The Prophets Of Allah

Battle Of Badr 6

So we mentioned Allah revealed a verse that the harsher treatment would have been better than mercy at this time. What is the wisdom behind this?

1. Allah says "It is not appropiate any prophet has prisoners of war until he establishes his authority in the land". You see forgiveness when its done out of weakness is not considered to be effective. Whereas forgiveness at power is the most effective, its the most genuine forgiveness. Thus Allah is hinting at this stage of weakeness it would have been better to execute to get to the upper hand. And we will discuss very explicitly about the pragmatism of Islam. Those systems of "turn the other cheek" are simply unrealistic. No country can exist with this ideal. Thus these teaching cannot be the soically viable rule of society. To always forgive and turn the other cheek would mean others would just take advantage of you. And indeed never has any society that claims to follow this ideology has really followed it. Rather, Islam is far more realistic and perfect. It teaches the general rule is forgiveness, but at time you send the message of "don't mess with me". It needs to be demonstrated at times. Allah is saying you are still humilitated and oppressed - so you should not have forgiven at this stage. Look at the practical element of our religion.

2. Another wisdom is that, for every two you save, one will come back to fight you. And it's the exact same enemy who comes back to kill you. And indeed some of those came back for Uhud, Ahzab etc.

3. A third wisdom Umar RA related to himself: it was to demonstrate to the tribes that "we are more loyal to Allah than we are to tribalism". That Umar RA said "give me my tribe" - thus no one will accuse Banu Hisham killed Banu Adi etc. And this took years for the Quraysh to understand. That how could such a disparitied group, all from different backgrounds and tribes, would unite and fight as one.

The prophet PBUH left from the planes of Badr on Monday 20th Ramadan. And the muslims were waiting patiently to find out what happened. And the rumours had come but they couldn't firmly believe until Zaid ibn Harithah returned, the adopted 'son' of the prophet PBUH. And the prophet PBUH sent him on is own camel Al Qaswa. And the camel everyone recognised - and they all saw Zaid shouting "Allahu akbar" and he starts mentioning the names of all those who had been killed. And its a list of every single famous person of the Quraysh. And indeed if you think about it, its unbelievable. When the muslims heard this they became happy. However, the munafiqoon started right now - the group that was to become the munaafiqs, they started mumbling and whispering upon themselves. That clearly Zaid has gone crazy - Muhammad has been killed and he's taken his camel and come back. So the neo hypocrites began saying the prophet PBUH is dead. There is one footnote of a sad news: the takbeer came the same day, same hour and same minute as when Uthman buried Ruqayya, the daughter of the prophet PBUH. And if you think about of it, the battle of Badr up until this point is the happiest occasion ever. Yet still Allah willed on that day a tragedy striked. The order of his daughters we don't know: some say she was the 1st or 2nd. But for sure she was the first to die. After her Uthman RA married Umme Kulthoom. So it's as if Allah is showing no matter how happy you are this world is a world of test and trials. It's a temporary abode. As the prophet PBUH said "everyone one of us has a long list but death comes and draws a line in that list wherever it is". So through this death it's as if the prophet PBUH is being shown even during this time of happiness, the ultimate happiness is in the next life. So the news spread among the people and they all gathered waiting for the prophet PBUH to come.

The prophet PBUH arrived back the same day with the 70 prisoners, took them to the masjid and told each person who captured them to look after them. And the chiefton of the Quraysh among the prisoners were taken care off by the prophet PBUH himself. And indeed never ever in the history of mankind has this happened: that the chiefton of the other armies is being taken care of by the leader of the other army. Suhail ibn Amar was the foremost amongst them - he and Abu Suffyan were now the top of the Quraysh. Sauda, the wife of the prophet PBUH, was with the mother of those who killed Abu Jahal. And when she heard the Quraysh had surrendered and the prophet PBUH had come back, she rushed back home and she barged into her own house and therer in the corner of her own room she saw Suhail ibn Amr. And when she sees the leader of the Quraysh she said "I forgot who I was and I simply said that 'Ya Aba Yazeed, you surrendered like this? Why didn't you die an honourable death?'" She feels a disgrace the leader of the Quraysh is sitting as a prisoner. Sauda said "I didn't even realise what I said, until I heard the prophet PBUH next to me saying 'You are stoking him to fight against Allah and his messenger?'". And Sauda said "I lost sense of what I was saying when I saw him sitting like this - I couldn't control myself". And the prophet PBUH accepted the excuse. This shows us the humanity of the companions. If the prophet PBUH can forgive a mistake that outwardely is a type of kuffar, then what about us? Indeed in her emotion she lost control of her rationality. There are many other examples like this: in the desert where the man blurted out "Oh Allah you are my servant; I am your rub" even the prophet PBUH excused this mistake and smiled at it. The point is, when anyone we know makes a mistake out of emotion, and then recognises the mistake, you should just move on as the prophet PBUH did.