After the crushing defeat that afflicted the Army of Abu’...

After the crushing defeat that afflicted the Army of Abu’ Sufyan at the Battle of Badr, she became very sad for the members of her family whom she lost at the battle. Hence she provoked the young and the old, male and female, to demand vengeance for their dead and to get ready for another battle. Accordingly, the Battle of Uhud occurred. At it Hamza, the Prophet’s uncle, and seventy Muslim heroes were martyred.

Had it not for Allah’s gentleness and bounty, the Message of Islam would have been destroyed. The hero of Islam Imam ‘Ali, the Commander of the faithful, peace be on himdefended the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, and protected him with his own soul. Hind, Mu‘awiya’s mother, maimed the corpse of the great martyr, Hamza. With this she took her vengeance. She refreshed her heart, rested her eye, and quenched her spites. Abu’ Sufyan won victory and returned to Mecca.

The Conquer of Mecca After the Battle of Uhud, the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his Household, returned to Medina (Yathrib). There he gathered his troops and prepared them to conquer Mecca, which was the only center of his enemies. With Allah’s help and support he was able to conquer it without shedding blood, and then he pardoned his enemies in general. With this he was able to show the mercy of Islam, its kindness and dignity.

He, may Allah bless him and his family, did not follow the international practices which permit destroying the aggressors. He included all the aggressors in his mercy. Among those whom his pardon included was Abu’ Sufyan and the members of his family, who stayed at the corners of abasement and laziness, and upon whom the Muslims looked down, for they were the defeated enemies and opponents of Islam. Mu‘awiya was one of those prisoners who were released on the Day of the Conquer of Mecca.

He was a pauper and walked bare-footed beside the saddlebags of ‘Alqama b. Wa’il al-Hadrami.[^1] A woman counseled with the Prophet, may Allah bless him and his family, in order to marry Mu‘awiya, and he scolded her, saying: “Mu‘awiya is a pauper.” As Islam abased the Umayyads and destroyed their glory, they harbored malice against it, showed enmity toward it, and planed by day and night to destroy it.