Life-of-Muhammad

160Life of Muhammad saIt is not the day of slaughter. It is the day of forgiveness.The Quraish and the Ka‘ba will be honoured by God."Then he sent for Sa‘d ra , and ordered him to handover the Ansar flag to his son, Qais ra (Hisham, Vol. 2).The command of the Ansar thus passed from Sa‘d ra toQais ra . It was a wise step. It placated the Meccans andsaved the Ansar disappointment. Qais ra , a pious youngman, was fully trusted by the Prophet sa .An incident of his last days illustrates the piety of hischaracter. Lying on his death-bed, Qais ra received hisfriends. Some came and some did not. He could notunderstand this and asked why some of his friends hadnot come to see him. "Your charity is abundant,"explained one.You have been helping the needy by your loans.There are many in the town who are in debt to you.Some may have hesitated to come lest you should askthem for the return of the loans.""Then I have been the cause of keeping my friendsaway. Please announce that no one now owes anythingto Qais ra ." After this announcement Qais ra had so manyvisitors during his last days that the steps to his housegave way.When the Muslim army had marched past, ‘Abbas ratold Abu Sufyan ra to hasten for Mecca and announce tothe Meccans that the Prophet sa had come and explain tothem how they could all have peace. Abu Sufyan rareached Mecca with this message of peace for his town,but his wife, Hind, notorious for her hostility towardsMuslims, met him. A confirmed disbeliever, she was yeta brave woman. She caught Abu Sufyan ra by the beardand called on Meccans to come and kill her cowardlyhusband. Instead of moving his townsmen to sacrificetheir lives for the defence and honour of their town, hewas inviting them to peace.But Abu Sufyan ra could see that Hind was behavingfoolishly "That time is gone," said he. "You had better gohome and sit behind closed doors. I have seen theMuslim army. Not all Arabia could withstand it now."