JULY 31

The Example of the Prophet

At the time of the Prophet Muhammad there was a certain Musailma Ibn Hubaib who hailed from Yamama and falsely claimed to be a prophet of God. In the year 10 AH he sent two emissaries to the Prophet bearing a letter from him, with the following message:

“From Musailma, the prophet of God, to Muhammad, the Prophet of God. Peace be upon you. I have been made your partner in prophethood. Half of the country of Arabia belongs to us, and half of it belong to the Quraish; but the Quraish tend to encroach on our territory.”

When Musailma’s envoys came before the Prophet, and the letter was read out, the Prophet asked them what they had to say. They replied that all they wanted to say was contained in Musailma’s letter. “If it weren’t for the fact that envoys must not be harmed,” the Prophet told them, “I would have had you both killed.” He then dictated the following letter to Musailma:

“In the name of God, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From the Prophet of God to Musailma, the liar. Peace be upon him who follows divine guidance. The earth is God’s; He gives it to those whom he chooses of His servants. Happy shall be the lot of the righteous.”

There are two lessons to be learnt from this episode. For one, it provides a comparison between a true and a false prophet. Musailma’s letter is quite clearly that of a false prophet, for it makes nothing but material claims, whereas the Prophet’s letter is quite clearly that of a true one, because it speaks only of the realms of God.

The other thing we can learn from the example set by the Prophet is that envoys of other nations should not be killed or harmed, even if they have committed the most heinous crimes. They should simply be sent back to their homelands. The Islamic procedure in this matter is the same as the internationally accepted one.