The Prophet's way in correcting people's mistakes

Anas Ibn Malik, may Allah be pleased with him, said:"Whilst we were in
the Mosque with the Messenger of Allaha Bedouin came and stood
urinating in the Mosque. The Companions of the Messenger of Allahsaid,
'Stop it! Stop it!' and were about to attack him. But the Messenger of
Allahsaid, 'Do not interrupt him; leave him alone.' So they lefthim
until he had finished urinating, then the Messenger of Allahcalled him
and said to him, 'In these Mosques it is not right to do anything like
urinating or defecating; they are only for remembering Allaah, praying
and reading Qur'aan,' or words to that effect. Then he commanded a man
who was there to bring a bucket of water and throw it over the
)urine(, andhe did so.")Muslim(
The principle which the Prophetfollowed in dealing with this mistake
was to treat the man gently, not to be harsh with him.
The Prophetwas thinking of the likely consequences of the two options
- stopping him or leaving him alone. If they tried to stop him,
forcing a man to suppress his urination could do him harm, and if he
was unable to stop but moved away because he was afraid of them, the
impurity would be spread over a wider area of the Mosque and on the
man's body and clothing. TheProphethad the farsightedness to see that
leavingthe man alone until he had finished urinating was the lesser of
two evils, especially since the man had already started doing it,and
it was a problem that they would be able to do something about by
cleaning it afterwards. So he told his companions to leave him alone
and not to interrupt him.
Ibn Hajarmentioned in his commentary a number of things we learn from
the hadith about the Bedouin, among which are the following:
- We should be gentle when dealing with one who is ignorantand teach
him what he needs to know without rebuking him, so long as he is not
acting out of stubbornness, especially if he is one who needs to be
won over.
- The Prophetwas kind and he dealt nicely with him.
- The idea of taking precautions against impurity was established well
in the minds of the Sahabah)Prophet's companions(, which is why they
hastened to denounce it in the presence of the Prophetwithout first
asking his permission. The idea of enjoining what is good and
forbidding what is evil was also well established in their minds.
- We should also hasten to remove anything objectionable when there is
nothing to stop us from doing so, because when theman had finished
urinating, the Prophetissued instructions that the place should be
cleaned with water.
Explaining the seriousness of the mistake
Ibn 'Umar, Muhammad Ibn Ka'b, Zayd Ibn Aslam and Qutadahreported )the
following is compiled from their reports( thatduring the campaign of
Tabook, aman said, "We have never seen anyone who loves food and tells
lies more than our rectors, or anyone who is more cowardly in the
battlefield" - referring to the Messenger of Allahand his Companions.
Awf Ibn Malik said, 'You are lying! You are a hypocrite, and I am
going to tell the Messenger of Allah. ' Awf went to the Messenger of
Allahto tell him, but found that Qur'aan had already been revealed
concerningit. That man came to the Prophetwho was riding his camel,
and said, "O Messenger of Allahwe were only talking idly and joking,
just to pass time in the journey." Ibn 'Umarsaid, "It is as if I saw
him hanging onto the reins of the Prophet's camel, with the stones
hitting his feet, saying, "We were only talking idlyand joking,"
whilst the Messenger of Allahwas reciting )what means(:
"Say: 'Is it Allah and His verses and His Messenger that you were
mocking?'")Qur'an 9: 65(
We see that the prophet's reply to these abominable remarks was by
reciting some verses of the Qur'aan by which this man was told that
Allaah and His Messenger are far above mocking. Hedidn't become
enraged or order that the man should be punished severely. Any one
else may do that, but the Prophet was sent as a mercy to all creation
and to be an exampleof how people should behave.