The Prophet Muhammad A simple Guide to his Life
Trusting Human Nature
~ 210 ~
tribes in and around Arabia started coming to the
Prophet and accepting Islam. One such incident of
this period concerns the tribe of
Thaqif.
A delegation
from this tribe came to Madinah in 9 AH. The
Prophet of Islam conveyed to them the teachings of
Islam. They were ready to accept Islam, but they
insisted on many conditions being met. They said
that they would say prayers, although it was an act
of humiliation, but they would neither pay charity
nor perform
jihad.
In spite of all these conditions,
the Prophet accepted their oath of allegiance and
admitted them into the fold of Islam.
Certain Muslims had reservations about this kind of
conversion, but the Prophet said: After they have
accepted Islam, they will pay charity as well as
perform
jihad (Seerah ibn Kathir,
4/56).
If the Prophet of Islam had concentrated only on the
utterances of the people of
Thaqif
, he would not
have accepted their Islam. But the Prophet had full
trust in human nature. Instead of seeing them in
terms of the present, the Prophet saw them as they
would be in the future. His estimate was proved
entirely right. The people of
Thaqif
took
no time in
