Victory and After

Later, he came to the Prophet, repented, and accepted Islam. The Prophet forgave him. 16. Hubayrah ibn Abi Wahab Makhzumi, also a poet, used to deride the Prophet’s mission. He was also on the list of those to be executed. He fled to Najran, where he died an infidel. 17. Hind bint ‘Utbah, the wife of Abu Sufyan. Her hatred of Islam was so great that she extracted Hamzah’s heart in the battle of Uhud and masticated it. She was to be executed, but she came before the Prophet, sought forgiveness and accepted Islam. After the Prophet forgave her and admitted her into Islam, she broke all the idols in her house, saying: “Truly, you have misled us.” It is clear, then, that all the seventeen men and women who were sentenced to death after the conquest of Makkah were guilty of specific crimes. Yet whichever of them sought forgiveness or had someone plead on their behalf was forgiven. None of those who appealed for clemency was killed. Eleven of the seventeen sentenced to death were forgiven directly or through a mediator. Five people who made no plea for clemency were put to death. One fled from Makkah and died a natural death in a faraway land. In the wake of the Conquest of Makkah, how did the Prophet forgive people guilty in the sight of God? When Fatimah, who belonged to the Banu Makhzum tribe, had committed a theft, her kith and kin feared that her hand would be amputated. They approached Usamah ibn Zayd