The following are a few short stories about the life of Muhammad.
The black stone The Old Man Other People
The Prophet and the black stone
The Kaba is a large building in the shape of a cube and covered in black cloth. It can be found in Makkah the capital City of Saudi Arabia and is very important to millions of Muslims all around the world today. However before Islam came to Makkah, it was also important to the pagans that lived in the city. They would keep idols of their gods inside the Kaba and see it as their place of worship. They also kept a very special stone called the ‘black stone’* within one of the outside walls of the Kaba. This stone is believed to have fallen from the skies and was used to mark their place of worship.
One day a huge flood washed through the city of Makkah, doing lots of damage on its way. The water left large cracks in the walls of the Kaba, and as the Kaba was so crucial to the people of Makkah they began to rebuild it immediately. When they had almost finished the work, they started to argue amongst themselves, as to who should have the privilege of putting the black stone back in its place in the wall. As this was at a time when there were many different tribes in Makkah, each tribe leader wanted to be the one to do it.
Very quickly a big fight started between the different tribes and because of all the bickering, they stopped building the Kaba for 5 whole days. Just when it looked like the fighting would go on forever an old man called Abu Omayeh got all the leaders together and said ‘I have an idea, choose the first person to walk through the doors as the judge’. Everyone agreed, and when they saw the first man to walk through the doors was Muhammad they cheered and said ‘he is the trustworthy of Makkah, we are happy for him to be our judge’.
Muhammad thought carefully. He asked the people to get a large piece of cloth, then he picked up the black stone and put it in the middle of it. He told each tribe leader to hold one corner of the cloth. This way all the tribes would play a part in carrying the stone back to the Kaba. When they were very close to the wall where the stone would rest, Muhammad himself picked it up and put it in its place, thereby avoiding any further fighting.
This story shows how the people of Makkah trusted Muhammad even before he became a Prophet. The people knew that if there was a fight or a disagreement and they needed a fair judge to settle it Muhammad would be the best person to ask. He demonstrated his abilities as a fair and wise judge in this story, as his bright idea meant that everyone got to share in carrying the stone back to its rightful home.
*The black stone is called 'al-Hajar-ul-Aswad' and is believed to have been around at the time of Adam and Eve; the first human beings on earth.
One day the Prophet Muhammad saw an old man struggling to put his belongings on his horse, so went to him and gave him a hand with his load. The Prophet then found out that the man was planning on travelling to another city, so he asked himself who will help this old man as he crosses the desert and who will help him take his things off and on his horse as he stops and rests on his long journey? The Prophet made his decision and offered to accompany the old man on his way.
The old man was delighted and said ‘It would be a pleasure to have you come along with me, but please do me one favour, don’t talk to me about Muhammad. He is a terrible young man and because of him and his new religion, there is no peace in Mecca’. Even though the man was talking about him, the Prophet silently listened to the man without saying one bad thing in return and continued to walk with him.
Then the old man said ‘This man Muhammad has really upset me; everyone in Makkah is talking about him. Apparently, he was known as the trusted one amongst his people, but now he is dividing everyone with his new religion that says there is only one God. So please don’t talk to me about Muhammad and if you do that, then we can be good friends’. Again, the Prophet remained silent and continued to walk and listen to his concerns.
When they reached the end of the journey, the old man turned to the Prophet and said ‘You’re such a kind and good man for helping me with my things and coming all this way with me. Thank you so much.’ The Prophet then began to walk away, but the old man stopped him and exclaimed, ‘We have been travelling together all this time and I don’t know your name! What is your name young man?’ The Prophet then replied ‘My name is Muhammad’.
The old man couldn’t believe his ears. Could this really be the same man that he had heard so many bad things about? But he was so impressed by his willingness to help him, his calm and patient personality, and his gentle behaviour, even after he had been so rude! The old man then realised that he had been wrong and accepted that Muhammad must be a Prophet of God.
The Prophet Muhammad is introduced in the Qur’an in these words:
'And We have not sent you forth but as a mercy to mankind' (21:107).
Once the Prophet was badly stoned by the people of Taif; a city he visited to teach the people about Islam. When he attempted to tell them about Islam, instead of listening to him, they set the people and children of Taif upon him, who kept chasing him till nightfall. They chased him and stoned him until he began to bleed all over. Even at that point, when he was utterly exhausted and bleeding from head to foot, all he said was: "O my Lord, guide my people along the true path as they are ignorant of the truth."
His heart was filled with intense love for all human kind irrespective of their background, faith, or colour. Once he advised his companions to regard all people as their brothers and sisters. He added: "You are all Adam’s offspring and Adam was born of clay."
All this tells us what kind of awareness he wanted to bring about in man. His mission was to help people understand the reality that all men and women, although living in different parts of the world, and seemingly different from one another were each other’s blood brothers.
The Prophet once said, "A true believer is one with whom others feel secure. One who returns love for hatred." The Prophet made it clear that one who would only return love for love was not as good as the one who returned love for hate. We should never think it is only if people treat us well, that we should treat them well. We should instead be good to those who are not good to us and to not harm those who harm us.
The Prophet once borrowed some money from a moneylender. After a few days the man came to ask for his money. The Prophet told him that at that moment he had nothing to pay him with. The man said that he wouldn’t let him go until he had paid him back. And so the man stayed there, from morning till night, not letting the Prophet leave.
At that time the Prophet was the ruler of the city and could have easily asked the man to be taken away. His companions wanted to chase the man away. But the Prophet wouldn’t let them, saying, "The Lord has forbidden us to wrong anyone." The man continued to hold the Prophet captive until the following morning. But with the first light of dawn, the man was moved by the Prophet’s tolerance, and seeing this he embraced Islam. In spite of being a rich man, he had detained the Prophet the day before on account of a few pence. But now the Prophet’s noble conduct had had such an impact on him that he was willing to give all his wealth to the Prophet, saying, "Spend it as you please."
The Prophet said: "If a believer is not able to benefit others, he must at least do them no harm." This shows that to the Prophet the man who becomes useful to others is the best. But if a person can’t benefit others, he should at least not trouble them. For a person to be a really good Muslim, he or she must live in this world without troubling others. There is no third option.
