Big-Heartedness
The first Umayyad Caliph, Mu’awiya, was ruling in Damascus. Most of the eastern Byzantine Empire had been conquered by Islam. The Caesar had been forced to withdraw to Constantinople and hold out there. Yet he made incursions into Muslim territory. In one clash the Romans imprisoned some Muslims, one of whom was a man belonging to the Quraysh. When the Caesar learnt of this, he asked for the captives to be brought before him.
The Muslim captives were brought into the Caesar’s court with their hands tied and feet in chains. The emperor addressed them disparagingly. “The punishment for such as you will be a slow death. It will be a lesson to you and your compatriots to stop encroaching upon our territory:”
The emperor’s words wounded the Qurayshi’s sense of honour, and he answered back in a severe tone. “As long as you remain an enemy of Islam,” he said, “There will be no peace between us. The price of our blood is a cheap one to pay for death in the path of God. But how precious our blood becomes when it is spilled by a worthless ruler like you.”
A patriarch of the Caesar’s court became incensed on hearing the Qurayshi’s words. He came up and hit the Muslim captive on both sides of the face. The Qurayshi’s hands being tied, he could offer no resistance. What he did was cry out in a loud voice: “Mu’awiya, where are you now? Are you not going to take revenge on these dastardly people who have stricken a man of noble birth—one of your own household?” Then he looked towards the patriarch. “I swear by God that there will come a day when you will realize who I am.”
Mu’awiya was greatly aggrieved when news of this incident reached Damascus. He resolved to do something to make amends for what had happened. First of all, he arranged an exchange of prisoners with the Byzantine emperor. So great was his determination to secure the release of his men that he agreed to free a greater number of Roman soldiers in exchange for them.
Once the captives had returned home, Mu’awiya surreptitiously hatched a plot. He obtained the services of a man of Syria, a merchant who knew the Roman language. Mu’awiya gave him a great quantity of gold and money, charging him with the task of arresting the patriarch and bringing him to Damascus.
The Syrian travelled as a merchant from Damascus to Constantinople. Before long he had established the identity of the patriarch and made friends with him, wooing him with gifts of perfumes, jewels, silk and other such precious items. The Syrian made several trips between the two cities, bringing the patriarch gifts each time. The whole operation was conducted in the utmost secrecy, with no one learning of it save Mu’awiya, and the merchant himself.
A lengthy period elapsed. Contacts between the two men became so close that the patriarch requested certain specific gifts, which the Syrian promised to bring. On his return to Damascus, he purchased a swift camel and, along with a camel driver, brought it to a place near Constantinople. He himself went on to meet the patriarch. “I have brought all your gifts,” he told the Roman, “Let’s go and collect them.” Thus, he contrived to take the patriarch to where the camel and his companion were waiting. There both men caught hold of him, tied his hands and feet and setting him upon the camel, set off towards Damascus.
In this way the patriarch was brought before Mu’awiya. The caliph called a large meeting, to which the captive was also summoned. The Qurayshi who had been struck by the Byzantine courtier was astonished to see his antagonist appear from behind a curtain. “Cousin,” Mu’awiya said to his fellow Qurayshi, “Now is the time for you to be thankful to this Syrian. He has done exactly as I told him to, without the slightest omission. His efforts have enabled you to extract your right from the patriarch, without wronging him.”
“If I had not sworn an oath,” said the Qurayshi, “I would have forgiven him.” Raising his hand, he struck the patriarch once. “That suffices,” he said. “I am pardoning him what remains to be done by way of punishment.”
“You are our guest for three days,” Mu’awiya told the patriarch. When the three days were over, he was allowed to return to Constantinople, along with the Syrian and the presents he had been promised. Afterwards, all the Roman patriarchs gathered before the Caesar. They advised him not to mistreat Muslim prisoners from now on. “I have not seen any people as respectful, generous and good-natured as they are,” said the patriarch who had been their guest. “If Mu’awiya had wanted to imprison me, he could have done so; but that was not his wish.”
(AI-Dawah, Mecca, 14 Jamad al-Ula, 1405 AH)
