Nasb-and-the-Nawasib

Waḥshī said, “I would thus avoid approaching him till Allāh claimed his
life.” 1
Nabī H disliked looking at the face of Waḥshī due to the overwhelming
pain which had overtaken him after the horrendous murder and mutilation of
his uncle. Hence the expression of what he was experiencing was restricted to his
desire not to see him, for Allah E had sent him as a mercy to the worlds and
Islam obliterates whatever crimes were committed before it. That is why he said:
دعوه فإلسالم رجل واحد أحب إلي من قتل ألف كافر
Leave him, for the Islam of one man is more beloved to me than the killing
of a thousand disbelievers. 2
A similar incident is what is reported from ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿAbd Allah ibn Ubay ibn
Salūl. He is reported to have come to Nabī H and said:
يا رسول الله،‏ إنه بلغني أنك تريد أن تقتل أبي،‏ فوالذي بعثك بالحق ما تأملت وجهه قط هيبة له،‏ وإن شئت
أن آتيك برأسه لتيتك،‏ فإني أكره أن أرى قاتل أبي
O Rasūl Allah, it has reached me that you intend to kill my father. By the
one who has sent you with the truth, I have never closely looked at his face
out of awe for him. If you want me to come with his head I will come with
it to you, for I dislike seeing the killer of my father. 3
Likewise here we have one of the people of Baṣrah reminiscing over their wounds
which had not healed due to the Khawārij defeating them, and describing the
agony and frustration which they still felt two years after the experience he says:
1 Ṣaḥīḥ al-Bukhārī, chapter of the battles of Nabī H, sub-chapter regarding the murder of
Ḥamzah ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, ḥadīth no. 3844. As for the addition “I would avoid approaching him…”
it is mentioned in al-Muʿjam al-Kabīr of al-Ṭabarānī, ḥadīth no. 2947.
2 Al-Rawḍ al-Unuf 3/256; Fatḥ al-Bārī 7/370.
3 Musnad al-Ḥumaydī, ḥadīth no. 1240; al-Iṣābah fī Tamyīz al-Ṣaḥābah 4/155.
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