Gifts That Softened Hearts

To show what the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was doing — the reason, the justification behind it — there is an authentic narration from Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah. He said: mā zāla Rasūlu Allāhi yuʿṭīnī min ghanāʾimi Ḥunaynin wa huwa abghaḍu al-khalqi ilayya ḥattā mā khalaqa Allāhu shayʾan aḥabba ilayya minh (Muslim 2313). Ṣafwān says: the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) kept on giving me from the booty of Ḥunayn, and he was the most hateful of creation to me, until Allah had not created anything more beloved to me than him. So it was these gifts that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was giving them that softened their hearts and made them love the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).

Really, when one looks at the sīrah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him), one sees that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was a master in dealing with people. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was blessed by Allah with the ability to draw together the hearts of the community and forge an ummah. And Allah (ʿazza wa jall) told him:

If you were to spend all that is in the earth to bring their hearts together, you would not do so; but it is Allah who brought them together. Allah (ʿazza wa jall) brought these people together; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was the means of bringing them together; and Allah (ʿazza wa jall) is telling Muḥammad (peace be upon him) that it is not from you, but it is from Allah (ʿazza wa jall). But the point to make here is that we need to understand and learn the sunnah of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him). We sometimes have a limited understanding of what sunnah is. The way the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) dealt with people is sunnah; the way he made daʿwah is sunnah; the way the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) fought is sunnah. These are all parts of the sunnah.

So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was giving Ṣafwān ibn Umayyah, who had been an enemy of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) until that moment. The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) put all of that aside, put it behind him, and kept giving Ṣafwān until Ṣafwān was pleased and happy. And he says, and admits, that Muḥammad (peace be upon him) was the most disliked person to him, and now he loved him more than anybody else.

But: I give people because of what I see in their hearts of anxiety and greed, and I leave people to what Allah has placed in their hearts of richness and goodness — among them is ʿAmr ibn Taghlib. ʿAmr says: by Allah, I would not have red camels in exchange for that word of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) (al-Bukhārī 923). ʿAmr ibn Taghlib says that the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was distributing wealth, or sabī — sabī are the captive women and children — so he distributed it: he gave some men and left out others. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was told that the ones he had left out were upset at being left out. So the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) praised Allah and thanked Him, and then said: by Allah, I give one man and leave out another, and the one I leave out is more beloved to me than the one I give; but I give people because I see greed in their hearts, and I entrust others to the contentment and goodness Allah has blessed them with in their hearts — and one of them is ʿAmr ibn Taghlib.

ʿAmr ibn Taghlib then says: by Allah, I love these words of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) more than all the red camels. The red camels, as mentioned before, are the most valuable type of camel: if you gave me a whole world of red camels, I would leave that and rather have the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) give me this badge of honour. So one sees how the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) gave Ṣafwān, and that made Ṣafwān love the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him); and the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) withheld from ʿAmr ibn Taghlib, and that made ʿAmr ibn Taghlib love the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) more, because the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) mentioned his name and said: I entrust him to his īmān. But there were some people who were not only greedy, but complaining — and here is an example of that, which is mentioned in al-Bukhārī.