They did not deceive anyone and did not consider hypocrisy to be permissible.

They did not deceive anyone and did not consider hypocrisy to be permissible. For example, it was possible that Abdul Muttalib, the grandfather of the Prophet and Ali might have slaughtered one of his sons in the path of God because he had firm faith in his Lord and had vowed that if his ten sons survived he would slaughter one of them for the sake of God on the threshold of the Ka`abah.

He was not satisfied about the fulfilment of his vow until he was convinced in the light of his faith that killing his son would not be a means of pleasing God. His faith was so firm and he was so keen to assist the poor and the needy that he concluded a pact with some families of Quraysh to achieve this end. (Bani Umayyah did not become signatories to this pact).

One of the special conditions of this pact was that they would side with the oppressed person and make the oppressor restore his right, help one another in financial matters and restrain the powerful persons from molesting the weak. The incident which led to the conclusion of this pact was as follows:- A Qurayshite purchased some articles from a person belonging to another place and promised to pay the price after a fixed time. He did not, however, make payment on the due date.

He was confident that on account of his family dignity and the support of his kinsmen none would compel him to make payment. Furthermore, the person from whom he had purchased the articles was a non-Meccan and belonged to an ordinary family, and did not enjoy support from anyone. However, Bani Hashim decided to assist him. They made a mutual pact whereby they decided to realize the price of the articles purchased by the Qurayshite and to enforce justice.

However, as this pact did not accord with the nature of Bani Umayyah they opposed it vehemently. The religious and spiritual leadership inherited by Bani Hashim from their ancestors generation after generation, accorded with their nature. They had inherited pure disposition and nobleness from their ancestors.

Every generation of theirs displayed the virtues inherited by it and Bani Hashim continued to maintain dignity and excellence till Almighty God appointed Muhammad to the prophetic mission and also created Ali son of Abu Talib as representatives of the morality and perfection of the Hashimite Family. Have a look at the history of Bani Hashim (i.e.