The Hardest Day of the Prophet’s Life

26Mar10

Aisha (radi Allahu anha) asked the Prophet (sal Allahu alayhi wa sallam) once, “What was the hardest day in your life?”

Reflecting on the seerah, what would you think was the hardest day in his life?

Was it the day he was finally forced to migrate from his beloved city of Makkah, after years of efforts to bring Islam to the people and the people to Islam? He left with great emotions, saying, “By Allah, you are the best and most beloved land to Allah, and had I not been forced to leave I would never have left.” [Tirmidhi 3860, Ibn Majah 3099, Ahmad 17966, al-Darimi 2398; also in another context in Tirmidhi 3861]

Or was it the day he saw the disemboweled corpse of his own dear uncle Hamza, or the bodies of his best companions in the aftermath of Uhud, many of them still bleeding? In that instance, he prayed to Allah, “O Allah forgive my people for they know not what they do.” [Bukhari]

Was it the time when he and his early Companions, including his beloved wife Khadijah, were confined to the Valley in an economic and social boycott and facing slow starvation?

No. That wasn’t it. The hardest time in his life, by his own words, was his da’wah trip to Ta’if, where he went with great hopes and aspirations, and exerted tremendous efforts in the da’wah. Yet he failed so miserably, with not a single person listening to him, and was driven out so cruelly, that he was bleeding from head-to-toe, and fell into a ditch at Qarn al-Tha‘ālib (Qarn al-Manazil).

Why was that day so hard? No one died, as on other occasions. The Prophet was hurt badly, but he was hurt more so in Uhud, where he lost some teeth and almost died. What was the secret?

It was an emotional pain. The pain of rejection of his da‘wah! That was why, when Jibreel came down with the Angel of the Mountains to crush these people, the Prophet, still bleeding from their rejection, stopped them immediately and said those Golden words of mercy and optimism, “No! I have hope that from their progeny will be those who worship Allah!”

What a merciful Prophet! How intense with his love for humanity, and how earnest his desire to save each and every one of us from the Fire?

[from a class taught by Sheikh Waleed Basyouni at IlmSummit 2008]

Filed under: ilmsummit, seerah   |  Leave a Comment