Respect

Now we know that the Messenger lived forty years of his life

before he received the first words of God's Message,

and during that time he established

a reputation for honesty and trustworthiness.

He had shown his concern for justice

twenty years before the Revelation,

when he participated in the Hilf al-Fudul,

the Pact of Chivalry.

And as a young man, his reputation for honesty and intelligence

in business and trading

was enough to attract the attention of the blessed Khadija,

who saw that he was not only truthful and trustworthy,

but also wise and fair with other people.

For her it was enough to propose marriage to the young Muhammad,

and his reputation in the community steadily grew during the fifteen years they were together

before the first verses of the Qur'an were revealed.

He was known as Muhammad al-Amin,

Muhammad the Trustworthy,

long before he began to speak God's Message.

His wisdom can be seen in the story of the rebuilding of Ka'aba,

and how he came up with a solution

to the problem of positioning the Black Stone

that the various tribal leaders all felt was fair and just.

And even in the early days of the Revelation,

when he stood in front of the Makkans

and asked them whether they trusted his word,

all who knew him said they did.

Of course, most changed their minds

when he told them that their gods of wood and stone were worthless,

and that it was only Allah

Who could help them in this life

and would judge them in the next.

But to some his Message was irresistible,

and soon his reputation spread beyond Makkah

to Yathrib in the north.

Now the various tribes of Yathrib were constantly fighting with each other,

to the extent that the main tribes of Khazraj and Aws fought a civil war

that climaxed in the Battle of Bu'ath

that many thought would result in the complete extermination of one tribe or another.

So they thought it best to find a leader

to whom all the tribes could pledge allegiance.

But with neither side

willing to submit to anyone from the opposite side,

they needed to look further afield,

and a number of people in Yathrib who had accepted Islam

told others of the teachings of the Messenger.

So when a group of them were on pilgrimage to Makkah

they spoke with Muhammad

explaining how their community was being torn apart

by enmity between the tribes.

Impressed by his response, they formed an alliance

and when they returned to Yathrib eagerly spread the words of the Messenger,

so that when the next month of pilgrimage arrived a much larger group spoke with Muhammad,

inviting him to base his community in Yathrib

and pledging to defend him against his enemies.

They saw that the muslims followed Muhammad's teachings

not because they feared him,

but because they loved him

and trusted him,

and he loved them in return

and never betrayed their trust.

Even those who had been his fiercest enemies

were welcomed into the fold of Islam

with no concern for their former acts of enmity.

The Messenger was concerned for justice

not revenge,

inviting people to believe

rather than trying to kill those who disagreed with him.

At the core of his being, his heart was filled with mercy,

for as God makes clear in the words of the Qur'an,

Muhammad was sent only as a mercy to all beings.