The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 41
II - Brief Note on Islāmic Equality 41 “Before you, many a people were destroyed by the fact that when a peasant committed a crime, they would punish him, but when a nobleman would commit a crime, they would leave him. Hence, listen very attentively! I swear by that being in Whose hand is my life that even if my daughter Fāṭimah was to commit theft, I would cut off her hand, as per the Islāmic law. ” 1 What powerful words are these, and how majestically was Islāmic equality established! Furthermore, this teaching was such that the Caliphs of the Holy Prophet sa also strictly adhered to it. Hence, Ḥaḍrat Abū Bakr ra , the first Caliph (may Allāh be pleased with him), stated in his very first sermon as Caliph: ٌ إن ْ شَاء َ اللَّه ُ ، وَالْقَوِي ُّ فِيكُم ْ ضَعِيف ا ُ ُأرِيح َ عَلَيْه ِ حَقَّه ا اَلضَّعِيف ُ فِيكُم ْ قَوِي ٌّ عِنْدِي حَتَّى ُ خُذ َ الْحَق َّ مِنْه آ عِنْدِي حَتَّى “O Ye Muslims! The weak among you shall be the most powerful in my eyes until I acquire his due right; And the most powerful of you shall be weak in my eyes until I take back the right which he has usurped of another. ” 2 Similarly, there is a narration about Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar ra , the second Caliph (may Allāh be pleased with him), that on one occasion a powerful chieftain of northern-Arabia named Jabalah bin Aiham, who had become Muslim, slapped a poor Muslim in his fury. When Ḥaḍrat ‘Umar ra was informed of this occurrence, he summoned Jabalah and said, “Jabalah! I hear that you have struck a poor Muslim. If this is true, by God, retribution shall be taken from you. ” Upon this, Jabalah, who perhaps still possessed the arrogant obstinacy of the era of the Jāhilīyyah , turned proud and became an apostate. 3 Complete Equality in the Division of National Offices After judicial rights, the question of the distribution of offices and 1 Ṣaḥīḥul-Bukhārī, Kitābul-Ḥudūd, Bābu Iqāmatil-Ḥudūdi ‘Alash-Sharīfi Wal-Waḍī‘, Ḥadīth No. 6787 2 As-Sīratun-Nabawiyyah, By Abū Muḥammad ‘Abdul-Mālik bin Hishām, pp. 900-901, Amru Saqīfati Banī Sā’idah, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (2001) 3 Futūhul-Buldān, By Abul-Ḥasan Aḥmad bin Yaḥyā bin Jābir Al-Baghdādī Ash-Shahīru Bil- Balādhuriyyi, p. 87, Yaumul-Yarmūk, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon (2000)