During the life of Prophet Muhammad SAW (peace be upon him), he encountered three tragic events during such a short period of time. This was known as the year of sorrow. During this year, Prophet Muhammad SAW had experience the passing away of his uncle Abi Talib who had looked after him and was a rock for him during the persecution he faced in Makkah. The Prophet also witness the passing of his beloved wife Khadijah RA who had been with him from the first moments of prophethood and had supported him throughout all the doubters and abuse they faced. The final event was the Prophet Muhammad’s trip to the city of Taif.
And it is an incident that took place during this trip that really intrigued me. In an attempt to spread Islam, Prophet Muhammad SAW travelled to the city of Taif and speak to the leaders of the community and shared the religion of Islam to them with the hope that they may accept his message.
However the contrary happened and the leaders had told Prophet Muhammad (SAW) to leave the city and on his departure commanded the criminals and juveniles to throw stones at him. Upon having exited the city Prophet Muhammad was very hurt and was bleeding. He ended up under a tree in a nearby orchard and decided to take a rest. While resting a couple of the Prophets family members so him in the distance and commanded there servant Addas to take to him a tray of grapes.
As Addas presented the tray to Prophet Muhammad SAW he had taken a grape and said ‘Bismillah ir rahman ni raheem’ (Allah the most merciful the ever merciful). Upon hearing this, Addas was in shock and stated that these were the words that people would say in his land to which Prophet SAW stated that his brother Prophet Yunas AS (PBUH) was from. In that encounter with the Prophet, Addas then took the Shahdah (declaration of faith) and accepted Islam.
After this event an angel came to the Prophet SAW and said to him that Allah SWT has instructed him, to crush the city of Taif between the two mountains it lies between due to the ill treatment of the Prophet SAW. Prophet Muhammad SAW in response to this request said he would not wish this to happen with the hope that one day maybe there children will accept Islam.
What I found fascinating about this story as a listener was the correlation between Addas accepting Islam and Prophet Muhammad SAW decision to not decide to destroy Taif. Addas story brought me a sense of hope during a time of despair and became an inspiration to me.
Once I had been completing a retake exam for a course I was attending and had made the rookie mistake - talking about the exam with other students straight after the exam (if you have any exams, I would advised never doing this!). And as expected I worked myself into a commotion and thought I had failed my exam. I was distraught thinking that having failed the exam that my prospective career was over.
It was Jummah, and no matter if I’m happy or sad, a Jummah lunch is still a special occasion, so having finished Salaat I went to a restaurant while I was there, and when I was there i saw two men who were both deaf communicating their order to the waiter. With that it had hit me that in fact my worries and struggles are nothing compared to what others go through and those gentlemen were an inspiration to me that despite the difficulties they encounter they could live a life like everyone else and made me realise that in fact, failing an exam is not the end of the world.
Not matter what difficulties you are going through and no matter wherever you are, when in despair, just take a moment and look around for Addas and Insha Allah it will help to bring you back on track.
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