5. Would you like to meet him outside the institution? (cont.)

In order to understand the difference between the two types of anger, suppose that your younger son came to you one morning and asked you for one or two Riyals to spend at school. You then look through your wallet only to find five hundred Riyal notes.You give it to him anyway, and say to him "This is a 500 riyal note. Only spend two riyals from it and bring the rest back." You remind him repeatedly to ensure that he remembers. By the time he returns home after Dhuhr, you find that all the money has been spent. What do you do? How angry would you be? You may hit him, be harsh with him and deprive him of his pocket money for days to come. Yet, if you were to return from 'Asr one day, to find him playing games on the computer or watching television instead of praying in the mosque, would you then become as angry with him as you would in the former situation? I think we would agree that the first instance of anger would be harsher, more prolonged and more effectual than the latter one. However, the anger of the Messenger of Allah was solely for Allah. Often he would advise people but it would not be accepted from him, and thereupon, he would relax, for guidance is only in the hands of Allah. The Prophet approached Tabuk, on the borders of Syria, and came close to the boundaries of the Roman Empire. He The other opinion sent Dahiya al-Kalbi – may Allah be pleased with him – to Heraclius, the Emperor of Rome. Dahiya upon arriving entered into the presence of Heraclius and handed over to him the letter from the Messenger of Allah . When Heraclius saw the letter he called the priests and the patrician and closed the doors on himself and them for privacy. He said, "As you know, this man has appeared, and he has sent to me a letter calling me to accept one of the three points: 1) That I follow his religion, or; 2) Give him what we own on this land, whilst the land remains ours, or; 3) We go to war with him." Heraclius then said, "By Allah, you already know from reading your books that he would surely take our lands. Why don't we just follow his religion? Or, give him our wealth and keep our lands?" When the priests heard this and realised that he was asking them to leave their religion, they became angry, raised their voices and removed their gowns. Meaning, their gowns dropped due to the severity of their anger and upheaval. They said, "Are you calling us to leave Christianity, or that we should be slaves to a Bedouin who has come to us from Hijaz?" Heraclius stood aghast. He realised that he had surely got himself in trouble by making this suggestion. The priests used to enjoy great authority and popular support amongst the people, thus, Heraclius feared that if they left him now in this state, they would turn the entire empire of Rome against him. He began to calm them down and said, "I only asked you this to test your The other opinion firmness on your religion." Heraclius knew that the Prophet was the Messenger that Jesus had foretold. But he still wanted to confirm his supposition. Heraclius called a person from the Arab tribe called Tajib. They were Christian Arabs. Heraclius said to him, "Call a person from amongst you, a fluent Arabic speaker who can memorise words. Send him to this man [Muhammad ] with my response to his letter." The man from Tajib went and brought a person from Banu Tanukh, who were also Christian Arabs. Heraclius gave the letter to the man from Tanukh to deliver it to the Messenger of Allah and said, "Deliver my letter to this man, and as you speak to him, look out for three things: 1)Does he mention the letter he wrote to me? 2)When he reads my reply, does he mention the night? 3)Notice his back, is there anything particularly noticeable or it? Al-Tanukhi then set off, leaving Syria until he reached Tabuk, to find the Messenger of Allah sitting on the ground with his Companions. Al-Tanukhi came to them and said, "Where is your companion?" Someone said, "There he is." Al-Tanukhi walked up to him, sat in front of him and handed over to him Heraclius's letter. The Prophet took the letter and placed it on his lap. He then said, "Where are you from?" The man replied, "I am the brother of Tanukh." The other opinion The Prophet then said, "Would you like to embrace Islam, the monotheistic religion, the religion of your father Ibrahim?" The Prophet was very eager for this person to embrace Islam.