Prosperity the greatest trial

Prosperity the greatest trial

1991 5-6 May-June 13 Prosperity the greatest trial (79) Saad ibn abi Waqqas records the Prophet as saying: “More than the affliction of hardship, it is the affliction of prosperity that I fear on your account. When you were afflicted by hardship, you showed great forbearance; but as for the world, it is overly sweet and luscious.”

According to Auf ibn Malik, the Prophet also said: “You will be showered with worldly riches, so much so that if you stray, it will be precisely because of them.”

(Al-Tabarani)

The Way of the Prophet of Mercy

1991 5-6 May-June 13 The Way of the Prophet of Mercy (249) After the conquest of Mecca, a number of Meccan women came to the Prophet to accept Islam. Abu Sufyan’s wife, Hind bint Utba ibn Rabiya was one of them. It was this woman who had desecrated the body of Hamza, the Prophet’s uncle. She had come with other women, because she feared that if she talked before the Prophet, he would recognize her and kill her.

At the time of Bayah (oath of allegiance) she therefore hid her face with a veil. Since she belonged to a noble family, her sense of superiority did not allow her to keep quiet. While she was repeating the words of bayah as uttered by the Prophet, when he came to these words, ‘Say that you will not kill your offspring’, Hind could not contain herself and said in contempt: “You have killed them all on the day of Badr, so it is you who should know it.” Alternatively this incident is recorded in these words: “You kill their fathers and advise us regarding their children.”

Even before this, Hind had insulted the Prophet several times, but on this occasion, she insulted him to his face. Had the Prophet’s way been the same as that of the present so-called Muslim leaders, the Prophet would have promptly ordered the execution of Hind. But, on the contrary, he accepted her bayah, and bade her enter the fold of Islam.

The greatest thing that Muslims have lost today is this Sunnah of the Prophet of Mercy.