By Yasir Qadhi
When people start going down the dark road of extremism, not only does one cease to be compassionate to others, seeing compassion in others actually fuels one’s own extremism. That is why, from the beginning of time, extremism and fanaticism have been linked with harshness and a lack of mercy.
Ibn Muljam was the Khārijite who assassinated Alī b. Abī Ṭalib (r). An interesting story is mentioned in our history books that demonstrates this hatred of compassion.
Ibn Muljam was sitting in the sūq (market) of Kufa a few days before he murdered Ali (r), and he saw a large funeral procession pass by composed of both Christians and Muslims. He was disgusted at this and said, “What is going on?” meaning how dare Muslims and Christians be together in a funeral.
Someone said, “This is the funeral of Abjar b. Jābir [the chieftain of the Ijl tribe, who died as a Christian]. The Christians are here to honor him, and the Muslims are here to sympathize with his son Ḥajjār.” Ḥajjār had now taken over the position of chief, and not only was he a Muslim, he had seen the Prophet ﷺ as a child, thus making him a young Companion. So when Ḥajjār’s father died, obviously the Christians came out to pray for the father, and since he was their chieftain, the Muslims came to sympathize with Ḥajjār.
Ibn Muljam was enraged by this simple act of compassion, and said, cryptically at the time, “Were it not for the fact that I am preparing myself for a greater cause, I would have used my sword against him (meaning Ḥajjār).”
It was only a few days after, that people understood what he meant, when he used his sword to assassinate Ali (r) as he was going to Fajr.
In Ibn Muljam’s version of Islam, showing some simple compassion at the time of death, and Muslims standing in solidarity with non-Muslims and a political leader (a Muslim, and a Companion at that!) who had just lost a father, was an evil, heinous act. His blind hatred – which would eventually lead him to murder Ali (r) thinking that he was defending Islam – made him see this merciful act as a betrayal to his radical interpretation of Islam, and this justified the excommunication of Ḥajjār, and a harsh threat to kill him.
Keep this in mind next time you see anyone making fun of another person’s merciful and compassionate nature. Islam is a religion of mercy, our Prophet ﷺ is a prophet of mercy, and one of the most powerful names of our Lord is the Lord of Mercy – الرحمن al-Raḥmān.
This story is found in Ibn Abi al-Dunya’s Tarikh Maqtal Ali, al-Tabarānī’s al-Kabīr, and other sources.
Notice that this public procession, a mixture of Christians and Muslims, took place in Kufa (capital of the caliphate) that was ruled by Ali (r) and in which many Companions lived, and no one apart from Ibn Muljam seems to have caused any fuss about it. Some modern scholars give fatawa that paint a very different view of how Muslims who lose non-Muslim family members should react and whether they may participate in funeral processions. But that is a topic for another post….
Islamic Civilization 