Fascinating Facts of Islam

Fascinating fact 01

ENTRY OF ABU DHARR GHIFFARI رضالله عنه IN THE FOLD OF ISLAM

Quraysh’s plan  was doomed to failure from the outset. 

★ A man of the 【Bani Ghifar named Abu Dharr】 – his tribe lived to the northwest of Mecca, not far from the Red Sea -had already heard of the Prophet (ﷺ) and of the opposition to him.

★  Like most of his tribesmen, Abu Dharr was a【 highwayman】; but unlike them he was a firm believer in the Oneness of God, and he refused to pay any respect to idols. 

★ His brother Unays went to Mecca for some reason, and on his return he told Abu Dharr that there was a man of Quraysh who claimed to be a Prophet and who said there is no god but God, and his people had disowned him in consequence. 

Abu Dharr immediately set off for Mecca, in the certainty that here was a true Prophet.

★ When Abu Dharr arrives in Mecca, those of the Quraysh who manned the approaches told him all he wished to know before he had time to ask.

★ Without difficulty he found his way to the Prophet’s (ﷺ ) house. The Prophet ﷺ was lying asleep on a bench in the courtyard, with his face covered by a fold of his cloak. 

★ Abu Dharr woke him and wished him good morning. “On thee be Peace!” said the Prophet ﷺ. 

“Declaim unto me thine utter­ances,” said the Bedouin. 

“I am no poet,” said the Prophet ﷺ “but what I utter is the Koran, and it is not I who speak but God who speaketh.”

 “Recite for me,” said Abu Dharr, and he recited to him a surah, where­ upon Abu Dharr said:

“I testify that there is no god but God, and that Muhammad is the messenger of God.

★ “Who are thy people?” said the Prophet ﷺ  and at the man’s answer he looked him up and down in amazement and said: “Verily God guideth whom He will.”‘

★ The reason the Prophet ﷺ was amazed when Abu Dharr told him he was from Banu Ghifar was because it was well known that the Bani Ghifar were 【mostly robbers.】 

★ Having instructed him in Islam the Prophet ﷺ told him to return to his people and await his orders. So he returned to the Bani Ghifar, many of whom entered Islam through him. 

★ Meantime he continued his calling as highwayman, with special attention to the caravans of Quraysh. But when he had despoiled a caravan he would offer to give back what he had taken on condition 【that they would testify to the Oneness of God and the Prophethood of Muhammad ﷺ】

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Fascinating fact 02

PROPHET ﷺ TEACHES AN IMPORTANT LESSON IN DAWAH

Tufayl, a man of Daws, told afterwards how he had been warned on his arrival in Mecca against speaking to Muhammad ﷺ or even listening to him lest he should find himself separated from his people. 

★ Tufayl was a poet and a man of considerable standing in his tribe. Quraysh were therefore especially insistent in their warning, and they made him so afraid of being bewitched that before going into the Mosque he stuffed his ears with cotton wool. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ}was there, having just taken up his stance for prayer between the Yemeni Corner and the Black Stone. 

His recitation of Koranic verses was not very loud, but some of it nonetheless penetrated Tufayl’s ears. 

★ “God would not have it”, he said, “but that He should make me hear something of what was recited, and I heard beautiful words. 

So I said to myself: I am a man of insight, a poet, and not ignorant of the difference between the fair and the foul. Why then should I not hear what this man is saying? If it be fair I will accept it, and if foul, reject it.

★ The Prophet ﷺ explained Islam to him and recited the Koran, and Tufayl made his profession of faith. 

★ Then he returned to his people, determined to convert them. His father and his wife followed him into Islam, but the rest of Daws held back, and he returned to Mecca in great disappointment and anger, demanding that the Prophet should put a curse on them. 

But instead the Prophet ﷺ prayed for their guidance and said to Tufayl:....“Return to thy people, call them to Islam, and deal gently with them.”

★ These instructions he faithfully followed, and as the years passed more and more families of Daws were converted.

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Fascinating fact 03

THE HARAASMENT BEGINS AND INTRODUCTION OF FIRAUN OF UMMAH..... ABU JAHL

In Mecca the steady increase in the number of believers brought with it corresponding increase in the hostility of the disbelievers.

★ One day when some of the chief men of Quraysh were gathered together in the Hijr, bitterly stirring up each others’ anger against the Prophet (ﷺ), it so happened that the Prophet ﷺ himself entered the Sanctuary. 

★ Going to the east corner of the Ka’bah, he kissed the Black Stone and began to make the seven rounds. 

★ As he passed the Hijr they raised their voices in slanderous calumny against him, and it was clear from his face that he had heard what they said.

★ He passed them again on his second round, and again they slandered him. But when they did the same as he was passing them the third time he stopped and said:

‘O Quraysh, will ye hear me? Verily by Him who holdeth my soul in His Hand, I bring you slaughter!”

★ This word and the way he said it seemed to bind them as by a spell. Not one of them moved or spoke, until the silence was finally broken by one of those who had been most violent, saying in all gentleness: 

‘Go thy way, 0 Abu Qasim, for by God thou art not an ignorant fool.”

★ But the respite did not last long, for they soon began to blame themselves for having been so unaccountably overawed, and they vowed that in the future they would make amends for this momentary weakness.

One of the worst enemies of Islam was a 【man of "Makhzum" named "‘Amr"】 and known to his family and friends as 【"Abu Hakam"】, which the Muslims were not slow to change into Abu Jahl, “the father of ignorance”.

He was a 【grandson of Mughirah and nephew of the now elderly Walid】 who was chief of the clan. 

Abu Jahl felt sure of succeeding his uncle, and he had already established for himself a certain position in Mecca through his 【wealth and his ostentatious hospitality】and partly also through making himself feared on account of his 【ruthlessness】 and his readiness to take revenge on anyone who opposed him. 

He had been the most indefatigable of all those men who had manned the approaches to Mecca during the recent Pilgrimage, and the most vociferous in his denunciation of the Prophet (ﷺ) as a dangerous sorcerer.

He was also the most active in 【persecuting the more helpless believers】 of his own clan, and in urging other clans to do the same.

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Fascinating fact 04

Allah ﷻ makes the firaun of the ummah (abu jahl )do a great favour... Undoubtedly He can make anyone do what He ﷻ wants

HAMZA رضالله عنه EMBRACES ISLAM 

One day, despite himself, Abu Hakam, (abu jahl)  one of the worst enemies of Islam indirectly did the new religion a great service.

★ The Prophet (ﷺ) was sitting outside the Mosque near the Safa Gate, and he was alone at this hallowed place when Abu Jahl came past. 

★ Here was an opportunity for the Makhziimite to show that he at least was not overawed; and standing in front of the Prophet ﷺ he proceeded to revile him with all the abuse he could muster.

★ The Prophet ﷺ merely looked at him, but spoke no word; and finally, having heaped upon him the worst insults he could think of, Abu Jahl entered the Mosque to join those of Quraysh who were assembled in the Hijr. 

The Prophet ﷺ sadly rose to his feet and returned to his home.

★ Scarcely had he gone than Hamzah came in sight from the opposite direction on his way from the chase, with his bow slung over his shoulder.

★ When Hamzah discovered how Abu Jahl had insulted the Prophet ﷺ his 【mighty frame now shook with anger such as he had never felt】, and his anger set free something in his soul, and brought to completion an already half formed resolve. 

★ Striding into the Mosque he made straight for Abu Jahl; and, standing over him, he raised his bow and brought it down with all his force on his back.

“Wilt thou insult him,” he said “now that I am of his religion, and now that I avouch what he avoucheth ? Strike me blow for blow, if thou canst.”

★ Abu Jahl was not lacking in courage, but on this occasion he evidently felt that it was better that the incident should be closed. 

★ So when some of the Makhziimites present rose to their feet as if to help him he motioned them to be seated, saying: 

“Let Abu ‘Umarah be, for by God I reviled his brother’s son with a right ugly reviling.”

★ From that day Hamzah رضالله عنه faithfully maintained his Islam and followed all the Prophet’s (ﷺ) behests. 

★ Nor did his conversion fail to have its effect upon Quraysh, who were now 【more hesitant to harass】 the Prophet ﷺ directly, knowing that Hamzah would protect him.

★ On the other hand, this totally unexpected event made them all the more conscious of what they considered to be the gravity of the situation;  it increased their sense of the need to find a solution and to stop a movement which, so it seemed to them, could only end in the ruin of their high standing among the Arabs.

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Fascinating fact 05

*Quraish change their tactics... Utbah bin Rab'iah offer wealth, power, kingdom, everything to lure the Prophet ﷺ*

★ _In view of this danger following Hamzah’s entrance into Islam the Qurasyh agreed to change their tactics and to follow a suggestion, which was now made in the assembly by one of the leading men of 【‘Abdu Shams, "Utbah ibn Rabi’ah".

★ “Why should I not go to Muhammad,” he said, “and make certain offers to him, some of which he might accept? And what he accepteth, that will we give him, on condition that he leave us in peace.” 

★ Word now came that the Prophet ﷺ was sitting alone beside the Ka’bah, so ‘Utbah left the assembly forthwith and went to the Mosque to meet the Prophet (ﷺ)

★ “Son of my brother,” Utbah ibn Rabi’ah said to the Prophet ﷺ, “thou art as thou knowest a noble of the tribe and thy lineage assureth thee of a place of honour. 

★ And now thou hast brought to thy people a matter of grave concern, whereby thou hast rifted their community, declared their way of life to be foolish, spoken shamefully of their gods and their religion, and called their forefathers infidels. 

★ So hear what I propose, and see if any of it be acceptable to thee. 

If it be wealth thou seekest.....we will put together a fortune for thee from our various properties that thou mayst be the richest man amongst us.

 If it be honour thou seekest..... we will make thee our overlord and take no decision without thy consent; 

If thou wouldst have kingship....we will make thee our king

If thyself thou canst not rid thee of this sprite that appeareth unto thee.... we will find thee a physician and spend our wealth until thy cure be complete.”

 When he had finished speaking, the Prophet ﷺ said to him: “Now hear thou me, 0 Father of Walid.” 

“I will,” said ‘Utbah, whereupon the Prophet ﷺ recited to him part of a Revelation which he had recently received.

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Fascinating fact 06

UTBAH IS OVERAWED BY THE QURAN

★ Utbah was prepared to make at least a semblance of heeding, out of policy towards a man he hoped to win, but after a few sentences all such thoughts had changed to wonderment at the words themselves. 

★ He sat there with his hands behind his back, leaning upon them as he listened, amazed at the beauty of the language that flowed into his ears. 

★ The signs’ that were recited spoke of the Revelation itself, and of the creation of the earth and the firmament. Then it told of the Prophets and of the peoples of old who, having resisted them, had been destroyed and doomed to Hell. 

★ Then came a passage, which spoke of the believers, promising them the protection of the Angels in this life and the satisfaction of every desire in the Hereafter. 

The Prophet ﷺ ended his recitation with the words:

And of His signs are the night and the day and the sun and the moon. Bow not down in adoration unto the sun nor unto the moon, but bow down in adoration unto God their Creator, if Him indeed ye worship whereupon he placed his forehead on the ground in prostration.

Then he ﷺ said: “Thou hast heard what thou hast heard, 0 Abu -Walid, and all is now between thee and that.”

★ When ‘Utbah returned to his companions they were so struck by the change of expression on his face that they exclaimed: “What hath befallen thee, 0 Abu Walid?”

★ He answered them saying: “I have heard an utterance the like of which I have never yet heard. Itis not poetry, by God, neither is it sorcery nor soothsaying. 

Men of Quraysh, hearken unto me, and do as I say. Come not between this man and what he is about, but let him be, for by God the words that I have heard from him will be received as great tidings.

If the Arabs strike him down ye will be rid of him at the hands of others, and if he overcome the Arabs, then his sovereignty will be your sovereignty and his might will be your might, and ye will be the most fortunate of men.”

★ But they mocked at him saying: “He hath bewitched thee with his tongue.” “I have given you my opinion,” he answered, “so do what ye think is best.”

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Fascinating fact 07

PEOPLE FOLLOW THEIR LEADERS...PROPHET ﷺ WANTED LEADERS TO ACCEPT ISLAM 

The followers of the Prophet (ﷺ) were continually increasing, but whenever a new convert came to him and pledged his or her allegiance, it was more often than not a slave, or a freed slave, or a member of Quraysh of the Outskirts or else a young man or woman from Quraysh of the Hollow, of influential family but of no influence in themselves, 【whose conversion would increase tenfold the hostility】 of their parents and elder kinsmen.

★  "‘Abd ar-Rahman", "Hamzah" and "Arqam" had been exceptions, but they were far from being leaders; and the Prophet ﷺ 【longed to win over some of the chiefs】, not one of whom, not even his uncle Abu Talib, had shown any inclination to join him. 

★ It would 【greatly help him to spread his message】 if he had the support of a man like "Abu Jahl’s uncle, Walid", who was not only chief of Makhzum but also, if it were possible to say such a thing, the "unofficial leader of Quraysh."

★ One day an opportunity came for the Prophet (ﷺ) to speak with Walid alone. 

★ But when they were deep in converse a blind man (Ibn Umm Makhtum), (who later on went on to become the second muezzin besides Hazrat Bilal in Prophet's ﷺ mosque) came past, one who had recently entered Islam, and hearing the Prophet’s voice he begged him to recite to him some of the Koran. 

★ When asked to be patient and wait for a better moment, the blind man became so importunate that in the end the Prophet ﷺ frowned and turned away. 

★ His conversation had been ruined; but the interruption was not the cause of any loss, for Walid was in fact no more open to the message than those whose case seemed hopeless. 

A new Surah was revealed almost immediately, and it began with the words: 

‘He frowned and turned away, because the blind man came to him’. (Surah Abasa)

The Revelation continued:

 ‘As to him who sufficeth unto himself, with him thou art engrossed, yet is it no concern of thine if puri fied he be not. But as for him who cometh unto thee in eager earnestness and in fear of God, from him thou art drawn away.

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Fascinating fact 08

THE YOUNG WERE MORE RECEPTIVE TO "THE MESSAGE"

The young and the less successful did not by any means all accept the Divine message forthwith; but at least complacency had not blocked their hearing against the sharpness and vehemence of the summons, which had broken upon their little world as with the notes of a clarion.

★ The voice that ‘Uthman had heard crying in the desert “Sleepers awake” was akin to the message itself and for those who now accepted the message it was indeed as if they had awakened from a sleep and had entered upon a new life.

★ 

The disbelievers’ attitude, past and present, was summed up in the words:

 ‘There is naught but the life of this world . . . and we shall not be raised’. To this came the Divine answers: ‘Not in play did We create the heavens and the earth and all that is between them.

and 

‘Deem ye that We did but create you in vain and that ye shall not be brought back unto Us?’

★  For those in whom 【disbelief had not crystallized】, these words rang with truth; and so it was with the Revelation as a whole, which described itself as being a light and having in itself, the power to guide.

★  A parallel imperative cause for accepting the message was the Messenger himself, a man who was, they were certain, 【too full of truth to deceive and too full of wisdom to be self-deceived】. 

The Message contained a 【warning and a promise】: the warning impelled them to take action, and the promise filled them with joy.

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Fascinating fact 09

PATERNAL AUNT STANDS UP AS DEFENCE AGAINST PATERNAL UNCLE

The Prophet’s (ﷺ) aunt Arwa now made up her mind to enter Islam

★ The immediate cause of her decision was her son Tulayb, a youth of fifteen, who had recently made his profession of faith in the house of Arqam. 

★ When he told his mother she said: “If we could do what men can do, we would protect our brother’s son.” 

★ But Tulayb refused to accept such vagueness. “What preventeth thee,” he said, “from entering Islam and following him? Thy brother Hamzah hath done so.” 

★ And when she made her usual excuse about waiting for her sisters he cut her short, saying: 

“I beg thee by God to go and greet him and say thou believest in him and testify that There is no god but God.”

★ She did what he had said; and, having done so, 【she took courage, and rebuked her brother Abu Lahab】 for his treatment of their nephew.

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Fascinating fact 10

TURMOIL IN THE FAMILY OF KHADIJAH R.A. AND PROPHET ﷺ

★ As to Khadijah’s relatives, no sooner had Islam become known in Mecca than her half brother Nawfal became one of its worst and most violent enemies. 

★ This did not, however, prevent his son Aswad from entering the religion, which was for Khadijah a compensation for Nawfal’s enmity. 

★ But it as a disappointment that her favourite nephew, the Shamsite Abu l -As, already for some years 【her son-in-law】, had not entered Islam as his wife Zaynab had done; and great pressure was now being put upon him by the leaders of his clan and others to divorce her.

★ They went so far as to suggest that he should look for the richest, best-connected and most beautiful bride available in Mecca, and they promised, on condition of his divorce, that they would unite their efforts towards arranging the marriage in question. 

But Zaynab and Abu l -As loved each other deeply: she always hoped and prayed that he would join her in Islam; and he, for his part, firmly told his clansmen that he already had the wife of his choice and that he wanted none other.

(Love story of Hazrat Zainab and Abu al As is another fascinating story of separation , heart break and reuniting) 

Verily thou guidest not whom thou lovest, but God guideth whom He will.

★ The truth expressed in this verse is repeated continually through the Koran. It helped to ease the weight of the Prophet’s (ﷺ) sense of responsibility, 

★ But it did not prevent him from being sad at the averseness of his Makhziimite cousin ‘Abd Allah; and another such case, which perhaps caused him even more sadness was that of his uncle Harith’s son, Abu Sufyan, his foster-brother, cousin and one-time friend.

{ He had hoped that he would respond to his message, whereas on the contrary the message made a rift between them, and Abu Sufyan’s aloofness and coldness increased as time went on, perhaps through the influence of their uncle Abu Lahab.( Abu Sufyan's sister umm jamil was married to Abu Lahab)

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Fascinating fact 11

QURAISH SEEK HELP OF JEW RABBIS IN MADINA

At every assembly of Quraysh there was at least some discussion of what seemed to them their greatest problem; and they now decided to send to Yathrib to consult the Jewish rabbis: 

★ “Ask them about Muhammad,” they said to their two envoys. “Describe him to them, and tell them what he says; for they are the people of the first scripture, and they have knowledge of the Prophets which we have not.” 

★ The rabbis sent back the answer: 【“Question him about three things】 wherein we will instruct you. If he tell you of them, then is he a Prophet sent by God, but if he tell you not, then is the man a forger of falsehood. 

1. Ask him of some young men who left their folk in the days of old, how it was with them, for theirs is a tale of wonder; 

2. Ask him tidings of a far traveller who reached the ends of the earth in the east and in the west

3. Ask him of the Spirit, what it is. If he tell you of these things, then follow him, for he is a Prophet.”

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Fascinating fact 12

THE DELAY IN ANSWER TO THE 3 QUESTIONS

★ When the envoys returned to Mecca with their news, the leaders of Quraysh sent to the Prophet (ﷺ) and asked him the three questions. 

★ He ﷺ said: “Tomorrow I will tell you,” but he did not say “if God will”; and when they came for the answers he had to put them off, and so it went on day by day until 【fifteen nights】 had passed and still he had received no Revelation of any kind, 【neither had Gabriel come】 to him since they had questioned him. 

★ The people of Mecca taunted him, and he was distressed by what they said and greatly saddened that he had not received the help he had hoped for. 

★ Then 【Gabriel brought him a Revelation】reproaching him for his distress on account of what his people said, and telling him the answers to their three questions. 

★ The long wait he had had to endure was explained in the words: 

And say not of anything: verily I shall do that tomorrow, except thou sayest: if God will.

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Fascinating fact 13

THE WIISDOM BEHIND THE DELAY AND THE ANSWERS

But the delay of this Revelation, although painful to the Prophet (ﷺ) and his followers, was in reality an added strength.

★ His worst enemies refused to draw conclusions from it, but for those many of Quraysh who were in two minds it was a 【powerful corroboration of his claim】 that the 【Revelation came to him from Heaven and that he had no part in it and no control over it】. 

★ Was it conceivable that if Muhammad ﷺ had invented the earlier Revelations he could have delayed so long before inventing this latest one, especially when so much appeared to be at stake?

★ The believers drew strength also, as always, from the Revelation itself.

★ When Quraysh asked for the story of the youths who left their folk in the days of old -a story which no one in Mecca had ever heard -they did not know that it would have a bearing on the present situation, to their own discredit and to the credit of the believers. 

It is often called the story of the sleepers of Ephesus, for it was there, in the middle of the third century AD*, that some young men had remained faithful to the worship of the One God when their people had fallen away into idolatry and were persecuting them for not following them.

★ To escape from this persecution they took refuge in a cave, where they were miraculously put to sleep for over 300 years.

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Fascinating fact 14

IN THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS, WAS KNOWLEDGE WHICH NO EYES HAD SEEN

★ In addition to what the Jews already knew, the Koranic narrative told of details that 【no human eye had seen】, such as 

1. how the sleepers looked as they slept their unwitnessed sleep in their cave throughout the centuries, 

2. how their faithful dog lay with his front paws stretched over the threshold.

★  As to the second question, the great traveller is named Dhul-Qarnayn, he of the two horns. The Revelation mentions his journey to the far west and to the far east, and then answering more than was asked..... 

It tells of a mysterious third journey to a place between two mountains

★  Here the people begged him to make a barrier that would protect them from Gog and Magog and other jinn who were devastating their land; and God gave him power to confine the evil spirits within a space from which they will not emerge until a divinely appointed day, when, according to the Prophet ﷺ they will work terrible destruction over the face of the earth.

★ Their breaking forth would take place before the final Hour, but it would be one of the signs that the end was near.

★ In answer to the third question, the Revelation affirmed the Spirit’s transcendence over the mind of man, which is incapable of grasping it: 

They will question thee concerning the Spirit. Say: the Spirit proceedeth from the command of my Lord; and "ye" have not been given knowledge, save only a little.

★ The Jews had been very eager to hear what answers Muhammad ﷺ had given to their questions; and, with regard to this last sentence about knowledge, they asked him, at their first opportunity, "if it referred to his people or to them". 

★ “To both of you,” said the Prophet ﷺ, whereupon they protested that they had been given knowledge of all things, for they had read the Torah in which was an exposition of everything, as the Koran itself affirmed. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ answered: “That all is but little in respect of God’s Own Knowledge; yet have ye therein enough for your needs, if ye would but practise it.”

★ It was then that there came the Revelation about the Words of God,which express merely a part of His knowledge: 

If all the trees in the earth were pens, and if the sea eked out by seven seas more were ink, the Words of God could not be written out unto their end.

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Fascinating fact 15

WHEN PERSECUTION REACHES ITS ZENITH...A BILAL IS BORN 

The leaders of Quraysh had not bound themselves to take the advice of the rabbis, nor did the rabbis themselves recognise the Prophet (ﷺ), despite his having answered their questions beyond all their expectations.

★ But the answers served to convert others; and the more his followers increased, the more his opponents felt that their community and their way of life was in danger

★ They more resolutely  organised the persecution of all those converts who could be ill-treated with impunity. 

★ Each clan dealt with its own Muslims: they would imprison them and torment them with beating and hunger and thirst; and they would stretch them out on the sun-baked earth of Mecca when the heat was at its height, to make them renounce their religion.

The chief of Jumah, Umayyah, had an African slave named Bilal who was a firm believer.

★  Umayyah would take him out at noon into an open space, and would have him pinned to the ground with a large rock on his chest, swearing that he should stay like that until he died, or until he renounced Muhammad ﷺ and worship al-Lat and al-‘Uzzah. 

★ While he endured this Bilal would say “One, One”; and it happened that the aged Waraqah came past when he was suffering this torment and repeating “One, One.” ("AHAD" "AHAD")

“It is indeed One, One, 0 Bilal,” said Waraqah. Then, turning to Umayyah, he said: “I swear by God that if ye kill him thus I will make his grave a shrine.”

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Fascinating fact 16

THE FIRST MARTYRS, THE FIRST IMMIGRANTS AND THE PERMISSION TO RENOUNCE DEEN BY LIPS AND NOT HEART UNDER TORTURE

Among the most relentless of the persecutors was Abu Jahl.

★ If a convert had a powerful family to defend him, Abu Jahl would merely insult him and promise to ruin his reputation and make him a laughing-stock. 

★ If he were a merchant he would threaten to stop his trade by organising a general boycott of his goods so that he would be ruined. 

★ If he were weak and unprotected and of his own clan he would have him tortured; and he had powerful allies in many other clans whom he could persuade to do the same with their own weak and unprotected converts.

It was through him that his clansmen tortured three of their poorer confederates, Yasir and Sumayyah and their son ‘Ammar'.

 📍They refused to renounce Islam, and Sumayyah died under the sufferings they inflicted on her by the spear of abu jahl

★ However some of the victims of Makhziim and of other clans could not endure what they were made to suffer, and their persecutors reduced them to a state when they could agree to anything. 

★ It was said to them: “Are not al-Lat and al-‘Uzzah your gods as well as Allah?” They would say yes; and if a beetle crawled past them and they were asked “Is not this beetle your god as well as Allah ?” they would say yes simply in order to escape from a pain they could not endure.

These recantations were on the lips, not in the heart.

★ But those who had made them could no longer practice Islam except in the greatest privacy, and some of them had no privacy at all. 

★ There was, however, an example for them in the recently revealed story of the young men who had left their people and taken refuge in God rather than submit to worshipping other gods. 

And when the Prophet (ﷺ) saw that although he escaped persecution himself many of his followers did not, he said to them: 

“If ye went to the country of the Abyssinians, ye would find there a king under whom none suffereth wrong. It is a land of sincerity in religion. Until such time as God shall make for you a means of relief from what ye now are suffering.”‘

★ So some of his companions set off for Abyssinia; and this was the 【first emigration in Islam】.

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Fascinating fact 17

JAFER رضالله عنه RECITES SURAH MARYAM TO NEGUS

The royal interpreters translated all that he had said. The Negus then asked if they had with them any Revelation that their Prophet (ﷺ) had brought them from God and, when Ja’far answered that they had, he said: “Then recite it to me,”.

★★Ja’far رضالله عنهrecited a passage from the Surah of Mary, which had been revealed shortly before their departure: 

And make mention of Mary in the Book, when she withdrew from her people unto a place towards the east, and secluded herself from them; and We sent unto her Our Spirit, and it appeared unto her in the likeness of a perfect man.

She said: I take refuge from thee in the Infinitely Good, if any piety thou hast. He said: I am none other than a messenger from thy Lord that I may bestow on thee a son most pure.

She said: how can not there be for me a son, when no man hath touched me, nor am I unchaste? He said: Even so shall it be; thy Lord saith: It is easy for Me. That We may make him a sign for mankind and a mercy from Us; and it is a thing ordained.

★ The Negus wept, and his bishops wept also, when they heard him recite, and when it was translated they wept again, and the Negus said: 

“This hath truly come from the same source as that which Jesus brought.” Then he turned to the two envoys of Quraysh and said: “Ye may go, for by God I will not deliver them unto you; they shall not be betrayed.”

★ But when they had withdrawn from the royal presence, ‘Amr said to his companion:

 “Tomorrow I will tell him a thing that shall tear up this green growing prosperity of theirs by the roots. I will tell him that they aver that Jesus the son of Mary is a slave.”

★  So the next morning he went to the Negus and said: “O King, they utter an enormous lie about Jesus the son of Mary. Do but send to them, and ask them what they say of him.”

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Fascinating fact 18

THE REBELLION OF PEOPLE OF NEGUS, THE DANGER TO THE IMMIGRANTS AND HIS EXTRAORIDANARY HANDLING OF THEM

Meantime the news of what the Negus had said about Jesus spread among the people, and they were troubled and came out against him, asking for an explanation, and accusing him of having left their religion.

★ He thereupon sent to Ja’far and his companions and made ready boats for them and told them to embark and be ready to set sail if necessary. 

★★Then he took a parchment and wrote on it: 

“He testifieth that there is no god but God and that Muhammad is His slave and His Messenger and that Jesus the son of Mary is His slave and His Messenger and His Spirit and His Word which He cast unto Mary.”

★  Then he put it beneath his gown and went out to his people who were assembled to meet him. And he said to them:

 “Abyssinians, have I not the best claim to be your king?” They said that he had. 

“Then what ihink ye of my life amongst you ?” “It hath been the best of lives,” they answered. 

“Then what is it that troubleth you?” he said. “Thou hast left our religion,” they said, “and hast maintained that Jesus is a slave.” 

“Then what say ye of Jesus?” he asked. “We say that he is the son of God,” they answered. 

Then he put his hand on his breast, pointing to where the parchment was hidden, and testified to his belief in “this”, which they took to refer to their words.

★ So they were satisfied and went away, for they were happy under his rule, and only wished to be reassured; and the Negus sent word to Ja’far and his companions that they could disembark and go back to their dwellings, where they went on living as before, in comfort and security.

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Fascinating fact 19

UMAR رضالله عنه BEFORE ISLAM

★ When the two envoys returned to Mecca with the news that they had been rebuffed and that the Muslims had been established in the favour of the Negus, Quraysh were indignant and dismayed.

★ They immediately set about intensifying their repression and persecution of the believers, largely under the direction of 【Abu Jahl, whose nephew ‘Umar】 was one of the most violent and unrestrained in carrying out his instructions. 

★ ‘Umar was at this time about 【twenty-six years old, a head­ strong young man】, not easily deterred, and of great resolution. 

But unlike his uncle he was pious, and here in fact lay his chief motive for opposing the new religion.

★ Khattab had brought Umar up to venerate the Ka’bah and to respect everything that had come to be inseparably connected with it in the way of gods and goddesses. 

★ It was all woven together for him into a sacred unity that was not to be questioned and still less tampered with. 

★ Quraysh also had been one; but Mecca was now a city of two religions and two communities. 

★ He saw clearly, moreover, that the trouble had one cause only. Remove the man who was that cause, and everything would soon be as it had been before. 

★ There was no other remedy, but that would be a certain remedy. He continued to brood along these lines, and eventually the day came -it was soon after the return of the unsuccessful envoys from Abyssinia -when a sudden wave of anger goaded him to action, and taking up his sword he set out from his house.

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Fascinating fact 20

LOOPHOLES IN BAN AND THE EFFORTS OF SAHABA TO CIRCUMVENT IT

★ For the sake of mutual security the Bani Hashim gathered round Abu Talib in that quarter of the hoHow of Mecca where he and most of the clan lived. 

★ At the arrival of the Prophet ﷺ and Khadijah with their household, 【Abu Lahab and his wife moved away】 and went to live in a house which he owned elsewhere, to demonstrate their solidarity with Quraysh as a whole.

★ The ban was not always rigorously enforced, nor was it possible to close all the loopholes owing to the fact that a 【woman was still a member of her own family after marrying into another clan】. 

★ Abu Jahl was continually on the watch, but he could not always impose his will. 

One day he met Khadijah’s nephew Hakim with a slave carrying a bag of flour, and they appeared to be making for the dwellings of the Bani Hashim. He accused them of taking food to the enemy and threatened to denounce Hakim before Quraysh.

★ Apart from help from unbelievers, the Muslims themselves of the other clans, 【especially Abu Bakr and ‘Umar】, contrived various ways of thwarting the interdiction. 

★ *When two years had passed*, Abu Bakr could no longer be counted as a wealthy man. But despite such help there was perpetual shortage of food amongst the two victimised clans, and some­ times the shortage bordered on famine.

★  During the sacred months, 【when they could leave their retreat and go about freely without fear】 of being molested, the Prophet (ﷺ) frequently went to the Sanctuary, and the leaders of Quraysh took advantage of his presence there to insult him and to satirise him.

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Fascinating fact 21

ALLAH DRAWS A VEIL BETWEEN THE OPRESSOR AND THE RIGHTEOUS

During the times when the Quraysh insulted the Prophet (ﷺ) sometimes when he recited Revelations warning Quraysh of what had happened to former peoples, one particular Revelation, one of the very few that mentions by name any contemporary of the Prophet (ﷺ), had now come affirming that Abu Lahab and his wife were destined for Hell. 

ISNT IT A MIRACLE THAT ABU LAHAB AND HIS WIFE UMM JAMIL STRIVED TO DENY QURAN, BUT WHEN A SURAH CAME IN THEIR LIFETIME,  CONDEMNING THEM TO HELL, ALL THEY NEEDED WAS TO EMBRACE ISLAM AND PROOVE THE QURAN WRONG, BECAUSE HOW CAN ONE WHO EMBRACES ISLAM BE CONDEMNED TO HELL? 

★ Umm Jamil heard of this, and she went to the Mosque with a stone pestle in her hand in search of the Prophet ﷺ who was sitting with Abu Bakr رضالله عنه

★ She came up to Abu Bakr رضالله عنه and said to him: “Where is thy companion?” He knew that she meant the Prophet ﷺ who was there in front of her, and he was too amazed to speak. 

★ “I have heard,” she said, “that he hath lampooned me, and by God, if I had found him I would have shattered his mouth with this pestle.” 

★ When Umm Jamil had gone, Abu Bakr asked the Prophet (ﷺ) if she had not seen him. “She saw me not,” he said. “God took away her sight from me.”

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Fascinating fact 22

THE BAN IS CHALLENGED

★ The ban on Hashim and Munalib had lasted two years or more and showed no signs of having any of the desired effects. 

★ It had moreover the undesired and unforeseen effect of drawing further attention to the Prophet (ﷺ) and of causing the new religion to be talked of more than ever throughout Arabia.

★  But independently of these considerations, many of Quraysh began to have second thoughts about the ban, especially those who had close relatives amongst its victims. 

The time had come for a change of mind to take place, and the first man to act was that same Hisham who had so often sent his camel with food and clothes for the Hashimites.

But he knew that he could achieve nothing by himself, so he sent to the Makhzumite Zuhayr, one of the two sons of the Prophet’s aunt ‘Atikah, and said to him:

 “Art thou content to eat food and wear clothes and marry women when thou knowest how it is with thy mother’s kinsmen.

They can neither buy nor sell, neither marry nor give in marriage; and I swear by God that if they were the brethren of the mother of Abu Hakam” -he meant Abu Jahl -“and thou hadst called upon him to do what he hath called on thee to do, he would never have done it.”

★ “Confound thee, Hisham,” said Zuhayr. “What can I do? I am but a single man. If I had with me another man, I would not rest until I had annulled it.”

★ “I have found a man,” said Hisham. “Who is he?” “Myself.””Find us a third,” said Zuhayr. 

★ So Hisham went to Muf im ibn ‘Adi, one of the leading men of the clan of Nawfal -a *grandson of Nawfal himself, brother of Hashim and Muttalib*:

★  “Is it thy will,” he said, “that two of the sons of ‘Abdu Manaf should perish whilst thou lookest on in approval of Quraysh ? 

★ By God, if ye enable them to do this ye will soon find them doing the like to you.” 

★ Mufim asked for a fourth man, so Hisham went to Abu Bakhtari of Asad, the man who had struck Abu Jahl on account of Khadijah’s bag of flour, and when he asked for a fifth man Hisham went to another Asadite, Zam’ah ibn al-Aswad, who agreed to be the fifth without asking for a sixth.

★ They all undertook to meet that night at the outskirts of Hajiin, above Mecca, and there they agreed on their plan of action and bound themselves not to let drop the matter of the document until they had had it annulled. 

“I am the most nearly concerned,” said Zuhayr, “so I will be the first to speak.”

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Fascinating fact 23

QURAISH ATTEMPT COMPROMISE AFTER REVOKING OF BAN

▪ There was much relief in Mecca after the ban was lifted, and for the moment hostilities against the Muslims were relaxed. 

▪ Exaggerated reports 

of this soon reached Abyssinia, whereupon some of the exiles immediately set about making preparations to return to Mecca while others, Ja'far amongst them, decided to remain for a while where they were. 

▪ Meantime the leaders of Quraysh concentrated their efforts on trying to 

persuade the Prophet ﷺ to agree to a compromise. 

This was the nearest approach they had yet made to him.

Walid and other chiefs proposed that they should all practise both religions.

▪ The Prophet ﷺ was saved the trouble of formulating his refusal by an immediate answer which came directly from Heaven in a surah of six verses: 

Say: 0 disbelievers, I shall not worship that which ye worship, nor will ye worship that which I worship, nor have I worshipped that which ye worship, nor have ye worshipped that which I worship.

For you your religion and for me mine. SURAH KAFIRUN

▪ As a result, the momentary good will had already much diminished by the time the returning exiles reached the edge of the sacred precinct.

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Fascinating fact 24

THE EXILES RETURN TO BOLSTER THE MUSLIM COMMUNITY

Except for ]a'far and 'Ubayd Allah ibn jahsh, all the Prophet's cousins returned. 

★ With them came also 'Urhrnan and Ruqayyah. 

★ Abu Salamah and Umm Salamah could hope for nothing but persecution from their own clan, so before they entered Mecca Abu Salamah sent word to his Hashimite uncle Abu Talib, asking for his protection which he agreed to give, much to the indignation of Makhzum, "Thou hast protected from us thy nephew Muhammad," they said, "but why art thou protecting our own clansman?" 

★ "He is my sister's son," said Abu Talib. "If I did not protect my sister's son, I could not protect my brother's son." 

★ They had no choice but to allow him his rights of chieftaincy. Moreover, on this occasion Abu Lahab supported his brother

★ His hatred was diminished in any sense; but he wished to be on better terms with his family for the reason that after his elder brother's death he might normally hope to take his place as chief of the clan; and it may be that he now saw in Abu Talib signs that he had not much longer to live.

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Fascinating fact 25

UTHMAN R.A. AND HIS CONFRONTATION WITH POET LABID

★ Once poet Labid was reciting to Quraysh, and 'Uthrnan was present at the large gathering which had assembled to hear him. 

★ At a level somewhat higher than that of the general giftedness of the Arabs for poetry, there were the many distinctly gifted poets like Abu Talib and Hubayrah and Abu Sufyan

★ But beyond these there were the few who were counted as great; and Labid was by common consent one of them. He was perhaps the greatest living Arab poet, and Quraysh felt privileged to have him amongst them.

★ One of the verses he now recited began: "Lo, everything save God is naught" 

"Thou hast spoken true," said 'Uthman,

★ Labid went on: "And all delights away shall vanish." 

"Thou liest," exclaimed 'Uthman, "The delight of Paradise shall never vanish."

★ Labid was not accustomed to being interrupted; as to Quraysh, they were not only astonished and outraged but also exceedingly embar-rassed, for the poet was their guest.

★ Uthman retorted with such' vehemence that the speaker came and hit him over the eye, so that his brow turned green;

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Fascinating fact 26

THE YEAR OF SADNESS

IN the year AD 619, not long after the annulment of the ban, the Prophet ﷺ suffered a great loss in the death of his wife Khadijah.

★ She was about sixty-five years old and he was nearing fifty. They had lived together in profound harmony for twenty-five years

★ She had been not only his wife but also his intimate friend, his wise counsellor, and mother to his whole household including 'Ali and Zayd. 

★ His four daughters were overcome with grief, but he was able to comfort them by telling them that Gabriel had once come to him and told him to give Khadijah greetings of Peace from her Lord and to tell her that He had prepared for her an abode in Paradise. 

★ Another loss followed closely upon the death of Khadijah, a loss less great and less penetrating in itself, but at the same time less consolable and more serious in its outward consequences. Abu Talib fell ill, and it soon became clear that he was dying.

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Fascinating fact 27

PROPHET ﷺ LONGED TO SEE HIS UNCLE ABU TALIB EMBRACE ISLAM

Uncle," he said, "say thou the words, that through them I may intercede for thee on the day of the Resurrection."

"Son of my brother," he said, 【"if I did not fear that Quraysh would think I had but said the words in dread of death】, then would I say them. Yet would my saying them be but to please thee." 

★ Then, when death drew near to Abu Talib, '【Abbas saw him moving his lips and he put his ear close to him and listened】 and then he said: 

"My brother hath spoken the words thou didst bid him speak."

But the Prophet ﷺ said: "I heard him not."

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Fascinating fact 28

ABU BAKR رضالله عنه PLANS MIGRATION TO ABBYSINIA

★ Having obtained permission of the Prophet ﷺ,  he set out to join those who had remained in Abyssinia. 

★ But before he had reached the Red Sea, he was met by Ibn ad-Dughunnah, at that time the head of a small group of confederate tribes not far from Mecca, allies of Quraysh. 

★ This Bedouin chief had known Abu Bakr well in his days of affluence and influence, yet now he had the appearance of a wandering hermit.

★ Amazed at the change, he questioned him. "My people have ill-treated me," said Abu Bakr, "and driven me out, and all I seek is to travel over the face of the earth, worshipping God." 

★ "Why have they done this?" said Ibn ad-Dughunnah. "Thou art as an ornament to thy clan, a help in misfortune, a doer of right, ever fulfilling the needs of others. 

Return, for thou art beneath my protection."

★ So he took him back to Mecca and spoke to the people, saying: "Men of Quraysh, I have given my protection to the son of Abu Quhafah, so let no one treat him other than well."

★ Quraysh confirmed the protection and promised that Abu Bakr should be safe, but at the instigation of the Bani jumah they said to his protector:

★  "Tell him to worship his Lord within doors, and to pray and recite what he will there, but tell him not to cause us trouble by letting it be seen and heard, for 【his appearance is striking and he hath with him a way】, so that we fear lest he seduce our sons and our women." 

★ Ibn ad-Dughunnah told this to Abu Bakr, and for a while he prayed only in his house and recited the Quran and there was quiet for some time

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Fascinating fact 29

PERSECUTION OF PROPHET ﷺ INCREASES AFTER THE DEATH OF ABU TALIB AND HE SEEKS HELP IN TA'IF 

★ Abu Talib was succeeded by Abu Lahab as chief of Hashim; but the protection that Abu Lahab gave his nephew was merely nominal, and the Prophet was ill-treated as never before. 

★ On one occasion a passer-by leaned over his gate and tossed a piece of putrifying offal into his cooking pot; and 

★ once when he was praying in the courtyard of his house, a man threw over him a sheep's uterus filthy with blood and excrement. 

★ Before disposing of it, the Prophet ﷺ picked up the object on the end of a stick and said, standing at his gate:

 "0 sons of 'Abdu Manaf, what protection is this?"

★  He had seen that the offender was the Shamsite 'Uqbah,' stepfather of 'Uthman, Ru-qayyah's husband. 

★ On another occasion, when the Prophet ﷺ was coming from the Ka'bah, a man took a handful of dirt and threw it in his face and over his head. 

★ When he returned home one of his daughters washed him clean of it, weeping the while. 

"Weep not, little daughter," he said, "God will protect thy father!

★ It was then that he decided to seek help from Thaqif, the people of Ta'if -a decision which eloquently reflected the apparent gravity of his situation in Mecca.

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Fascinating fact 30

Addas is surprised

★  Addas did as they had ordered, and when the Prophet ﷺ put his hand to the grapes he said: "In the name of God." 

★ 'Addas looked keenly into his face; then he said: "Those words are not what the people of this country say." 

"From what country art thou?" said the Prophet. "And what is thy religion?"

★ "I am a Christian," he said, "of the people of Nineveh." 

★ "From the city of the righteous man Jonah, the son of Matta," said the Prophet. ﷺ

"How knowest thou aught of Jonah the son of Matta?" said 'Addas, 

"He is my brother," was the answer. "He was a Prophet, and I am a Prophet."

Then 'Addas bent over him and kissed his head and his hands and his feet.

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Fascinating fact 31

Prophet ﷺ 's effort to returns to mecca is thwarted because he needs a protector (kafil)...Chief of mother's clan refuses protection.

The Prophet ﷺ was unwilling to return to the same conditions which only two days previously had impelled him to leave his home. But if he had a protector, he could continue to fulfil his mission.

★ The Bani Hashim had failed him, so his thoughts turned to his mother's clan "Zuhrah".

★ The situation there was abnormal, for by far the most outstanding and influential man of Zuhrah was Akhnas ibn Shariq, who was not strictly speaking a member of the clan, nor even of Quraysh. 

★ He was in fact of Thaqif, but he had long been a confederate of Zuhrah, and they had come to consider him as their chief.

★ The Prophet ﷺ had already decided to ask for his help, when he was overtaken by a horseman also on his way to Mecca but travelling faster than himself, so he asked him to do him the favour of going, on his arrival, to Akhnas and of saying to him: 

"Muhammad saith: Wilt thou give me thy protection, that I may deliver the message of my Lord?"

★ The horseman was well disposed, and even undertook to return with the answer, which proved to be negative, for Akhnas simply remarked that a confederate had no power to speak in the name of the clan with which he was federated and to grant a protection which would be binding upon them.

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Fascinating fact 32

Prophet ﷺ makes another effort to find a protector to return to mecca.

The Prophet ﷺ, who was by this time not far from Mecca, now sent the same request to Suhayl

★ His reply was equally disappointing, though the reason he ad-vanced for his refusal had nothing to do with his opposition to Islam. It was once more a question of tribal principle. 

★ In the Hollow of Mecca his clan was distinct from all the rest as being descended from' *Amir the son of Lu'ayy,'* whereas the others were all descended from Amir's brother Ka'b. 

★ Suhayl simply replied that the sons of'Amir do not give protection against the sons of Ka'b

★ The Prophet ﷺ now turned aside from the way that led to the city, and took refuge in the cave of Mount Hira' where he had received the first Revelation.

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Fascinating fact 33

Prophet ﷺ finally gets a protector

From cave hira he sent his petition to a leader more closely related to himself, Mut'im, the chief of Nawfal, one of the five who had organised the annulment of the ban, and Mut'irn immediately agreed.

★  "Let him enter the city," he sent back word; and the next morning, fully armed, together with his sons and his nephews, he escorted the Prophet ﷺ to the Ka'bah. 

★ Abi Jahl asked them if they had become followers of Mu-hammad. 

"We are giving him protection," they replied; and the Makhzii-mite could only say: "Whom ye protect, to him we give protection."

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Fascinating fact 34

Prophet ﷺ returns from Ma'iraj...The journey started sometime after night prayer at umm hani's house and concluded sometime before dawn prayer at her house.

When the Prophet ﷺ and the Archangel had made their descent to the Rock at masjid Aq'sa, they returned to Mecca the way they had come, overtaking many southbound caravans.

★ It was still night when they reached the Ka'bah. From there the Prophet ﷺ went again to the house of his cousin. 

★ In her words: "A little before dawn the Prophet ﷺ woke us, and when we had prayed the dawn prayer, he said:

'0 Umm Hani', I prayed with you the last evening prayer in this valley as thou sawest. Then went I to Jerusalem and there prayed; and now have I prayed with you the morning prayer as thou seest.'

He rose to go, and I seized his robe wth such force that it came away, laying bare his belly, as if it had been but cotton cloth draped round him. '0 Prophet of God,' I said. 'Tell not the people this, for they will give thee the lie and insult thee.'

'By God, I will tell them,' he ﷺ said."

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Fascinating fact 35

Prophet ﷺ announces his journey of ma'iraj and Abu Bakr رضالله عنه gets the title of "Siddiq"

★ He ﷺ went to the Mosque and told those whom he met there of his journey to Jerusalem. His enemies were immediately triumphant, for they now felt they had an irrefutable cause for mockery. 

★ Every child of Quraysh knew that a caravan takes a month to go from Mecca to Syria and a month to return. And now Muhammad ﷺ claimed to have gone there and back in one night. 

★ A group of men went to Abu Bakr and said: "What thinkest thou now of thy friend? He telleth us he went last night to Jerusalem and prayed there and then returned to Mecca." 

Abu Bakr accused them of lying, but they assured him that Muhammad was in the Mosque at that moment, speaking about this journey.

 "If so he saith,' said Abu Bakr, "then it is true. And where is the wonder of it? He telleth me that tidings come to him from Heaven to earth in one hour of the day or night, and I know him to be speaking the truth.

He then went to the Mosque to repeat his confirmation "If so he saith, then it is true,"

📍 It was for this that the Prophet ﷺ gave him the name as-Siddiq, which means "the great witness of truth" or "the great confirmer of the truth".

★  Moreover, some of those who had found the story incredible began to have second thoughts, for the Prophet ﷺ described the caravans he had overtaken on the way home and said where they were and about when they might be expected to arrive in Mecca; and each arrived as predicted, and the details were as he had described.

To those in the Mosque he spoke only of his journey to Jerusalem, but when he was alone with Abu Bakr and others of his Companions he told them of his ascent through the seven Heavens, telling them a part of what he had seen, with more to be recounted later over the years, often in answer to questions.

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Fascinating fact 36

Prophet ﷺ goes to hajj pilgrims to invite them to islam in the year following year of sadness

IN the year which followed the Year of Sadness, the Pilgrimage fell at the beginning of June; and on the Feast of the Sacrifices the Prophet ﷺ went to the valley of Mina where the pilgrims camp for three days.

★ It had been his practice now for several years to visit the various groups of tents and to declare his message to any who would listen, reciting for them such verses of the Revelations as he felt moved to recite. 

★ The nearest point of Mina to Mecca is 'Aqabah, where the road rises up steeply from the valley towards the hills in the direction of the holy city

★ It was "this year at 'Aqabah" that he came upon six men of the tribe of Khazraj, from Yathrib.

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Fascinating fact 37

THE ACCEPTANCE OF ISLAM BY 6 PEOPLE OF KHAZRAJ TRIBE OF YATHRIB

★ He ﷺ did not know any of the six people from Yathrib (madina) but they had all heard of him and of his claim to prophethood

★ As soon as he told them who he was their faces lit up with interest, and they listened to him attentively. 

★ Every man of them was familiar with the threat of their neighbours, the Yathrib jews: "A Prophet is now about to be sent. We will follow him and we will slay you as 'Ad and 'Iram were slain"

★ When the Prophet ﷺ had finished speaking, they said to each other:

 "This is indeed the Prophet that the Jews promised us would come. Let them not be the first to reach him!"

★ Then, after one or two questions had been asked and answered, each of the "six men testified to the truth" of the Prophet's message and promised to fulfil the conditions of Islam which he laid before them.

 "We have left our people," they said, "for there is no people so torn asunder by enmity and evil as they; and it may be that God will unite them through thee.

We will now go to them and summon them to accept thy religion even as we have accepted it; and if God gather them together about thee, then no man will be mightier than thou."

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Fascinating fact 38

Abu Bakr رضالله عنه gives up his protection and The first hint of hijrah

About this time Abu Bakr decided to have a small mosque built in front of his house. It was surrounded by walls, but open to the sky, and there he would pray and recite the Koran.

★ But the walls were not high enough to prevent passers-by from looking over them, and often a number of people would stand there and listen to his recitation, while at the same time they would see something of his reverence for the revealed Book, which moved him to the depth of his being.

★  Umayyah now feared that the number of Abu Bakr's converts would be still further increased, and at his instance the leaders of Quraysh sent a deputation to Ibn ad-Dughunnah, reminding him of what they had said at the outset of his protection, and pointing out that the walls of Abu Bakr's mosque were not sufficient to make it part of his house. 

★ "If he will worship his Lord within doors, then let him do so," they said, "yet if he must needs do it openly, then bid him absolve thee of thy protection of him." 

★ But Abu Bakr refused to give up his mosque, and he formally absolved Ibn ad-Dughunnah of his pact, saying: "I am content with the protection of God."

★  It was on that very day that the Prophet ﷺ announced to him and to others of his Companions: 

"I have been shown the place of your emigration: I saw a well watered land, rich in date palms, between two tracts of black stones."!

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Fascinating fact 39

"TORN asunder by enmity and evil the two tribes of yathrib desire a leader"

ABDULLAH IBN UBAYY IS ALMOST CHISEN AS THE LEADER OF YATHRIB (HE LATER ON BECAME THE LEADER OF MUNAFIQS AND ENEMY OF PROPHET IN MADINA)

★  In so describing their people, the six recent converts of Yathrib had not exaggerated. 

★ The battle of Bu'ath, the fourth and most savage conflict of the civil war between khazraj and aws the two tribes of yathrib (madina)  had not been altogether decisive; nor had it been followed by any peace worthy of the name but merely by an agreement to stop fighting for the moment. 

★ The dangerously prolonged state of chronic bitterness fraught with an increasing number of incidents of violence had won over many of the more moderate men of both sides to the opinion that they needed an overall chief who would unite them as Qusayy had united Quraysh, and that there was no other solution to their problem.

★ One of the leading men of the oasis, 'Abd Allah ibn Ubayy of khazraj, was favoured by many as a possible king. 

★ He had not fought against Aws in the recent conflict but had withdrawn his men on the eve of the battle. 

He was none the less of Khazraj; and it was exceedingly doubtful whether Aws would be capable of accepting a king who was not of their tribe.

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Fascinating fact 40

THE FIRST PLEDGE OF AQABAH

The six men of Khazraj delivered the message of Islam to as many of their people as would listen to them; and the next summer, that is, in AD 621, five of them repeated their Pilgrimage, bringing with them seven others, two of whom were of Aws.

📍 At 'Aqabah, these twelve men pledged (10 of khazraj and 2 of aws) themselves to the Prophet ﷺ, and this pledge is known as the First 'Aqabah. 

In the words of one of them: 

"We pledged our allegiance to the Messenger of God ﷺ on the night of the First 'Aqabah, that....

1. we would associate nothing with God

2. that we would neither steal

3. not commit fornication

4. nor slay our offspring' 

5. nor utter slanders

6. and that we would not disobey him in that which was right.

And he ﷺ said to us:

'If ye fulfil this pledge, then Paradise is yours

and if ye commit one of these sins and then receive punishment for it in this world, that shall serve as expiation.

And if ye conceal it until the Day of the Resurrection, then it is for God to punish or forgive, even as He will.'

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Fascinating fact 41

THE FIRST AMBASSADOR OF ISLAM .....MUS'AB رضالله عنه

When the 12 reverts  left for Yathrib the Prophet ﷺ sent with them Mus'ab of 'Abd ad-Dar who had by that time returned from Abyssinia. 

★ He was to recite the Koran to them and give them religious instruction.

★ He lodged with As'ad, one of the six from khazraj who had entered Islam the previous year. 

★ The rivalry between the descendants of the two sons of Qaylah was of long standing and Mus'ab had also to lead the prayer because, despite their Islam, neither Aws nor Khazraj could yet endure to give one another that precedence.

★ There had been none the less frequent intermarriages between the two tribes, and as a result of one of these..... "As'ad, the Khazrajite" "host of Mus'ab", was the first cousin of "Sa'd ibn Mu'adh, chief of one of the clans of Aws."

 Sa'd strongly disapproved of the new religion.

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Fascinating fact 42

Sa'd ibn Muadh (who was later in life the famous judge of the fate of ba'nu Quraiza, the Jew tribe, which betrayed the covenant with Prophet ﷺ in the battle of Khandaq)  wanted to erase islam from Yathrib

★ Mu'adh was  angry, yet at the same time embarrassed, to see his cousin As'ad together with Mus'ayb and some newly converted Muslims sitting one day in a garden in the midst of his people's territory, in earnest conversation with members of his clan. 

★ Determined to put an end to such activities, yet not wishing to be involved in any unpleasantness himself, he went to Usayd who was next in authority to himself, and said: 

"Go thou to these two men who have come to our quarters to make fools of our weaker brethren"

 (he was no doubt thinking of his younger brother, the now dead Iyas, who had been the first man of Yathrib to enter Islam!)

 -"and drive them out; and forbid them to come to our quarters again.

If As'ad were not my kinsman I would save thee this trouble but he is my mother's sister's son, and I can do nothing against him."

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Fascinating fact 43

Usayd رضالله عنه , the second in command of Sa'd ibn Mua'dh, accepts islam

THE VALUE OF GOOD BEHAVIOUR IN DA'WAH.... WARN WITH QURAN

Usayd took his lance and went and stood over Asad and Musab and said, with as fierce an expression as he could muster: 

"What bringeth the two of you here, to make fools of our weaker brethren? Leave us, if ye have any care for your lives."

★ Mus'ab looked at him and said gently: "Why not be seated and hear what I have to say? Then, if it please thee, accept it; and if not, keep thyself clear of it." 

★ "That is fairly spoken," said Usayd, who liked both the appearance and the manner of the Prophet's envoy; and striking his lance in the ground he sat down beside them. 

★ Mus'ab spoke to him about Islam and recited the Koran to him; and Usayd's expression changed, so that those who were present could see Islam in his face and the repose that softened it even before he spoke. 

"How excellent are these words and how beautiful!" he said, when Mus'ab had finished. "What do ye do, if ye wish to enter this religion?"

★  They told him that he must wash himself from head to foot in order to be purified, and that he must also purify his garments and then perform the prayer. 

★ There was a well in the garden where they were sitting, so he washed himself and purified his garments and testified There is no god but God and Muhammad ﷺ isthe Messenger of God. 

★ They showed him how to pray, and he prayed. Then he said: 

"There is a man behind me who, if he follow you, will be followed without fail by every man of his people, and I will send him to you now."

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Fascinating fact 44

The effect Quran has on hearts....SAAD BIN MUADH رضالله عنهرضالله عنه ACCEPTS ISLAM

So Usayd he went back to his clansmen, and even before he reached them they could see that he was a changed man. 

★ "What hast thou done?" said Sa'd

"I spake unto the two men," said Usayd, "and by Godl saw no harm in them. But I forbade them to continue and they said: 'We will do as thou wilt.' 

★ "I see thou hast been of no avail," said Sa'd, taking the lance from his hand and setting off to where the believers were still sitting peacefully in the garden. 

★ He remonstrated with his cousin As'ad and upraided him for taking advantage of their kinship. 

★ But Mus'ab intervened, speaking to him just as he had spoken to Usayd, whereupon Sa'd agreed to listen to him, and the result Was finally the same.

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Fascinating fact 45

The value of Saad bin Muadh رضالله عنه among his people

★ When Sa'd had performed the prayer, he rejoined Usayd and those that were with him and together they went to the assembly of their people.

★ Sa'd addressed them and said: "What know ye of my standing amongst you?"

"Thou art our liege lord," they answered, "and the best of us in judgement, and the most auspicious in leadership."

★ "Then I tell you," he said, "I swear I will speak neither to your men nor to your women until ye believe in God and His Messenger. ﷺ"

And by nightfall there was no man or woman of his clan who had not entered Islam.

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Fascinating fact 46

Musab رضالله عنه returns to Mecca and Prophet ﷺ's plan to emigrate to Yathrib

★ Mus'ab stayed with As'ad for about eleven months, and many were the people who embraced Islam during that time. 

★ Then, the month of the next Pilgrimage drew near, he returned to Mecca to give tidings to the Prophet ﷺ of how he had fared among the various clans of Aws and Khazraj. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ knew that the well watered land between two tracts of black stones which he had seen in a vision was Yathrib, and he knew that this time he too would be of the emigrants.

★ Now there were few people in Mecca whom he trusted so much as his aunt by marriage, Umm al-Fadl, He was also certain that his uncle 'Abbas, although he had not entered Islam, would never betray him and never divulge a secret confided to him. 

★ So he told them both that he hoped to go and live in Yathrib and that much depended on the delegation which was expected from the oasis for the coming Pilgrimage. 

★ On hearing this, 'Abbas said that he felt it his duty to go with his nephew to meet the delegates and speak with them, and the Prophet ﷺagreed.

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Fascinating fact 47

The second delegation of muslims from Yathrib plans to meet Prophet ﷺ at aqabah during Hajj

★ Not long after Mus'ab's departure, some of the Muslims of Yathrib set out upon the Pilgrimage as had been arranged between him and them

📍Seventy-three men and two women, hoped to make contact with the Prophet ﷺ

★ Their journey to Mecca had been in a caravan together with the polytheist pilgrims of Yathrib, one of whom entered Islam in the valley of Mina, an eminent Khazrajite, Abu jabir 'Abdullah ibn 'Amr, a leader of the Bani Salimah and a man of great influence. 

★ It was agreed that they should secretly meet the Prophet ﷺ as before at 'Aqabah on the second of the nights immediately following the Pilgrimage. 

★ In the words of one of them: 

"We slept that night with our people in the caravan until when a third of the night had passed we crept out from amongst the sleepers to our appointed meeting with the Messenger of God ﷺ stealing as stealthily as sand-grouse, until we were all assembled in the gully near 'Aqabah.

There we waited until the Messenger ﷺ came, and with him came his uncle 'Abbas who was at that time still of the religion of his people, albeit that he wished to be present at his nephew's transaction and to make sure that the promises made to him were reliable.

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Fascinating fact 48

Abbas tests the commitment of muslims of yathrib for his Nephew ﷺ

★ When the Prophet ﷺ was seated, 'Abbas was the first to speak: 

'People of Khazraj' -(for so the Arabs were wont to address Khazraj and Aws) -'ye know the esteem in which we hold Muhammad, and we have protected him from his people so that he is honoured in his clan and safe in his country.

Yet hath he resolved to turn unto you and join himself with you.

So if ye think that ye will keep to what ye promise him, and that ye will protect him against all that shall oppose him, yours be that burden which ye have taken upon yourselves.

But if ye think ye will betray him and fail him after he hath gone out unto you, then leave him now.

'We have heard what thou sayest,' they answered, 'but speak thou, 0 Messenger of God ﷺ, and choose for thyself and for thy Lord what thou wilt.'"

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Fascinating fact 49

The Prophet ﷺ lays down  his condition for pact and migration to Yathrib

After reciting from the Koran and pronouncing a summons to God and to Islam, the Prophet ﷺ said: 

"I make with you this pact on condition that the allegiance ye pledge me shall bind you to protect me even as ye protect your women and your children."

★ Bara' رضالله عنه  rose and took his ﷺ's hand and said: 

"By Him who sent thee with the truth, we will protect thee as we protect them. So accept the pledge of our allegiance, 0 Messenger of God ﷺ, for we are men of war, possessed of arms that have been handed down from father to son."

★ A man of Aws then broke in upon him and said:

 "0 Messenger of God ﷺ there are ties between us and other men"( -he meant the Jews -) "and we are willing to sever them. But might it not be that if we do this, and if then God give thee victory, thou wilt return to thy people and leave us?"

 The Prophet ﷺ smiled and said: 

"Nay, I am yours and ye are mine. Whom ye war against, him I war against. Whom ye make peace with, him I make peace with."

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Fascinating fact 50

THE SECOND PLEDGE OF AQABAH...THE PLEDGE TO LIVE AND DIE WITH AND FOR ISLAM AND HIS PROPHET ﷺ

STRETCH FORTH YOUR HAND......

Prophet ﷺ said: 

"Bring out to me "twelve of your men" as leaders, that they may look to the affairs of their people."

★ So they brought out to him ﷺ twelve leaders, nine from Khazraj and three from Aws, since sixty-two of the men were of Khazraj and also the two women, whereas only eleven were from Aws. 

★ Amongst the nine leaders of Khazraj were As'ad and Bara'; amongst the three of Aws was Usayd whom Sa'd ibn Mu'adh had sent to represent him.

★ When the people were about to pledge themselves, one by one, to the Prophet ﷺ , a man of Khazraj, one of the twelve who had pledged himself the previous year, made a sign that they should wait, and he addressed them saying: 

"Men of Khazraj, know ye what it means to pledge yourselves to this man?" "We know," they said, but he disregarded them.

"Ye pledge yourselves", he continued, "to war against all men, the red and the black.' So if ye think that when ye suffer the loss of possessions and when some of your nobles are slain ye will forsake him, forsake him now, for if ye forsake him then it will bring shame upon you in this world and the next.

But if ye think ye will fulfil your pledge, then take him, for therein, by God, is the best of this world and the next."

★ They said: "What though our possessions be lost and our nobles slain, yet do we take him. And "what shall be ours" thereby, 0 Messenger of God ﷺ, if we fulfil to thee our pledge?"

"Paradise," he ﷺ said

and they said: "Stretch forth thy hand," and he stretched out his hand and they pledged their oaths.

★ And Satan was watching and listening from the top of 'Aqabah; and when he could contain himself no longer he cried out in the loudest voice possible and spoke the name Mudhammam, Reprobate; and the Prophet ﷺ knew who it was who had thus cried, and he answered him, saying:

 "0 enemy of God, I will give thee no respite."

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Fascinating fact 51

THE EMIGRATION BEGINS....A story of chivalry among the chaos

THE Prophet ﷺ now encouraged his followers in Mecca to emigrate to Yathrib. But one of them had already done so. 

★ The death of Abu Talib had deprived his nephew Abu Salamah of a protector, and he felt compelled to take refuge from his own clan. 

★ So he set off for the north, mounting his wife on a camel with their young son Salamah in her arms and himself leading the camel. 

But Umm Salamah was of the other branch of Makhzurn, the Bani l-Mughirah, and first cousin to Abu Jahl; and some of her family went after them and snatched the camel's rope from Abu Salamah's hand. 

★ He was far outnumbered and knew it would be useless to resist so he told her to return with them. He would find a way for her to join him. 

★ But when his branch of Makhziim heard of it they were angry with the Bani l-Mughirah and made matters worse by claiming custody of the boy.

So the three of them were cruelly separated until the whole clan took pity on her and allowed her to take her son and join her husband. She set off on a camel entirely alone except for Salamah

★ But after almost six miles she met a man of 'Abd ad-Dar, 'Uthman ibn Talhah, not yet a believer, who insisted on escorting her to the end of her journey. 

★ They had heard that Abu Salamah was in Quba', a village at the most southerly point of Yathrib where the oasis juts out into the lava tract which is one of "the two tracts of black stones"; so when they came within sight of the palm groves 'Uthman said to her: 

"Thy husband is in this village, so enter it with God's blessing," and he himself turned back again towards Mecca.

★ Umm Salamah never forgot his kindness, and never ceased to praise him for his nobility.

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Fascinating fact 52

"THE CITY" becomes deserted

★ Heavily outweighed by the steady stream of emigrants which they were unable to control, some of the larger houses in Mecca were now tenantless; others, which had been full, were now empty save for one or two old people.

★ In the city which had seemed so prosperous and harmonious only ten years ago everything had changed, thanks to this one man. 

★ But while these feelings of sadness and melancholy came and went, there was the persistent consciousness of a growing danger from that city to the north where so many potential enemies were now gathering together....men who cared nothing for the ties of kinship if they came into conflict with their religion. 

★ Those who had heard the Prophet say "Quraysh, I bring you slaughter" had never forgotten it, though at the time there seemed to be nothing to fear. 

★ But if he now eluded them, despite the perpetual watch they kept upon his movements, and made his way to Yathrib, those words might prove to be more than a mere threat.

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Fascinating fact 53

THE ORDER FOR PROPHET ﷺ TO MIGRATE COMES

Gabriel now came to the Prophet ﷺ and told him what he should do.

★ It was noon,· an unusual time for visiting, but the Prophet ﷺ went straight to the house of Abu Bakr who knew at once, as soon as he saw him at that hour, that something important had happened. 

★ 'A'ishah and her elder sister Asma' were with their father when the Prophet came in. 

"God hath allowed me to leave the city and to emigrate," he said.

 "Together with me?" said Abu Bakr.

 "Together with thee," said the Prophet ﷺ

★ 'A'ishah R.A. used to say afterwards: 

"I knew not before that day that one could weep for joy until I saw Abu Bakr weep at those words."

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Fascinating fact 54

"Al Amin" keeps his promise

When Prophet ﷺ and Abu bakr رضالله عنه had made their plans, the Prophet ﷺ returned to his house and told' Ali رضالله عنه that he was about to leave for Yathrib, bidding him stay behind in Mecca 【"until he had given back to their owners all the goods which had been deposited in their house for safe keeping"】. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ had never ceased to be known as al-Amin, and there were still many disbelievers who would trust him with their property as they would trust no one else.

★  He also told' Ali what Gabriel had told him about the plot Quraysh had made against him.

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Fascinating fact 55

Quraysh young men gather outside Prophet's house to execute their plan...

★ The young men chosen to kill him had agreed to meet outside his gate after nightfall. 

★ But while they were waiting until their numbers were complete, they heard the sound of women's voices coming from the house, the voices of Sawdah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah and Umm Ayman. 

★ That gave them cause to think; and one of the men said that if they climbed over the wall and broke into the house their names would be for ever held in dishonour among the Arabs because they had violated the privacy of women. 

★ So they decided to wait until their intended victim came out, as it was his wont to do in the early morning, if he came not out before.

★ The Prophet ﷺ and 'Ali رضالله عنه were soon aware of their presence; and the Prophet ﷺ took up a cloak in which he used to sleep and gave it to' Ali, saying:

"Sleep thou on my bed, and wrap thyself in this green Hadrami cloak of mine. Sleep in it, and no harm shall come to thee from them."

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Fascinating fact 56

THE PROPHET ﷺ MAKES HIS MOVE... RIGHT THROUGH THE WAITING ASSASINS..UNSEEN

The Prophet ﷺ began to recite the Surah Ya'sin and, when he came to the words: ......

Yaseen : 9

وَجَعَلْنَا مِنۢ بَيْنِ أَيْدِيهِمْ سَدًّا وَمِنْ خَلْفِهِمْ سَدًّا فَأَغْشَيْنٰهُمْ فَهُمْ لَا يُبْصِرُونَ

And We have put before them a barrier and behind them a barrier and covered them, so they do not see.

°°° (Remember to recite this ayat when surrounded by enemies of islam) °°°°

.... he ﷺ went out of the house; and "God took away their sight so that they did not see him"【"and he passed through their midst and went on his way"】 

★ A man was coming in the opposite direction, and their paths crossed, and he recognised the Prophet ﷺ

★ A little later his path took him not far from the Prophet's house, and seeing men at its gate, he called out to them that if it was Muhammad they wanted he was not there but had gone out not long since. 

★ "How could that be?" they thought. One of the conspirators had been watching the house and had seen the Prophet ﷺ enter it before the others had arrived; and they were certain that no one had left it while they had been there. 

★ But now they began to be uneasy, until one of them who knew where the Prophet slept went to a point from which he could see through the window, just enough to make sure that someone was sleeping on the Prophet's bed, wrapped in a cloak, so he reassured his fellows that their man was still there.

★ But when it was dawn' Ali rose and went to the door of the house, still wrapped in the cloak; and they saw who it was, and began to think they had been somehow outwitted. 

★ They waited a little longer; the thinnest of crescents, all that was left of the waning moon of the【month of Safar】,had risen over the eastern hills, and now it began to pale as the light increased. 

★ There was still no sign of the Prophet ﷺ , and with a sudden impulse they decided to go, each one to his chief of clan, to give the alarm.

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Fascinating fact 57

Abu bakr keeps a track of the happenings in mecca

Amir ibn Fuhayrah, the shepherd whom Abu Bakr had "bought as a slave and then set free" and put in charge of his sheep, had followed behind them with his flock to cover up their tracks.

★ When they reached the cave, Abu Bakr sent his son home with the camels, telling him to listen to what was said in Mecca the next day when the Prophet's absence was dis-covered, and to bring them word of it the following night.

★ 'Amir was to pasture his sheep as usual with the other shepherds during the day and to bring them to the cave at night, always covering up the tracks of'Abd Allah between Thawr and Mecca. 

★ The next night 'Abd Allah returned to the cave and his sister Asma' came with him, bringing food. 

★ Their news was that Quraysh had offered a reward of a hundred camels to anyone who could find Muhammad and bring him back to Mecca.

★ Horsemen were already following every normal route from Mecca to Yathrib, hoping to overtake them both -for it was assumed that Abu Bakr was with the Prophet ﷺ , since he also had dis-appeared.

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Fascinating fact 58

The bounty hunters search the unexpected place

★ But others, perhaps unknown to 'Abd Allah, thought they must be in hiding, in one of the numerous caves in the hills round Mecca. 

★ Moreover, the Arabs of the desert are good trackers: even when a flock of sheep had followed in the wake of two or three camels, the average Bedouin would see at a glance the remains of the larger prints of the camel-hooves which the multitude of smaller prints had all but obliterated. 

★ _It seemed 【"unlikely that the fugitives would be to the south of the city"】; but for such a generous reward every possibility should be tried; and camels had certainly pre-ceded the sheep on those tracks which led in the direction of Thawr.

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Fascinating fact 59

Allah created protection on the mouth of cave

★ When the sound of their retreating steps and voices had died away, the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr went to the mouth of the cave. 

★ There in front of it, "almost covering the entrance", was an acacia tree, about the height of a man, which had not been there that morning

★ And over the "gap that was left between the tree and the wall of the cave" a spider had woven its web. 

★ They looked through the web, and there "in the hollow of a rock, even where a man might step" as he entered the cave, a rock dove had made a nesting place and was sitting close as if she had eggs, "with her mate perched on a ledge" not far above.

★  When they heard'Abd Allah and his sister approaching at the expected hour, they gently drew aside the web that had been their safeguard, and taking care not to disturb the dove, they went to meet them.

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Fascinating fact 60

Final preparations for the journey from cave of thawr to medina.

★ Amir the freed slave/shephard of abu bakr had also come, this time without his flock. He had brought the Bedouin to whom Abu Bakr had entrusted the two camels he had chosen for their journey. 

★ The man was not yet a believer, but he could be relied on to keep their secret and also to guide them to their destination 【"by such out-of-the-way paths as only a true son of the desert would know"】. 

★ The bedouin was waiting in the valley below with the two mounts, and had brought a third camel for himself. 

★ Abu Bakr was to take 'Amir behind him on his camel, to look after their needs. They left the cave, and descended the slope. 

★ Asma' had brought a bag of provisions, but had forgotten to bring a rope. So she took off her girdle and divided it into two lengths, using one to tie the bag securely to her father's saddle and keeping the other for herself.

Thus it was that she earned the title "She of the two girdles".

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Fascinating fact 61

Prophet ﷺ buys his camel (named "Qaswa") for his hijrah

★ When Abu Bakr offered the Prophet ﷺ the better of the two camels he said: *"I will not ride a camel that is not mine own."*

★ "But she is thine, 0 messenger of God." said Abu Bakr. "Nay," said the Prophet ﷺ; "but what price didst thou pay for her?" Abu Bakr told him, and he said: "I take her at that price."

★ Nor did Abu Bakr insist further on making it a gift, although the Prophet ﷺ had accepted many gifts from him in the past, for this occasion was a solemn one.

It was the Prophet's Hijrah... his cutting off of all ties of home and homeland for the sake of God.

His offering, the act of emigration, must be entirely his, not shared by another in any respect.

The mount on which the act was accomplished must therefore be his own, since it was part of his offering.

★ The camel's name was "Qaswa"', and she remained his favourite camel.

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Fascinating fact 62

The coastal de-tour guide takes to yathrib to avoid Quraysh is not without anxiety.

★ Their guide took them away from Mecca to the "west and a little to the south" until they came to the "shore of the Red Sea". 

★ Yathrib is "due north" of Mecca, but it was only at this point that any north came into their direction. The coastal road runs "north-west" and for a few days they kept to this. 

★ On one of their first evenings, looking across the water towards the Nubian desert, they saw the new moon of the month of Rabi'al-Awwal.

 "0 crescent of good and of guidance, my faith is in Him who created thee."! This the Prophet ﷺ would say when he saw the new moon. 

★ One morning they were somewhat dismayed to see a small caravan approaching from the opposite direction. But their feelings changed to joy when they saw that it was Abu Bakr's cousin Talhah who was on his way from Syria where he had bought the cloth and other merchandise with which his camels were laden. 

★ He had stopped in Yathrib on his way, and intended to return there as soon as he had disposed of his wares in Mecca. 

★ The Prophet's arrival in the oasis, he said, was awaited with the greatest eagerness; and before bidding them farewell he gave them each a change of clothes from out of the fine white Syrian garments which he had intended to sell to some of the richer men of Quraysh.

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Fascinating fact 63

The team makes the move towards yathrib

★ Not long after their meeting with Talhah they turned due north, going "slightly inland" from the coast, and then "north-east", now at last making directly for Yathrib. 

★ At one point of their journey the Prophet received a Revelation which told him: Verily He who hath made binding upon thee the Koran will bring thee home once more

★ Shortly before dawn on the twelfth day after leaving the cave they reached the valley of 'Aqiq, and crossing the valley, they climbed up the rugged black slopes on the other side. 

★ Before they reached the top the sun was well up and the heat was intense.

★  On other days they would have stopped for rest until the great heat of the day had passed; but they now decided to climb the final ridge of the ascent, and when at last they came within sight of the plain below there could be no question of holding back.

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Fascinating fact 64

✨THE DREAM COMES TRUE... ✨

★ The place that the Prophet ﷺ}had dreamed of, "the well watered land between two tracts of black stones," was lying before them

★ The grey-green of the palm groves and the lighter green of orchards and gardens stretched at one point to "within three miles of the foot of the slope" they had to descend. 

★ The 'nearest point of greenery was Quba' where most of the emigrants from Mecca had first stayed, and where many of them still were. 

The Prophet ﷺ told their guide: "Lead us straight to the Bani 'Amr at Quba', and draw not yet nigh unto the city" -for so the most densely inhabited part of the oasis was called.

That city was soon to be known throughout Arabia, and thence elsewhere, as "the City", in Arabic al-Mad'inah, in English Medina.

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Fascinating fact 65

The eyes stare in expectations

★ Several days previously news from Mecca of the Prophet ﷺ's disappearance, and of the reward offered for him, had reached the oasis.

★  The people of Quba' were expecting him daily, for the time of his arrival was now overdue

★ Every morning, after the dawn prayer, some of the Bani 'Amr would go out to look for him, and with them went "men of other clans" who lived in that village, and also those of the "emigrant Quraysh" who were still there and had not yet moved to Medina. 

★ They would go out "beyond the fields and palm groves onto the lava tract", and after they had gone some distance they would stop and wait until the heat of the sun became fierce; then they would return to their homes.

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Fascinating fact 66

A jew spots the travellers

★ The people of Quba gone out that morning, but had already returned by the time the four travellers had begun their descent ofthe rocky slope. 

★ Eyes were no longer staring expectantly in that direction; but the sun shone on the new white garments of the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr رضالله عنه which were set off all the more against the background of bluish-black volcanic stones, and a Jew who happened to be on the roof of his house caught sight of them. 

★ He knew at once who they must be, for the Jews of Quba' had asked and been told why so many of their neighbours had taken to going out in a body into the wilderness every morning without fail.

So he called out at the top of his voice: "Sons of Qaylah, he is come, he is come!"

★ The call was immediately taken up, and men, women and children hurried from their houses and streamed out once more onto the strip of greenery which led to the stone tract

★ But they had not far to go, for the travellers had by now reached the most outlying palm-grove.

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Fascinating fact 67

THE PROPHET ﷺ ADDRESSES THE PEOPLE OF QUBA AND THE REST OF MANKIND

"0 people, give unto one another greetings of Peace

feed food unto the hungry

honour the ties of kinship

pray in the hours when men sleep.

Even so shall ye enter Paradise in Peace."!

★ It was decided that he should lodge with Kulthum, an old man of Quba' who had previously welcomed both Harnzah and Zayd in his house on their arrival from Mecca. 

★ The Bani 'Amr, Kulthum's clan, were of Aws, and it was no doubt partly in order that both the Yathrib tribes might share in the hospitality that Abu Bakr رضالله عنه lodged with a man of Khazraj in the village of Sunh which was a little nearer to Medina. 

★ After a day or two, 'Ali رضالله عنه arrived from Mecca, and stayed in the same house as the Prophet ﷺ. It had taken him "three days to return all the property" which had been deposited with them to its various owners. 

★ Many were those who now came to greet the Prophet ﷺ, and amongst them were some Jews of Medina who were drawn more by curiosity than good will. 

★ But on the second or third evening there came a man who was different in appearance from any of the others, clearly neither an Arab nor a Jew.

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Fascinating fact 68

The amazing journey faith of Salman Farsi from christianity to islam

★ Salman, for so he was named, had been born of "Persian Zoroastrian" parents in the village near Isfahan, but he had "become a Christian" and gone to Syria as a very young man. 

★ There he had attached himself to a saintly bishop who, on his deathbed, recommended him to go to the Bishop of Mosul, who was old like himself but the best man he knew.

★  Salman set off for the north of Iraq, and this was for him the beginning of a series of attachments to elderly Christian sages until the last of these, also on his deathbed, told him that the time was now at hand when a Prophet would appear: 

"He will be sent with the religion of Abraham and will come forth in Arabia where he will emigrate from his home to a place between two lava tracts, a country of palms.

His signs are manifest: he will eat of a gift but not if it be given as alms; and between his shoulders is the seal of prophecy."

★ Salman made up his mind to join the Prophet and paid a party of merchants of the tribe of Kalb to take him with them to Arabia.

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Fascinating fact 69

Salman farsi tests his conviction and teaching... An eyeful of love in enough

★ When the merchants reached Wadi l-Qura north of the Red Sea they sold Salman as a slave to a Jew. 

★ The sight of the palms in Wadi l-Qura made him wonder whether this could be the township he was seeking, but he had his doubts.

★  Itwas not long however before the Jew sold him to a cousin of his of the Bani Qurayzah in Medina; and as soon as he saw the lie of the land, he knew beyond doubt that here was the place to which the Prophet would migrate. 

★ Salman's new owner had another *cousin who lived in Quba'; and on the arrival of the Prophet this Jew of Quba' set off for Medina with the news.

★ He found his cousin sitting beneath one of his palms; and Salman, who was working in the top of the tree, heard him say: 

"God curse the sons of Qaylah! They are even now gathered together at Quba' about a man who hath come to them this day from Mecca. They claim him to be a Prophet."

Those last words filled Salman with certainty that his hopes had been realised, and the impact was so great that his whole body was seized with trembling.

★ He was afraid that he would fall out of the tree, so he climbed down; and once on the ground he eagerly began to question the Jew from Quba', but his master was angry and ordered him back to his work in the tree. 

★ That evening however he slipped away, taking with him some of his food which he had saved, and went to Quba', where he found the Prophet ﷺ sitting with many companions, new and old. 

★  Salman was already con-vinced, but he none the less approached him and offered him the food, "specifying that he gave it as alms". The Prophet ﷺ told his companions to eat of it, but did not eat of it himself.

★ Salman hoped that he would one day see the seal of prophecy, but to "have been in the presence of the Prophet ﷺ and to have heard him speak was enough for that first encounter", and he "returned to Medina elated and thankful".

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Fascinating fact 70

THE FIRST MOSQUE AND THE FIRST JU'MAH

THE Prophet ﷺ had reached the oasis on Monday 27 September AD 622.

★  Various messages soon made it clear that the people of Medina were impatient for his arrival there, so he only stayed three full days in Quba', during which he laid the foundations of a "mosque, the first to be built in Islam". 

★ On the Friday morning he ﷺ set out from Quba', and at noon he and his companions stopped in the valley of Ranuna' to pray the prayer with the Khazrajite clan of the Bani Salim who were expecting him. 

★ This was the first Friday Prayer that he prayed in the country that from now on was to be his home. 

★ Some of his kinsmen of the Bani an-Najjar had come to meet him, and some of the Bani'Amr had escorted him from Quba', which brought the whole congregation up to about a hundred men.

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Fascinating fact 71

✨PROPHET ﷺ ENTERS HIS CITY AND ANSAR FULFILL THEIR PROMISE✨

After the prayer the Prophet ﷺ mounted Qaswa', and Abu Bakr and others of Quraysh also mounted their camels and set off with him for the city.

★ To the "right and to the left" of them, "dressed in armour" with their "swords drawn", rode men of Aws and Khazraj, "as a guard of honour" and by way of "demonstration that the oath they had taken to protect him was no empty word", though they knew well that then and there he would need no protection. 

Never was a day of greater rejoicing

"Come is the Prophet of God! Come is the Prophet of God!" was the joyous cry that went up from more and more voices of men and women and children who had lined the route.

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Fascinating fact 72

"Qaswa" the camel of prophet ﷺ, under the command of Allah, takes him ﷺ to his place of dwelling

★ Qaswa' set the "slow and stately pace" of the procession as it passed amid the gardens and palm groves to the south of Medina. 

★ The houses were still few and far between, but gradually they entered more closely built districts, and many were the eager invitations which were offered. "Alight here, 0 Messenger of God, for we have strength and protection for thee, and abundance."

★ More than once a man or a group of clansmen took hold of Qaswa's halter. But each time the Prophet ﷺ blessed them and then said: 

"Let her go her way, for she is under the command of God."

★ At one point it seemed as if she were making for the houses of the Prophet's "nearest kinsmen of the "Adi branch of the great Khazrajite clan of Najjar"】,for she turned into the eastern part of the city where most of the clan lived. 

★ But she "passed by the place where he had stayed with his mother as a child" and by all the other houses of those nearest to him, despite their earnest entreaties that he should make his home there.

★  The Prophet ﷺ gave them the same reply that he had given to the others, and they could only submit.

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Fascinating fact 73

Qaswa finally reaches the place Prophet was to live, build his mosque and ultimately die

★ He ﷺ had now reached the houses of the Bani Malik branch of Najjar. To this subclan belonged "two of those six men" who had pledged allegiance to him the year before the First 'Aqabah, As'ad and 'Awf

★ Here Qaswa' turned from the road into a "large walled courtyard" which had in it a few date palms and the ruins of a building. 

★ One end had been used at some time as a burial ground. There was also a place set apart for drying dates. 

★ Slowly she made her way towards a rough enclosure which As'ad had set up as a place of prayer, and there at the entrance she knelt. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ let go her rein, but did not alight; and after a moment she rose to her feet and began to walk leisurely away. 

★ But she had not gone far when she stopped, turned in her tracks and walked back to where she had first knelt. Then she knelt again; and this time she flattened her chest against the ground. 

The Prophet ﷺ alighted and said: "This, if God will, is the dwelling."

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Fascinating fact 74

THE NAMES WRITTEN IN GOLD IN THE  HISTORY OF TIME

SAHL AND SUHAYL..THE TWO ORPHAN KIDS WHO GAVE THE LAND FOR PROPHETS MOSQUE

ABU AYYUB ANSARI...THE HOST OF PROPHET

★ He ﷺ then asked who owned the courtyard, and Mu'adh, the brother of 'Awf, told him it belonged to two orphan boys, Sahl and Suhayl,

★ They were under the guardianship of As'ad, and the Prophet ﷺ asked him to bring them to him, but they were already at hand and came and stood before him. 

★ He ﷺ asked them if they would sell him the courtyard, and told them to name their price, but they said: "Nay, we give it thee, 0 Messenger of God."

★ He ﷺ would not, however, take it as a gift, and the price was fixed with the help of As'ad.

★ Meanwhile Abu Ayyub Khalid, who lived nearby, had "untied the baggage" and carried it into his house. 

★ Others of the clan now came and begged the Prophet ﷺ to be their guest, but he ﷺ said: "A man must be with his baggage."

★ Abu Ayyub had been the first of the clan to pledge himself at the Second 'Aqabah.

★ He and his wife now withdrew to the upper part of his house, leaving the ground floor for the Prophet ﷺ; and As'ad led Qaswa' to the courtyard of his own house which was close by.

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Fascinating fact 75

THE MOSQUE OF PROPHET ﷺ IS BUILT

★ THE Prophet ﷺ gave orders that his newly acquired courtyard should be made into a mosque, and as in Quba' they began work on it immediately.

★  Most of the building was "done with bricks", but "in the middle of the northern wall, that is, the Jerusalem wall", "they put stones" on either side of the "prayer niche". 

★ The palms in the courtyard were cut down and their trunks were used as pillars to support the roof of palm branches, but the greater part of the courtyard was left open. 

★ The Muslims of Medina had been given by the Prophet ﷺ the title of Ansar (helpers) whereas the Muslims of Quraysh and other tribes who had emigrated, he called Muhajirah, that is, Emigrants. 

★ All took part in the work, including the Prophet ﷺ himself, and as they worked they chanted two verses which one of them had made up for the occasion: 

"0 God, no good is but the good hereafter, So help the Helpers and the Emigrants."

And sometimes they chanted: "No life there is but life of the Hereafter. Mercy, 0 God, on Emigrants and Helpers."

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Fascinating fact 76

CHARTER OF MEDINA IS DRAWN AND A STATE OF BELIEVERS IS ESTABLISHED

★ It was to be hoped that these two parties would be strengthened by a third, and the Prophet ﷺ now made a covenant of mutual obligation between his followers and the Jews of the oasis

 He ﷺ formed  them into a "single community of believers" but【"allowing"】for the differences between the two religions. 

★ "Muslims and Jews were to have equal status".

★ If a Jew were wronged, then he must be helped to his rights by both Muslim and Jew, and so also if a Muslim were wronged. 

★ In case of war against the polytheists they must fight as one people, and neither Jews nor Muslims were to make a separate peace, but peace was to be indivisible. 

💫 In case of differences of opinion or dispute or controversy, the matter was to be referred to God.through His Messenger ﷺ.

★  There was, however, "no express stipulation [compulsion]" that the Jews should formally recognise Muhammad as the Messenger and Prophet of God, though he was referred to as such throughout the document.

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Fascinating fact 77

After years of persecution muslims looked forward to peace but the Jews never really accept the covenant.

★ The Jews accepted this covenant for political reasons. The Prophet ﷺ was already by far the most powerful man in Medina, and his power seemed likely to increase. 

★ They had no choice but to accept; yet very few of them were capable of believing that God would send a Prophet who was not a Jew. 

★ At first they were outwardly cordial, whatever they may have said amongst themselves and however set they were in the consciousness of their own superiority

★ But though their scepticism with regard to the new religion was normally veiled, they were always ready to share it with any Arab who might have doubts about the Divine origin of the Revelation. 

✨ Islam continued to spread rapidly throughout 'the clans of Aws and Khazraj, and some believers looked forward to the day when, thanks to the covenant with the Jews, the oasis would be one harmonious whole

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Fascinating fact 78

TO RETAIN HIS LEADERSHIP, ABDULLAH IBN UBAYY ACCEPTS ISLA

★ The Prophet ﷺ never forgot the words of Sa'd Ibn Ubaidah and as to Ibn Ubayy, he soon saw that his influence, once so great, was rapidly dwindling and that if he did not enter Islam it would vanish altogether. 

★ On the other hand he knew that a nominal acceptance of Islam would confirm him in his authority, for the Arabs were averse to breaking their old ties of allegiance unless there was a great reason for doing so. 

★ It was therefore not long before he decided to enter Islam; but although he formally pledged himself to the Prophet ﷺ and regularly thereafter attended the prayers, the believers never came to feel sure of him. 

★ There were others about whom they were equally doubtful, but Ibn Ubayy was different from the majority of lukewarm or insincere converts by reason of his far-reaching influence, which made him all the more dangerous.

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Fascinating fact 79

First death in Medina after hijrah and Salman farsi accepts islam

During the first months, while the Mosque was still being built, the community suffered a great loss in the death of As'ad , host of Mu'sab, (the messenger of prophet to medina), the first man in the oasis to pledge himself to the Prophet ﷺ

★ The Prophet ﷺ said: "The Jews and the Arab hypocrites will surely say of me: 'If he were a Prophet, his companion would not have died.' 

And indeed my will availeth nothing for myself or for my companion against the Will of God."!

★ It was perhaps at the funeral of As'ad that the second meeting of Salman the Persian with the Prophet ﷺ took place

Salman himself described this meeting saying: "I went to the Messenger of God when he was in the Baqi al-Gharqad,' whither he had followed the bier of one of his Companions."

★  Salman had known he would be there, and he contrived to absent himself from his work in time to reach the cemetery after the burial, while the Prophet ﷺ was still sitting there with some of the Emigrants and the Helpers.

★ "I greeted him," said Salman, "and then I circled round behind him in the hope that I might be able to look upon the Seal. 

And he knew what I desired, so he grasped his cloak and threw it off his back, and I beheld the Seal of Prophecy even as my Master had described it unto me.

I stooped over it and kissed it and wept

★ Then the Messenger of God ﷺ bade me come round and I went and sat in front of him and told him my story, and he was glad that his Companions should hear it. 

Then I entered Islam."

★  But Salman was kept hard at work as a 【slave among the Bani Qurayzah】,and for the next four years he was able to have little contact with his fellow Muslims.

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Fascinating fact 80

Abdullah ibn Salaam (a jew rabbi) accepts islam

Another man of the people of the Book who embraced Islam at this time was a "rabbi of the Bani Qaynuqa"', "Husayn ibn Sallam". 

★ He came to the Prophet ﷺ in secret and pledged allegiance to him. The Prophet ﷺ thereupon gave him the name' Abd Allah

★ The new convert suggested that before his Islam became known his 【people should be questioned about his standing amongst them】. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ concealed him in his house and sent for some of the leading men of Qaynuqa'

"He is our chief," they said in answer to his question, "and the son of our chief; he is our rabbi and our man of learning."

★ Then 'Abd Allah came out to them and said: "0 Jews, fear God, and accept that which He hath sent unto you, for ye know that this man is the Messenger of God."

★ Then he affirmed his own Islam and that of his household; and 【his people reviled him, and denied his good standing amongst them which they had previously affirmed】

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Fascinating fact 81

The need for Call to Prayer

Islam was now firmly established in the oasis.

★ The Revelation prescribed the【giving of alms】and the【fast of the month of Ramadan】,and laid down in general what was forbidden and what was allowed. 

★ The 【five daily ritual prayers】 were regularly 【performed in congregation】, and when the time for each prayer came the people would assemble at the site where the Mosque was being built. 

★ Everyone judged of the time by the position of the sun in the sky, or by the first signs of its light on the eastern horizon or by the dimming of its glow in the west after sunset; but opinions could differ

★ Prophet ﷺ felt the need for a means of summoning the people to prayer when the right time had come

At first he thought of appointing a man to 【"blow a horn" like that of the "Jews"】 but later he decided on a 【"wooden clapper, naqus", such as the "Oriental Christians" used at that time】, and two pieces of wood were fashioned together for that purpose but were never to be used

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Fascinating fact 82

The divine dream decides the Azaan

One night a man of Khazraj, 【'Abd Allah ibn Zayd,】 who had been at the Second 'Aqabah, had a dream whieh the next day he recounted to the Prophet ﷺ

"There passed by me a man wearing two green garments and he carried in his hand a naqus, so I said unto him: 

"0 slave of God, wilt thou sell me that naqus" "What wilt thou do with it?" he said. "We will summon the people to prayer with it," I answered.

 "Shall I not show thee a better way?" he said. "What way is that?" I asked, and he answered: "That thou shouldst say:

God is most Great, Alldhu Akbar." The man in green repeated this magnification four times, then each of the following twice: I testify that there is no god but God; I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God; come unto the prayer; come unto salvation; God is most Great; and then once again there is no god but God.

★ The Prophet ﷺ said that this was a true vision, and he told him to go to Bilal, 【who had an excellent voice】, and teach him the words exactly as he had heard them in his sleep. 

★ The "highest house" in the neighbourhood of the Mosque "belonged to a woman of the clan of Najjar", and Bilal would come there before every dawn and would sit on the roof waiting for the daybreak. 

★ When he saw the first faint light in the east he would stretch out his arms and say in supplication: "0 God I praise Thee, and I ask Thy Help for Quraysh, that they may accept Thy religion."

✨Then he would stand and utter the call to prayer.

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Fascinating fact 83

The New Household... Prophet ﷺ orders the building of his house which would ultimately be his final resting place

WHEN the Mosque was nearly finished the Prophet ﷺ gave orders for two small dwellings to be attached to its eastern wall, one for his wife Sawdah and the other for his bethrothed, A'ishah (whom he was about to marry)

★ The building had taken altogether seven months, and during that time he lodged with "Abu Ayyub". 

★ But when Sawdah's house was nearly ready he sent Zayd to bring her to Medina, and with her *Umm Kulthum and Fatimah (daughters) ; and Abu Bakr sent word to his son 'Abd Allah to bring Umm Ruman (wife) , Asma' and 'A'ishah (daughters). 

★ At the same time Zayd brought his own wife Umm Ayman (the woman who was the servant of prophet's mother and was with her when she died on way back from yathrib with prophet ﷺ as a child)* and their small son "Osama"

★ Not long after the arrival of the party, Abu Bakr gave Asma' in marriage to Zubayr

★ Abu Bakr's sister Quraybah remained in Mecca to take care of their father, Abu Quhafah, who was old and blind. Unlike Quraybah, he had not yet entered Islam.

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Fascinating fact 84

The Threshold of War

Till now muslims were restrained from fighting, but the revelation of this ayat after more than 13 years of Prophet hood changed the scenario.

PERMISSION to fight is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged; and God is Able to give them victory. Those who have been driven from their homes unjustly, for no cause other than for their saying: Our Lord is God.'.....Surah Hajj

The Prophet ﷺ had received this Revelation not long after his arrival in Medina. He knew moreover that permission was here a command, and the obligations of war had been stressed in the covenant with the Jews. 

★ But for the moment there could be no question of anything but raids. Quraysh were vulnerable in their caravans, and it was 【"especially in the spring and early summer months"】, when their "trade with Syria" was most active, that they lay open to attack from Medina. 

★ In the "【autumn and winter】" they sent most of their caravans to the south, mainly to the "Yemen and to Abyssinia". 

★ The information received in Medina about the caravans was seldom very precise, and there were liable to be last-minute changes of plan. The Meccan caravans altogether eluded some of the first raids from Medina,

★ The Prophet ﷺ went out himself after 11 months of hijrah he appointed one of his Companions to be in charge of Medina during his absence, and the first to have this honour was the Khazrajite chief, Sa'd ibn 'Ubadah

On each occasion when he remained behind he gave the leader a white banner mounted on a lance.

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Fascinating fact 85

Quraish trade with South (yemen) comes under pressure...

Although no fighting had taken place as yet, Quraysh were already alert to the danger of having an enemy established in Yathrib

★ But it seemed to them that this would in no way affect their trade with the south. They were soon to be disillusioned, for the Prophet ﷺ now received word of a caravan that was on its way from the Yemen

★ He ﷺ sent his cousin 'Abd Allah ibn jahsh with eight other Emigrants to lie in wait for it near Nakhlah, between Ta'if and Mecca. 

★ It was Rajab, one of the four sacred months of the year, and the Prophet ﷺ gave 'Abd Allah no instructions to attack the caravan but simply to bring him news of it. No doubt he wished to see how well the southern caravans were guarded, for future activity against them.

★  Soon after the Emigrants reached their destination, a small caravan of Quraysh stopped and camped nearby, unaware of their presence. 

★ 'Abd Allah and his companions were in a dilemma: the Prophet's only definite instructions had been to bring him news; but he had not forbidden them to fight, nor had he made mention of the sacred month.

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Fascinating fact 86

THE INCIDENCE OF NAKHLAH

The dilemma of whether to attack the quraishi trade caravan in sacred month and the decision of Abdullah ibn Jahsh led lookout mission

★  Were these pre-Islamic conventions still binding, they asked themselves. They thought also of the Revelation: Permission to fight is given unto those who fight because they have been wronged ... those who have been unjustly driven from their homes, They were "at war" with Quraysh, and they had recognised "at least two of the merchants in the caravan as men of Makhzum", which of all the clans of Mecca had shown itself most hostile to Islam.

★ It was the "morning of the last day of Rajab"; sunset would bring in Sha'ban, which was not a sacred month, but by that time, though no longer protected by the calendar, their enemies would be protected by distance, for they would have reached the sacred precinct

★ After much hesitation they decided to attack. One was killed, one escaped and 2 were taken as prisoners

★ 'Abd Allah and his men took their prisoners and the camels and the merchandise back to Medina. He set aside a fifth part of the spoils for the Prophet, dividing the rest among his companions and himself. 

★ But the Prophet ﷺ refused to accept anything and said: "I did not bid you fight in the sacred month" whereupon those who had done so thought they were doomed. 

★ Their "brethren in Medina" blamed them for their violation of Rajab, while the "Jews" said it was a bad omen for the Prophet ﷺ, and "Quraysh" set about spreading far and wide the news that Muhammad was guilty of sacrilege.

 📍 Then came the Revelation: 

*They question thee about the sacred month and (fighting therein. Say: to (that therein is a grave offence; but barring men from God's path and sacrilege against Him and the holy mosque and driving out His people therefrom are graver with God. And torturing is graver than killing.'*

★ The Prophet ﷺ interpreted this as "confirming the traditional ban" on warfare in the sacred month but as "making an exception in this particular case"

★ So he relieved 'Abd Allah and his companions of the fear that lay so heavily upon them and accepted a fifth of the spoils for the general benefit of the community. 

The clan of Makhzum sent ransoms for the two prisoners, but Hakam their freedman chose to enter Islam and remain in Medina, so 'Uthman returned alone.

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Fascinating fact 87

THE CHANGE OF QIBLAH

It was in this "same moon of Sha'ban" that there came a Revelation of great ritual importance.

★ Its opening words refer to the Prophet's extreme care to face in the right direction for prayer. 

★ In the Mosque the "direction' was set by the Mihrab", the prayer-niche in the Jerusalem wall but when he was outside the town he would check his "direction by the sun" if it were day and by the "stars at night". 

We have seen the turning ofthy face unto the sky; and now We shall turn thee a way that shall well please thee. So turn thou thy face towards the Inviolable Mosque; and wheresoever ye may be, turn ye your faces toward it.

 ★ A "Mihrab" was forthwith "made" in the *south wall* of the Mosque, facing towards Mecca, and the change was accepted with joy by the Prophet ﷺ and his Companions. 

From that day Muslims have turned in the direction of the Ka'bah for the performance of the ritual prayer, and by extension for other rites

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Fascinating fact 88

The reason for March to Badr

★ Caravan of Abu sufyan had to be intercepted and it was time for Abu Sufyan to return with all the wares that he and his fellows had acquired in Syria.

★ The Prophet ﷺ sent Talhah and Sa'id to Hawra' "on the sea-shore due west of Medina" to bring him news as soon as the caravan arrived. This would enable him, by a quick march to the south-west, to overtake it further down the coast. 

★ His two scouts were hospitably received by a chief of Juhaynah who hid them in his house until the caravan had passed. But he and they might have spared themselves their pains, for "someone in Medina", no doubt one of the "hypocrites or one of the Jews", had already sent word of the Prophet's plans to Abu Sufyan

★ Abu Sufyan immediately hired a man of the Ghifarl tribe, Damdam by name, to go with all speed to Mecca and urge Quraysh to march out at once with an army to their rescue, while he himself pressed forward along the coastal route, travelling by both day and night.

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Fascinating fact 89

Urgency of mission and the enthusiasm of a young sahabi

The Prophet ﷺ had his reasons for wishing to remain in Medina as long as possible, for his beloved daughter Ruqayyah had fallen seriously ill. But personal considerations could not be taken into account.

★ March of Quraish army to defend caravan of abu sufyan was a reason for  sense of urgency , and rather than risk being too late he decided not even to wait for the return of his scouts. 

★ By the time they reached Medina he had already set out with an army of Emigrants and Helpers, three hundred and five men altogether. 

At that time there were seventy-seven able-bodied Emigrants in Medina and all these were present on this occasion except three: the Prophet had told his son-in-law 'Uthman to stay at home and tend his sick wife; the other two were Talhah and Sa'id, who arrived back from the coast too late to set out.

★ At the first halt, which was "still in the oasis", the Prophet's cousin Sa'd  noticed his "fifteen-year"-old brother 'Umayr looking troubled and furtive and he asked him what was the matter. 

"I am afraid," said 'Umayr, "that the Messenger of God will see me and say I am too young and send me back. And I long to go forth. It might be that God would grant me martyrdom." (✨ He was one of the sahaba who achieved martyrdom in Badr later on✨ )

★  As he feared, the Prophet noticed him when he lined up the troops and said he was too young and told him to go home. But '"Umayr wept" and the Prophet let him stay and take part in the expedition. 

"He was so young", said Sa'd, "that I had to fasten the straps of his sword-belt for him."

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Fascinating fact 90

The configuration of prophet's army

★ There were seventy camels which the men rode by turns, three or four men to one camel, and three horses, one of which belonged to Zubayr.

★ The white banner was given to Mus'ab, no doubt because he was of clan of 'Abd ad-Dar, whose ancestral right it was to carry the banner of Quraysh in war. 

★ After the vanguard ﷺ came the Prophet himself, preceded by two black pennants, one for the Emigrants and one for the Helpers. 

These were borne respectively by *'Ali and Sa'd ibn Mu'adh of Aws. 

★ During the Prophet's absence from Medina, the prayers were to be led by Ibn Umm Maktum, the "blind man" referred to in the Revelation 

He frowned and turned away when the blind man came unto him,

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Fascinating fact 91

The dream of Atikah

★ In Mecca, shortly before the arrival of "Damdam" (emissary of abu sufyan,) the Prophet's aunt 'Atikah had a dream which terrified her and left her with a conviction of impending disaster for Quraysh.

★ She sent for her brother 'Abbas and told him what she had seen: 

"I saw a man riding a camel and he halted in the valley and cried at the top of his voice: 'Haste ye forth, 0 men of perfidy, unto a disaster that in three days shall lay you prostrate.'

I saw the people gather round him. Then he entered the Mosque with the people following him, and from out of their midst his camel carried him up to the roof of the Ka'bah, and again he cried out the same words.

Then his camel bore him to the top of Mount Abu Qubays, and yet again he cried out to the people as before.

Then he wrenched free a rock and sent it hurtling down the slope, and when it reached the foot of the mount it split into fragments, nor was there any house or any dwelling in Mecca but was smitten with a piece of it."

★ 'Abbas recounted his sister's dream to 'Utbah's son, Walid, who was his friend, and Walid told his father, and the news spread throughout the city.

★  The next day Abu Jahl exclaimed in the presence of 'Abbas, with gleeful mockery: 

"0 sons of 'Abd al-Muttalib, since when hath this prophetess been uttering her prophecies amongst you? Is it not enough for you that your men should play the prophet? And must your women do the same?" '

Abbas could not find a rejoinder, but Abu jahl had his answer the next day

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Fascinating fact 92

"Damdam"..Emissary of abu sufyan incites the quraish of mecca

★ Crags of Abu Qubays resounded with the powerful voice of Damdam. The people streamed out of their houses and out of the Mosque to where he had halted in the valley. 

★ Abu Sufyan had paid him handsomely, and he was determined to play his part well. 

★ He had "turned round his saddle" and was "seated with his back to his camel's head"; and in further sign of calamity he had "slit his camel's nose", so that the blood poured forth from it, and he had rent his own shirt to ribbons. 

★ "Men of Quraysh," he shouted, "the transport camels, the transport camels! Your goods which are with Abu Sufyan! Muhammad and his companions are upon them! Help! Help!"

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Fascinating fact 93

Quraish assemble their army

The town was immediately in an uproar. The caravan now in danger was one of the richest of the year, and many were those who had reason to fear the loss of it. 

★ An army of about a thousand men was quickly mustered. 

★  The clan of 'Adi were alone in not taking part in the expedition. 

★ Every other chief of clan led out a contingent except Abu Lahab, who sent in his own stead a "man of Makhzum" who owed him money.

★ But the Bani Hashim and the Bani l-Muttalib had none the less their interests in the caravan and felt in "honour bound to defend it", so Talib led out a body of men from both clans, and 'Abbas went with them, perhaps intending to act as peacemaker.

Hakim of Asad, Khadijah's nephew, went out with the same purpose. 

★ Like Abu Lahab, Umayyah had also decided to stay at home, for he was an elderly man of excessive corpulence; but while he was sitting in the Mosque 'Uqbah came to him with a censer of incense which he placed before him, saying: "Scent thyself with that, Abu 'Ali, for thou art of the women." 

"God curse thee," said Umayyah, and made ready to set out with the others.

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Fascinating fact 94

Through "Badr" is the closest route between Syria to mecca...Prophet ﷺ on way to badr

★ The Prophet ﷺ had by now left the direct route from Medina to the south and was making for Badr, which lay on the "coastal route from Syria to Mecca", to his west.

★ It was at Badr that he ﷺ hoped to waylay Abu Sufyan, and he sent ahead "two of their allies of ]uhaynah", who knew the district well, "to scout" for news of the caravan. 

★ At Badr they halted on a hill above the well, and when they went to draw water they overheard a conversation between two girls from the village about a debt. 

"The caravan will come tomorrow or the next day," said one to the other, "and I will work for them and pay thee what I owe thee."

★ When they heard these words they made haste back to the Prophet with the news. 

But if they had stayed a little longer they would have seen a "solitary rider" approaching the well from the west.

It was "Abu Sufyan himself", who had "hastened ahead of the caravan" in order to see whether it was safe to "proceed to Mecca by the nearest route, that is by Badr".

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Fascinating fact 95

Abu Sufyan changes his strategy

★ On reaching the well at Badr abu sufyan found a villager there and asked him if he had seen any strangers. 

★ He answered that he had seen two riders who had made a halt on the hill above and who had then drawn some water and taken it away with them.

★  Abu Sufyan went to their halting-place and "took up some of the camel dung which he broke into pieces". There were some date stones in it. 

"By God," he said, "this is the fodder of Yathrib." He hastened back to his followers, and turning the caravan away from the road they pressed on at full speed along the shore by the sea, leaving Badr on their left.

★ Meantime the two scouts returned to the Prophet ﷺ}with the news that the caravan was expected to reach Badr on the following day or the day after.

★ They would certainly stop at "Badr, which had long been one of the great halts on the road between Mecca and Syria", and there was ample time for the Muslims to surprise them and overpower them.

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Fascinating fact 96

As the news of Advancement of Quraish army comes....It's decision time

Then came the news that Quraysh had set out with an army to rescue their caravan. This had always been considered as a possibility,

★ Now that it had become a fact the Prophet ﷺ felt bound to "consult" his men and to "let theirs" be the【"choice" between "advancing and retreating"】 

★ Abu Bakr and 'Umar spoke for the Emigrants "in favour of advancing" and then, by way of confirmation of all that they had said, "an ally of the Bani Zuhrah" who had only recently come to Medina, Miqdad by name, rose to his feet and added: 

"0 Messenger of God, do what God hath shown thee to do. We will not say unto thee as the children of Israel said unto Moses: Go thou and thy Lord and fight; we shall sit here, but we will say: Go thou and thy Lord and fight, and with you we also will fight, on the right and on the left, before thee and behind thee.'"

✨  'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud used to tell in after years of the "great light that dawned on the Prophet's face" when he heard those words and as he blessed their speaker. ✨

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Fascinating fact 97

Dilemma of Prophet ﷺ regarding ansars

Prophet ﷺ  knew that the Emigrants were unreservedly with him. But could the same be said of all the Helpers who were now present? 

★ The army had set out from Medina in hope of capturing the caravan. But now it seemed that they might have to encounter something much more formidable. 

★ Moreover, when the Helpers had pledged allegiance to him in 'Aqabah, "they had said that they were not responsible for his safety until he had entered their territory", but that "when he was with them they would protect him as they protected their wives and their children". 

Would they be prepared to help him against an enemy now that he was no longer in Yathrib?

 "Men, give me your advice," he said, expressing himself in general but meaning the Helpers, "some of whom had already divined his thoughts", though none of them had yet spoken.

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Fascinating fact 98

✨WORDS ETCHED IN GOLD ON THE HISTORY OF TIME....."SAAD BIN MUADH" R.A. STANDS UP TO SPEAK ON BEHALF OF ANSAAR✨

Sa'd ibn Mu'adh rose to his feet. "It would seem," he said, "that we are the men thou meanest, 0 Messenger of God ﷺ"

And when the Prophet ﷺ assented he went on: 

"We have faith in thee and we believe what thou hast told us, and we testify that what thou hast brought us is the truth, and we have given thee our binding oaths to hear and obey.

So do what thou wilt, and we are with thee.

By Him who hath sent thee with the truth, if thou shouldst bid us cross yonder sea and didst plunge into it thyself, we would plunge into it with thee.

Not one man of us would stay behind.

Neither are we averse from meeting our enemy tomorrow.

We are well tried in war, trusty in combat.

It may be that God willHelp.ow thee prowess of ours such as shall bring coolness to thine eyes.

So lead us on with the blessing of God."

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Fascinating fact 99

Now, it was the army or the caravan‼️

The certainty came to Prophet ﷺ  that they would indeed have to contend with either the army or the caravan but not with both.

★  "Onwards," he said, "and be of good cheer, for God the All Highest hath promised me one of the two parties, and even now it is as if I saw the enemy lying prostrate."

★ Although they were prepared for the worst, there was still hope that they would be able to attack the caravan and be well on their way back to Medina, enriched with plunder and prisoners, before the army of Quraysh arrived. 

★ But when they had reached a halt that was less than a day's march from Badr, the Prophet ﷺ rode on with Abu Bakr and obtained some information from an old man from which he concluded that the Meccan army was already near.

 Returning to the camp he waited until nightfall

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Fascinating fact 100

We hear what we want to hear

Prophet ﷺ sent his three cousins 'Ali, Zubayr and Sa'd with some others of his companions to the "well of Badr" to see if "either the army or the caravan or both" had drawn water from it, or if anyone there had had any news of either party. 

★ At the well they chanced upon two men who were loading their camels with water for the army of Quraysh, and having overpowered them they brought them back to the Prophet ﷺ who was standing in prayer when they arrived. 

★ Without waiting until he had finished they began to question the two men, who said that they were the army's water-carriers. 

★ But some of their interrogators preferred to think that they were lying, for "they fervently hoped" that it was Abu Sufyan who had sent them to get water for the caravan, and they set about beating them, until they said "We are Abu Sufyari's men," and they let them be. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ made the concluding prostrations to his prayer and gave the greetings of peace, and said: "When they told you the truth,ye beat them, and when they lied; ye let them be. They are indeed of the army of Quraysh."

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Fascinating fact 101

Prophet ﷺ interrogates the water bearers

★ Then he ﷺ  turned to the two prisoners. "Tell me, ye two," he said, "of Quraysh, of their whereabouts." 

"They are behind this hill," they said, pointing to 'Aqanqal, "on the further slope of the valley beyond it." 

★ "How many men are they?" he ﷺ asked. "Many," they said, nor could they answer anything more precise, so he ﷺ asked how many beasts they slaughtered. 

"Some days nine, some days ten" was the answer. "Then they are between nine hundred and a thousand," he ﷺ said. 

★ "And what leaders of Quraysh are amongst them?" 

They named fifteen and these included, 

Of 'Abdu Shams, the brothers 'Utbah and Shaybah; 

Of Nawfal, Harith and Tu'aymah; 

Of 'Abd ad-Dar, Nadr, who had pitted his tales of Persia against the Koran; 

Of Asad, Khadijah's half brother Nawfal; 

Of Makhzum, Abu Jahl; 

Of jumah, Umayyah; 

Of 'Amir, Suhayl.

 Hearing these eminent names, the Prophet ﷺ remarked when he rejoined his men: 

"This Mecca hath thrown unto you the best morsels of her liver."

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Fascinating fact 102

Quraysh army had 2 chances and reasons to go back

It was not long before news of the thousand-strong army reached Abu Sufyan, and by that time he had reached a point from which his rescuers were between him and the enemy.

★ Realising that the caravan was now safe, he sent a messenger to Quraysh, saying: 

"Ye came out to defend your camels and your men and your goods; and God hath rescued them, therefore return." 

This message reached them when they were already encamped at juhfah, a little to the south of Badr. 

There was yet another reason why they should advance no further.

Gloom had been cast over the whole camp on account of a dream-almost a vision-that Juhaym, a man of Muttalib, had had. 

★ "Between sleeping and waking," he said, "I saw a man approach on horseback, leading a camel. 

Then he halted and said 'Slain are 'Utbah and Shaybah and Abu 'l-Hakam and Umayyah'" -and he went on to mention other chiefs of Quraysh that the horseman had named.

★ "Then," said Juhaym, "I saw him stab his camel in the chest and let it run loose through the camp, and there was no tent that was not bespattered with its blood."

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Fascinating fact 103

Arrogance of abu jahl ultimately lead to doom of quraysh army

When Abu Jahl was told of the dream he said in a tone of triumphant derision: "Here is yet another prophet from the sons of Muttalib." 

★ He said "yet another" because the two clans of Muttalib and Hashim were often thought of as one. 

★ Then, seeking to dispel the gloom, he addressed them all: 

"By God, we will not return until we have been at Badr. "Three days will we stay there"; we will "slaughter camels and feast" and "make flow the wine and the songstresses shall play" and sing for us; and the "Arabs will hear" how we marched forth and of our mighty gathering, and they will stand in awe of us for ever. 

Onwards to Badr!"

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Fascinating fact 104

The wise returned from to mecca

Akhnas ibn Shariq had come out with tribe Zuhrah, whose confederate he was, and he now urged them to pay no attention to Abu jahl, so they "returned from juhfah to Mecca", every man of them. 

Talib also returned with some of his fellow clansmen, for words had passed between him and others of Quraysh who had said: 

"0 sons of Hashim, we know that even though ye have come out with us, your hearts are with Muhammad."

★  But 'Abbas decided to go on to Badr with the rest of the army, and he took with him his three nephews, Abu Sufyan and Nawfal, the sons of Harith, and  Aqil, the son of Abu Talib

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Fascinating fact 105

Quraish army lines up and the dua of Prophet ﷺ

 Quraysh had now begun to advance. Seen across the undulating dunes, the Meccan army appeared to be much smaller than it was. 

But the Prophet ﷺ was fully aware of their true numbers and of the great disparity between the two hosts

★ He ﷺ now returned to the shelter with Abu Bakr and prayed for the help which God had promised him.

★  A light slumber came upon him, and when he woke he said: "Be of good cheer, Abu Bakr; the help of God hath come to thee. Here is Gabriel and in his hand is the rein of a horse which he is leading, and he is armed for war."!

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Fascinating fact 106

Prophet ﷺ was promised one of the two parties (Army or caravan of Abu Sufiyan) (Surah Anfal)...

THE QURAISH ARMY WAS THE ONE PROMISED 

★ In the history of the Arabs many a battle had been averted at the last minute, even when two forces were drawn up face to face. 

★ But the Prophet ﷺ was now certain that the battle would take place, and "that this formidable array was the one of the two parties" that he had been promised. 

★ The vultures also knew that carnage was now imminent and they were already in wait to feed on the carcasses of the slain, some wheeling overhead and others perched on the rocky slopes in the rear of either army.

★  It was, moreover, clear from the movements of Quraysh that they were preparing to attack. 

★ They were already near and had now halted within easy reach of the cistern which the Muslims had made. It seemed likely that their first move would be to take possession of it.

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Fascinating fact 107

THE FIRST MOVE AND THE CHALLENGE FOR SINGLE COMBAT OF THE QURAISH

Aswad of Makhzum strode ahead of the others, clearly intending to drink from the cistern of muslim army but  Hamzah went out to meet him and struck him a blow which severed one of his legs below the knee, and a second blow which killed him. 

Utbah, still smarting from the taunts of Abu Jahl, stepped from the ranks and gave the "challenge for single combat"; and for the further honour of the family his brother Shaybah and his son Walid stepped forward on either side of him. 

★ The challenge was immediately accepted by 

1. 'Awf of the Najjar clan of Khazraj, who had been "one of the "first six" of the Helpers" to pledge themselves to the Prophet ﷺ

2. With 'Awf stepped forward his brother Mu'awwidh. It was "their quarter in Medina" that "Qaswa'" (The Prophet ﷺ's camel) had chosen as the ultimate halt of the Hijrah.

3.  The third to accept the challenge was 'Abd Allah ibn Rawahah, who had defied his leader Ibn Ubayy in speaking words of welcome and comfort to the Prophet.

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Fascinating fact 108

Quraish wanted their kinsman for single combat...And so did Prophet ﷺ

★ "Who are ye?" said the challengers. When the men answered, 'Utbah said: "Ye are noble and our peers, yet have we naught to do with you. Our challenge is against none but men of our own tribe." 

★ Then the herald of Quraysh shouted: "0 Muhammad, send forth against us our peers from our own tribe." 

★ The Prophet ﷺ had not intended anything else, but the eagerness of the Helpers had forestalled him.

Now he turned to his own family, since it was above all for them to initiate the battle. The challengers were two men of mature age and one youth.

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Fascinating fact 109

THE PROPHET ﷺ's MEN FOR SINGLE COMBAT...HE SAID

 "Arise, 0 'Ubaydah,"

"Arise, 0 Hamzah

Arise, 0 'Ali."

 '"Ubaydah" was the oldest and most experienced man in the army, a "grandson of Muttalib", and he "faced 'Utbah" 

"Hamzah faced Shaybah" and 

 "'Ali faced Walid". 

★ The combats were not long: 

Shaybah and Walid were soon lying dead on the ground, while Hamzah and 'Ali were unhurt:

but at the moment when "'Ubaydah"" struck 'Utbah to the ground he received from him a sweep of the sword that severed one of his legs.

★  It was a "triple contest, three against three", so "Hamzah and 'Ali turned their swords on 'Utbah, and "Hamzah gave him the death blow" ( Utbah's wife and Abu Sufyan's sister , Hind, would later avenge death by getting Hamzah killed by habshi at Uhud and desecrate his body) . 

★ Then they carried their wounded cousin back to their camp. He had lost a mortal quantity of blood, and the marrow was oozing from the stump of his leg. 

He had only one thought. "Am I not a martyr, 0 Messenger of God?" he said as the Prophet approached him. "Indeed thou art," he ﷺ answered.

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Fascinating fact 110

Early casualties from muslim side and the promise of Jannah

★ The tense stillness between the two hosts was now broken by the sound of an arrow from Quraysh, and a freedman of 'Umar fell to the ground, fatally wounded. 

★ A second arrow pierced the throat of Harithah, a youth of Khazraj, as he was drinking at the cistern. 

The Prophet ﷺ now exhorted his men saying: 

"By Him in whose hand is the soul of Muhammad, no man will be slain this day, fighting against them in steadfast hope of his reward, advancing not retreating, but God shall straightway enter him into Paradise."

★  His words were passed on by those who heard them to those who were out of earshot. 

'Umayr of the Salimah clan of Khazraj had a handful of dates which he was eating. 

"Wonder of wonders!" he exclaimed. "Is there naught between me and my entering Paradise, but that these men should slay me?", and he "flung away the dates" and "put his hand to his sword", in eager readiness for the word of command.

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Fascinating fact 111

THE PROPHET ﷺ'S ARMY CHARGES...YA MAN'SUR AMIT ("0 thou whom God hath made victorious, slay!")

★ Awf was standing near to the Prophet ﷺ, disappointed at having lost the honour of the challenge he had been the first to accept, and he now turned to him and said: 

"0 Messenger of God, what is it that maketh the Lord laugh with joy at His slave?"

At once came the answer: "When he plungeth without mail into the midst of the foe"

'Awf began to strip off the coat of mail he was wearing, while the Prophet ﷺ took up a handful of pebbles and shouting at Quraysh 

★ "Defaced be those faces!" he hurled the pebbles at them, conscious that he was hurling disaster. Then he gave the order to charge. 

★ The battle cry he had devised for them, Ya mansur amit resounded from every throat as the men surged forward. 

★ Awf without his mail and 'Umayr were among the first to meet the enemy and both fought until they were slain. 

★ Their deaths and those of 'Ubaydah and the two killed by arrows brought the number of martyrs up to five. 

★ Only nine more of the faithful were to die that day bring the total to 14, "amongst them" was that other 'Umayr, Sa'd's younger brother, whom the "Prophet had wanted to send home" 

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Fascinating fact 112

Manifestations of divine power (1)...Pebbles and the Sword called "al awn

Thou threwest not when thou threw/est, but it was God that threw. ..Surah Anfal These words were part of the Revelation which came immediately after the battle. 

★ Nor were the pebbles the only manifestation of Divine strength which flowed from the hand of the Prophet on that day. 

★ At one point where the resistance of Quraysh was at its strongest a sword broke in the hands of a believer, whose first thought was to go and ask the Prophet ﷺ for another weapon. 

It was 'Ukkashah, a kinsman of the family of jahsh, The Prophet ﷺ gave him a wooden club saying: "Fight with this, 'Ukkashah."

★  He took it and brandished it and it became in his hand a long, strong, gleaming sword. He fought with it for the rest of Badr and in all the Prophet's other battles, and it was named *al-'Awn which means the Divine Help

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Fascinating fact 113

Manifestations of divine power (2)...The angels strike

When the believers were ordered to charge, they did not charge alone, as well the Prophet ﷺ knew, for he had been promised:

I will help you with a thousand of the angels,troop ontroop

And the Angels also had received a Divine message: 

When thy Lord revealed unto the angels: Lo, I am with you, so make firm the believers. I shall cast terror into the hearts of the disbelievers. It is for you to strike off their heads, and to smite their every finger..(Surah Anfal)

★ The presence of the Angels was felt by all, as a strength by the faithful and as a terror by the infidels, but that "presence was only visible or audible to a few, and in varying degrees". 

★ Two men of a neighbouring Arab tribe had gone to the top of a hill to see the issue and to take part -so they hoped -in the looting after the battle. 

A cloud swept by them, a cloud filled with the neighing of stallions, and one of the men dropped instantly dead. "His heart burst with fright," said the one who lived to tell of it, judging from what his own heart had felt.

★ One of the believers was pursuing a man of the enemy, and the man's head flew from his body before he could reach him, struck off by an unseen hand. 

★ Others had brief glimpses of the Angels riding on horses whose hooves never touched the ground, led by Gabriel "wearing a yellow turban", whereas the turbans of the other Angels were "white", with one end left streaming behind them.

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Fascinating fact 114

QURAISH ARE DEFEATED AND DEATH OF ABU JAHL AT THE HANDS OF TWO KIDS (MU'ADH AND MU'AWWIDH) AND ABDULLAH IBN MASUD

★ Quraysh were soon utterly routed and put to flight, except in small groups where the Angels had not passed. 

★ In one of these Abu Jahl fought on with unabated ferocity until Mu'adh, the brother of 'Awf, smote him to the ground. 

★ 'Ikrimah, the son of Abu jahl, then struck Mu'adh and "all but severed his arm at the shoulder." 

★ Mu'adh went on fighting with his good arm, while the other hung limply by its skin at his side; but when it became too painful he stooped, and "putting his foot on his dead hand jerked himself up", tore off the encumbrant limb, and continued in pursuit of the enemy. 

★ Abu jahl was still full of life, but Mu'awwidh, Awf's second brother, recognised him as he lay there and struck him a blow which left him dying.

★ The general opinion after the Quraish army fled was that abu jahl had been killed and the Prophet ﷺ gave orders that his body should be searched for. 

★ 'Abd Allah ibn Mas'ud went out again to the battlefield and searched "until he found the man" who had done more than any other to stir up hatred of Islam amongst the people of Mecca. 

★ Abu Jahl still had enough life in him to recognise the enemy who now stood over him. 

'Abd Allah had been the "first man to recite the Koran aloud in front of the Ka'bah", and Abu jahl had struck him a severe blow and wounded him in the face, for he was merely a confederate of Zuhrah and a poor one at that, his mother having been a slave.

★ 'Abd Allah now "placed his foot on the neck of Abu jahl", who said: "Thou hast climbed high indeed, little shepherd." 

★ Then he asked him which way the fortunes of war had swung that day, his implication being that next time they would swing in the opposite direction.

 "God and His messenger have won," he answered. Then he cut off his head and took it to the Prophet SAW

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Fascinating fact 115

50 of the Quraish killed 50 captured...The prophet ﷺ  disapproved taking captives but accepted Hazrat Abu Bakr's opinion and Allah Pardons

Most of Quraysh escaped, but some fifty were mortally wounded or killed outright in the battle or overtaken and cut down as they fled. About the same number were taken captive.

★ The Prophet ﷺ had said to his Companions: 

"I know that men of the sons of Hashim and others have been brought out despite themselves, without any will to fight us." And he mentioned by name some of those whose lives should be spared if they were caught.

But most of his army were in any case "bent on holding their captives to ransom" rather than putting them to the sword.

★ Since Quraysh so greatly outnumbered the believers, the possibility of their rallying and returning to the fight had still to be considered, and the Prophet ﷺ was persuaded to withdraw to his shelter with Abu Bakr while some of the Helpers kept watch. 

★ Sa'd ibn Mu'adh was standing on guard at the entrance with drawn sword, and when his fellow warriors started to bring their captives into the camp the Prophet ﷺ was struck by the expression of strong disapproval on his face. 

"0 Sa'd,' he said, "it would seem that what they are doing is hateful in thine eyes."

Sa'd vigorously assented; then he added: "This is the first defeat God hath inflicted on the idolaters; and I had rather see their men slaughtered than left alive."

★  'Umar was of the same opinion, but Abu Bakr was in favour of letting the captives live, in the hope that sooner or later they might become believers, and the Prophet ﷺ inclined to his view.

★ But later in the day, when 'Umar returned to the shelter, he found the Prophet ﷺ and Abu Bakr in tears on account of a Revelation which had come: 

It is not for a prophet to hold captives until he hath made great slaughter in the land. I Ye would have for yourselves the gains of this world and God would have for you the Hereafter, and God is Mighty, Wise...8.67

But the Revelation then made it clear that the decision to spare the captives had been accepted by God and should not now be revoked; and the Prophet was given a message for the captives themselves:

o Prophet, say unto those captives who are in your hands: If God knoweth any good in your hearts, He will give you better than that which hath been taken from you, and He will forgive you. Verily God is Forgiving, Merciful...8.70

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Fascinating fact 116

HAZRAT BILAL HAS HIS REVENGE ON HIS FORMER MASTER AND TORMENTOR... CHIEF OF QURAISH , UMMAYYAH AND HIS SON ALI, THE ENEMIES OF ALLAH

Abd ar-Rahman ibn 'Awf was carrying coats of mail which he had taken as booty, and he passed by the "corpulent Umayyah", who had lost his mount and was unable to escape. With him was his son 'Ali, whose hand he was holding.

★  Umayyah called out to his "one-time friend": "Take me prisoner, for I am worth more than coats of mail." 'Abd ar-Rahman agreed, and throwing down the mail he took him and his son each by a hand. 

★ But as he was leading them towards the camp Bilal saw them and recognised his former master and torturer. "Umayyah," he exclaimed, "the head of disbelief! May I not live if he survive!" '

★ Abd ar-Rahrnan indignantly protested that they were his prisoners, but Bilal repeated his cry: "May I not live if he survives!" 

★ "Wilt thou not hear me, thou son of a black mother?" said the outraged captor, whereupon Bilal "shouted" with all the "power of the voice" that had won him the function of muezzin": 

"0 Helpers of God, the head of disbelief, Umayyah! May I not live if he survive!"

★  Men came running from all sides and narrowly encircled 'Abd ar-Rahman and his two captives. Then a sword was drawn and 'Ali: was struck to the ground but not killed.

★ 'Abd ar-Rahman let go the father's hand. "Make thine own escape," he said, "yet no escape there is, for by God I can avail thee nothing!" 

★ Pushing him aside the men closed in upon the prisoners with their swords and quickly made an end of them both. 

'Abd ar-Rahrnan used to say in after years: "God have mercy on Bilal! My coats of mail were lost to me, and he robbed me of my two prisoners."!

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Fascinating fact 117

DEAD BODIES OF QURAISH ARE THROWN IN WELL OF BADR

The Prophet ﷺ gave orders that the bodies of all the infidels slain in the battle should be thrown into a pit

When the body of 'Utbah was being dragged towards it the face of his son Abu Hudhayfah turned pale, and was filled with sorrow. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ felt for him, and gave him a look of compassion, whereupon Abu Hudhayfah said: 

"0 Messenger of God ﷺ, it is not that I question thy command as to my father and the place where they have thrown him. But I used to know him as a man of wise counsel, forbearance and virtue, and I had hoped that these qualities would lead him unto Islam; and when I saw what had befallen him, and when I remembered what state of disbelief he died in after my hopes for him, it saddened me."

★ Then the Prophet ﷺ blessed Abu Hudhayfah and spoke to him words of kindness.

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Fascinating fact 118

THE LAW OF WAR BOOTY...AND THE KIND TREATMENT OF POW'S

The peace and quiet of the camp was soon broken by voices raised in anger, for those who had stayed behind to guard the Prophet ﷺ "demanded a share" of the booty, and those who had pursued the enemy and captured men and armour and weapons were "unwilling" to give up what their own hands had taken.

★  But before the Prophet ﷺ had time to restore harmony by ordering an equitable distribution of all that had been captured, the "desired effect was achieved more simply and more immediately" by a "Revelation:" 

They will question thee concerning the spoils of war. Say: The spoils of war are for God and the messenger

★ So the Prophet ﷺ ordered that everything that had been taken, including the captives, should be brought together and no longer be considered as the private property of any individual. The order was at once obeyed without question. 

★ The most eminent of the captives was the chief of 'Amir, Suhayl, cousin of Sawdah (Wife of prophet)  and brother of her first husband.

★ Others more closely connected with the Prophet were his uncle 'Abbas, his son-in-law, Zaynab's husband Abu l-'Aas, and his cousins 'Aqil and Nawfal

★ He gave a general order that all the captives should be well treated, though clearly they "had to be bound".

 But the thoughts of his uncle suffering such duress prevented the Prophet ﷺ from sleeping that night, and "he gave orders that his bonds should be loosed". 

★ Other captives received less indulgent treatment from their nearest of kin. Mus'ab passed by his brother Abu 'Aziz as he was being bound by the Helper who had captured him, and he said: 

"Bind him fast for his mother is rich, and it may be that she will ransom him from thee."

"Brother," said Abu 'Aziz, "is this how thou dost commend me to others?" "He is now my brother in thy stead," said Mus'ab. 

★ None the less, Abu 'Aziz used to tell in after years of the good treatment he received from the Helpers, who took him to Medina whence his mother ransomed him for 4,000 dirhems

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Fascinating fact 119

PROPHET ﷺ ADDRESSES THE DEAD QURAISH IN THE WELL OF BADR

★ As soon as it became clear that the eight hundred or more Meccan troops still at large had been routed beyond possibility of rallying, the Prophet ﷺ sent 'Abd Allah ibn Rawahah to take the good tidings of victory to the people of "Upper Medina", that is, the more southerly part of the city, and he sent Zayd to the people of "Lower Medina".

★ He ﷺ himself remained with the army at Badr; and "that night he went and stood by the pit" into which the bodies of the enemies of Islam had been thrown. 

"0 men of the pit," he ﷺ said, "kinsmen of your Prophet, ill was the kinship ye showed him. Liar ye called me, when others took me in; against me ye fought, when others helped me to victory.

Have ye found it to be true, what your Lord promised you? I have found it to be true, what my Lord promised me."

★ Some of his Companions overheard him and wondered at his speaking to dead bodies. 

"Your hearing of what I say is not better than theirs," he ﷺ said, "but they cannot answer me."

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Fascinating fact 120

THE MUSLIM ARMY ON WAY BACK TO MEDINA HAD 2 CAPTIVES  STILL TO BE DECIDED ABOUT

Early next morning he ﷺ set off for Medina with his army and the spoils.

★  Two of the most valuable captives, that is those whose families could be relied upon to pay the "full ransom of 4,000 dirhems", were Nadr and 'Uqbah.

★  But these were two of the worst enemies of Islam, and if they were allowed to return they would immediately resume their evil activities, unless the Muslims' victory at Badr against such odds had made them reflect.

 The "Prophet ﷺ 's eye was now constantly upon them"; but "there was no sign of any change of heart" in either man, and during the march "it became clear to him that it was not in accordance with the Will of God that they should be left alive. "

★ At one of the "first halts" he ﷺ gave orders that *Nadr should be put to death, and it was 'Ali who beheaded him

At a subsequent halt 'Uqbah suffered the same fate at the hands of a man of Aws. 

★ The Prophet ﷺ divided the remainder of the captives and the rest of the spoils at a halt within three days'march of Medina, giving insofar as was possible an equal share to every man who had taken part in the expedition.

[they were already in wait to feed on the carcasses of the slain, some wheeling overhead and others perched on the rocky slopes in the rear of either army.

★  It was, moreover, clear from the movements of Quraysh that they were preparing to attack. 

★ They were already near and had now halted within easy reach of the cistern which the Muslims had made. It seemed likely that their first move would be to take possession of it.