The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 79
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 79 this time he won. He laughed, saying, “Ayesha, we have come out even. ” Ayesha once confessed to him that she had suspected him of unfairness, but had soon found out that she was mistaken. He remarked, “Ayesha, there is a Satan inside every one of us, of whose promptings we should beware. ” “Is there a Satan inside you also?” she rejoined. “Yes,” he replied, “but he has accepted submission. ” One day he happened to pass near a date - palm garden where some people were grafting trees. He inquired what they were doing, and when they explained the process he asked them why they did not do it another way. The following year these people complained th at they had adopted his suggestion, but that the trees had yielded less fruit. “But I had merely made an inquiry from you,” he said. “You know more about these things than I do. You should have followed the method which experience had taught you was best. ” He was often called upon to decide disputes and give judgment. He warned, however, that he had no means of discovering the truth except through what was stated before him. It was quite possible that one party to a dispute might succeed by plausible argumen ts in persuading him that right was on his side, when in fact the other party was in the right, and that he might give judgment in favor of the first. Even so, a person in whose favor judgment was given must remember that he was answerable to God. The mere fact that he had obtained a judgment from the Prophet would not serve to absolve him if he were not in fact in the right. The Prophet’s clemency was well known. A poor man