Life-of-Muhammad

Life of Muhammad sa 81Refugees. Excitement prevailed. Nobody inquired whathad happened. Young men on both sides drew theirswords. ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Salul thought it a Godsend.He decided to add fuel to the fire. "You have gonetoo far in your indulgence to the Refugees. Your goodtreatment of them has turned their heads, and now theyare trying to dominate you in every way." The speechmight have had the effect which ‘Abdullah desired. Thequarrel might have assumed serious proportions. But itdid not. ‘Abdullah was wrong in assessing the effect ofhis mischievous speech. Believing, however, that theAnsar were being persuaded, he went so far as to say:Let us return to Medina. Then will the most honouredamong its citizens turn out the most despised (Bukhari).By the most honoured citizen, he meant himself andby the most despised he meant the Prophet sa As soon ashe said this, believing Muslims were able to see throughthe mischief. It was not an innocent speech they hadlistened to, they said, but the speech of Satan who hadcome to lead them astray. A young man stood up andreported to the Prophet sa through his uncle. TheProphet sa sent for ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Salul and hisfriends and asked them what had happened. ‘Abdullahand his friends denied that they had taken any suchpart as had been attributed to them in this incident. TheProphet sa said nothing. But the truth began to spread.In the course of time ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Salul'sown son, ‘Abdullah ra , also heard about it. Young‘Abdullah ra at once saw the Prophet sa , and said, "OProphet sa , my father has insulted you. Death is hispunishment. If you decide so, I would rather have youcommand me to kill my father. If you commandsomeone else, and my father dies at his hands, I may beled to avenge my father by killing that man. Maybe Iincur the displeasure of God in this way.""But," said the Prophet sa , "I have no such intention. Iwill treat your father with compassion andconsideration." When young ‘Abdullah ra compared the