Life-of-Muhammad

240Life of Muhammad saand had not been guilty of what was charged against me"(Muslim, Kitabul Iman).The Holy Prophet sa was ever ready to forgive peopletheir faults and trespasses. One of the personsconcerned in the affair of the slander against his wife,‘A’isha ra , was dependent for his living upon the charityof Abu Bakr ra (‘A’isha ra 's father). When the falsehood ofthe allegation against ‘A’isha ra was clearly established,Abu Bakr ra stopped his support of this man. Even this isevidence of Abu Bakr's ra commendable moderation andrestraint. An average person would have proceeded toextreme lengths against a dependent who had beenguilty of defaming his daughter. When the Prophet sacame to know of what Abu Bakr ra had done, he spoke tohim and pointed out that though the man had been atfault, it did not behove a person like Abu Bakr ra todeprive him of his means of sustenance on account ofhis wrongdoing. Thereupon Abu Bakr ra resumed hispatronage of the man (Bukhari, Kitabut Tafsir).PATIENCE IN ADVERSITYThe Holy Prophet sa used to say: "For a Muslim, life isall full of good and nobody but a true believer findshimself in that position; for, if he meets with success heis grateful to God and becomes the recipient of greaterfavours from Him. On the other hand, if he suffers painor tribulation he endures it with patience and thusagain makes himself deserving of God's favours." Whenhis end drew near and he gave vent to a groan in theextremity of his condition, his daughter Fatima raexclaimed that she could not bear to see him in thatstate. Thereupon he said: "Have patience! Your fatherwill suffer no pain after this day," meaning that all histroubles were confined to this world and from themoment that he was released from this life and enteredthe presence of his Maker he would be subject to nofurther pain. During the prevalence of an epidemic he