The Seal of Prophets - His Personality and Character — Page 28
28 The Seal of Prophets for buying something, the shopkeepers could not distinguish between them as to who was the master and who was the slave. Once Ali ra , who later became the Fourth Caliph of Islam, after the Holy Prophet sa , went shopping and asked for two identical pieces of clothing. The shopkeeper suggested that he should buy clothes of different colour. He said: “My master, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, told me to treat my slaves as I would my own kith and kin. So whatever I wear, I shall make my slave wear the same”. Abu Masood Badri ra relates: “I was striking a slave with a whip when I heard a voice behind me: “Beware, Abu Masood”. I was so upset that I did not recognise the voice until the person drew near and I discovered it was the Holy Prophet sa and he was saying: “Beware, Abu Masood. Allah has more power over you than you have over this slave”, and I responded: “Messenger of Allah, I will set him free to win the pleasure of Allah”. The Holy Prophet sa observed: “If you had not done that you would have been singed by the fire”. Zaid ra is often quoted in the history of Islam because he is the only slave to have lived with the Holy Founder sa of Islam. He reports: “During my service to the Holy Prophet sa , I made many mistakes, but he never said woe to me, even once. He never criticised me. There was no question of beating me of course. ” Zaid ra was bought as a slave by Muhammad (before his prophethood) during the pre-Islamic period. Zaid’s father and uncle who lived in Persia, came to learn that Zaid ra could be found in Mecca serving as a slave to (Hadhrat) Muhammad (may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). They