Sadullah Khan – Developing a Qur’anic Personality To Be and What not to be. #6

We continue our theme from

developing a Quranic personality

to be and what not to be.

When we reflect on the life of the

prophet

Muhammad we realize that it was his single-minded

devotion,

his focus on hope,

his trust in Allah,

that most often brought success

to whatever he was engaging on in his

mission.

And by the grace of Allah, it was

the prophet's positive attitude,

his inspirational

approach,

and his merciful character that raised people to

live their lives according to their own higher

standards and which he elevated them even further

by his example.

And the prophetic example was always inspiring,

always motivating.

Much of his sunnah of in

other words, his practice in social dealing with

people, with society,

was manifested

in how he encouraged,

enabled, and empowered people around him.

I will briefly refer to 2 incidents in

the life of Rasulullah

which illustrates

this from his illustrious life.

One is the situation in Taif.

From Mecca and he preached to the people

of Mecca. They knew him as the

truthful, the trustworthy.

He was part of the,

noble family. He was well known of the

Quraysh

for his honesty.

When he preached Islam to the people of

Mecca,

many of them rejected. In fact, they ostracized

him and

they belittle his followers and punished them and

tortured them. And he went to the neighboring

town of Taif to convey the message of

Islam. The first town he went to outside

Makkah to convey the message of Islam. When

he went to Taif, he was stoned by

the people, insulted by the people.

Blood, the angel

said, oh, Muhammad,

oh, Rasulullah,

invoke Allah to curse these people that Allah

may turn the mountain upon them. The prophet

refused to curse them. Rather

he said, Perchance,

from the offspring, there will will be someone

who

will say Though

was the first town the Rasul went to

preach the message,

was the last town to accept Islam before

he passed away. But the prophet never lost

hope.

The other incident is the people of those.

Was a well known poet and one of

the chiefs of his tribe of those.

And he embraced Islam quite early and then

he went to his people and preached Islam

to them.

They rejected the message. Not only that, they

deliberately did the opposite of what he asked

because he was the only one, or very

few of them were Muslim. And to show

him a point, they would do the opposite.

And he became very frustrated and he came

back to Rasulullah one time and he said,

oh prophet Allah, pray that Allah curse these

people and destroy these people. The prophet wasallahu

alaihi wasallam surprised

to fail by his response.

Instead of cursing the people,

he he left in his hand and he

said,

Allah,

oh Allah, guide the people of those and

bring some of them at least to Islam.

And then the prophet

Go back to your people.

Call them still to Islam. Invite them and

make sure that you are kind and gentle

with them.

Tufayl did exactly what the prophet said, salallahu

alaihi wasallam.

And some years afterwards,

after the battle of Khaybar when the Rasool

was involved, and 2 years before the passing

of Rasool Allah, sallallahu alaihi wasallam, the people

of Madinah saw a big crowd of people

coming. And they were assuming maybe it's a

a tribe coming for war or something.

And they were amazed. And as the people

came nearby, they found that Tufail was leading

the group. It was 80

families. Eighty families from the those tribe.

Men, women, and children.

Each one had embraced

Islam. So what we are saying, the prophet

truly inspired and empowered people.

Rather than cursing them, he prayed for

them. Rather than dissuading them, he tried to

persuade them. Rather than losing hope in them,

he gave them the chance. He, therefore,

motivated those around him rather than disheartening

those around him. And for us, the lesson

in that,

be a motivator.

Be an enabler.

Do not be a discourager.