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

Therefore, if you are to offer your advice, you must make sure that your argument is strong while advising him aptly. A Bedouin once sat with a group of righteous people, as they spoke about kindness to parents. While the Bedouin sat and listened, one of them turned to him and said, "O so-and-so! How are you with your mother?" The Bedouin replied, "I am kind to her." He said, "What do you do to show your kindness to her?" The Bedouin replied, "By Allah! I never hit her with a stick!" Meaning, if he ever wanted to hit her, he would hit her either with his hand or his turban, but not with a stick out of his extreme kindness towards her! The poor man had no idea about right and wrong. So be soft and kind so that the one you are addressing may be convinced of his mistake. At the time of the Prophet , there was a woman who would borrow items from other women and forget to return them. Upon being reminded, she would deny that she had ever borrowed anything. This continued until it became unbearable and the people complained to the Messenger of Allah , who Convince him of his error so he may accept advice decreed that her hand be cut off. However, it became agonising for the Quraysh that her hand be severed whilst she was from one of their greatest tribes. They decided to speak to the Prophet in order to lighten the sentence by giving her another punishment, such as lashing or a fine, etc. Each time a person came to discuss with the Messenger of Allah about this issue, he returned unsuccessfully. They decided that no one would dare to speak to the Messenger of Allah except Usamah bin Zayd, the most beloved person to the Messenger of Allah and the son of the most beloved to him, for both he and his father were brought up in the house of the Prophet , such that he considered them his sons. Thus, they spoke to Usamah. Usamah came to the Messenger of Allah . The Prophet welcomed him and sat with him. Usamah began to speak to the Prophet about lightening the sentence. He argued that the woman was from the most noble of people. Usamah continued to speak as the Prophet listened, trying to convince the Prophet of his view. The Prophet looked at Usamah as he was discussing and debating with all conviction, not knowing that what he was asking for was actually not possible! The Prophet's complexion changed and he became angry. The first thing he did was to explain to him his error, saying "Are you interceding with me to violate one of the legal punishments of Allah?" He was explaining the reason behind his anger towards Usamah, and that none may intercede with regards to Allah's legal punishments which He has obligated upon His Convince him of his error so he may accept advice servants to implement. Usamah realised his mistake and immediately said to the Prophet , "Seek forgiveness for me, O Messenger of Allah!" When the evening came, the Prophet stood up and addressed the people. He praised Allah as He should be praised and said, "To proceed, the people before you were only destroyed because when a noble person from amongst them stole, they left him, and when a weak person stole, they implemented the legal punishment on him. I swear by the One who has my soul in His Hand, if Fatimah the daughter of Muhammad were to steal, I would cut off her hand!" He then ordered that the woman's hand be cut off. 'A'ishah – may Allah be pleased with her – said of this woman, "She sincerely repented thereafter and got married. She used to come to me and I would speak to the Messenger of Allah about her needs." (al-Bukhari and Muslim) Usamah bin Zayd – may Allah be pleased with him – had various moments with the Messenger of Allah and all of them are full of examples of mercy and gentle ways of dealing. Usamah said, "The Messenger of Allah dispatched us to al-Huraqat, a sub-tribe of Juhaynah, so we defeated them and pursued them in their trails. A man from the Ansaar and I came across a man from amongst them. Upon seeing us, he hid behind a tree. When we caught up with him and raised a sword to strike him with, he said, 'There is no one worthy of worship but Allah!' "My colleague lowered his sword, but I thought the man was Convince him of his error so he may accept advice only saying it out of his fear of the sword. Thus, I attacked and killed him. But then, I felt uneasy about it in my heart. So I came to the Messenger of Allah and informed him of what had happened.