Daily Times

Allah Almighty has sent about 124,000 apostles in this world and each apostle had invited their people towards His religion.

During their tiring endeavours, each apostle went through hardships but remained steadfast in their mission to deliver the message of Allah to the masses. The last prophet also went through unimaginable hardships, persecution and trials. He (SAW) has stated himself that had stated by himself that if one was to compare all his sacrifices with those made by all the other prophets, his would surpass them all. For nine years after his declaration of being a prophet, he had been facing several challenges in changing and reforming the people around him. After the death of his (SAW) uncle, Abu Talib, the Quraysh were free to use any means to stop people from accepting Islam, and to harm the Muslims. However, they faced all of this with true courage and bravery. In order to spend the message of Islam to other parts of Arabia, Rasulullah then decided to travel to Ta’if, the biggest town of Hijaz,

The Prophet (SAW) then turned to spread the message of Islam to the common people of the area in the hope that they perhaps might understand and accept Islam. However, the mischief-mongers of the clan chased the prophet (SAW) out of the city. They had pelted him with stones and rocks to such an extent that his shoes were filled with blood

Our beloved Prophet (SAW) decided to meet three chiefs of the most influential clan first and invited them to accept Islam. One of the chiefs responded by asking whether Allah could not have found anyone other than the prophet (SAW) to deliver his message? Another chief also misbehaved with the prophet while third one had refused to talk to him on the grounds of him (SAW) being a false prophet. The chiefs of the clan did not even take the hospitality the Arabs were famous for into consideration as they turned them away.

The prophet (SAW) then turned to spread the message of Islam to the common people of the area in the hope that they perhaps might understand and accept Islam. However, the mischief-mongers of the clan chased the prophet (SAW) out of the city. They had pelted him with stones and rocks to such an extent that his shoes were filled with blood. He then reached the outskirts of the city and prayed to Allah, complaining and apologizing for his inability to bring the people towards Islam. As a result, Allah then sent Hazarat Jibrail A S to him (SAW) who told him that I he wished, he could crushed the people of the town beneath a mountain. But the prophet (SAW), bring merciful and kind refused and forgave them. He hoped that their children would later understand and accept Islam and that they would be forgiven. These prayers and hopes of the prophet (SAW) were answered later, and it is said that Muhammad Bin Qasim, who would conquer Sindh many years later was a descendant of those people. However, when asked by Hazrat Ayesha about the hardest day of his life, the prophet (SAW) talked about the day spent in Ta’if, terming it as harder than the battle of Uhad during which two of his teeth were martyred.

Such was the conduct of our noble prophet Rasulullah (sallahu ‘alahi’ wa alahi wasallam), whom we claim to follow. While we get irritated and thirsty for revenge over the smallest of inconveniences, our prophet (SAW) decided to forgive a group of people who had humiliated and tortured him beyond measure while having the power to destroy them.

The writer can be reached at faisal.ansar@hotmail.com