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

Repel the evil deed with one which is better, then lo! He, between whom and you there was enmity (will become) as though he was a bosom friend." Some people have no solution to their problems and nor is there a way to reform them. You can only deal with them in accordance with their own wishes. In that case, you can either have patience with them, or leave them. It is mentioned that a man once travelled with a businessman. This man would do all the work while travelling, such as serving his companion, offloading the luggage and feeding the camels, until he would become exhausted. On the way back, the two of them stopped to have their meal. They made their camels kneel and dismounted. The man laid down outstretched on the ground while his businessman companion laid out a sheet, offloaded the luggage, and then turned to him and said, "Why don't you gather the wood while I cut the meat?" He replied, "By Allah, I am very tired after riding the camel all this time!" The businessman then stood and gathered the wood, and said, "Can you make fire?" He replied, "The smoke stings me if I come near it", so the man lit the fire himself. The busineesman then said, "Can you please help me in cutting the meat?" He replied, "I fear that I may cut my hand", hence, the man cut the meat himself. The businessman then said, "Could you put the meat in the pan and cook the meal?" He replied, "It is very tiring for me to watch the meal before it is properly cooked". The businessman then began to cook himself. Respond to mistreatment with kindness When he finally finished cooking and felt very tired, he lay down on the ground, and said, "Could you please lay out the dining mat, and pour the meal out onto the plates?" He replied, "I am feeling really heavy, and I don't have the energy to do that right now." The businessman then got up, prepared the meal and laid it out on the mat. The businessman said, "Would you come over and eat?" He replied, "By Allah, I feel very embarrassed at constantly making excuses, so I shall relent this time!" He then got up and ate the meal! You might meet people who are like him. Do not be saddened by this. Rather, be firm like a mountain. Our model educator, the Prophet ,would deal with people rationally and not emotionally. He would bear other people's mistakes and still be gentle with them. Just imagine! There he was, sitting in a blessed gathering, surrounded by his companions, and in came a Bedouin asking him for his help with paying off blood-money. This man − or an acquaintance of his − had killed someone, and so he wanted the Prophet to help him financially to enable him to pay the blood-money to the victim's family. The Prophet then gave him something and enquired out of kindness, "Have I been good to you?" The Bedouin said, "No! You have neither been good nor courteous!" Upon hearing this, some Muslims became angry and were about to fight him, but the Prophet signalled to them not to. Respond to mistreatment with kindness The Prophet then walked towards his house, called the Bedouin and said, "You came to us, asked for our help, and we helped you. But then you said to us what you said." Then the Prophet gave him more of what he could find in his house and said, "Have I been good to you?" The Bedouin said, "Yes! May Allah reward you in your family and your kinsfolk." The Prophet was delighted to know that the Bedouin was pleased, but he was afraid that his Companions might still have hatred towards him, or that one of them may see him in the street and show his resentment towards the Bedouin. Thus, he wanted to remove this feeling from their hearts. He said to the Bedouin, "You came to us for help and we gave it to you, but then you said what you said. My Companions are resentful towards you for this reason. If you were to go to them now and say to them what you have said to me now, perhaps this feeling would be removed from their hearts." When the Bedouin came, the Prophet said, "This friend of ours came to us for help and we gave it to him, but then he said what he said. We then called him over and gave him more, and now he says that he is pleased." He then turned to the Bedouin and said, "Isn't that so?" The Bedouin replied, "Yes! May Allah reward you in your family and your kin." When the Bedouin decided to leave and go to his family, the Prophet decided to give his Companions a lesson in how to win people's hearts.