The sacrifices which the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) offered for Islam, remain unparalleled in history.
The Prophet’s main objective was to encourage people to submit to the truth, and he was prepared to pay any price to achieve it. Great aims, to be achieved, call for great sacrifices, and success in making a reality out of them comes at high cost. The greater the aim, the higher is the price one has to pay to realize it.
A distinction must be made here between material sacrifices and the sacrifices of life. Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) made both. He sacrificed all his personal comforts, and all his material possessions for the sake of Islam. The Apostle of God was persevering and steadfast to the utmost degree. He would encourage the first Muslims to stand up to opposition and to stay with the truth.
The Prophet (PBUH) and his followers were a persecuted minority in Mecca. When the torture became unbearable, he migrated to Medina, a city in northern Arabia, most of whose inhabitants had already accepted Islam. When the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) visited the city of Al-Taif, he was treated in the worst possible manner by the people of the city, who incited the children and slaves against him and they began stoning him until wherever he put his foot there was a stone, and they split open his head and wounded his body.
However he did no more than pray and supplicate to Almighty God saying: ‘O God, to you I complain of my weakness and my lack of means and my insignificance in the eyes of the people, O Most Merciful One, you are the Lord of the enfeebled ones and you are my Lord. To whom will you deliver me? To an enemy from afar who is scowling at me, or an enemy whom you have given dominion over my affair? As long as your anger is not upon me then I do not care, although Your protection is what I prefer.
His most difficult days were during the battles of Ohud and the Confederates (Al-Ahzab). In the battle of Ohud the forces of polytheism routed the Muslims after they had disobeyed the orders given by the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Only ones to remain at the heart of the fighting were the Apostle of God, Imam Ali (A.S), and certain sincere companions.
The Prophet (PBUH) was severely injured; his nose was broken and his face was split open and he lost copious blood until false news spread that he had died. Despite this however, he remained steadfast until God put an end to the adversity. It is remarkable that Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) – the Messenger of God and the Prophet of Islam (PBUH) – did not imitate other leaders who push their followers into the flames of war in the name of “sacrifice” for an ideal. He himself was the first one to offer sacrifices for Islam.
Sources:
– Moral Governance of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) Part 4: Culture & Education, Mohammad Nasr Isfahani
– A Restatement of the History of Islam and Muslims, Sayyid Ali Asghar Razwy
-Justice, Peace and the Prophet Muhammad(PBUH) by Seyyed Muhammad Rizvi
– Religious Tolerance in Islam Religious Tolerance in Islam Seyyed Muhammad Rizvi
-How did Islam Spread? By Sword or By Conversion? , Seyyed Muhammad Rizvi
-The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH), a Mercy to the World, Seyyed Muhammad Sadiq Al-Shirazi.
Source: en.shafaqna.com
