Life-of-Muhammad

174Life of Muhammad saraising an army to put an end to the Movement of Islam.But a change had come. An erstwhile enemycommander now stood by the Prophet's sa side, as anordinary foot-soldier, holding the stirrup of his Master'smule, and determined to die for his sake. ‘Abbas ra sawthe astonishment in the Prophet's sa look and said,"Prophet sa of God, this is Abu Sufyan ra , son of youruncle, and so your brother. Aren't you pleased withhim?""I am," said the Prophet sa , "and I pray, God mayforgive him all the wrongs he has done." Then turning toAbu Sufyan ra himself, he said, "Brother!" Abu Sufyan racould not restrain the affection welling up in his heart.He bent and kissed the Prophet's sa foot in the stirrup hewas holding (Halbiyya).After the battle of Hunain, the Prophet sa returned thewar material he had received on loan. While returning ithe compensated the lenders many times over. Thosewho had made the loan were touched by the care andconsideration which the Prophet sa had shown inreturning the material and in compensating the lenders.They felt the Prophet sa was no ordinary man, but onewhose moral example stood high above others. Nowonder, Safwan ra joined Islam at once.A SWORN ENEMY BECOMES A DEVOTEDFOLLOWERThe battle of Hunain ever reminds historians ofanother interesting incident which took place while itwas in progress. Shaiba ra , a resident of Mecca and in theservice of the Ka‘ba, took part in the encounter on theside of the enemy. He says that he had only one aimbefore him in this battle—that when the two armies met,he would find an opportunity to kill the Prophet sa . Hewas determined that even if the whole world joined theProphet sa (let alone the whole of Arabia), he would standout and continue to oppose Islam. When fighting