In short: A desert Arab stood up and urinated inside the mosque. The people grabbed him, but the Prophet ﷺ told them to leave him and pour a bucket of water over the place. Then he said: you were sent to make things easy, not to make them difficult (Sahih al-Bukhari 220).
The story
Abu Hurayrah reported that a Bedouin stood up and began to urinate in the mosque. The people seized him. The Prophet ﷺ told them to leave him, and to pour a bucket of water over the place.
Then he said to them: “You have been sent to make things easy, and not to make them difficult” (Bukhari 220).
Other narrations add that the Prophet ﷺ then called the man over and gently explained that mosques are for the remembrance of Allah, prayer and the Quran (Sahih Muslim 285).
What we can take from it
- Fix the problem, then teach. Water first, a gentle word after.
- Harshness pushes people away. The man did not know better; he needed teaching, not shame.
- Make things easy. This is the Prophet’s own description of our mission.