Sadullah Khan – Legacy of mercy

Before I commence my short, presentation,

I just want to, first of all, commend

the Hufal for the excellent recitation of the

holy Quran.

Further enhanced by the presence and the recitation

of our respected brother,

Khare Zia Patel, a world renowned Khare foremost

among the foremost Quran in our country,

We are indeed blessed and honored to have

people of their caliber and the capacity

to be able to be with us and

further

beautify

and, and, supplement

and enhance

the beauty of the recitation. May Allah

grant, that he heightens them in paradise for

each recitation of the Quran.

And may he heighten us with him who

witness their recitation, inshallah.

As Muslims, we consider Islam as a faith

and a way of life.

Islam is a spring of our moral guidelines.

It is our fountain of serenity,

a source of our spiritual enlightenment.

And Islam offers for us

ethical guidance

that fills our lives with tranquility

and that motivates us to compassion.

Yet,

in the minds of many in the world,

perhaps due to deliberate misrepresentation

by the media and some quarters,

Islam has been associated

with what can be described as a tremendous

amount of negativity,

intolerance,

persecution,

and violence.

This,

despite the fact that we say,

We are those

who believe

in the deen of Islam of submission, the

deen of peace.

We worship the lord of mercy

and we follow

the prophet who came as a mercy unto

the universe.

We subscribe to the deen

of peace, subscribe to the deen and worship

the lord of compassion

and we find therefore

everything from the revealer, the messenger

and the message and manifestation

of compassion and of mercy.

A dimension of that mercy

was clearly manifested

through a watershed moment in the life of

the prophet

at the Fathai Makkah, the conquest of Makkah.

A major incident in the history of Islam,

a turning point in the history of humankind

that occurred around this day 20th 21st of

Ramadan

in the 8th year of Hijra

And to contextualize

the event,

we acknowledge the fact that Prophet Muhammad as

we know

was ostracized by his own people for his

faith, by the very people who had called

him as Sadiq and Al Amin. They called

him the truthful and the trustworthy.

His detractors

and opponents

persecuted him and his family.

He was persecuted,

ostracized,

victimized,

threatened with death.

He eluded a planned assassination attempt on his

life

and eventually

had to leave his hometown of Mecca and

settle in Medina.

And even when he and the faithful were

in Medina,

wars were waged against them, against him and

his followers.

So when the prophet

returned 8 years later to that very same

Makkah,

the hometown where he was born, we received

revelation.

He returned with he returned with an army

of 12,000 believers.

He freely forgave all his enemies

who had persecuted him.

This

incident

serves as

a benevolent example

of a sublime character of Khuluqnuddin

at its peak.

And it was in reference to this scene

and this incident

and this event in the Rasul's life.

This historic compassionate example

that a British historian not a Muslim,

a British historian and archaeologist

by the name of Stanley Lane Poole says

about that event which I'm referring to on

this day that occurred in the 8th year

of hijrah.

And I quote,

the day of Muhammad's greatest triumph over his

enemies

was also the day of the greatest victory

over himself.

He freely forgave the Quraysh all the years

of sorrow and cruel scorn which they had

afflicted him and he gave amnesty

to the population of Bakr.

The Muslim army followed his example,

entered quietly

and peacefully And some say, no tree was

cut down, no water was polluted,

no aged one was humiliated,

no house was robbed, no woman was insulted.

It was

thus that Muhammad

entered again his native city of Makkah.

Through all the annals of conquest,

there's no triumphant entry

comparable to this one,

unquote.

You see,

this major incident in the life of the

prophet

set a standard of unequal compassion.

They scorned him. They humiliated his people. They

waged war against him.

They confiscated their property,

they boycotted them, they killed some of them.

Yet, at that moment when he had the

power to wipe them out and to crush

them, the way it is mercy, he set

the standard of unequal compassion,

unparalleled.

He established an unparalleled legacy

of human being in power at his best.

You see,

it served

as a magnanimous

example of the magnificence

of his charisma and his leadership.

Indeed.

It reflected the depth of emotional wisdom

and the pinnacle of spiritual strength to be

able to overcome your anger, your hatred, your

victimization

and still say, I forgive you.

This is our leader.

A leader of compassion

not of terror. Who brought the teaching of

peace not of war. A religion of principle,

not of oppression.

He is our leader,

patient in struggle,

benevolent in character,

and compassionate

even in victory.

Therefore so beautifully,

That prophet

who reads the highest peak by the sublimeness

of his character.

He removed darkness by his beauty and beautiful

ways.

Excellent are all his

achievements and all his characteristics.

Upon him and his family.