Prophet's Mercy

[Mohamed Saif]

Assalamun alaikum dear brothers

Most anti Islamic sites say that Prophet Muhammad was merciful only when he was in Mecca since he wanted to attract many Arabs to the religion. And they also claim that the verses of love and mercy were revealed only when the Prophet was in Mecca. They say that when he went to Medina his attitude changed since he had power and wasn't merciful. They say that he took revenge from people who insulted him. And they quote verses from Ibn Ishaq's account.
Can anyone please provide a refutation all these claims

Thank you

[AMuslimDude213]

Ask them this,why did he spare someone who caused all this?- Abu Sufyan,who became a muslim.
why did he spare Hind,the one who ate Hamza r.as livers?
why did he spare almost 90% of his captives,10% who were killed were people who were obviously trouble to muslims.

[Mohamed Saif]

Assalamun alaikum

He did forgive some people but still they quote Ibn Ishaq's work to show that the Prophet took revenge from people who simply insulted him. Their point was that the Prophet simply cannot bear insults.  So is everything in Ibn Ishaq's account accurate. Can we rely on his works?

[AhmadFarooq]

W/slam,

This claim or one similar to it is not only made by "anti Islamic sites" but by "extremist" Muslims themselves too. One of the more interesting comments I read on the internet happened to be from a Muslim who was supporting the death penalty for blasphemy in Shariah by using evidence from an anti-Islamic site (although he probably didn't know that).

First of all, Ibn-Ishaq's work is a biography of the Prophet and not a Hadith book which requires much more stringent tests of authenticity. There are more than a few accounts from the biography that are either controversial or openly rejected.

Regarding the unforgivable nature of insults, you can start by taking a look at this thread, http://www.answering-christianity.com/blog/index.php?topic=2400.msg10871

Regards,