A dead disbeliever honored on the Day of Badr

Yesterday during the the 2nd last slot of the Ilmfest seminar, Shaykh Yasir Qadhi gave a powerful speech about muslim and non-muslim relations, focusing specifically on one kafir(disbeliever) from the seerah who did many great things for the muslims, Mut'im Ibn Adi. Mut'im ibn Adi was a chieftain of one of the Qurayshi tribes in Makkah. He was of the generation of Abu Talib. He was one of those chieftains who participated in a covenant called Hilf al-Fudhul together with the prophet SAW when he was 20 years old, that is before he became prophet. The treaty came about as a result of an injustice that had occurred to one of the merchants in Makkah, who was owed some money by a nobleman amongst the Qurash who refused to pay him back the money he owed. The merchant went from chieftain to chieftain of the different tribes to ask for their help to get his money back, but they all made excuses. So he composed a poem and read it out in public in front of the Ka'bah. A powerful and eloquent poem about how the Quraysh were betrayers of the trust they were given of taking care of the people who came to Makkah. Soon the whole of Arabia found out about this shameful incident, and so the chieftains of the Quraysh gathered in their nadwah (like a parliament) and concluded the Hilf al Fudhul, which was basically a treaty about protecting the rights of those who are considered low and oppressed in a society. The prophet SAW was a part of this treaty, and many years later at the age of about 60, he would speak highly of this treaty and say that if he was given a chance to be a part of such a treaty again, he would never let that chance go. This story can be found in Bukhari. The point here is, the Prophet was happy to be part of a treaty concluded by non-muslims because of its noble goals.

Now back to Mut'im ibn Adi. He was of those who opposed the boycott on the Muslims in Makkah. He refused to be part of it and even resorted to secretly helping the muslims. He would every few weeks send a camel load of food to the muslims who were staying outside of Makkah, by himself at night so no one would find out about it. He was also the one with three other Quraysh noblemen who concocted a plan to break the boycott. During one of the nadwahs, he and his comrades plotted to stand up at different times to oppose to boycott against their own kin. This plot worked and the boycott was halted, at the ire of Abu Jahl of course.

Mut'im was also the one who offered protection to the Prophet when he came back from Taif. The Prophet's uncle Abu Talib had been his protector all this while. When the uncle died, Abu Lahab assumed leadership of Banu Hasyim and refused to provide political asylum to the Prophet SAW which was the main reason why he went to Taif in the first place. We know what happened at Taif, and he was driven away. Before reaching Makkah, he met with Bilal and asked Bilal to ask a few people he had in mind if they would give him protection, without which Abu Jahl and friends would kill him. All the people he had in mind rejected his request, but Mut'im responded postiviely. That night, Mut'im sent his own sons, equipped with swords to go an escort the Prophet back into the city and the next morning, he himself made a public announcement that he had given Rasulullah his protection. The other Quraysh leaders were angry at this, but did not do anyting because Mut'im said he was using his right as a chieftain to give protection to whomever he wants, not because he liked Islam.

Mut'im ibn Adi did other good things for the Muslims too but the ones mentioned above are his main contributions to the Muslim ummah. He died just before the Battle of Badr and perhaps Allah saved him from such a humiliating death because of what he had done for the muslims. Now, at the Battle of Badr, the muslim army killed off all the big names amongst the Quraysh like Umayyah ibn khalaf, Abu Jahal and others. They captured 72 prisoners who were to be ransomed for 4000 silver coins each, a great fortune for the muslims. Now imagine the Prophet standing there on the battle field, after such a fantastic and miraculous victory, looking at the prisoners of war, when he said, " If Mut'im ibn Adi was alive, and he asked me to release these filthy prisoners, i would let all of them go." Subhanallah! The muslims have just finished an impossible battle, they've won and are elated, and it is at this time the Prophet chooses to honor Mut'im ibn Adi, who was dead and gone. Why would the Prophet do that for a kafir, and one who was dead and gone?? And at such a time and place?? Well because the prophet appreciated the ideals that Mut'im lived by. He appreciated all that Mut'im had done for the muslims, and so chose to honor him at such an auspicious time. Mut'im's name lives on in the seerah books (and in Bukhari too in case some of you start to doubt the authenticity of this story), so that we Muslims can learn how the Prophet dealt with non-muslims who lived by excellent ideals and justice, honoring them and appreciating their efforts. It doesn't matter that he was a kafir. The Prophet was not honoring him for his theology, but for his ideals, ideals shared by us Muslims.

There is much to learn from the story of Mut'im ibn Adi in specific, and the seerah in general, about the relationship between the Prophet and his companions with non-muslims living amongst them. For example, the Prophet loved his uncle Abu Talib dearly, who in the end died a kaafir. This love is even testified by Allah in surah al-Qasas verse 56:

"Verily! You (O Muhammad SAW) guide not whom you love, but Allâh guides whom He wills. And He knows best those who are the guided. "

The word Allah uses to describe Rasulullah's feeling towards Abu Talib is 'ahbabta', which means you love. But sadly, we have people who misuse the concept of wala and bara' and tell us that it is impermissible to love a non-muslim. For them loving a non-muslim equals loving their theology, which is just stupid, really. We would do well to study the seerah and follow in the footsteps of al-Mustafa, instead of misrepresesting the religion with bigotry, calling all 'others' penceroboh or pendatang!