The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page ccliii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION 'Ikrimah replied, "There is nothing more or better I can ask you for than that you should pray for me to God and ask for His forgiveness and whatever excesses and enormities I have committed against you. " Hearing this entreaty, the Prophet prayed to God at once and said: "My God, forgive the enmity which ‘Ikrimah has borne against me. Forgive him the abuse which has issued from his lips. " The Prophet then stood up and put his mantle over ‘Ikrimah and said, "Whoever comes to me, believing in God, is one with me. My house is as much his as mine. " The conversion of 'Ikrimah fulfilled a prophecy which the Holy Prophet had made many years before. The Prophet, addressing his Companions, had once said: "I have had a vision in which I saw that I was in Paradise. I saw there a bunch of grapes. When I asked for whom the bunch was meant, someone replied saying, 'For Abū Jahl'. " Referring to this vision on this occasion of the conversion of 'Ikrimah, the Prophet said he did not understand the vision at first. How could Abū Jahl, an enemy of believers, enter Paradise and how could he have a bunch of grapes provided for him. "But now," said the Prophet, "I understand my vision; the bunch of grapes was meant for 'Ikrimah. Only, instead of the son I was shown the father, a substitution common in visions and dreams" (Ḥalbiyyah, Vol. 3, p. 104). Of the persons who had been ordered to be executed as exceptions to the general amnesty was one who had been responsible for the cruel murder of Zainab, a daughter of the Prophet. This man was Habbār. He had cut the girths of Zainab's camel, on which Zainab fell to the ground and, being with child, suffered abortion. A little later she died. This was one of the inhumanities which he had committed and for which he deserved the penalty of death. This man now came to the Prophet and said, "Prophet of God, I ran away from you and went to Iran, but the thought came to me that God had rid us of our pagan beliefs and saved us from spiritual death. Instead of going to others and seeking shelter with them why not go to the Prophet himself, acknowledge my faults and my sins and ask for his forgiveness?" The Prophet was moved and said, "Habbār, if God has planted in your heart the love of Islam, how can I refuse to forgive you? I forgive everything you have done before this. " One cannot describe in detail the enormities these men had committed against Islam and Muslims. Yet how easily the Prophet forgave them! This spirit of forgiveness converted the most stone-hearted adversaries into devotees of the Prophet. ccxxvii