”Not even ten years passed until the Messenger of Allah was holding onto the covering of the Ka’bah, looking at the massive number of people who had surrendered and submitted themselves to him and his army, saying to them: “O Quraysh! What do you think I should do with you?” He was saying this with the flashbacks and memories of thirteen years of pain and torture that he had suffered at the hands of those whose lives were now in his hands; memories that he could not bear to relive: of thorns being thrown in his path, of intestines being placed on his back while prostrating in that very location only years before, of the starvation, of the humiliation in front of his family and Companions - and now, he is asking them: “What do you think I should do with you?” He then walked over to ‘Uthman bin Shaybah, and took the keys to the Ka’bah from his hand.

Also, ponder over these more recent examples from the history of the Islamic movement in Egypt, in particular: Hamzah Basyuni was the warden of the Egyptian military prison in which Sayyid Qutb, Zaynab al-Ghazali, etc. were being held. When he would torture his prisoners, they would plead with him, saying “For the Sake of Allah, stop!” And what was his response? What was this filthy waste of a nutfah’s response to these Muslims? He would say to them: “If Allah Himself were to come here, I would throw Him into a prison cell!“ - Glorified is He. In Zaynab al-Ghazali’s memoirs, ‘The Return of the Pharoah,’ she mentioned how Hamzah Basyuni would say to her: “Which Hell is hotter: the Hell of your Lord, or the hell of ‘Abd an-Nasir? You will remain in the hell of ‘Abd an-Nasir until you approve of his rule!”

Not even eight months passed after Hamzah Basyuni supervised the execution of Sayyid Qutb, except that he and his assistants all found themselves thrown into the depths of prison.

Sha’rawi Jumu’ah - the Interior Minister, whose name would cause Egypt itself to shake in terror and fear - one day received a request from Muhammad Qutb to visit his sister, Hamidah, after not having seen her for seven years (they were in the same prison together). The request went through the prison guard first, and he was refused out of fear of Jumu’ah, saying that he was unable to help at all. The request was then passed on to the general supervisor of the prison, and he also refused to help, out of fear of the Interior Minister. Finally, the request reached Jumu’ah himself, to which he replied: “Tell Muhammad Qutb that he will not see his sister, either dead or alive.”

Not much time passed since this incident, except that Sha’rawi Jumu’ah - the feared Interior Minister - found himself thrown into the depths of prison, with Muhammad and Hamidah Qutb at home, safe and sound.

Finally, take the case of Anwar Sadat: he had thrown scholar after scholar into his jails, saying about the last one of them: “He is like a dog, rotting in prison!” Not even a month passed after this statement of his that he made in public, except that - while sitting in the midst of his bodyguards and secretaries - officers of his own army aimed their sniper rifles and shotguns at him, pointblank. Nobody lifted a finger to defend him or fend off the attack, save the bodyguard of the American ambassador who hapened to be present. Those who came to kill Sadat - may Allah have Mercy upon them - no attempt to stop or repel their attack was made, except from a single person sitting and guarding an American diplomat. And where is Sadat now…{“And neither the Heavens nor the Earth wept for them, nor were they given respite.”} [ad-Dukhan; 29]

So, these are a few examples in which the tables were turned before either side knew it, and it was made clear that the fate of all oppressors and wrongdoers is the same, sooner or later.

So, remember: {“And such are the days: We rotate them between the people…”} [Al 'Imran; 140] Allah Knows best.