Enemy Becomes a Friend

In the sixth year after the hijrah,
the Prophet, peace be upon him,
decided to expand the scope of
his mission. He sent eight letters
to rulers in the Arabian
peninsula and surrounding areas
inviting them to Islam. One of
these rulers was Thumamah ibn
Uthal.
Thumamah was one of the most
powerful Arab rulers in pre-
Qur'anic times. This is not
surprising since he was a
chieftain of the Banu Hanifah
and one of the rulers of al-
Yamamah whose word no one
dared to challenge or disobey.
When Thumamah received the
Prophet's letter, he was
consumed by anger and rejected
it. He refused to listen to the
invitation of Truth and
goodness. More than that, he
felt a strong desire to go and kill
the Prophet and bury his
mission with him.
Thumamah waited and waited
for a convenient time to carry
out his design against the
Prophet until eventually
forgetfulness caused him to lose
interest. One of his uncles,
however, reminded him of his
plan, praising what he intended
to do.
In the pursuit of his evil design
against the Prophet, Thumamah
met and killed a group of the
Prophet's companions. The
Prophet thereupon declared him
a wanted man who could
lawfully be killed on sight.
Not long afterwards, Thumamah
decided to perform umrah. He
wanted to perform tawaf
around the Ka'bah and sacrifice
to the idols there (The people of
Makkah, before becoming
Muslims, placed hundreds of
idols in the Holy Ka'bah. These
idols were later destroyed by
the Prophet). So he left al-
Yamamah for Makkah. As he was
passing near Madinah, an
incident took place which he
had not anticipated.
Groups of Muslims were
patrolling the districts of
Madinah and outlying areas on
the lookout for any strangers or
anyone intent on causing
trouble. One of these groups
came upon Thumamah and
apprehended him but they did
not know who he was. They
took him to Madinah and tied
him to one of the columns in
the mosque. They waited for the
Prophet himself to question the
man and decide what should be
done with him.
When the Prophet was about to
enter the mosque, he saw
Thumamah and asked his
companions, "Do you know
whom you have taken?"
"No, messenger of God," they
replied.
"This is Thumamah ibn Uthal al-
Hanafi," he said. "You have done
well in capturing him."
The Prophet then returned
home to his family and said,
"Get what food you can and
send it to Thumamah ibn Uthal."
He then ordered his camel to be
milked for him. All this was
done before he met Thumamah
or had spoken to him.
The Prophet then approached
Thumamah hoping to encourage
him to become a Muslim. "What
do you have to say for yourself"
he asked.
"If you want to kill in reprisal,"
Thumamah replied, "you can
have someone of noble blood to
kill. If, out of your bounty, you
want to forgive, I shall be
grateful. If you want money in
compensation, I shall give you
whatever amount you ask."
The Prophet then left him for
two days, but still personally
sent him food and drink and
milk from his camel. The
Prophet went back to him and
asked, "What do you have to say
for yourself" Thumamah
repeated what he had said the
day before. The Prophet then
left and came back to him the
following day. "What do you
have to say for yourself?" he
asked again and Thumamah
repeated what he had said once
more. Then the Prophet turned
to his companions and said, "Set
him free."
Thumamah left the mosque of
the Prophet and rode until he
came to a palm grove on the
outskirts of Madinah near al-
Baqi' (a place of luxuriant
vegetation which later became a
cemetery for many of the
Prophet's companions). He
watered his camel and washed
himself well. Then he turned
back and made his way to the
Prophet's mosque. There, he
stood before a congregation of
Muslims and said:
"I bear witness that there is no
god but Allah and I bear witness
that Muhammad is His servant
and His messenger." He then
went to the Prophet, upon
whom be peace, and said:
"O Muhammad, by God, there
was never on this earth a face
more detestable than yours.
Now, yours is the dearest face
of all to me."
"I have killed some of your
men," he continued, "I am at
your mercy. What will you have
done to me?"
"There is now no blame on you,
Thumamah," replied the
Prophet. "Becoming a Muslim
obliterates past actions and
marks a new beginning."
Source: "Companions of The
Prophet", Vol.1, By: Abdul Wahid
Hamid.