When God’s final Messenger ﷺ liberated Mecca in the 8th year of the Hijrah, people entered Islam in droves and pledged allegiance to him. There were, however, some who harboured enmity and resentment towards Islam and hatred towards the Prophet himself. Some may have outwardly accepted Islam, but inwardly they rejected it. One such person was Fudalah bin Umayr al-Mulawwih. He felt that his world had been turned upside down. Mecca had changed completely. The customs that he knew so well were changing, the idols that he worshipped were destroyed and the future looked bleak. The cause of it all was one man, Muhammad. He thought, like many before him had thought, that if he could just get rid of that man, everything could return to normal. Blinded by hatred, he concealed his blade and waited for an opportunity to get close to the Prophet.
His opportunity came in the most sacred place, when the Prophet was circling the Ka’bah. Fudalah drew as close as he could to the Prophet. He could hear the Prophet praising his Lord in a soft voice. If he could just get a little closer to Muhammad, he would be in a perfect position to strike him.
“Is that Fudalah?” the Prophet suddenly said.
“Yes,” Fudalah said, taken aback that the Prophet had noticed him.
“What were you saying to yourself?”
“Nothing. I was just remembering Allah.”
The Prophet turned and smiled at him, a smile that said, “I know exactly what you were thinking.”
“Seek Allah’s forgiveness,” the Prophet said.
Then he put his blessed hand on Fudalah’s chest.
Fudalah felt a coolness and a calmness that he had never experienced before. The adrenaline disappeared. The hatred evaporated. The anger dissipated. His heart was at peace.
He said later: “I swear by Allah, as soon as he lifted his hand from my chest there was not a single one of Allah’s creatures more beloved to me than him.”
The immense compassion of the Messenger ﷺ is often best observed when utter hatred is directed towards him. His light shines brightest when absolute darkness tries to extinguish it. The real victory is not to defeat your enemy but to save him from self-destruction and eternal damnation. Fudalah came as a hater, a disbeliever, a would-be murderer, and he left as a lover, a believer and someone destined for Paradise. On numerous occasions people intended to kill the Prophet. Instead of killing them or even defending himself, his mercy and compassion overcame what Allah calls “the fury of ignorance” (48:26). The fire of their hatred was extinguished by the coolness of his love.
Most people don’t smile at someone who wants to kill them. But the Prophet is different. He smiles, as a father might smile when his son, thinking that he knows best, has done something stupid. It was the smile of someone who has no fear of anyone because he knows he is in God’s protective care. It was also the smile of someone who knows that in spite of the ugliness of Fudalah’s intention, God wanted good for him. He tells him to seek God’s forgiveness, because there is always a way back to God, no matter what we have done.
Then the Prophet reaches out his blessed hand. Time and time again, the Prophet reached out his blessed hand to give, to bless and to heal.
Imam al-Busiri says in the Burdah:
How many sick people have been healed by the touch of his hand
How many released from the tight knots of madness!
Although the Prophet was physically touching Fudalah’s chest, it was his heart that he touched, a heart full of rancour, indignation and blind hatred. And with that one miraculous touch, that heart was emptied of all those things and replaced with love, peace and contentment. We are told that on his way home, Fudalah passed by a woman with whom he would sometimes flirt. She beckoned to him, but he responded with some verses of poetry:
Allah and Islam reject your proposal
If you saw Muhammad and his followers
On the Day of Victory when the idols were shattered
You would have seen Allah’s religion as clear as day
And the face of idolatry covered in darkness
This tells us that faith is strongest when it is founded on love. Once you truly love Allah and His Messenger, everything falls into place. You can see truth from falsehood and obedience and devotion come naturally and easily. In Fudalah’s case, it required a Prophetic intervention for his plan to be thwarted and for love to enter his heart. We think of the state of our own hearts and hope and pray for a Prophetic intervention.
(This story is related by Ibn Hisham in his Sirah and Ibn Kathir in al-Bidayah wa’l-Nihayah)