And We sent thee (Oh Muhammad)
only as a Mercy to the Worlds
(Surah Anbiyaa 107).
The
Holy Prophet Muhammad (may God bless him and give him peace) taught
Mercy to the people and he invoked the Mercy of God upon the people who
showed consideration to others in their trade dealings and in the
exacting of that which was due to them. Ali (raa) recorded how the Holy
Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) was good natured and kind
hearted, he never spoke harsh words and he avoided finding faults in
others.
He
kept silent when he could not fulfill a request, because he hated to
disappoint people by saying no and he was kind hearted and eased
peoples’ distress. His company delighted people and one who saw him was
filled with awe, but later on would begin to love him (Tirmidhi,
Shamail).
The
Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) advised the
believers that they should be careful over other peoples’ rights. He
once explained this by telling them that they should ‘pay the labourer
before his sweat has dried’ (Ibn Majah, Sunan). He taught that the
rulers must use their position to support the rights and well being of
the less powerful Children of Adam and it is recorded that he taught
that;
The leader who closes his door to the poor and needy
will find that in his own great time of need
God has closed the gates of Heaven to him.
(Al-Tirmidhi, Shamail)
Those
familiar with the purported canonical Gospels know this truth well from
the following saying that is attributed to Prophet Jesus (as),
Within a house a rich man lived in comfort and luxury
Outside a poor man lay ill
begging for the rich man’s leftovers
The rich man died and was taken to Hell
The rich man asked Abraham
(may God bless him and give him peace)
to send the poor man to aid him,
but Abraham
(may God bless him and give him peace)
answered;
You once had everything and left him with nothing
He now has everything and you have nothing
And between you is a chasm impassible
(Purported Gospel of Luke 16;19-31)
One
time the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him peace) saw one of
his Companions hitting his slave with a stick. He warned him;
‘You should realize that
God has more power over you
than you have over this slave!’
When
he heard this the Companion dropped the stick and vowed that he would
never again do such a thing and furthermore he gave the slave his
freedom. Observing this the Holy Prophet (may God bless him and give him
peace) declared; ‘If you had not done this you would have been touched
by the Hellfire’ (Muslim, Sahih).
Abdur Raheem.
