The Finality of Prophethood

finds that some people are his antagonists and others his friends, then he should not consider this difference to be a real one. Trusting the nature man is born with; the dayee must think along the lines that if some people are his direct supporters, others who appear to be antagonists are his potential supporters. This thinking gives enormous hope to a dayee. He nurtures in his heart the same well-wishing for his opponent as he feels towards his friend. He is able to address his apparent enemies cool-mindedly, and without losing his balance, until the time comes when his enemies turn into his friends. This is the reality pointed out in the Quran: Good and evil deeds are not equal. Repel evil with what is better; then you will see that one who was once your enemy has become your dearest friend. (The Quran, 41: 34) An enemy becoming a friend does not mean that earlier he was fire, then he became water. The truth is that he was water already, only some superficial layers had obscured his true personality. The dayee manages with his unilateral good behaviour to remove these superficial layers. After that the real man within comes out. And, at the level of the real, inner personality, every human being is predisposed to truth. No one is averse to it as far as his nature is concerned. The Prophet of Islam availed of the services of non-Muslims many times in his life. After the death of Abu Talib, when he was deprived of the patronage of his tribe, he approached different tribes to seek their support, in spite of the fact that they were idolaters. Then after his return from Taif, he managed to enter Makkah once again under the patronage of Mutim ibn Adi, a leader of an idolatrous tribe. In his journey to Madinah, he chose a mushrik (idolater) Abdullah ibn Urayqit as his guide. There are many such incidents of this nature, which show that the Prophet repeatedly trusted non-Muslims and sought their help. Dividing people into friends and enemies is against the sunnah of the Prophet and against human nature as well. A study of seerah shows that trusting human nature is a permanent principle of Islam. According to Islam the words uttered by people, or even their activities, are not worthy of great consideration. For all these things are ephemeral. While dealing with people, the actual factor worth considering is human nature. Man is basically subordinated to the temperament he is born with. All other things are only of a temporary nature. They do not enjoy the position of a decisive element in the matter of human behaviour. This sunnah of the Prophet shows that in both individual or social affairs, we must always ignore superficial factors. It is the demand of human nature which has to be given the greatest importance and making concessions to it is a sure guarantee of all kinds of success. If an individual or a group becomes provoked, then this provocation is not worthy of real consideration. What should be considered is that, despite apparent provocation, man’s nature should continue to remain unchanged. In such a situation, if we are able to give concessions to human nature by avoiding provocation, problems will ultimately solve themselves. The provocation will vanish on its own and then what will be left will be the element of humanity, which is the nature with which God created us.