AL - 'ILAAJ EDITORIAL BOARD, MSSN UCH, IBADAN

  Hamzah ibn Abdulmuttalib was the strongest and most dignified man of the Quraish tribe and thus he was greatly feared. He was the Prophet’s paternal uncle and was at the same time Prophet’s brother through fosterage [they were breastfed by the same woman]. He knew the Prophet not only as a nephew but as a brother and friend. They played together and walked together on the same road of life step by step. But, in their youth they departed. Hamzah preferred the life of leisure, trying to take his place among the prominent leaders of the Quraish and Makkans .The Prophet on the other hand, chose the life of seclusion away from the crowd, immersed in deep spiritual meditation but, despite this fact, Hamzah was always attentive to the virtues of his friend and nephew. In the dawn of Muhammad’s prophethood, Hamzah went to the Ka’bah and found a number of Quraish noblemen sitting down talking about the Prophet and for the first time, he saw them worried about the call his nephew was propa...

  "When our command came, we saved Shuayb and those who believed with him by mercy from Us. And the roaring blast overtook those who had wronged, so they fell lifeless in their homes. As if they had never prospered therein. So, away with (the people of) Madyan as had been the case with Thamud" (Q11:94-95). This is just one of the several instances where Almighty Allah (SWT) had descended his punishment immediately on wrongdoers.  Other cases include the people of Prophet Nuh, whom Allah destroyed with flood (Q7:64); the people of Prophet Lut (the Sodomites), whom Allah punished with rain of stones (Q11:82); the people of prophet Hud (the Adites), whom Allah destroyed with violent windstorm for seven nights and eight days in succession (Q69:6-7); the people of Salih (Thamudites), whom Allah punished with thunderbolt, shriek and earthquake (Q7:78, 11:65, 51:44). These indicate that our Creator has varieties of punishments in His stock, to deal with evildoers. Shuayb is one of t...