56- THE PROPHET DISTRIBUTES BOOTY
After the conquest of Mecca and the victory of Hunain, the Prophetsa was faced with the task of distributing the money and property paid as ransom or abandoned in the battlefield by the enemy. If custom had been followed, this money and property should have been distributed among the Muslim soldiers who took part in these encounters. But on this occasion, instead of distributing it among the Muslims, the Prophetsa distributed it among the Meccans and the people who lived round about Mecca. These people had yet to show an inclination towards the Faith. Many were professed deniers. Those who had declared their faith were yet new to it. They had no idea how self-denying a people could become after they had accepted Islam. But, instead of benefiting by the example of self-denial and self-sacrifice which they saw, instead of reciprocating the good treatment they received from the Muslims, they became more avaricious and greedier than ever. Their demands began to mount. They mobbed the Prophetsa, and pushed him to a spot under a tree with his mantle having been torn from his shoulders. At last the Prophetsa said to the crowd, “I have nothing else to give. If I had, I would have made it over to you. I am no miser, nor am I mean” (Bukhari, Chap on Faradul Khums).
Then going near his dromedary and pulling out a hair, he said to the crowd, “Out of this money and property I want nothing at all, not even as much as a hair. Only, I must have a fifth, and that for the State. That is the share which Arab custom has ever admitted as just and right. That fifth will not be spent on me. It will be spent on you and your needs. Remember that one who misappropriates or misuses public money will be humiliated in the sight of God on the Judgement Day.”
It has been said by malicious critics that the Prophetsa longed to become a king and to have a kingdom. But imagine him confronted by a mean crowd, while he is already a king. If he had longed to become a king and to have a kingdom, would he have treated a beggarly mob as he treated this Meccan mob? Would he have agreed to be mobbed at all in the way he was? Would he have argued and explained? It is only Prophetsas and Messengersas of God who can set such an example. All the booty, the money, and the valuable material that there was to distribute had been distributed among the deserving and the poor. Still there were those who remained unsatisfied, who mobbed the Prophetsa, protested against the distribution charging the Prophetsa with injustice.
One Dhu’l Khuwaisira came near the Prophetsa and said, “Muhammadsa, I am a witness to what you are doing.” “And what am I doing? ” asked the Prophetsa.
“You are committing an injustice,” said he.
“Woe to you,” said the Prophetsa. “If I can be unjust, then there is no one on the face of the earth who can be just” (Muslim, Kitabul Zakat).
True believers were full of rage. When this man left the assembly some of them said, “This man deserves death. Will you let us kill him?”
“No,” said the Prophetsa. “If he observes our laws and commits no visible offence, how can we kill him?”
“But,” said the believers, “when a person says and does one thing but believes and desires quite another, would he not deserve to be treated accordingly?”
“I cannot deal with people according to what they have in their hearts. God has not charged me with this. I can deal with them according to what they say and do.”
The Prophetsa went on to tell the believers that one day this man and others of his kin would stage a rebellion in Islam. The Prophet’ssa words came true. In the time of ‘Alira, the Fourth Khalifah of Islam, this man and his friends led the rebellion against him and became the leaders of a universally condemned division of Islam, the Khawarij.
After dealing with the Hawazin, the Prophetsa returned to Medina. It was another great day for its people. One great day was when the Prophetsa arrived at Medina, a refugee from the ill-treatment of the Meccans. On this great day, the Prophetsa reentered Medina, full of joy and aware of his determination and promise to make Medina his home.
(Source: LIFE OF MUHAMMAD (pbuh))
BY HADRAT MIRZA BASHIRUDDIN MAHMUD AHMAD
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