During the early times of Rasoolullah (SAW), there was a pact called “hilf ul fudhool”. The story behind this is – a man from Zabeel in Yemen came to do business in Mekka. His merchandise was taken away by al-Aas bin Waal who promised to pay him back. Al-Aas bin Waal refused to pay him back after a while. He took advantage of the fact that the man is a foreigner and expected him to walk away. But the man didn’t and stood up for his rights. He went to a public place in Mekka and started calling the people of Quraish. He was telling, “I am oppressed in your land. Are you people who are going to stand up for my rights? Will you allow this oppression to happen in your land?” He said some emotional words that some clans of Quraish decided to meet together to bring about an agreement on protecting the rights of the weak in Mekka. Among the families of Quraish was the family of Rasoolullah (SAW) - his uncles.

Rasoolullah (SAW) was a young boy at that time. He said “my uncles took me with them to the meeting”. The meeting was held in the house of Abdullah bin Jad’aan who was a generous man at that time and someone who would stand up for others rights. It was symbolic to have this meeting at his place. The meeting to concluded, deciding that all of them would stand up together, to protect the rights of the oppressed. This meeting happened before prophethood. It was a pact that occurred between non-believers.

Rasoolullah (SAW) said, “I witnessed in the house of Abdullah bin Jad’aan a pact made that I wouldn’t have exchanged for the choices heard. And if it had been suggested after Islam I would have responded to it positively.” What essentially he was saying is “If I am invited today after the message of Islam has been given to me, I would have still responded to it even though it was held by a non-believers” The important lesson to learn is that Muslims should side with what is right no matter what the source is or where the call for help is coming from. As a Muslim, we should stand for human rights and the needy no matter what their religious background is. We should stand up for what is good and what is right. The man was given back what belonged to him.   

An incident happened in the time of Amawiyeen, few decades after Rasoolullah (SAW) passed away, between al-Hussein bin Ali bin Abi Talib and al-Walid bin Utba who is the governor of Madina. Because al-Walid was the governor of Madina, he was taking advantage of his position and took away some property that belonged to al-Hussein. Al-Hussein went to al-Walid and said, “You either give me what belongs to me otherwise I am going to walk into Masjid invite people to hilf-ul-fudhool”. At that moment, Abdullah bin Zubair was with al-Walid and said, “I too swear by Allah, that if he does invoke hilf-ul-fudhool, I will draw my sword and stand there with him until he gets justice or we will all die together”. Some other people who heard about it also gave similar statements. As the heat was picking up, al-Walid realised its dangerous to ignore and he gave back the belongings of al-Hussein.

Muslim would not allow wrong to happen in front of them. They stood up for their rights during the time of leaders like al-Walid even if they had to give up their life.

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