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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)
Ref - The Moral Vision
- by Maulana Wahiduddin Khan
