The
Prophet (pbuh) would also capture people’s hearts the first
time he met them.
After the conquest of Makkah and when Islam
had become dominant,
the Prophet (pbuh) started to receive envoys
from various tribes.
One of the envoys the Prophet (pbuh) received
was from ‘Abd
al-Qays. When they arrived, before they could
even dismount from
their rides, the Prophet (pbuh) said to them,
“Welcome, O people!
May you never face disgrace or sorrow,
so have glad
tidings!”
As
they dismounted from their camels, they raced to the
Prophet
(pbuh) to greet him. They said, “O Messenger of Allah, between
our
cities there lies a dwelling of a group of pagans from
Mudhar,
due to which we cannot come to you except in the
sacred
months, since this is when Arabs do not fight, so guide
us
to the best thing we can do, which if we were to do it, would
cause
us to enter paradise, and which we would instruct others
to
do also.
The Prophet (pbuh)
said, “I shall order you to do four things and
forbid you from
four. I order you to have faith in Allah. Do you
know what it means
to have faith in Allah?”
They replied, “Allah
and His Messenger know best.”
The
Prophet (pbuh) said, “It means to testify that there is no one
worthy
of worship except Allah, to establish the prayers, to give
in
charity, and to give a fifth of the war booty in charity.”
I
also forbid you from four; from drinking from ad-Dubba, an-
Naqir,
(pitched water skins), az-Zuruf, al-Muzaffat and al-Hantam
(names
of utensils used for the preparation of alcoholic drinks).’
(al-Bukhari)
On another occasion,
the Prophet (pbuh) was travelling with a
group of his
Companions at night. They travelled for a long time
until the last part
of the night fell upon them, and they decided
to stop over and
sleep. They were overcome by deep sleep until
sunrise. The first
one to awaken was Abu Bakr, and then ‘Umar.
Abu Bakr sat next to
the Prophet (pbuh) and began to say “Allahu
Akbar” aloud until
the Prophet (pbuh) also woke up and prayed Fajr
with his Companions.
When he had not finished the prayer, he
realised that one of
the Companions had not joined them.
The
Prophet (pbuh) said, ‘What prevented you from praying with
us?’
He
replied, “I had a wet-dream and didn’t find water to bathe
with.”
The Prophet (pbuh) ordered him to perform Tayammum with
dust.
The Companion then prayed and thereafter they continued
on
their journey, and none of them had any water. On the way
they
became extremely thirsty and were unable to find any well
or
water.
‘Imran bin Husayn
said, “As we were travelling, we found
a woman on a camel
with two leather sacks (filled with water).
We said to her:
‘Where can we find water?’ She said: ‘There is
no water here.’ We
said: ‘How far away is the water from your
house?’ She said:
‘One whole day.’ We said: ‘Go to the Messenger
of Allah (pbuh).’
She said: ‘What is a Messenger of Allah?!’
“We
took her with us to Allah’s Messenger in the hope that
she
would tell us the location of the water. The Prophet (pbuh) asked
her
about the water and she responded with what she had responded
to
us earlier, and further complained that she had orphans
to
look after. The Prophet (pbuh) took hold of her water con-
tainer,
mentioned Allah’s name on it, and then wiped over it and
began
to pour the water from her container into our utensils. All
forty
of us drank from it until our thirst was quenched. We filled
our
utensils with water and left hers, which now carried more
water
than they did before.
“The Prophet (pbuh)
then said, ‘Bring what you have (i.e., of food).’
We collected pieces
of bread and dates for her. The Prophet (pbuh)
said: ‘Take this to
your family, and know that we have not decreased
your water at all;
it is only that Allah has quenched our
thirst.’
“The
woman then mounted her camel happily after receiving
food
and went home. When she returned, she said: ‘I met a magician,
or
perhaps a prophet as they claim...’
“Her
family were amazed at her story with the Prophet (pbuh),
and
it wasn’t long before they all accepted Islam.’” (al-Bukhari
and
Muslim)
This woman was
amazed by the Prophet’s treatment and
generosity in her
very first meeting with him.
One day, a man came
to the Prophet (pbuh) asking him for material
aid. The Prophet
(pbuh) gave him a portion of his cattle. The man
returned to his
people and said, “Accept Islam, for Muhammad
gives like a man who
doesn’t fear poverty!”
Anas
said, “The man would come to the Prophet (pbuh) solely
for
worldly reasons, but afterwards his religion became more
precious
to him than the whole world and all that exists therein.”
(Muslim)
A suggestion...
The
first meeting imprints 70% of the impression that one
has
of a person on his mind. Thus, one should treat a person as if
it
is the first and last time he will ever meet him.
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