's here, he's now with us — now what will we do to him?

Now I'm mentioning this as an anecdote for us to compare it to another story, a very similar story.

The Story of Thumama ibn Uthal

There was this one individual, and he was the spiritual father of many people. And these spiritual children of his, he loved them so much — they were the most beloved people to him. And whenever these spiritual children would leave this city, then there was this other person who would capture these spiritual children. He would capture them, he would torture them, he would even kill them. Tens and hundreds of them were killed by the hands of this individual.

Then one day the spiritual father exits his house, and he sees this man — this murderer — outside, chained up, tied up. This individual's name was Thumama ibn Uthal. And this spiritual father was none other than Nabi ﷺ.

Nabi ﷺ was the spiritual father of all the sahaba رضي الله عنهم. The sahaba رضي الله عنهم were the most beloved people to Nabi ﷺ. He spent his entire life making sure that they were guided. He spent his entire life making sure they were protected and safe.

And Thumama ibn Uthal was a chief of a tribe called Ahlul Yamama. And he would wait for the sahaba to exit the city, and he would capture them, he would kill them, he would torture them. And one day the sahaba رضي الله عنهم, they were outside, and they saw an individual, and they captured this individual, and they brought him to the masjid of Nabi ﷺ, and tied him up to a pillar.

Nabi ﷺ exited his house one day, and he saw this man. He asked the sahaba رضي الله عنهم, "Do you know who this man is?" They said, "O Rasulullah ﷺ, no we don't." He said, "This is Thumama ibn Uthal. This is the person who is the chief of Ahlul Yamama. This is the person who has killed so many sahaba رضي الله عنهم, so many of your brothers."

The Prophet's ﷺ Response: Honor Your Enemy

Now let's imagine — what do we think Nabi ﷺ did? Let us go back to what we imagined we would do to the person who killed our children. And now let us see what Nabi ﷺ did.

He looked towards the sahaba رضي الله عنهم, and he told them: أَكْرِمُوهُ — "Honor this man. Give him food, give him drink, make sure he has the best food, the best drink." And Nabi ﷺ even gave the milk from his own camel. He told the sahaba رضي الله عنهم, "Take this milk and give it to this man." And this is all before even speaking to him — even before this Thumama had seen Nabi ﷺ.

Three Days of Questions

Later on, after he was well fed and well rested, Nabi ﷺ entered the masjid. And he came to this individual and said:

"Oh Thumama, how are you doing? What is your matter?" Thumama said:

"O Muhammad ﷺ, I am well. If you kill me, then you have every right to kill me — I have spilled so much blood of your companions, I have killed many of your companions, I am a great nuisance to you, you are justified. But if you decide to pardon me, if you decide to let me go, then I will be a very thankful man. And if you want money, then name your price, I will give it to you, whatever you want."

Nabi ﷺ, after receiving his answers, turned away and left. And he told the sahaba رضي الله عنهم, "Keep feeding him, keep giving him drink, keep giving this milk from my camel to him, keep honoring him." And this entire time, Thumama is looking at the sahaba رضي الله عنهم in the masjid, he's watching them pray, he's watching Nabi ﷺ — how he acts with the different sahaba — he's watching the sahaba, how they act with Nabi ﷺ.

Now the second day, Nabi ﷺ comes back and asks the same question: مَا عِنْدَكَ يَا ثُمَامَةُ؟ And Thumama responds with the same answers. Again, Nabi ﷺ turned away.

Then the third day, Nabi ﷺ came, same question, same response from Thumama. This time, Nabi ﷺ tells the sahaba: أَطْلِقُوهُ — "Let him go. Remove his chains, remove his ropes, let him leave." That's it.

The Conversion of Thumama

Thumama gets up, he leaves the masjid, he leaves the city, he goes to the boundaries of Medina, and he takes a shower. After he takes a shower, he turns around, goes straight back, and says:

He accepted Islam. Then he went to Nabi ﷺ, and he told him:

"O Rasulullah ﷺ, by Allah, before this day, your face was the most hated face to me. In the entire world, whenever I saw your face, it would make my blood boil, I would get enraged, I hated seeing your face. But today, your face has now become the most beloved face to me in the entire world."

Then he continued: "O Rasulullah, before this day, your deen was the most hated deen to me, the most hated religion to me. But today, your deen has become the most beloved to me. And before this day, your city, Medina Munawwara — Yathrib — was the most hated city in my eyes. But today, it has become the most beloved city in my eyes."

The Lesson: Da'wah Through Character

What did Nabi ﷺ do? He didn't give him da'wah. He didn't say, "Accept Islam." He didn't give him a talk. He didn't give him a bayan. We look at how Nabi ﷺ acted towards him, how the sahaba رضي الله عنهم acted towards this man.

If we think back to what we thought — that if someone came and killed our children, how would we act towards that person? Is that the same way Nabi ﷺ acted towards this person who killed his sahaba رضي الله عنهم? It's something to think about. That how did Nabi ﷺ act towards his enemies?

His enemies who wanted to kill him — Thumama رضي الله عنه himself says that he would always try and kill Nabi ﷺ. That was his main goal. His number one goal was to kill Nabi ﷺ. And because he couldn't do that, that's why he killed other sahaba رضي الله عنهم. But he wanted to kill Nabi ﷺ. And we see how Nabi ﷺ treated him.

The Prophet ﷺ and the Little Girl from Habesha

Now I want to change gears a bit and mention another story in a different light. There was this one girl, one young girl. She was a toddler from Habesha — from today the Ethiopian area. She came with her father one day. She narrates:

"One day I came to Nabi ﷺ with my father. I was wearing a yellow dress, a yellow shirt. And when Nabi ﷺ saw me, what did he say? He said, 'Oh, what a beautiful dress you're wearing. What a beautiful dress you are wearing.'"

And Nabi ﷺ didn't just tell her this in Arabic. Rather, she was a Habesha girl. So Nabi ﷺ said, "Sana, Sana" — which is a Habesha word. Nabi ﷺ spoke to her in her own language, showing her how much love, how much dedication, how much thought he was putting into those words he was telling her.

So she got very happy, this young girl. Then after that, she narrates that she jumped on the back of Nabi ﷺ, this little girl. And she said, "I started playing with the Khatim-e-Nubuwwa." The Khatim-e-Nubuwwa is a seal on the back of Nabi ﷺ which he was born with, which showed that he was the last prophet — a proof that he was the last prophet. "So I started playing with this seal on the back of Nabi ﷺ."

"And then my father saw me. And my father started rebuking me, scolding me: 'What are you doing? This is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. How dare you touch his back? How dare you play with his seal?'"

Nabi ﷺ told him, "Let her go, leave her, let her play. Why are you scolding her? She's just a little kid. Leave her." So she kept on playing.

Then she said that Nabi ﷺ made a du'a for her:

"May Allah give her a long life. May Allah allow these clothes to get worn out, may Allah allow these clothes to grow old." Meaning it's a metaphor — may Allah give her a long life such that these clothes on her get older, because if she lives a long life, then these clothes will also get old and worn out. What a beautiful du'a Nabi ﷺ is giving to this little child.

Again, everything he's doing, he's making her feel loved. He's making her feel that she's welcome — Ethiopia is from the African area, so they are foreigners to the Arab lands. He's making her feel that she's welcome, that she's loved, that she's at home.

The Prophet ﷺ as Our Role Model in Every Aspect of Life

So we see two completely different aspects. One, we see how Nabi ﷺ handled and dealt with the enemies of Islam — those people who wanted to kill him and the sahaba رضي الله عنهم. And on the other hand, we see how Nabi ﷺ dealt with the little kids — how loving he was, how compassionate he was towards them.

And these are just two different aspects. But if we look at the life of Nabi ﷺ, he went through so many different things. He was in so many different fields. He was a father. He was a husband. He was a businessman. He was a leader. At times he was poor. At times he was rich. He went through so many different stages in life. At sometimes he had to speak to his enemies. At sometimes he had to speak to his neighbors. Sometimes he was dealing with the sahaba رضي الله عنهم as friends. So in all these different aspects of his life, Nabi ﷺ handled them and made sure he treated the people he was with in the best of manners.

Allah sent Nabi ﷺ as a role model for us. Nabi ﷺ showed us how to act in every single aspect of our life — not only by ourselves, but when we are with people. If we are a businessman, how do we act? If we are a husband, how do we act? If we are a father, how do we act to our children? If we are friends, how do we act with our friends? If we have enemies, how do we treat them? In every aspect of our life, Nabi ﷺ taught us how to treat people.

And this is something very important for us to learn. Because we are all from different fields, we are all different people, we are all in different aspects of our life. Some people are old, some people are young, some people are rich, some people are poor. Some people are in business, some people are in the medical field — whatever stage of life you are in, Nabi ﷺ is a role model for us. Nabi ﷺ showed us how to act, how to treat people.

An Invitation to Learn the Seerah

It is on this very topic which, insha'Allah, in two weeks we will be having our Seerah conference — a two-day conference where we will discuss how Nabi ﷺ acted in all different aspects of his life. How did he navigate the different people he met with? How did he speak to the chiefs? How did he speak to the sahaba? How did he interact with his wives? With his wives he was very just — he made sure that he gave every single one of them the time they were allotted. For his children, he made sure that they were happy, that they were loved, that they felt they were the most beloved people to him. The sahaba thought they were the most beloved people to Nabi ﷺ because of how he treated them. And even the enemies of Nabi ﷺ — even if they didn't accept Islam — they still had to accept the fact that he was the most truthful man, that he was the most just man, that he never oppressed any single one of them.

So let us come and make sure that we attend these different programs where we can learn how to navigate the different aspects of our life. So we make sure that — number one, the most important thing — we don't oppress anyone. That whatever field we're in, whatever stage of life we're in, we make sure that we're handling it in the best manner.

And also, when we learn how Nabi ﷺ treated people, this will bring the love of Nabi ﷺ into our life. Because we will realize — how did he do this? How did he treat his enemies in such a nice manner? Those people who wanted to kill him — how did he make sure that they were happy with him? And these little children — he was the most busy man. We think we are busy. Nabi ﷺ had the entire ummah on his back. He had to make sure that every single one of them got hidayah. But even during his busy time, he still made sure to take the time out to make sure that these little children were happy, to play with them. He used to race with them. He used to spend time with them.

So it is very important that we learn these things — that we come and listen to these different talks which discuss the way Nabi ﷺ lived his life in the best manner.

I ask Allah that He give us all the tawfiq and allow us to inculcate the different aspects and characteristics of Nabi ﷺ into our life. Ameen.

Announcements

Please pass the charity boxes from left to right insha'Allah. Nabi ﷺ mentions in a hadith that charity given on the day of Jumu'ah is greater in reward than any other day.

Some upcoming programs insha'Allah: We just started last week the Tafeem program, which is an online program — there are both on-site classes and online classes as well. It covers a range of topics from how to pray salah, to the different events of Nabi ﷺ's life, to our theology or aqeedah, to how we purify our hearts. There are many different classes — a Saturday track and a Sunday track — so you can get more information online from the website.

The weekly programs we have: Number one is the Tuesday Tafsir. Right now we're covering Surah At-Takweer with Mufti Minhajuddin. Additionally, we started a new program this week on the Shama'il of Nabi ﷺ. This is from Imam Tirmidhi's book Shama'il Muhammadiyyah, which is a collection of hadith where he describes the characteristics of Nabi ﷺ — both the apparent outward characteristics and also how he was inside, how he dealt with people. This is an Urdu program and it will be after Maghrib on Thursdays insha'Allah.

Lastly, tomorrow after Fajr we will have our weekly Team Fajr program, and we are now covering the lives of the companions رضي الله عنهم.

There are also a number of sisters' programs that are exclusively for the sisters. They have a Quran Tarjama — a translation of the Quran class — which is in person. Another class on the Arabic of the Quran, learning the different words mentioned in the Quran, which is also in person. There is a Riyadh-ul-Saliheen class — a collection of hadith — that is online. There is part-time Hifz which is online from Monday to Friday. And there are a few more different classes. You can find all of them on the website insha'Allah.

And lastly, we will be having two different programs in the next month. Number one is the annual Seerah Conference, which I mentioned — we will be going into the different aspects of Nabi ﷺ's life: how he dealt with his enemies, with children, with his wives, with the young kids at his time, how he treated them and interacted with them. This will be September 19th (Friday) until September 20th (Saturday).

And lastly, our annual Benefit Dinner is on October 18th at 6 p.m. (Saturday) at Shalimar Brinkwitz. You can get your tickets at masjiddeas.org/benefit.

There is a du'a request for all those across the entire world who are suffering — whether it's Palestine, Lebanon, China, Burma, wherever the Muslims are suffering. May Allah alleviate their difficulties and may Allah make it easy for them. Ameen.