How could I have struck you?”(287)

The Sixth Event: It is related through an authentic narration that at the battle either of Uhud or Hunayn, Shayba b. ‘Uthman al-Hajabayya, whose uncle and father Hamza had killed, crept up stealthily on the Noble Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) in order to avenge them. On his raising his drawn sword, it suddenly slipped from his hand. God’s Messenger turned and looked at him, putting his hand on his chest. Shayba later said: “At that moment there was no one in the world I loved more.” He believed in him. The Messenger told him to go and fight. Shayba said: “I went and fought in front of God’s Messenger. If I had come across my own father at that time, I would have struck him!”(288)

Also, on the day of the conquest of Makkah, a man called Fadala approached God’s Messenger (Upon whom be blessings and peace) with the intention of striking him. The Messenger looked at him, and said, smiling: “What have you told yourself?”, praying that he might be forgiven. Fadala became a believer, and said: “At that moment there was no one in the world I loved more.”(289)

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(287) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 353; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa: iii, 249; Bayhaqi, Dala’il al-Nubuwwa v, 318.
(288) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 353; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa: iii, 248; al-Haythami, Majma’ al-Zawa’id vi, 183-4; Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa: i, 718; al-‘Asqalani, al-Isaba ii, 157.
(289) Qadi Iyad, al-Shifa: i, 353; al-Khafaji, Sharh al-Shifa: iii, 248; ‘Ali al-Qari, Sharh al-Shifa: i, 718.