212Muhammad was able to express love and spread it around him. His
wives were gratified by his presence, tenderness, and affection. and his
Companions loved him with an intense, profound, and extraordinarily
generous love. H e gave and offered his presence, his smiles, his being, and
if a slave happened to address him or wanted to take him to the other end
of the cit)', he went, he listened, he loved. Belonging to God, he was
nobody's possession; he simply offered his love to all. \Vhcn he gave
someone his hand, he was never the first to draw it back, and he knew
what light and peace can surge in the heart of a being who is offered a
tcnder wo rd, an affectionate name, comfort. Freed from his own self, he
neglected nobody's self. His presence was a refuge; he was the Messenger.
H e loved, he fo rgave. Every day he begged God to forgive his own fail-
ings and o versights, and when a woman o r a man came to him burdened
with a mistake, ho wever serious, he received that soul and showed her or
him the way to forgiveness, solace, dialogue with God, and th e 1>.·!ost
G entle's protection. He covered o ther people's mistakes from the sight of
othe rs, while teaching everyone the nced for personal rigor and discipline.
When laziness moved anyone to ask him for minimal practice, he always
answered positively and invited them to use their intelligcnce and their
qualities to understand, improve, a nd free th emselves from th eir own con-
tradictions while accepting their own fragility. He taught responsibility
without guilt and adherence to e thics as the co nditions for freedom.
Justice is a condition fo r peace, and the Prophet kept l!lsisting that one
canno t experience th e taste of equity if one is unable to respect the dig-
nity of individuals. He set slaves free and recommended that Muslims
pledge to do so constantly: the faith community of believers had to be a
community of free beings. Revelation sh owed him th e wa}', and, as we
have o ften seen, he never ceased to give particular attention to slaves, the
poo r, and tbe lowly in society. H e invited them to assert thei r dignity, to
demand th eir rights. and to get rid of any feeling of inferiority; the mes-
sage was a call for religious, social, and political liberation. At the close of
his mission, in the plain Iring at the fOOl of the :Moun! of Me rcy (jabal ar-
Rabmah). men and women o f all races. cultures, and colo rs. rich and poor,
were present and listened to this message, which stressed that th e best
among people are so through their hearts, which are determined neither
b y class nor by colot or culture. " The best among you is the best toward
people," he had once said.^2 In the name of human brotberhood-