Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 239have been subjected to a penalty which had beenimposed upon him solely on account of his confession.The Prophet sa laid down that the Law was concernedonly with overt acts. During the course of a war, a partyof Muslims came upon a non-Muslim who used to lie inwait in lonely places and whenever he found a solitaryMuslim he would attack and kill him. On this occasionUsama bin Zaid ra pursued him and, having overtakenand caught him, drew his sword to kill him. When theman found that no way of escape was left open to himhe repeated the first portion of the Muslim confession offaith, viz., "There is no being worthy of worship saveAllah," thereby indicating that he had accepted Islam.Usama ra paid no heed to this and killed him. When this,among the other incidents of the campaign, was relatedto the Holy Prophet sa he sent for Usama ra andquestioned him. On his confirming the account of theincident the Prophet sa said: "How will it be with you onthe Day of Judgement when his confession of faith willbear witness in his favour?" Usama ra replied, "OMessenger of Allah sa ! that man was a murderer ofMuslims and his declaring himself to be a Muslim wasmerely a ruse to escape just retribution." But theProphet sa went on repeating: "Usama ra , how will it bewith you when the man's confession of faith will bearwitness against you on the Day of Judgement?" meaningthat God would hold Usama ra to account for the man'sdeath, for though he had been guilty of the murder ofMuslims, his reciting the confession was an indicationthat he had repented of his misdeeds. Usama ra protestedthat the man's reciting of confession of faith was due tohis fear of death and was not an indication ofrepentance. Thereupon the Holy Prophet sa said:"Did you peep into his heart to see whether he was tellingthe truth or not?" and went on repeating: "How will youanswer on the Day of Judgement when his confession offaith will be cited in evidence against you?" Usama ra says:"On hearing the Prophet sa repeat this so often I wishedthat I had become a convert to Islam only that moment