The Holy Quran with Five Volume Commentary (Vol 1) — Page cccii
GENERAL INTRODUCTION During the course of a war, a party of Muslims came upon a non-Muslim who used to lie in wait in lonely places and whenever he found a solitary Muslim he would attack and kill him. On this occasion Usāmah bin Zaid pursued him and, having overtaken and caught him, drew his sword to kill him. When the man found that no way of escape was left open to him he repeated the first portion of the Muslim confession of faith, viz. , "There is no being worthy of worship save Allah," thereby indicating that he had accepted Islam. Usāmah paid no heed to this and killed him. When this, among the other incidents of the campaign, was related to the Holy Prophet he sent for Usāmah and questioned him. On his confirming the account of the incident the Prophet said: "How will it be with you on the Day of Judgement when his confession of faith will bear witness in his favour?" Usāmah replied, "O Messenger of Allah! that man was a murderer of Muslims and his declaring himself to be a Muslim was merely a ruse to escape just retribution. " But the Prophet went on repeating: "Usāmah, how will it be with you when the man's confession of faith will bear witness against you on the Day of Judgement?" meaning that God would hold Usāmah to account for the man's death, for though he had been guilty of the murder of Muslims, his reciting the confession was an indication that he had repented of his misdeeds. Usāmah protested that the man's reciting of confession of faith was due to his fear of death and was not an indication of repentance. Thereupon the Holy Prophet said: "Did you peep into his heart to see whether he was telling the truth or not?" and went on repeating: "How will you answer on the Day of Judgement when his confession of faith will be cited in evidence against you?" Usāmah says: "On hearing the Prophet repeat this so often I wished that I had become a convert to Islam only that moment and had not been guilty of what was charged against me" (Muslim, Kitābul-Īmān). The Holy Prophet was ever ready to forgive people their faults and trespasses. One of the persons concerned in the affair of the slander against his wife, 'A'ishah, was dependent for his living upon the charity of Abu Bakr ('A'ishah's father). When the falsehood of the allegation against ‘Ã'ishah was clearly established, Abu Bakr stopped his support of this man. Even this is evidence of Abu Bakr's commendable moderation and restraint. An average person would have proceeded to extreme lengths against a dependent who had been guilty of defaming his daughter. When the Prophet came to know of what Abu Bakr had done, he spoke to him and pointed out that though the man had been at fault, it did not behove a person like Abu Bakr to deprive him of his means of sustenance on account of his wrongdoing. Thereupon Abū Bakr resumed his patronage of the man (Bukhārī, Kitābut-Tafsir). cclxxvi