The Apostle of God said to him...

The Apostle of God said to him: 'Act well towards those who act well and overlook those who act wrongly.' This was one of the reasons for the transformation of this city, at the hands of !It"b, from being a city of tyrants, rebels, infidels, murderers and criminals, one which had made war on the Apostle of God for twenty years, into an extremely civil city. This was because they knew that if they acted wrongly he would overlook it and if they acted well he would act well towards them.

By virtue of this constitution the city of Mecca did not rebel against the Apostle of God afterwards despite the fact that he had placed no army or security force there. Rather he had captured people's hearts with his compassion, his grace, his love and his beneficence.

When the Apostle of God came to power he said: 'Islam waives whatever came before it'128, meaning that whoever has previously done something wrong such as spilling blood or plundering or making war or joining with the Polytheists [against the Apostle] will be forgiven when they enter Islam. 128 ghurar al-9ikam: p.73, 9adith 53. When the Apostle of God liberated the city of Mecca he was asked: 'O Apostle of God, will you not stay in your own house?', for the Apostle used to have a house in Mecca.

He said: 'Do I have a house?' This means that the Apostle gave up [his rights] even to the house that the Infidels had confiscated before his arrival in Mecca. He realised that the unbeliever who had taken his house was sure to have let other people stay in that house; tenants or family or the like, and that if he were to take back his house it would mean that he would have to evict those people.

The Apostle did not seek to exercise even this much of his rights in case some said: 'When the Apostle of God took control of Mecca we were living in this house and he evicted us from our dwelling and abode.' Imam Ali did the same thing when he was pledged in as the Caliph some twenty-five years after the death of the prophet.

He did not even take back the land of Fadak which was his and his sons' personal property as the inheritance of Lady F"Uimah al-Zahr"' despite the fact that from the day [he was pledged in as Caliph], it was within his power to do so. This is mentioned in the book nahj al-bal"ghah (The Path of Eloquence, a collection of Imam Ali's sayings). Imam Ali was not such a worldly person that he had any need for rich furnishings and mansions and palaces and fine horses and camels and the like.