In the era of our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him

In the era of our noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him
God says in The Holy Quran about our Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him: “We have sent you as a mercy for all the worlds.” (Surah 21:107) The tolerance and kindness of our Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, was remarkable and not even his worst enemies could deny it. His life was full of incidents that represent tolerance in its clearest definition.

To choose some of these incidents as examples is really difficult, however we will mention below some of these examples just as a demonstration of how merciful and tolerant he was.

His tolerance with Non Muslims in Medina
The best example of the tolerance shown by the Prophet to other religions may be the constitution itself, called the ‘Saheefah’ by early historians. When the Prophet migrated to Medina, his role as a mere religious leader ended; he was now the political leader of a state, governed by the precepts of Islam, which demanded that clear laws of governance be laid out to ensure harmony and stability in a society which once had been distraught by decades of war, one which must ensure the peaceful coexistence of Muslims, Jews, Christians and polytheists. Due to this, the Prophet laid down a ‘constitution’ which detailed the responsibilities of all parties which resided in Medina, their obligations towards each other, and certain restrictions which were placed on each. All parties were to obey what was mentioned therein, and any breach of its articles was regarded as an act of treachery.

The first article of the constitution was that all the inhabitants of Medina, the Muslims as well as those who had entered the pact from the Jews, Christian, and idolaters, were “one nation to the exclusion of all others.” People of other faiths were protected from harm as much as the Muslims, as is stated in another article, “To the Jews who follow us belong help and equity. He shall not be harmed nor his enemies be aided.”

The lives of the practitioners of other religions in the Muslim society were also given protective status. The Prophet said: “Whoever kills a person who has a truce with the Muslims will never smell the fragrance of Paradise.” (Saheeh Muslim) Since the upper hand was with the Muslims, the Prophet strictly warned against any maltreatment of people of other faiths. He said: “Beware! Whoever is cruel and hard on a non-Muslim minority, or curtails their rights, or burdens them with more than they can bear, or takes anything from them against their free will; I (Prophet Muhammad) will complain against the person on the Day of Judgment.” (Abu Dawud) In another article, it states, “the Jews have their religion and the Muslims have theirs.”

His tolerance with the Polytheists
The incident of AlTaif
The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, traveled to the city of Taif, a city located in the mountains nearby to Mecca, in order to invite them to accept Islam. The leaders of Taif, however, were rude and discourteous in their treatment of the Prophet. Not being content with their insolent attitude towards him, they even stirred up some gangs of the town to harass him.

When people of the village of Ta'if rejected him, stoned him, ejected him, and made his feet to bleed, the angel Gabriel came to him and said, "Allah has heard what your people say to you and how they reject you. He has ordered the angels of the mountains to obey whatever you tell them to do." The angel of the mountains called him, greeted him and said, "Send me to do what you wish. If you wish, I will crush them between the two mountains of Mecca." The Prophet said, "Rather, I hope that Allah will bring forth from their loins those who will worship Allah alone and not associate anything with Him.” (Bukhari and Muslim)

The conquest of Mecca
When Prophet Muhammad conquered Mecca, its leaders came to him fearing that he would kill them as all conquerors do. The Prophet said to the Quraish: “O people of Quraish! What do you think I will do to you?
Hoping for a good response, they said: “You will do good. You are a noble brother, son of a noble brother.”
But instead, he said," Go! You are all free!"
He said that merciful to his worst enemies, whom he could easily eradicate from the face of the earth when he conquered Mecca, and who had hated him, rejected his call, displayed insolent arrogance towards his religion, stood and fought against him, killed his beloved Companions, deformed the dead body of his dear martyred uncle, Hamzah, and even eaten his holy liver with incredible wild rancor.

Forgiving Ikrimah
Ikrimah was the greatest enemy of Islam. Despite the general amnesty proclaimed by the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, on the day of victory, Ikrimah picked a fight with the Muslims, suffered a defeat and then fled. When Ikrimah’s wife pleaded for his forgiveness, the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, forgave.

Immediately after forgiveness, when Ikrimah appeared before the Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him he said to him arrogantly that ‘if you think that because of your forgiveness I have also become a Muslim, then let it be clear that I have not become a Muslim. If you can forgive me while I remain steadfast on my own faith, then that is fine, otherwise I leave’. The Holy Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, ‘You can, no doubt, remain steadfast on your faith. You are free in every way.’

Habbar ibn al-Aswad
Habir ibn al-Aswad was another vicious enemy of Muhammad and Islam. He inflicted a serious injury to Zainab, daughter of the Noble Prophet when she decided to migrate to Medina. She was pregnant when she started her migration, and the polytheists of Mecca tried to stop her from leaving. This particular man, Habbar bin al-Aswad, physically assaulted her and intentionally caused her to fall down from her camel. Her fall had caused her to miscarry her baby, and she herself, was badly hurt. Later on when he decided to come to Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, our merciful and forgiving Prophet magnanimously forgave him.

His tolerance with the Christians
The Najran Delegation

In the year (631 CE), Prophet Muhammad received a delegation of sixty Christians from Najran in Medinah. They were received in the Prophet’s mosque wearing their crosses. The companions of prophet Muhammad tried to prevent them from praying in the mosque, but the prophet allowed them to pray in the mosque, and they did so facing East.

He said, "The one who kill a mu'aahid will not smell the smell of the Paradise although its smell can be smelled from a distance of forty years (i.e He will not enter the Paradise nor be close to it)." (Bukhari)

The Prophet sent a message to the monks of Saint Catherine in Mount Sinai:
"This is a message written by Muhammad ibn Abdullah, as a covenant to those who adopt Christianity, far and near, we are behind them. Verily, I defend them by myself, the servants, the helpers, and my followers, because Christians are my citizens; and by Allah! I hold out against anything that displeases them. No compulsion is to be on them. Neither are their judges to be changed from their jobs, nor their monks from their monasteries. No one is to destroy a house of their religion, to damage it, or to carry anything from it to the Muslims' houses. Should anyone take any of these, he would spoil God's covenant and disobey His Prophet. Verily, they (Christians) are my allies and have my secure charter against all that they hate. No one is to force them to travel or to oblige them to fight. The Muslims are to fight for them. If a female Christian is married to a Muslim, this is not to take place without her own wish. She is not to be prevented from going to her church to pray. Their churches are to be respected. They are neither to be prevented from repairing them nor the sacredness of their covenants. No one of the nation is to disobey this covenant till the Day of Judgment and the end of the world."

His tolerance with the Jews

We have previously mentioned lots of examples that clearly demonstrate the tolerance of our Noble Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, with the Jews. The treaty which he made with them on entering Medinah that represented the constitution of the Islamic state there.

During the life of Prophet Muhammad, the Jews in Madina had a synagogue and an educational institute, Bait-Al-Midras. The Prophet preserved the institute and gave protection to the Jews.

It is reported that a funeral of a Jew passed before the Prophet (peace be upon him). As a sign of respect, the Prophet stood up. The Prophet was asked "Why did you stand up for a Jewish funeral?" The Prophet replied, "Is it not a human soul?" (Al-Bukhari).

In his Al-Amwal, Abu Ubai related on the authority of Saiid IbnAl-Mussayeb, that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, gave some charity to Jewish family.
Sources
The Real Image of Prophet Muhammad
The Religion of Islam

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