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

He said to them, "The example of me with Respond to mistreatment with kindness this Bedouin is like that of a man whose camel runs away from him. A group of people then chase after the camel, as it runs away from them being frightened. They only manage to make it flee further. So the camel's owner finally says,'Leave me alone with the camel! I am gentler with it and I know how it thinks!' The camel's owner then grabs some fallen dates from the ground and calls it until it finally comes to him. He then ties the saddle around it and mounts. If I were to have obeyed you when he said what he said, he would have entered the fire of Hell." Meaning, if you were to have made him flee, he might have left the religion and entered the fire of Hell. (Narrated by al-Bazzar with a disputed chain) Gentleness only beautifies an action while harshness only serves to tarnish it. "The good deed and the evil deed are not alike. 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." It is mentioned that when the Prophet conquered Makkah, and began to circumambulate the Ka'bah, there came Fadhalah bin 'Umayr – a person who pretended to be a Muslim – and began to make Tawaaf behind the Prophet waiting for an opportunity to kill him by surprise. When he came close to the Prophet , he became aware of him. He turned around and said to him, "Are you Fadhalah?" He replied, "Yes, I am Fadhalah, O Messenger of Allah!" The Prophet asked, "What were you thinking of doing?" He replied, "Nothing! I was only remembering Allah!" The Prophet then laughed and said, "I seek Allah's forgive36 Respond to mistreatment with kindness ness." Fadhalah later said about this incident: "The Messenger of Allah then placed his hand over my chest, and my heart came to rest. By Allah, the Messenger of Allah did not lift his hand from my chest except that Allah had placed in my heart the strongest love for him." Fadhalah headed to his family and passed by a woman he would sit and chat with. When she saw him, she said, "Why don't you come over for a chat?" He replied, "No." She insisted, "Come over for a chat." "No," Fadhala said, "Allah and Islam forbid you from it. 'If you were to see Muhammad and his party victorious the day the idols were smashed 'You would have witnessed Allah's religion become manifest As polytheism became engulfed with darkness.' Thereafter, Fadhalah became one of the righteous Muslims. The Prophet used to capture people's hearts by forgiving them. He would bear their harms in order to change them and bring them closer to what was good for them. Abu Talib would frequently protect the Prophet from the harms of the Quraysh. After Abu Talib passed away, the Quraysh increased its pressure on the Prophet . He was harmed the way he was never harmed whilst his uncle was alive. The Prophet began to consider another source of refuge, aid and support. He left for Ta'if in order to seek the support and Respond to mistreatment with kindness assistance of the tribe of Thaqif. He entered Ta'if and proceeded to meet three men who were the leaders and the noblest men of Thaqif. They were three brothers; 'Abd Yalayl bin 'Amr, and his brothers Mas'ud and Habib. The Prophet sat with them and called them to Allah. He asked them to help him in championing the cause of Islam and to stand by him against those who oppose him from his own people. However, their response was disgraceful! One of them said, "I would tear down the covering of Ka'bah if Allah has really sent you!" The other mocked, "Didn't Allah find anyone else to send?" The third person thought about what his response should be. He wanted his words to be more malicious than that of his brothers. He said, "By Allah, I will never respond to you! If you really are the Messenger of Allah as you claim, then you are too dangerous to be responded to! If you are lying upon Allah, then I should never speak to you!" The Prophet then stood up to leave after feeling disappointed by the best people from Thaqif. He also feared that the Quraysh may find out that Thaqif had rejected him, and subsequently begin to harm him more. Thus he said to them, "Whatever you do, please keep this meeting a secret." But they did not. Instead, they incited the slaves and the foolish against him, until they began to follow him to hurl curses and abuse at him. Respond to mistreatment with kindness They gathered along his path in two lines and the Prophet was walking very quickly in between to save himself.