Let's go back to the
Seerah (biography) and see what the prophetic attitude is even in the face of manifest evil like you've described.
Hind bint `Utbah went out with the army of Quraish in Uhud prompting them to her utmost to eradicate Muslims. When the pagan army fled away from Muslims at the beginning of the battle, she was very angry. On that day, she did not flee like the men had. On the other hand, she committed a very evil and repugnant act. In addition to mutilating the Muslim corpses, she approached Hamzah ibn `Andil-Muttalib and split open his belly and out of rancor and enmity to Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him), she pulled out his liver and chewed on it.
At the end of the battle when the disbelievers won Muslims, Hind committed a very repugnant act. She began maiming the corpses of Muslims one by one. She was cutting ears and noses. She approached Hamzah ibn `Andil-Muttalib and split open his interior, she pulled out his liver and, out of rancor, she masticated it, but she spit it out as it tasted unpleasant to her.
Can you imagine the distress of Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him)? And yes, indeed, he
(peace and blessings be upon him) was very distressed.
Moreover, Hind went out with the disbelievers in Al-Ahzab battle and continued confronting Islam shortly before the opening of Mecca, even she refuse her husband attitude when he asked the people of Mecca to enter their homes seeking the protection of the prophet. Besides, she prompted people of Mecca to kill her husband as he acted submissively to Prophet Muhammad
(peace and blessings be upon him).
However, when she came to the Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) to accept Islam, he
(peace and blessings be upon him) accepted her Islam. If Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) had stopped respecting her as a human being, she would never have been able to bring Islam.
Forgiving a person who has wronged you or a wrongdoer who has harmed your family member is very, very, very hard. If I pretended to be a saint here to you or anyone, I'd surely be a liar. For sure, I would be shaken, and like any human being, I would probably want revenge and would be emotionally and mentally disturbed due to what's happened. I'd want the perpetrator punished. However, at the same time, I'd also know that my feelings do not determine Islam, but Islam should determine my feelings. Therefore, I'd still have to know that respecting human being is the default position in itself and the evidence for this is as follows:
Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) said, "All creatures are like Allah's family. The best one in the sight of Allah is he who treats his family well." (Bayhaqi).
Inscribed on the sword of Prophet Muhammad
were the words: "Forgive him who wrongs you; join him who cuts you off; do good to him who does evil to you, and speak the truth although it be against yourself."
Also, is
shirk (idolatry) not more heinous than any other sin a person commits in the world? Yet Qais ibn Sa’d reported: "A funeral passed by the Messenger of Allah,
peace and blessings be upon him, and he stood up. It was said to him, 'It is a Jew.' The Prophet said, 'Was he not a soul?'" (Bukhari.)
If Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) showed respect to a non-Muslim in a funeral bier upon his death, then is it not more the right of a sinful human being upon us to show respect for him/her when he/she is alive?
Prophet
(peace and blessings be upon him) showed that respect to the non-Muslim in the funeral bier when he himself
(peace and blessings be upon him) is sinless. Is it not more then our responsibility to show respect for a sinful human being when we are not sinless?
AllahuAkbar (God is Great).
Bookmarks