Pardon Them, Ask Forgiveness for Them, Consult Them

A further question: how did the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) deal with the archers and the hypocrites? The archers disobeyed him, and the hypocrites also disobeyed him — so how did he deal with them? He dealt with them differently. Of the archers, Allah (swt) says:

By mercy from Allah, he was lenient with them; and if he had been rude in speech and harsh of heart, they would have disbanded from about him. His method of daʿwah had been based on being lenient, being soft, not harsh in word or speech, not rude in speech or harsh of heart — that is how he was able to bring these hearts together. So how did he deal with the archers? Allah said: pardon them, and ask forgiveness for them. The believers had lost because of them; the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) was injured because of them; seventeen Muslims were killed because of them — and then he is told to pardon them. Not only pardon them, but Allah wants him to ask forgiveness for them: the very one who suffered because of their mistake is to ask Allah to forgive them. And there is the matter of the shūrā, already described: some of the Muslims — the youth especially, and those who had missed the Battle of Badr — had asked the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) to go out and fight outside Madīnah, but that was not his own opinion; his opinion was that they should stay in Madīnah and fight from within, and that was the better opinion. Nevertheless, Allah (swt) said: "and consult them in the matter" — even though consultation had led to defeat, this was not to prevent him from making shūrā again. Shūrā is carried on even if the result of the shūrā was wrong; shūrā is the right way to go. This Ghazwah is loaded with lessons: shūrā is carried on, and when a decision has been made, then reliance is placed upon Allah — once a matter is decided, it is gone ahead with; there is no wavering, no changing, no oscillating, for Allah loves those who rely upon Him. So how did he deal with the archers? Number one, he pardoned them. Number two, he asked forgiveness for them. Number three, he consulted them — even where they gave him a wrong opinion, he carried on consulting them. So if this was the instruction of Allah to a Prophet of Allah, receiving revelation from Allah, who is infallible, how much weight does that place on consultation for poor, humble men who are not?