The ThirdStage

The third and last stage of thelife of the Messenger embodies the fruitfulresults of his call to Islam, which were the consequences of long-timedholy fights in the way of Allah (Jihad), troubles, toil,disturbances, trials and a lot of bloody conflicts and battles,which lasted for over twenty years.

The conquest of Makkah wasconsidered the most serious profit achieved by Muslims duringthose years. For it affected the course of events andconsequently altered the Arabs's whole life. It was a decisivedistinction between preconquest and post-conquest periods. ForQuraish, at that time, was in the eyes of Arabs the defenders andhelpers of Arabs. Other Arabs are only their ancillaries. Thesubmission of Quraish is, therefore, estimated to be a finalelimination of paganism in the Arabian Peninsula.

This stage can be divided intotwo main phases:

The phase of: (1) holy wars andfighting.

(2) the tribes and people'srace to embrace Islam.

Being so close and ratherinseparable, the two phases of this stage intervene in such a waythat a happening of one phase occurs during the progress of theother. However, we have preferred ' for expository purposes 'to deal with these two phases distinctively. The fighting phasewas given the priority in order, due to the fact that it is moreintimate and fit than the other.

Hunain Ghazwah

The conquest of Makkah whichcame forth as a consequence of a swift blow astounded both theArabs and other tribes who realized that they were doomed and hadto submit to the new situation as a faitaccompli.Some of the fierce, powerful proud tribes did not submit andfavoured resistance. Ahead of these were the septs of Hawazin andThaqif. Nasr, Jashm and Sa�d bin Bakr and people of Bani Hilal� all of whom of Qais �Ailan. They thought that they were toomighty to admit or surrender to such a victory. So they met Malikbin �Awf An-Nasri and made up their mind to proceed fightingagainst the Muslims.

The Enemy�s March and theirEncampment at Awtas:

When Malik bin �Awf � thegeneral leader � decided to march and fight the Muslims, hemade his countrypeople take their wealth, women and children withthem to Awtas � which is a valley in Hawazin land and is quitenear Hunain. It differs from Hunain in its being adjacent to Dhi-Al-Majazwhich is around ten miles from Makkah in �Arafat�s direction.[]

The War-experienced Manwrongs the Leader�s Judgement:

As soon as they had camped inAwtas, people crowded round Malik. The old sane Duraid bin As-Simmah,who was well-known as a war-experienced man, and who was amongthose who gathered round Malik, asked: 'What valley are wein?' 'In Awtas,' they said. 'What a goodcourse it is for horses! It is neither a sharp pointed height nora loosed soiled plain. What? Why do I hear camels� growling,the donkeys� braying, the children's cries and the sheepbleating?' asked Duraid. They said: 'Malik bin �Awfhad made people bring their women, properties and children withthem.' So he called Malik and asked him what made him dosuch a thing. Malik said that his aim was to have everybody�sfamily and properties around them so that they fight fiercely toprotect them.' 'I swear by Allah that you are nothingbut a shepherd,' answered Duraid, 'Do you believe thatthere is anything whatsoever, can stand in the way of a defeatedone or stop him from fleeing? If you win the battle you availnothing but a man with a sword and a spear; but if you lose youwill bring disgrace on your people and properties,' then heresumed his talk and went on wondering about some septs and theirleaders. 'O Malik, thrusting the distinguished people ofHawazin into the battlefield will avail you nothing. Raise themup to where they can be safe. Then make the young people mounttheir horses and fight. If you win, those whom you tarried willfollow you, but if you were the loser it would be a loss of abattle, but your kinsmen, people and properties would not be lost.'

But Malik, the general leader,refused this suggestion. 'By Allah,' he said, 'Iwill not do such a thing. You must have grown a senile. Hawazinhave to obey me, or else I will lean my body against this swordso that it penetrates through my back.' He rejected any sortof contribution of Duraid�s in that concern.

'We obey you,' saidhis people, Duraid consequently said: 'Today is a day that Ihave not missed but surely I will not be tempted to witness.'

Reconnoitering the Weapons ofthe Messenger of Allah :

The spies that Malik had alreadydispatched to spy Muslim forces, returned with their limbs cutoff. 'Woe unto you! What happened to you?' Said Malik.They said: 'We have seen distinguished people on spottedhorsebacks. What you see, would not have happened if we had beenfirmly together.'

Reconnoitering the Enemy�sWeapons:

News about the enemy'smarching were conveyed to the Messenger of Allah , so he sent out Al-Aslamiwith orders to mix with people, stay with them so that he wouldbe able to know their news and to convey it to the Messenger ofAllah when heturns back. That was exactly what he managed to do.

The Messenger of All�h leaves Makkah forHunain:

On Shawwal, the nineteenth, thecaptive day, the Messenger of Allah left Makkah accompaniedby twelve thousand Muslims. Ten thousand of those had previouslyshared in Makkah Conquest. A great number of the other twothousand, who were Makkans, had recently embraced Islam. Thatmarch was on the nineteenth day of his conquest to Makkah. Heborrowed a hundred armours with their equipment from Safwan binOmaiyah. He appointed �Itab bin Usaid as a governor over Makkah.When it was evening time, a horseman came to the Messenger of Allah and said: 'Ihave climbed up so and so mountains and came across Hawazin withtheir riding camels, livestock and sheep. Hawazin wholly weregathered together there.' The Messenger of Allah smiled then and said:'They will all be Muslims spoils tomorrow, if Allah will.'That night Anas bin Abi Murthid Al-Ghanawi volunteered to guard.[]

On their way to Hunain they sawa great green Nabk plant, that was called Dhat-Anwat(the one with suspenders). That was because the Arabs used tohang their weapons on it, slay beasts under it and keep to it. Sosome of army members asked the Messenger of Allah to make them a Nabkwith suspenders as the one they had. 'Allah is the Greatestof all!' He said, 'I swear by the One in Whose Hand isMuhammad's soul, that you have just said what the people ofMoses said to him. They said 'Make us a god as the one theyhave.' Surely you are ignorant people. These are Sunnah,but you will follow and comply with the modes of life of thosewho preceded you.'

Seeing how great in number thearmy was, some of them said: 'We shall not be defeated.'Their statement sounded hard upon the Messenger of Allah .

The Islamic Army stunned theArchers and the Attackers:

On Wednesday night the tenth ofShawwal, the Muslim army arrived at Hunain. Malik bin �Awf, whohad previously entered the valley by night, gave orders to hisarmy to hide inside the valley and lurk for the Muslims on roads,entrances, narrow hiding places. His orders to his men were tohurl stones at Muslims whenever they caught sight of them andthen to make a one-man attack against them.

At early dawn the Messenger ofAllah startedmobilizing his army and distributing posts and flags to people.In the dark and just before dawn the Muslims moved towards HunainValley. They started descending into it unaware of the presenceof an enemy lurking for them inside the valley. So at the momentthey were camping, arrows began showering intensively at them,whereas the enemy's battalions started a fierce attack againstthe Muslims, who had to retreat in disorder and utter confusion.It was such a shatteringly defeat that Abu Sufyan bin Harb, whohad recently embraced Islam, said that their retreat would notstop till they got to the Red Sea. Jablah or Kildah bin Al-Junaidcommented on that by saying: 'Surely magic has growninactive today.'

The Messenger of Allah turned to the right andsaid: 'Come on, people! I am the Messenger of Allah. I amMuhammad, the son of Abdullah.' Those who stoodfast by himwere only few Emigrants and some of his kinsmen. The matchlessbravery of the Prophet was then brought tolight. He went on and on in his attempts to make his mulestandfast in the face of the disbelievers while saying loudly:

However, Abu Sufyan, who wasthen holding the rein of the Prophet's mule, and Al-Abbas,who was holding its stirrup; were endeavouring to make it halt.The Messenger of Allah dismounted and asked hisLord to render him help.

Mulsims return to theBattlefield, and the fierceness of the Fight:

The Messenger of Allah ordered his uncle Al-Abbas who was a sonorous voiced man to call out on the followers. As loudly as he could, Al-Abbas shouted: 'Whereare the lancers?' 'By Allah,' Al-Abbas said,'Upon hearing my voice calling them back, they turned roundto the battlefield as if they had been oryxes (wild cows) tendingtowards their calves.'

'Here we are, at yourservice. Here we are.'[] They said. There you see them trying tostop their camels and reverse to the battle. He who was unable toforce his camel to turn back, would take his armour, fling itround his neck, and hastily dismount his camel with his weapon inhis hand letting his camel move freely and run towards the voicesource. Voices would grow louder and louder till a hundred ofthem gathered round the Prophet and resumed the fight.

Those who were called out uponnext were Al-Ansar, the Helpers, 'O, folks of Al-Ansar!Folks of Al-Ansar!'

The last group to be called outupon were Bani Al-Harith bin Al-Khazraj. Muslims battalionspoured successively into the battlefield in the same manner thatthey had left it. The stamina of both parties was superb. Both ofthem stoodfast and fought fiercely. The Messenger of Allah was so eagerly andfuriously watching the battle that he said:

Picking up a handful of earth,he hurled it at their faces while saying:

Their eyes were thick with dustand the enemy began to retreat in utter confusion.

Reverse of Fortunes and theEnemy�s utter Defeat:

Few hours had elapsed since theearth-handful was hurled at the enemy's faces, when they wereshatteringly defeated. About seventy men of Thaqif alone werekilled, and the Muslims plundered all their riding camels,weapons and cattle.

Allah, Glory is to Him, alludedto this sudden change in the Quran when He said:

Hot Pursuit of the Enemy:

After their defeat, some enemytroops headed for Taif, others to Nakhlah and Awtas. A groupof Muslims headed by Abu �Amir Al-Ash� ari, were despatchedto chase the enemy, some skirmishes took place during which Abu�Amir was killed.

A similar battalion of horsemenpursued the idolaters who threaded the track to Nakhlah andcaught up with Duraid bin As-Simmah, who was killed by Rabi�abin Rafi�. After collecting the booty, the Messenger of Allah left for Taif to facethe greatest number of the defeated idolaters. The booty was sixthousand captives, twenty four thousand camels; over fortythousand sheep and four thousand silver ounces. The Messenger ofAllah gave ordersthat booty should be confined at Al-J�iranah and ordained Mas�udbin �Amr Al-Ghifari to be in charge of it. It was only when hewas entirely free from Taif Campaign, that one of the captivesAs-Shaim�, the daughter of Al-Harith As-Sadiya, theMessenger's foster sister was brought to the Messenger of Allah, she introducedherself to him. Upon recognizing her by a certain mark, hehonoured her, spread for her his garment and seated her on it. Hewas graceful and released her and made her turn back to herpeople.

Ta�if Campaign:

Taif Campaign is in fact anextension of Hunain Ghazwah; that is because the majorityof the defeated troops of Hawazin and Thaqif went into Taifwith the general commander � Malik bin �Awf An-Nasri � andfortified themselves within it. So upon finishing with HunainInvasion, he gathered the booty at Al-Ji�ranah in the verymonth (i.e. Shawwal) and in the eighth year A.H.

A vanguard battalion of athousand men led by Khalid bin Al-Waleed marched towards At-Taif.Whereas the Messenger of Allah proceeded passingthrough Nakhlah Al-Yamaniyah, Qarn Al-Manazil and through Laiyah.At Laiyah there was a castle that belonged to Malik bin �Awf,so the Messenger of Allah gave orders to have itdestroyed. He resumed his march till he got to Taif. There hedismounted, camped near its castle and laid siege to the castleinhabitants; but not for long.

How long the siege continued, isstill a matter of disagreement. It however stands between 10-20days.[]

A lot of arrow-shooting and rock-hurlingoccurred during the siege. For as soon as the Muslims laid siegeround the castle, its people started shooting arrows against them.The arrows were so intense and fierce that they looked as if theyhad been locusts on the move. A number of Muslims were woundedand twelve were killed.

To be far from the arrow-range,the Muslims had to ascend to a higher location and camped on i.e. to what is now called At-Taif Mosque. The Prophet set up a mangonel andshelled the castle. Eventually a gap was made in the castle wall,through which a number of Muslims managed to pass into thecastle, sheltered by a wooden tank, with the purpose of settingfire into it. Anyway, the enemy poured down molten hot iron onthem. Affected by this the Muslims stepped out of the tank andwere again exposed to arrow shooting and consequently some ofthem were killed.

To force the enemy to surrender,the Prophet tendedto a war policy of burning and cutting the enemy's crops. Hisorder was to cut their vineyards and burn them. Seeing that theMuslims started rapidly cutting and burning their vines, theyimplored the Prophet to stop and have mercy on them for the sake of Allah and out ofkinship motives. So the Prophet agreed. When the caller of theMessenger of Allah called out unto people saying 'He whosoever descends andsteps out of the castle is free.' Twenty-three men came out.[]One of them was Abu Bakrah who tied himself to a wall and lethimself down by means of a small wheel, that would normally beused for drawing up water from a well. The way he let himselfdown made the Prophet nickname him 'Abu Bakrah', i.e.the man with the wheel. The Messenger of Allah set them all free andentrusted each one of them to a Muslim to care about their livingaffairs, which was too hard for the castle folkspeople to bear.

Seeing that the siege lasted toolong and that the castle was immune and could stand any siege (forthey had already stored a supply that suffices for over a year)and that the Muslims were suffering day by day from arrow-shotsand heated iron hooks, the Messenger of Allah consulted Nawfal bin Mu��wiyahAd-Daili about that. He said: 'They are like a fox hidinginside its burrow. If you stoodfast at it you would catch it, butif you parted with it, no harm would afflict you.' TheMessenger of Allah decided to lift the siege and depart. Umar bin Al-Khattab, whowas ordered by the Prophet to notify people, said to them 'IfAllah will, we are leaving the castle and going back tomorrow.'As it was too hard for the Muslims to go back and leave thecastle unconquered they complained saying, 'Should we goaway while the castle is still unopened?' His reply was:'Then, start fighting in the morning.' In the morningthey fought and were wounded. So when he repeated this statement:'If Allah will, we are leaving the castle and going backtomorrow', they were pleased and carried out the ordersubmissively and started moving, which made the Messenger of Allah laugh.

As soon as they mounted andstarted moving the Messenger said:

When the Messenger of Allah wasasked to invoke Allah against Thaqif, he said:

The Distribution of the Bootyat Al-Ji�ranah:

Upon returning and lifting thesiege in Taif, the Messenger of Allah had stayed over tennights at Al-Ji�ranah before starting to distribute the booty.Distribution delay was due to the Prophet's hope that Hawazin'sdelegation might arrive and announce their repentance andconsequently reclaim their loss. Seeing that none of themarrived, he started dividing the booty so as to calm down thetribes� chiefs and the celebrities of Makkah. The first toreceive booty and the ones who obtained the greatest number ofshares were the people who had recently embraced Islam.

Abu Sufyan bin Harb was given ahundred camels and forty (gold) ounces and yet he said, 'Whatabout my son, Yazeed's Share?' So he was given the samequantity for his son as well. But yet he exclaimed: 'Andwhat about the share of Mu��wiyah, my second son?' So theProphet gave Mu��wiyahas much as he gave his father and brother. Hakeem bin Hizam wasgiven a hundred camels, but he was given a hundred more when hedemanded. Safwan bin Omaiyah was given three hundred camels - ahundred camels at each time. It is thus mentioned in Shif�[],Book by Qadi Iyadh. The Prophet gave Al-Harith binHarith bin Kilda a hundred camels. He also gave some chiefs ofQuraish and other clans a hundred camels; he gave others fiftyand some others had forty.

Eventually it was spread amongpeople that 'Muhammad grants generously and fears not togrow poor.' This made bedouins gather around him expectingto be given some wealth. They were so many that they forced theProphet to seekrefuge against a tree and they even took away his garment, 'Opeople!' He said, 'Give me back my garment! For I swearby the One in Whose Hand is Muhammad's soul, that if I had asmany numerous camels as the number of Tihama trees, I woulddistribute them among you. You know quite well that I am neithermean nor coward or a liar.' Standing by his camel he pluckedout a hair of his camels hump and held it between his twofingers, lifted it up and said: 'O people, I swear by Allahthat I get nothing but one-fifth of your booty, and this veryfifth goes back to you.'

As soon as he had given the newconverts, the Messenger of Allah ordered Zaid bin Thabitto fetch the booty and summon people. Then he ordained shares topeople. A footman's share was four camels and forty sheep, anda horseman would take twelve camels and a hundred and twentysheep. This distribution of booty was based on a wise policy. Inthis world there are lots of people who know the truth only whenit comes through their stomachs and they do not recognize it ifit comes through their brains. The similitude of such people isas the guidance of an animal to its herd by means of a bunch ofclover held at a constant distance off its mouth. The animalwould try all the time to catch it, so it would eventually gointo the herd safely. In the same way you have to do variouskinds of temptations to make certain kind of people familiarizeIslam and be pleased with.[]

The Helpers (Al-Ansar)are furious at the Messenger of All�h :

At first the Prophet's policyof distribution was uncomprehended by many a man. Therefore sharp-tonguedpeople started expressing their objections. The Helpers wereamong those who were afflicted by this policy. They were deprivedof Hunain gifts though they had been the ones who were summonedat Hunain hard times and they were the first to rush to fightwith the Messenger of Allah and standfast till thedefeat turned into victory. Now here they are watching those whoescaped fill their hands with booty while they are given nothing.

On the authority of Ibn Ishaq:'When the Messenger of Allah had given Quraish andArab tribes those gifts and allotted nothing to the Helpers, agroup of the Helpers felt so uneasy about it that a lot of ill-statementsagainst the Prophet were spread among them to an extent that one of them said: 'ByAllah, the Messenger of Allah was ill-spoken of by hisfolksmen!' And those ill-statements went on spreading tillSa�d bin �Ubadah met the Messenger of Allah , who in his turn facedhis people after a while.

Sa�d bin �Ubadah said:'O Messenger of Allah, this group of the Helpers arefurious at you about the distribution of the booty that you hadwon. You have allotted shares to your own kinsmen and forwardedlots of gifts to the Arab tribes. But this group has obtainednothing.' The Prophet asked Sa�d exclaiming:'Sa�d, what do you think of all that?' Sa�d replied:'O Messenger of Allah. You know that I am nothing but amember of this group.' 'Call out on your people andbring them forth to me into this shed.' Said the Prophet .

So Sa�d went out and summonedthem. When some Emigrants came, he let them in but forbade others.When they were all gathered together, he informed the Prophetsaying: 'This group of the Helpers have just arrived to meetyou in compliance with your orders.' As soon as theMessenger facedthem he thanked Allah and praised Him, then said to theminquiring, 'I have been told that you are angry with me.Didn't I come to you when you were astray and Allah guidedyou? You were poor and Allah gave you wealth. Weren't you foesand Allah made you love one another.' 'Yes,' theysaid, 'Allah and His Messenger are better and more gracious.'Then he said: 'What prevents you from replying to theMessenger of Allah, O tribe of Helpers?' They said, 'Whatshould be the reply, O Messenger of Allah, while to the Lord andto his Messenger belong all benevolence and grace.'

The Prophet again said:

The audience wept until tearsrolled down their beards as they said:

Then the Prophet left the gathering andthe people also dispersed.[]

Arrival of the HawazinDelegation:

Hawazin's delegation arrived aMuslims just after the distribution of spoils. They were fourteenmen headed by Zuhair bin Sard. The Messenger's foster uncle wasone of them. They asked him to bestow upon them some of thewealth and spoils. They uttered so touching words that theMessenger of All'h said to them: 'You surely see who are with me. The mostdesirable speech to me is the most truthful. Which is dearer toyou, your wealth or your women and children?' They replied:'Nothing whatsoever compares with kinship.' Then when Iperform the noon prayer, stand up and say: 'We intercedewith the Messenger of Allah to exhort the believers,and we intercede with the believers to exhort the Messenger ofAllah to foregothe captives of our people fallen to their lot.' So when theMessenger of Allah performed the noon prayer, they stood up and said what they hadbeen told to say. The Messenger , then, said: 'Asfor what belongs to me and to the children of Abdul Muttalib, youmay consider them, from now on, yours. And I will ask my folksmento give back theirs.' Upon hearing that the Emigrants andthe Helpers said: 'What belongs to us is, from now on,offered to the Messenger of Allah .' But Al-Aqra�bin Habis said, 'We will grant none of what belongs to meand to Bani Tamim,'; so did �Uyaina bin Hisn, who said:'As for me and Bani Fazarah, I say �No�.' Al-�Abbasbin Mirdas also refused and said: 'No' for Bani Saleemand him. His people, however, said otherwise: 'Whateverspoils belong to us we offer to the Messenger of Allah (.)' 'You haveundermined my position.' Said Al-�Abbas bin Mirdasspontaneously. Then the Messenger of Allah said: 'These peoplehave come to you as Muslims. For this I have already tarried thedistribution of the booty. Besides, I have granted them a fairoption but they refused to have anything other than their womenand children. Therefore he who has some of theirs and will preferwillingly to give them back, let them do. But those who favoursto keep what he owns to himself, let them grant them back too,and he will be given as a recompense six times as much from thefirst booty that Allah may provide us.' People then said,'We will willingly offer them all for the sake of theMessenger of Allah.' The Messenger of Allah said: 'But in thisway we are not able to find out who is content and who is not. Sogo back and we will be waiting for your chiefs to convey to usyour decisions.' All of them gave back the women andchildren. The only one who refused to comply with the Messenger'sdesire was �Uyaina bin Hisn. He refused to let an old woman oftheirs go back at first. Later on he let her go back. TheMessenger of Allah gave every captive a garment as a gift.

Lesser Pilgrimage (Al-�Umrah)to Makkah and leaving for Madinah:

Having accomplished thedistribution of the spoils at Al-Ji�ranah he left it whilewearing Al-Umrah clothes and proceeded to Makkah toperform Al-Umrah. The Messenger of Allah turned back from thereto Madinah after appointing �Itab bin Usaid on Makkah asgovernor. His arrival to Madinah was by the last six nights ofDhul-Qa�dah, in the year 8 A.H. On this occasion Muhammad Al-Ghazalisaid:

'What a great change it isbetween the victorious period of Muhammad at present which Allahhas towered with a manifest conquest, and that period of the pastduring which Muhammad first arrived at this town, eight years ago.'

When he first came to Madinah,he was pursued and wanted. He was seeking a secure shelter. Hewas a lonely stranger who sought companionship and comfort. Thepeople of Madinah welcomed him, gave him residence and aided himand embraced the light of Islam, which had been sent down uponhim. They, for his sake, did not care about the enmity of otherpeoples. Here he is entering Madinah again, after the lapse ofeight years of that first visit. Madinah, the town that hadreceived him once, when he was a frightened Emigrant; it receiveshim once again when Makkah has become in his hands and at hisdisposal. It is Makkah that has got rid of its pride and Jahiliyah(i.e. pre-Islamic period and traditions). It is now proudagain and mighty in Islam. The Messenger of Allah forgave allthe errors and wrongs of its people.

Missions andPlatoons
After the Conquest

Upon returning from this longsuccessful travel, the Messenger of Allah stayed in Madinah wherehe received delegates and dispatched agents and appointedpreachers and callers to Islam everywhere. Those whose heartswere still full of prejudice against Islam and therefore were tooproud to embrace Allah's religion, were decisively muffled ontheir non-acquiescence in the status quo prevalent then inArabia.

Here is a mini-image about thebelieved ones. We have already stated that the Messenger'sarrival in Madinah was by the last days of the eighth year of Al-Hijra.No sooner the crescent of Muharram of the ninth year turned upthan the Messenger of Allah dispatched the believedones, to the tribes as shown in the list below:

Some of these agents weredespatched in Muharram, 7 A.H., others were sent later until thetribes they were heading for had completely converted into Islam.Such a move clearly demonstrates the great success that theIslamic Daawah (Call) enjoyed after Al-Hudaibiyah Treaty.However, shortly after the conquest of Makkah, people began toembrace Islam in large hosts.

The Platoons:

In the same way that thebelieved ones were dispatched to the tribes, we understand thatdispatching some more platoons to all regions of Arabia is anecessity for the prevalence and domination of security on alllands of Arabia.

Here is a list of those platoons:

1. �Uyaina bin Hisn Al-Fazari�s platoon in Al-Muharram, the ninth year of Al-Hijra to Bani Tamim. It consisted of fifty horsemen, none of them was an Emigrant or a Helper.
2. This expedition was dispatched due to the fact that Bani Tamim had already urged other tribes not to pay tribute (Al-Jizya) and eventually stopped them from paying it.
3. Therefore, �Uyaina bin Hisn set out to fight them. All the way long he marched by night and lurked by day. He went on that way till he overtook them and attacked them in the desert. They fled back for their lives. Eleven men, twenty-one women and thirty boys were captured then. He drove them back to Madinah and were housed in Ramlah bint Al-Harith's residence. Ten of their leaders, who came to the Prophet's door, called out unto him saying: 'O Muhammad come out and face us.' When he went out they held him and started talking.
4. He exchanged talk with them for a while then left them and went to perform the noon-prayer. After prayer he sat in the mosque-patio. They proclaimed a desire to show boasting and self-pride. For this purpose they introduced their orator �Utarid bin Hajib who delivered his speech. The Messenger of Allah asked Thabit bin Qais bin Shammas � the Muslim orator � to respond. He did that. In return, they brought forth their poet Az-Zabraqan bin Badr who recited some boastful poetry. Hassan bin Thabit, the poet of Islam, promptly replied back. When talks and poetry came to an end, Al-Aqra� bin Habis said: 'Their orator is more eloquent than ours, and their poet is more poetically learned than ours. Their voices and sayings excel ours, as well.' Eventually they announced their embracing Islam. Consequently, the Messenger of Allah acknowledged their Islamization, awarded them well, and rendered them back their women and children.
5. A platoon headed by Qutbah bin �Amir to a spot called Khath�am in Tabalah, a plot of land not far from Turbah. That was in Safar, 9 A.H. Accompanied by twenty men and only ten camels to mount alternatively on, Qutbah raided them and fought so fiercely that a great number of both parties were wounded and some others were killed. The Muslims drove back with them camels, women and sheep to Madinah.
6. The mission of Dahhak bin Sufyan Al-Kilabi to Bani Kilab in Rabi� Al-Awwal in the year 9 A.H. This mission was sent to Bani Kilab to call them to embrace Islam. Refusing to embrace Islam, they started to fight against the Muslims, but were defeated and sustained one man killed.
7. The three hundred men expedition of �Alqamah bin Mujazziz Al-Mudlaji to Jeddah shores in Rabi� Al-Akhir. This expedition was dispatched to fight against some men from (Al-Habasha) Abyssinia (Ethiopia), who gathered together near the shores of Jeddah and exercised acts of piracy against the Makkans. Therefore he crossed the sea till he got to an island. But as soon as the pirates had learned of Muslims� arrival, they fled.[]
8. The task of the platoon of �Ali bin Abi Talib was to demolish Al-Qullus, which was an idol that belonged to Tai� tribe. That was in Rabi� Al-Awwal in the year 9 A.H. �Ali was dispatched by the Messenger of Allah with one hundred fifty men. A hundred of them were on camels. The other fifty were on horseback. He held a black flag and a white banner.

The Invasionof Tabuk
in Rajab, in the Year 9 A.H.

The invasion and the conquest ofMakkah was considered a decisive one between the truth and theerror. As a result of which, the Arabs had no more doubt inMuhammad's mission. Thus we see that things went contrary tothe pagans expectations. People started to embrace Islam, thereligion of Allah, in great numbers. This is manifested clearlyin the chapter � The delegations, of this book. It can also bededuced out of the enormous number of people who shared in the Hajjatul-Wad�(Farewell Pilgrimage). All domestic troubles came to an end.Muslims, eventually felt at ease and started setting up theteachings of Allah's Laws and intensifying the Call to Islam.

The underlying Reasons:

The Byzantine power, which wasconsidered the greatest military force on earth at that time,showed an unjustifiable opposition towards Muslims. As we havealready mentioned, their opposition started at killing theambassador of the Messenger of Allah , Al-Harith bin �UmairAl-Azdi, by Sharhabeel bin �Amr Al-Ghassani. The ambassador wasthen carrying a message from the Prophet to the ruler of Busra.We have also stated that the Prophet consequently dispatched abrigade under the command of Zaid bin Haritha, who had a fiercefight against the Byzantines at Mu�tah. Although Muslim forcescould not have revenge on those haughty overproud tyrants, theconfrontation itself had a great impression on the Arabs, allover Arabia.

Caesar � who could neitherignore the great benefit that Mu�tah Battle had brought toMuslims, nor could he disregard the Arab tribes expectationsof independence, and their hopes of getting free from hisinfluence and reign, nor he could ignore their alliance to theMuslims , realizing all that, Caesar was aware of theprogressive danger threatening his borders, especially Ash-Sham-frontswhich were neighbouring Arab lands. So he concluded thatdemolition of the Muslims power had grown an urgent necessity.This decision of his should, in his opinion, be achieved beforethe Muslims become too powerful to conquer, and raise troublesand unrest in the adjacent Arab territories.

To meet these exigencies, Caesarmustered a huge army of the Byzantines and pro-Roman Ghassanidetribes to launch a decisive bloody battle against the Muslims.

General News about theByzantines and Ghassanide Preparations for War.

No sooner news about theByzantine's preparations for a decisive invasion againstMuslims reached Madinah than fear spread among them. They started to envisage the Byzantine invasion in the least sound they could hear. This could be clearly worked out of what had happened to Umar bin Al-Khattab one day.

The Prophet had taken an oath tostay off his wives for a month in the ninth year of Al-Hijra.Therefore, he deserted them and kept off in a private place. Atthe beginning, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah werepuzzled and could not work out the reason for such behaviour.They thought the Prophet had divorced them and that was why he was grieved, disturbed and upset. In Umar'sversion of the very story he says: 'I used to have a Helperfriend who often informed me about what happened if I weren'tpresent, and in return I always informed him of what had takenplace during his absence. They both lived in the high part ofMadinah. Both of them used to call at the Prophet alternativelyduring that time of suspense. Then one day I heard my friend,knock at the door saying: 'Open up! Open up!' I askedwondering, 'What's the matter? Has the Ghassanide come?'No it is more serious than that. The Messenger of Allah has deserted his wives.'

In another version, Umarsaid, 'We talked about Ghassanide preparations to invade us.When it was his turn to convey the news to me, he went down andreturned in the evening. He knocked at the door violently andsaid Is he sleeping?� I was terrified but I went out to meethim. �Something serious had taken place.� He said. �Has the Ghassaindes arrived?� Said I. �No,� he said, �it isgreater and more serious. The Messenger of Allah has divorced his wives.'[]

This state of too much alertnessmanifests clearly the seriousness of the situation that Muslimsbegan to experience. The seriousness of the situation wasconfirmed to a large degree by the hypocrites behaviour, whennews about the Byzantines� preparations reached Madinah. Thefact that the Messenger of Allah won all the battles hefought, and that no power on earth could make him terrified, andthat he had always proved to be able to overcome all theobstacles that stood in his way - did not prevent the hypocrites,who concealed evil in their hearts, from expecting an afflictionto fall upon the Muslims and Islam.

They used to harbour evil andill-intentions against the whole process of Islam and the Muslims.On grounds of illusory hopes of destroying this great religiousedifice, they erected a hotbed of conspiracy and intrigue in theform of a mosque � Masjid-e-Darar (the mosque of harm).They approached the Prophet with the request that heshould come and consecrate the place by praying in it himself. Ashe was at the moment about to start for Tabuk, he deferredcompliance with their request till his return. Meanwhile he cameto know through Divine Revelation that it was not a Mosque fordevotion and prayer but a meeting place for the anti-Islamicelements. On his return, therefore, the Prophet sent a party to demolishthe new structure.

Particular News about theByzantine and
Ghassanide Preparations for War:

A magnified image of theprominent danger threatening the Muslims life was carried to themby the Nabateans who brought oil from Ash-Sham to Madinah. Theycarried news about Heraclius preparations and equipment of anenormous army counting over forty thousand fighters besides Lukham, Judham and other tribes allied to the Byzantines. Theysaid that its vanguard had already reached Al-Balq�. Thus wasthe grave situation standing in ambush for the Muslims. Thegeneral situation was aggravated seriously by other adversefactors of too much hot weather, drought and the rough and ruggeddistance they had to cover in case they decided to encounter theimminent danger.

The Messenger of Allah's concept and estimationof the situation and its development was more precise andaccurate than all others. He thought that if he tarried or dealtpassively with the situation in such a way that might enable theByzantines to paddle through the Islamic controlled provinces orto go as far as Madinah, this would � amid these circumstances� leave the most awful impression on Islam as well as on theMuslims� military credibility.

The pre-Islamic beliefs andtraditions (Al-Jahiliyah) which were at that time dyingbecause of the strong decisive blow that they had already had atHunain, could have had a way to come back to life once again insuch an environment. The hypocrites who were conspiring againstthe Muslims so that they might stab them in the back whereasByzantines would attack them from the front. If such a thing cameto light and they succeeded in their evil attempts, the Prophetand his Companions efforts to spread Islam would collapse andtheir profits which were the consequences of successive andconstant fights and invasions would be invalidated. The Messengerof Allah realisedall that very well. So in spite of the hardships and droughtthat Muslims were suffering from � the Prophet was determined that theMuslims should invade the Byzantines and fight a decisive battleat their own borders. He was determined not to tarry at all inorder to thwart any Roman attempt to approach the land of Islam.

When the Messenger of Allah had made up his mind andtook his final decision, he ordered his Companions to get readyfor war and sent for the Makkans and the other Arab tribes askingfor their assistance.

Contrary to his habit ofconcealing his real intention of the invasion by means ofdeclaring a false one, he announced openly his intention ofmeeting the Byzantines and fighting them. He cleared thesituation to his people so that they would get ready, and urgedthem to fight in the way of Allah. On this occasion a part of SuratBara�a (Chapter 9 � The Repentance) was sent down by Allah,urging them to steadfastness and stamina.

On the other hand, the Messengerof Allah cherishedthem to pay charities and to spend the best of their fortunes inthe way of Allah.

No sooner had the Muslims heardthe voice of the Messenger of Allah calling them to fightthe Byzantines than they rushed to comply with his orders. Withgreat speed they started getting ready for war. Tribes andphratries from here and there began pouring in Madinah. Almostall the Muslims responded positively. Only those who had weaknessat their hearts favoured to stay behind. They were only threepeople. Even the needy and the poor who could not afford a ridecame to the Messenger of Allah asking for one so thatthey would be able to share in the fight against the Byzantines.But when he said:

The Muslims raced to spend outmoney and to pay charities to provide this invasion. �Uthman,for instance, who had already rigged two hundred, saddled camelsto travel to Ash-Sham, presented them all with two hundred ounces(of gold) as charity. He also fetched a thousand dinars and castthem all into the lap of the Messenger of All�h , who turned them overand said: 'From this day on nothing will harm �Uthmanregardless of what he does.'[] Again andagain �Uthman gave till his charity toped to nine hundredcamels and a hundred horses, besides the money he paid.

Abdur Rahman bin �Awf, on hisside, paid two hundred silver ounces, whereas Abu Bakr paid thewhole money he had and left nothing but Allah and His Messengeras a fortune for his family. �Umar paid half his fortune. Al-�Abbasgifted a lot of money. Talhah, Sa�d bin �Ubadah and Muhammadbin Maslamah, gave money for the welfare of the invasion. �Asimbin �Adi, on his turn, offered ninety camel-burdens of dates.People raced to pay little and much charities alike. One of themgave the only half bushel (or the only bushel) he owned. Womenshared in this competition by giving the things they owned; suchas musk, armlets, anklets, ear-rings and rings. No one abstainedfrom spending out money, or was too mean to grant money oranything except the hypocrites:

The Muslim Army is leavingfor Tabuk:

Upon accomplishing the equipmentof the army, the Messenger of Allah ordained that Muhammadbin Maslamah Al-Ansari should be appointed over Madinah � inanother version Siba� bin �Arftah. To �Ali bin Abu Talib heentrusted his family's safety and affairs and ordered him tostay with them. This move made the hypocrites undervalue �Ali,so he followed the Messenger of All�h and caught up with him.But the Prophet made �Ali turn back to Madinah after saying:'Would it not suffice you to be my successor in the way thatAaron (Harun) was to Moses�?' Then he proceeded saying:'But no Prophet succeeds me.'

On Thursday, the Messenger ofAllah marchednorthwards to Tabuk. The army that numbered thirty thousandfighters was a great one, when compared with the previous armiesof Islam. Muslims had never marched with such a great numberbefore.

Despite all the gifts of wealthand mounts the army was not perfectly equipped. The shortage ofprovisions and mounts was so serious that eighteen men mountedone camel alternatively. As for provisions, members of the armyat times had to eat the leaves of trees till their lips gotswollen. Some others had to slaughter camels � though they wereso dear � so that they could drink the water of their stomach;that is why that army was called 'The army of distress'.

On their way to Tabuk, the armyof Islam passed by Al-Hijr � which was the native land ofThamud who cut out (huge) rocks in the valley; that is 'Al-QuraValley' of today. They watered from its well but later theMessenger of Allah told them not to drink of that water, nor perform the ablutionwith it. The dough they made, he asked them to feed their camelswith. He forbade them to eat anything whatsoever of it. As analternative he told them to water from that well which ProphetSalih�s she-camel used to water from.

On the authority of Ibn �Umar:'Upon passing by Al-Hijr the Prophet said:

Then he raised his head up andaccelerated his strides till he passed the valley out.'[]

Shortage of water and the army�sneed to it made them complain to the Messenger of Allah about that. So hesupplicated Allah, who sent a rainful cloud. It rained and soall people drank and supplied themselves with their need of water.

When they drew near Tabuk, theProphet said: 'If Allah will, tomorrow you will arrive atTabuk spring. You will not get there before daytime. So whoeverreaches it should not touch its water; but wait till I come.'Mu�adh said: 'When we reached the spring it used to gushforth some water. We found that two men had already preceded usto it. The Messenger of Allah asked them: �Have youtouched its water?� They replied: �Yes�. He said what Allahinspired him to say, then he scooped up little water of thatspring, thin stream which gathered together, he washed his faceand hand with it and poured it back into it; consequently plentyof water spouted out of it so people watered. �Mu�adh�,said the Messenger of Allah, �if you were doomed to live longlife you will see in here fields full of vegetation.�'[]

On the way to Tabuk, or as soonas they reached Tabuk, the Messenger of Allah said: �Severe windwill blow tonight, so none of you should stand up. Whoever has acamel should tie it up.� Later on when the strong wind blew,one of the men stood up and the wind carried him away to Tai�Mountain.[]

All the way long the Messengerof Allah wasintent on the performance of the combined prayer of noon and theafternoon; and so did he with sunset and evening prayers. Hisprayers for both were either pre-time or post-time prayers.

The Army of Islam at Tabuk:

Arriving at Tabuk and campingthere, the Muslim army was ready to face the enemy. There, theMessenger of Allah delivered an eloquent speech that included the most inclusivewords. In that speech he urged the Muslims to seek the welfare ofthis world and the world to come. He warned and cherished themand gave them good tidings. By doing that he cherished those whowere broken in spirits, and blocked up the gap of shortage andmess they were suffering from due to lack of supplies, food andother substances.

Upon learning of the Muslims�march, the Byzantines and their allies were so terrified thatnone of them dared set out to fight. On the contrary theyscattered inside their territory. It brought, in itself, a goodcredit to the Muslim forces. That had gained military reputationin the mid and remote lands of Arabian Peninsula. The great andserious political profits that the Muslim forces had obtained,were far better than the ones they could have acquired if the twoarmies had been engaged in military confrontation.

The Head of Ailah, Yahna binRawbah came to the Messenger of Allah , made peace with him andpaid him the tribute (Al-Jizya). Both of Jarba� andAdhruh peoples paid him tribute, as well. So the Messenger of Allah gave each aguarantee letter, similar to Yahna�s, in which he says:

The Messenger of Allah dispatched Khalid bin Al-Waleedat the head of four hundred and fifty horsemen to �UkaidirDumat Al-Jandal and said to him: 'You will see him huntingoryxes.' So when Khalid drew near his castle and was as faras an eye-sight range, he saw the oryxes coming out rubbing theirhorns against the castle gate. As it was a moony night Khalidcould see Ukaidir come out to hunt them, so he captured him �though he was surrounded by his men � and brought him back tothe Messenger of Allah , who spared his life andmade peace with him for the payment of two thousand camels, eighthundred heads of cattle, four hundred armours and four hundredlances. He obliged him to recognize the duty of paying tributeand charged him with collecting it from Dumat, Tabuk, Ailah andTaima�.

The tribes, who used to ally theByzantines, became quite certain that their dependence oinn theirformer masters came to an end. Therefore they turned into beingpro-Muslims. The Islamic state had therefore enlarged its bordersto an extent that it, touched the Byzantines and their agentsborders. So we see that the Byzantine agents role was over.

Returning to Madinah:

The Muslim army returned fromTabuk victoriously, undeceived or wronged. That was because Allahhad sufficed them the evils of fight.

On the way back and at amountain road, twelve hypocrites sought the Prophet's life andthat was while he was passing along that mountain road with onlyAmmar holding the rein of his she-camel and Hudhaifa bin Al-Yamandriving it, at the time that people had already gone down intothe bottom of the valley.

The hypocrites seized thatopportunity to seek the Prophet's life. As the Messenger of Allah and his twocompanions were moving along, they heard thrusts of people comingtowards him from behind with their faces veiled. Hudhaifa, whowas sent by the Prophet to see what was going on, saw them andstroke their mounts� faces with a crook in his hand and Allahcast fear into their hearts. They fled away and overtook theirpeople.

However, Hudhaifa named them tothe Messenger of Allah and informed him oftheir intentions. So that was why Hudhaifa was called the 'confidant'of the Messenger of Allah . About this event Allah,the Exalted says:

When his headquarters, Madinah,began to loom at the horizon, the Prophet said: 'This is acheerful sight. This is Uhud, which is a mountain, we like it andit likes us.' When the Madinese learnt of their arrival theyset out to meet the army. Women, youths, youngsters and smallchildren went out of town to celebrate their home-returnwholeheartedly singing:

The Messenger of Allah 's march to Tabuk wasin Rajab and his return in Ramadan. So we see that this Ghazwahtook fifty days, twenty days of which were spent in Tabuk and theothers on the way to and fro. Tabuk Invasion was the last onemade by the Prophet .

The People Who lagged Behind:

Due to its particularcircumstances, this invasion was a peculiar severe trial providedby Allah only to try the believers�Faith and sort them out ofothers. This is Allah's permanent Will in such circumstances.In this respect He says:

Lagging and hanging back fromfull participation in that invasion amounted to the degree ofhypocrisy. Whenever the Messenger of Allah was informed of a man'slingering, he would say: 'Leave him alone! If Allah knowshim to be good He will enable him to follow you; but if he werenot so, Allah would relieve us of him.'

Nobody stayed behind exceptthose who were either hindered by a serious excuse or thehypocrites who told lies to Allah and His Messenger.

Some of those hypocriteslingering was due to an excuse based on forgery and delusion.Some others tarried but didn't ask for an instant permission.But there were three believers who unjustifiably lingered. Theywere the ones whom Allah tried their Faith, but later on Heturned to them in mercy and accepted their repentance.

As soon as the Messenger of Allah had enteredMadinah, he prayed two Raka then he sat to receive hispeople. The hypocrites who were over eighty men[]came and offered various kinds of excuses and started swearing.The Prophet acknowledged their excuses and invoked Allah'sforgiveness for them but he entrusted their inner thoughts andFaith to Allah.

As for the three faithful believers ' Kaab bin Malik, Murara bin Ar-Rabi, and Hilalbin Omaiyah ' who favoured telling the truth, the Messenger of Allah bade hisCompanions not to talk to them.

Consequently they were subjectto a severe boycott and were excluded from the life of thecommunity. Everybody turned them their back. So they felt as ifthe whole land had become constrained to them in spite of itsspaciousness and they felt awkward and uneasy. The hard timesthey lived and which lasted for over forty days were towered byan order to them to forsake their wives. After fifty daysboycott Allah turned to them and revealed that in Quran:

Allah's turning to them was agreat joy for both Muslims and the three concerned. The joy ofthe stayers behind was unaccountable in aim and degree. It wasthe happiest day in their lives. The good tiding cherished themand filled their hearts with delight. As for those who lingereddue to disability or sickness or any other serious excuse, Allah,the Exalted said about them:

When he approached Madinah, theMessenger of Allah said:

The Invasion of Tabuk and itsFar-Reaching Ramifications:

The effect of this invasion isgreat as regards extending and confirming the Muslimssinfluence and domination on the Arabian Peninsula. It was quiteobvious to everybody that no power but Islam's would live longamong the Arabs. The remainders of Jahiliyin andhypocrites who used to conspire steadily against the Muslimsand who perpetually relied on Byzantine power when they were inneed of support or help these people lost their expectationsand desires of ever reclaiming their ex-influence. Realizing thatthere was no way out and that they were to submit to the faitaccompli, they gave up their attempts.

From that time on, hypocriteswere no longer treated leniently or even gently by the Muslims.Allah not only bade Muslims to treat them severely but He alsoforbade them to take their gift charities or perform prayer ontheir dead, or ask Allah's forgiveness for them or even visittheir tombs. Allh bade the Muslims to demolish the mosque,which they verily appointed and used as a hiding place where theymight practise their plots, conspiracy and deceit. Some Quranicverses were sent down disclosing them publicly and utterly sothat everybody in Madinah got to know their reality.

The great impact that thisinvasion produced could be perceived in of the great number ofdelegations who came successively to meet the Messenger of Allah. Naturally,deputations used to come to meet him at the end of an invasionparticularly after Makkah Conquest[] but theywere not as many as these nor were they as frequent as they werethen in the wake of Tabuk event. It was certainly the greatest.

The Qur��nic VersesRelating to this Invasion:

Many a verse of Bara�a(Tauba)Chapter handling the event of Tabuk wererevealed. Some verses were revealed before the march, whileothers after setting out for Tabuk, i.e. in the context of thebattle. Some other verses were also revealed on the Prophet'asarrival in Madinah. All of which covered the incidents thatfeatured this invasion: the immanent circumstances of the battle,exposure of the hypocrites, the prerogatives and special rankearmarked for the strivers in the cause of Allah, acceptance ofthe repentance of the truthful believers who slackened and thosewho hung back, etc.

Some Important Events thatfeatured that Year:

During this year many events ofgreat significance took place. They were:

1. After the Messengeras return from Tabuk, the sworn allegation of infidelity[] between �Uwaimir Al-�Ajlani and his wife took place.
2. Pelting with stones the Ghamidiyah woman who confessed committing adultery. She was pelted with stones only after weaning her child off her breast milk.
3. Negus Ashama; the king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), died so the Prophet performed prayer in absentia for him.
4. The death of Umm Kulthum, the daughter of the Prophet , the Prophet felt extremely sad at her death. 'Had I got a third daughter, I would let you marry her.' He said to �Uthman.
5. The death of �Abdullah bin Abi Salool, the head of hypocrites, after the Prophet's return from Tabuk. The Messenger of Allah asked Allah's forgiveness for him. He also prayed for him in spite of Umar's disapproval and his attempt to prevent him from doing that. Later on a Quranic verse was revealed attesting to Umar's right viewpoint.

Muhammad’s Birth and Forty Years prior to Prophethood

His Birth:

Muhammad , the Master of Prophets, was born in Bani Hashim lane in Makkah on Monday morning, the ninth of Rabi‘ Al-Awwal, the same year of the Elephant Event, and forty years of the reign of Kisra (Khosru Nushirwan), i.e. the twentieth or twenty-second of April, 571 A.D., according to the scholar Muhammad Sulaimân Al-Mansourpuri, and the astrologer Mahmûd Pasha.[]

Ibn Sa‘d reported that Muhammad’s mother said: 'When he was born, there was a light that issued out of my pudendum and lit the palaces of Syria.' Ahmad reported on the authority of ‘Arbadh bin Sariya something similar to this.[]

The place where the prophet was born

It was but controversially reported that significant precursors accompanied his birth: fourteen galleries of Kisra’s palace cracked and rolled down, the Magians’ sacred fire died down and some churches on Lake Sawa sank down and collapsed.[]

His mother immediately sent someone to inform his grandfather ‘Abdul-Muttalib of the happy event. Happily he came to her, carried him to Al-Ka‘bah, prayed to Allâh and thanked Him. ‘Abdul-Muttalib called the baby Muhammad, a name not then common among the Arabs. He circumcised him on his seventh day as was the custom of the Arabs.[]

The first woman who suckled him after his mother was Thuyebah, the concubine of Abu Lahab, with her son, Masrouh. She had suckled Hamzah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib before and later Abu Salamah bin ‘Abd Al-Asad Al-Makhzumi.[]

Babyhood:

It was the general custom of the Arabs living in towns to send their children away to bedouin wet nurses so that they might grow up in the free and healthy surroundings of the desert whereby they would develop a robust frame and acquire the pure speech and manners of the bedouins, who were noted both for chastity of their language and for being free from those vices which usually develop in sedentary societies.

The Prophet was later entrusted to Haleemah bint Abi Dhuaib from Bani Sa‘d bin Bakr. Her husband was Al-Harith bin ‘Abdul ‘Uzza called Abi Kabshah, from the same tribe.

Muhammad had several foster brothers and sisters, ‘Abdullah bin Al-Harith, Aneesah bint Al-Harith, Hudhafah or Judhamah bint Al-Harith (known as Ash-Shayma’), and she used to nurse the Prophet and Abu Sufyan bin Al-Harith bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet’s cousin. Hamzah bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib, the Prophet’s uncle, was suckled by the same two wet nurses, Thuyeba and Haleemah As-Sa‘diyah, who suckled the Prophet .[]

Traditions delightfully relate how Haleemah and the whole of her household were favoured by successive strokes of good fortune while the baby Muhammad lived under her care. Ibn Ishaq states that Haleemah narrated that she along with her husband and a suckling babe, set out from her village in the company of some women of her clan in quest of children to suckle. She said:

It was a year of drought and famine and we had nothing to eat. I rode on a brown she-ass. We also had with us an old she-camel. By Allâh we could not get even a drop of milk. We could not have a wink of sleep during the night for the child kept crying on account of hunger. There was not enough milk in my breast and even the she-camel had nothing to feed him. We used to constantly pray for rain and immediate relief. At length we reached Makkah looking for children to suckle. Not even a single woman amongst us accepted the Messenger of Allâh offered to her. As soon as they were told that he was an orphan, they refused him. We had fixed our eyes on the reward that we would get from the child’s father. An orphan! What are his grandfather and mother likely to do? So we spurned him because of that. Every woman who came with me got a suckling and when we were about to depart, I said to my husband: 'By Allâh, I do not like to go back along with the other women without any baby. I should go to that orphan and I must take him.' He said, 'There is no harm in doing so and perhaps Allâh might bless us through him.' So I went and took him because there was simply no other alternative left for me but to take him. When I lifted him in my arms and returned to my place I put him on my breast and to my great surprise, I found enough milk in it. He drank to his heart’s content, and so did his foster brother and then both of them went to sleep although my baby had not been able to sleep the previous night. My husband then went to the she-camel to milk it and, to his astonishment, he found plenty of milk in it. He milked it and we drank to our fill, and enjoyed a sound sleep during the night. The next morning, my husband said: 'By Allâh Haleemah, you must understand that you have been able to get a blessed child.' And I replied: 'By the grace of Allâh, I hope so.'

The tradition is explicit on the point that Haleemah’s return journey and her subsequent life, as long as the Prophet stayed with her, was encircled with a halo of good fortune. The donkey that she rode when she came to Makkah was lean and almost foundered; it recovered speed much to the amazement of Haleemah’s fellow travellers. By the time they reached the encampments in the country of the clan of Sa‘d, they found the scales of fortune turned in their favour. The barren land sprouted forth luxuriant grass and beasts came back to them satisfied and full of milk. Muhammad stayed with Haleemah for two years until he was weaned as Haleemah said:

We then took him back to his mother requesting her earnestly to have him stay with us and benefit by the good fortune and blessings he had brought us. We persisted in our request which we substantiated by our anxiety over the child catching a certain infection peculiar to Makkah.[]At last, we were granted our wish and the Prophet stayed with us until he was four or five years of age.

When, as related by Anas in Sahih Muslim, Gabriel came down and ripped his chest open and took out the heart. He then extracted a blood-clot out of it and said: 'That was the part of Satan in thee.' And then he washed it with the water of Zamzam in a gold basin. After that the heart was joined together and restored to its place. The boys and playmates came running to his mother, i.e. his nurse, and said: 'Verily, Muhammad has been murdered.' They all rushed towards him and found him all right only his face was white.[]

Back to His Passionate Mother:

After this event, Haleemah was worried about the boy and returned him to his mother with whom he stayed until he was six.[]

In respect of the memory of her late husband, Amina decided to visit his grave in Yathrib (Madinah). She set out to cover a journey of 500 kilometers with her orphan boy, woman servant Umm Ayman and her father-in-law ‘Abdul-Muttalib. She spent a month there and then took her way back to Makkah. On the way, she had a severe illness and died in Abwa on the road between Makkah and Madinah.[]

To His Compassionate Grandfather:

‘Abdul-Muttalib brought the boy to Makkah. He had warm passions towards the boy, his orphan grandson, whose recent disaster (his mother’s death) added more to the pains of the past. ‘Abdul-Muttalib was more passionate with his grandson than with his own children. He never left the boy a prey to loneliness, but always preferred him to his own kids. Ibn Hisham reported: A mattress was put in the shade of Al-Ka‘bah for ‘Abdul-Muttalib. His children used to sit around that mattress in honour to their father, but Muhammad used to sit on it. His uncles would take him back, but if ‘Abdul-Muttalib was present, he would say: 'Leave my grandson. I swear by Allâh that this boy will hold a significant position.' He used to seat the boy on his mattress, pat his back and was always pleased with what the boy did.[]

When Muhammad was eight years, two months and ten days old, his grandfather ‘Abdul-Muttalib passed away in Makkah. The charge of the Prophet was now passed on to his uncle Abu Talib, who was the brother of the Prophet’s father.

Abu Talib took the charge of his nephew in the best way. He put him with his children and preferred him to them. He singled the boy out with great respect and high esteem. Abu Talib remained for forty years cherishing his nephew and extending all possible protection and support to him. His relations with the others were determined in the light of the treatment they showed to the Prophet

Ibn ‘Asakir reported on the authority of Jalhamah bin ‘Arfuta who said: 'I came to Makkah when it was a rainless year, so Quraish said ‘O Abu Talib, the valley has become leafless and the children hungry, let us go and pray for rain-fall.’ Abu Talib went to Al-Ka‘bah with a young boy who was as beautiful as the sun, and a black cloud was over his head. Abu Talib and the boy stood by the wall of Al-Ka‘bah and prayed for rain. Immediately clouds from all directions gathered and rain fell heavily and caused the flow of springs and growth of plants in the town and the country.[]

Bahira, the Monk:

When the Messenger of Allâh was twelve years old, he went with his uncle Abu Talib on a business journey to Syria. When they reached Busra (which was a part of Syria, in the vicinity of Howran under the Roman domain) they met a monk called Bahira (his real name was Georges), who showed great kindness, and entertained them lavishly. He had never been in the habit of receiving or entertaining them before. He readily enough recognized the Prophet and said while taking his hand: 'This is the master of all humans. Allâh will send him with a Message which will be a mercy to all beings.' Abu Talib asked: 'How do you know that?' He replied: 'When you appeared from the direction of ‘Aqabah, all stones and trees prostrated themselves, which they never do except for a Prophet. I can recognize him also by the seal of Prophethood which is below his shoulder, like an apple. We have got to learn this from our books.' He also asked Abu Talib to send the boy back to Makkah and not to take him to Syria for fear of the Jews. Abu Talib obeyed and sent him back to Makkah with some of his men servants.[]

The ‘Sacrilegious’ Wars:

Muhammad was hardly fifteen when the ‘sacrilegious’ wars — which continued with varying fortunes and considerable loss of human life for a number of years — broke out between Quraish and Banu Kinana on the one side and Qais ‘Ailan tribe on the other. It was thus called because the inviolables were made violable, the prohibited months being included. Harb bin Omaiyah, on account of his outstanding position and honourable descent, used to be the leader of Quraish and their allies. In one of those battles, the Prophet attended on his uncles but did not raise arms against their opponents. His efforts were confined to picking up the arrows of the enemy as they fell, and handing them over to his uncles.[]

Al-FudoulConfederacy:

At the conclusion of these wars, when peace was restored, people felt the need for forming confederacy at Makkah for suppressing violence and injustice, and vindicating the rights of the weak and the destitute. Representatives of Banu Hashim, Banu Al-Muttalib, Asad bin ‘Abd Al-‘Uzza, Zahrah bin Kilab and Taim bin Murra were called to meet in the habitation of an honourable elderly man called ‘Abdullah bin Jada‘an At-Taimy to enter into a confederacy that would provide for the above-mentioned items. The Messenger of Allâh shortly after he had been honoured with the ministry of Prophethood, witnessed this league and commented on it, with very positive words: 'I witnessed a confederacy in the house of ‘Abdullah bin Jada‘an. It was more appealing to me than herds of cattle. Even now in the period of Islam I would respond positively to attending such a meeting if I were invited.'[]

In fact, the spirit of this confederacy and the course of deliberations therein marked a complete departure from the pre-Islamic tribal-pride. The story that led to its convention says that a man from Zubaid clan came as a merchant to Makkah where he sold some commodities to Al-‘As bin Wail As-Sahmy. The latter by hook or by crook tried to evade paying for the goods. The salesman sought help from the different clans in Quraish but they paid no heed to his earnest pleas. He then resorted to a mountain top and began, at the top of his voice, to recite verses of complaint giving account of the injustices he sustained. Az-Zubair bin ‘Abdul-Muttalib heard of him and made inquiries into the matter. Consequently, the parties to the aforesaid confederacy convened their meeting and managed to force Az-Zubaidy’s money out of Al-‘As bin Wa’il.[]

Muhammad’s Early Job:

Muhammad , had no particular job at his early youth, but it was reported that he worked as a shepherd for Bani Sa‘d and in Makkah. At the age of 25, he went to Syria as a merchant for Khadijah - may Allah be pleased with her - . Ibn Ishaq reported that Khadijah, daughter of Khwailid was a business-woman of great honour and fortune. She used to employ men to do her business for a certain percentage of the profits. Quraish people were mostly tradespeople, so when Khadijah was informed of Muhammad , his truthful words, great honesty and kind manners, she sent for him. She offered him money to go to Syria and do her business, and she would give him a higher rate than the others. She would also send her hireling, Maisarah, with him. He agreed and went with her servant to Syria for trade. []

His Marriage to Khadijah:

When he returned to Makkah, Khadijah noticed, in her money, more profits and blessings than she used to. Her hireling also told her of Muhammad’s good manners, honesty, deep thought, sincerity and faith. She realized that she homed at her target. Many prominent men had asked for her hand in marriage but she always spurned their advances. She disclosed her wish to her friend Nafisa, daughter of Maniya, who immediately went to Muhammad and broke the good news to him. He agreed and requested his uncles to go to Khadijah’s uncle and talk on this issue. Subsequently, they were married. The marriage contract was witnessed by Bani Hashim and the heads of Mudar. This took place after the Prophet’s return from Syria. He gave her twenty camels as dowry. She was, then, forty years old and was considered as the best woman of her folk in lineage, fortune and wisdom. She was the first woman whom the Messenger of Allâh married. He did not get married to any other until she had died.[]

Khadijah bore all his children, except Ibrahim: Al-Qasim, Zainab, Ruqaiyah, Umm Kulthum, Fatimah and ‘Abdullah who was called Taiyib and Tahir. All his sons died in their childhood and all the daughters except Fatimah died during his lifetime. Fatimah died six months after his death. All his daughters witnessed Islam, embraced it, and emigrated to Madinah.[]

Rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah and the Arbitration Issue:

The Haram Mosque

When the Messenger of Allâh was thirty five, Quraish started rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah. That was because it was a low building of white stones no more than 6.30 metres high, from the days of Ishmael. It was also roofless and that gave the thieves easy access to its treasures inside. It was also exposed to the wearing factors of nature — because it was built a long time ago — that weakened and cracked its walls. Five years before Prophethood, there was a great flood in Makkah that swept towards Al-Ka‘bah and almost demolished it. Quraish was obliged to rebuild it to safeguard its holiness and position. The chiefs of Quraish decided to use only licit money in rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah, so all money that derived from harlotry, usury or unjust practices was excluded. They were, at first, too awed to knock down the wall, but Al-Waleed bin Al-Mugheerah Al-Mukhzumi started the work. Seeing that no harm had happened to him, the others participated in demolishing the walls until they reached the basis laid by Abraham. When they started rebuilding its walls, they divided the work among the tribes. Each tribe was responsible for rebuilding a part of it. The tribes collected stones and started work. The man who laid the stones was a Roman mason called Baqum. The work went on in harmony till the time came to put the sacred Black Stone in its proper place. Then strife broke out among the chiefs, and lasted for four or five days, each contesting for the honour of placing the stone in its position. Daggers were on the point of being drawn and great bloodshed seemed imminent. Luckily, the oldest among the chiefs Abu Omaiyah bin Mugheerah Al-Makhzumi made a proposal which was accepted by all. He said: 'Let him, who enters the Sanctuary first of all, decide on the point.' It was then Allâh’s Will that the Messenger of Allâh should be the first to enter the Mosque. On seeing him, all the people on the scene, cried with one voice: 'Al-Ameen (the trustworthy) has come. We are content to abide by his decision.' Calm and self-possessed, Muhammad received the commission and at once resolved upon an expedient which was to conciliate them all. He asked for a mantle which he spread on the ground and placed the stone in its centre. He then asked the representatives of the different clans among them, to lift the stone all together. When it had reached the proper place, Muhammad laid it in the proper position with his own hands. This is how a very tense situation was eased and a grave danger averted by the wisdom of the Prophet

The Black Stone

Quraish ran short of the licit money, they collected, so they eliminated six yards area on the northern side of Al-Ka‘bah which is called Al-Hijr or Al-Hateem. They raised its door two metres from the level ground to let in only the people whom they desired. When the structure was fifteen yards high they erected the roof which rested on six columns.

When the building of Al-Ka‘bah had finished, it assumed a square form fifteen metres high. The side with the Black Stone and the one opposite were ten metres long each. The Black Stone was 1.50 metre from the circumambulation level ground. The two other sides were twelve metres long each. The door was two metres high from the level ground. A building structure of 0.25 metre high and 0.30 metre wide on the average surrounded Al-Ka‘bah. It was called Ash-Shadherwan, originally an integral part of the Sacred Sanctuary, but Quraish left it out.[]

A Rapid Review of Muhammad’s Biography before Commissioning of the Prophethood:

Prophet Muhammad was, in his youth, a combination of the best social attributes. He was an exemplary man of weighty mind and faultless insight. He was favoured with intelligence, originality of thought and accurate choice of the means leading to accurate goals. His long silence helped favourably in his habit of meditation and deep investigation into the truth. His vivid mind and pure nature were helpfully instrumental in assimilating and comprehending ways of life and people, individual and community-wise. He shunned superstitious practices but took an active part in constructive and useful dealings, otherwise, he would have recourse to his self-consecrated solitude. He kept himself aloof from drinking wine, eating meat slaughtered on stone altars, or attending idolatrous festivals. He held the idols in extreme aversion and most abhorrence. He could never tolerate someone swearing by Al-Lat and Al-‘Uzza. Allâh’s providence, no doubts, detached him from all abominable or evil practices. Even when he tried to obey his instinct to enjoy some life pleasures or follow some irrespectable traditions, Allâh’s providence intervened to curb any lapse in this course. Ibn Al-Atheer reported Muhammad as saying: 'I have never tried to do what my people do except for two times. Every time Allâh intervened and checked me from doing so and I never did that again. Once I told my fellow-shepherd to take care of my sheep when we were in the upper part of Makkah. I wanted to go down to Makkah and entertain myself as the young men did. I went down to the first house of Makkah where I heard music. I entered and asked: ‘What is this?’ Someone answered: ‘It is a wedding party.’ I sat down and listened but soon went into deep sleep. I was awakened by the heat of the sun. I went back to my fellow-shepherd and told him of what had happened to me. I have never tried it again.'

Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that he said: 'While the people were rebuilding Al-Ka‘bah, the Prophet Muhammad went with ‘Abbas to carry some stones. ‘Abbas said: ‘Put your loincloth round your neck to protect you from the stones.’ (As he did that) the Prophet fell to the ground and his eyes turned skyward. Later on he woke up and shouted: ‘My loincloth... my loincloth.’ He wrapped himself in his loincloth.' In another report: 'His loins were never seen afterwards.'[]

The authorities agree in ascribing to the youth of Muhammad modesty of deportment, virtuous behaviour and graceful manners. He proved himself to be the ideal of manhood, and to possess a spotless character. He was the most obliging to his compatriots, the most honest in his talk and the mildest in temper. He was the most gentle-hearted, chaste, hospitable and always impressed people by his piety-inspiring countenance. He was the most truthful and the best to keep covenant. His fellow-citizens, by common consent, gave him the title of Al-‘Ameen (trustworthy). The Mother of believers, Khadijah - may Allah be pleased with her - , once said: He unites uterine relations, he helps the poor and the needy, he entertains the guests and endures hardships in the path of truthfulness.[]

In the Shade ofthe Message and Prophethood

In the Cave of Hira’:

When Prophet Muhammad was nearly forty, he had been wont to pass long hours in retirement meditating and speculating over all aspects of creation around him. This meditative temperament helped to widen the mental gap between him and his compatriots. He used to provide himself with Sawiq (barley porridge) and water and then directly head for the hills and ravines in the neighbourhood of Makkah. One of these in particular was his favourite resort — a cave named Hira’, in the Mount An-Nour. It was only two miles from Makkah, a small cave 4 yards long and 1.75 yard wide. He would always go there and invite wayfarers to share him his modest provision. He used to devote most of his time, and Ramadan in particular, to worship and meditation on the universe around him. His heart was restless about the moral evils and idolatry that were rampant among his people; he was as yet helpless because no definite course, or specific approach had been available for him to follow and rectify the ill practices around him. This solitude attended with this sort of contemplative approach must be understood in its Divine perspective. It was a preliminary stage to the period of grave responsibilities that he was to shoulder very soon.[]

Hiraa Cave

Privacy and detachment from the impurities of life were two indispensable prerequisites for the Prophet’s soul to come into close communion with the Unseen Power that lies behind all aspects of existence in this infinite universe. It was a rich period of privacy which lasted for three years and ushered in a new era, of indissoluble contact with that Power.[]

Gabriel brings down the Revelation:

When he was forty, the age of complete perfection at which Prophets were always ordered to disclose their Message, signs of his Prophethood started to appear and twinkle on the horizons of life; they were the true visions he used to experience for six months. The period of Prophethood was 23 years; so the period of these six months of true visions constituted an integral part of the forty-six parts of Prophethood. In Ramadan, in his third year of solitude in the cave of Hira’, Allâh’s Will desired His mercy to flow on earth and Muhammad was honoured with Prophethood, and the light of Revelation burst upon him with some verses of the Noble Qur’ân.[]

As for the exact date, careful investigation into circumstantial evidence and relevant clues point directly to Monday, 21st. Ramadan at night, i.e. August, 10, 610 A.D. with Prophet Muhammad exactly 40 years, 6 months and 12 days of age, i.e. 39 Gregorian years, 3 months and 22 days.[]

‘Aishah, the veracious, gave the following narration of that most significant event that brought the Divine light which would dispel the darkness of disbelief and ignorance. It led life down a new course and brought about the most serious amendment to the line of the history of mankind:

Forerunners of the Revelation assumed the form of true visions that would strikingly come true all the time. After that, solitude became dear to him and he would go to the cave, Hira’, to engage in Tahannuth (devotion) there for a certain number of nights before returning to his family, and then he would return for provisions for a similar stay. At length, unexpectedly, the Truth (the angel) came to him and said, 'Recite.' 'I cannot recite,' he (Muhammad ) said. The Prophet described: 'Then he took me and squeezed me vehemently and then let me go and repeated the order ‘Recite.’ ‘I cannot recite’ said I, and once again he squeezed me and let me till I was exhausted. Then he said: ‘Recite.’ I said ‘I cannot recite.’ He squeezed me for a third time and then let me go and said:

The Prophet repeated these verses. He was trembling with fear. At this stage, he came back to his wife Khadijah, and said, 'Cover me, ... cover me.' They covered him until he restored security. He apprised Khadijah of the incident of the cave and added that he was horrified. His wife tried to soothe him and reassured him saying, 'Allâh will never disgrace you. You unite uterine relations; you bear the burden of the weak; you help the poor and the needy, you entertain the guests and endure hardships in the path of truthfulness.'

She set out with the Prophet to her cousin Waraqa bin Nawfal bin Asad bin ‘Abd Al-‘Uzza, who had embraced Christianity in the pre-Islamic period, and used to write the Bible in Hebrew. He was a blind old man. Khadijah said: 'My cousin! Listen to your nephew!' Waraqa said: 'O my nephew! What did you see?' The Messenger of Allâh told him what had happened to him. Waraqa replied: 'This is ‘Namus’ i.e. (the angel who is entrusted with Divine Secrets) that Allâh sent to Moses. I wish I were younger. I wish I could live up to the time when your people would turn you out.' Muhammad asked: 'Will they drive me out?' Waraqa answered in the affirmative and said: 'Anyone who came with something similar to what you have brought was treated with hostility; and if I should be alive till that day, then I would support you strongly.' A few days later Waraqa died and the revelation also subsided.[]

At-Tabari and Ibn Hisham reported that the Messenger of Allâh left the cave of Hira’ after being surprised by the Revelation, but later on, returned to the cave and continued his solitude. Afterwards, he came back to Makkah. At-Tabari reported on this incident, saying:

After mentioning the coming of the Revelation, the Messenger of Allâh said: 'I have never abhorred anyone more than a poet or a mad man. I can not stand looking at either of them. I will never tell anyone of Quraish of my Revelation. I will climb a mountain and throw myself down and die. That will relieve me. I went to do that but halfway up the mountain, I heard a voice from the sky saying ‘O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allâh and I am Gabriel.’ I looked upwards and saw Gabriel in the form of a man putting his legs on the horizon. He said: ‘O Muhammad You are the Messenger of Allâh and I am Gabriel.’ I stopped and looked at him. His sight distracted my attention from what I had intended to do. I stood in my place transfixed. I tried to shift my eyes away from him. He was in every direction I looked at. I stopped in my place without any movement until Khadijah sent someone to look for me. He went down to Makkah and came back while I was standing in the same place. Gabriel then left, and I went back home. I found Khadijah at home, so I sat very close to her. She asked: ‘Father of Al-Qasim! Where have you been? I sent someone to look for you. He went to Makkah and returned to me.’ I told her of what I had seen. She replied: ‘It is a propitious sign, O my husband. Pull yourself together, I swear by Allâh that you are a Messenger for this nation.’ Then she stood up and went to Waraqa and informed him. Waraqa said: ‘I swear by Allâh that he has received the same Namus, i.e. angel that was sent to Moses. He is the Prophet of this nation. Tell him to be patient.’ She came back to him and told him of Waraqa’s words. When the Messenger of Allâh finished his solitary stay and went down to Makkah, he went to Waraqa, who told him: ‘You are the Prophet of this nation. I swear by Allâh that you have received the same angel that was sent to Moses.’'[]

Interruption of Revelation:

Ibn Sa‘d reported on the authority of Ibn ‘Abbas that the Revelation paused for a few days.[] After careful study, this seems to be the most possible. To say that it lasted for three and a half years, as some scholars allege, is not correct, but here there is no room to go into more details.

Meanwhile, the Prophet , was caught in a sort of depression coupled with astonishment and perplexity. Al-Bukhari reported:

The Divine inspiration paused for a while and the Prophet became so sad, as we have heard, that he intended several times to throw himself from the tops of high mountains, and every time he went up the top of a mountain in order to throw himself down, Gabriel would appear before him and say: 'O Muhammad! You are indeed Allâh’s Messenger in truth,' whereupon his heart would become quiet and he would calm down and return home. Whenever the period of the coming of the Revelation used to become long, he would do as before, but Gabriel would appear again before him and say to him what he had said before.[]

Once more, Gabriel brings Allâh’s Revelation:

Ibn Hajar said: ‘That (the pause of Allâh’s revelation for a few days) was to relieve the Messenger of Allâh of the fear he experienced and to make him long for the Revelation. When the shades of puzzle receded, the flags of truth were raised, the Messenger of Allâh knew for sure that he had become the Messenger of the Great Lord. He was also certain that what had come to him was no more than the ambassador of inspiration. His waiting and longing for the coming of the revelation constituted a good reason for his steadfastness and self-possession on the arrival of Allâh’s inspiration, Al-Bukhari reported on the authority of Jabir bin ‘Abdullah that he had heard the Messenger of Allâh speak about the period of pause as follows:

'While I was walking, I heard a voice from the sky. I looked up, and surely enough, it was the same angel who had visited me in the cave of Hira’. He was sitting on a chair between the earth and the sky. I was very afraid of him and knelt on the ground. I went home saying: ‘Cover me …, Cover me …’. Allâh revealed to me the verses:

After that the revelation started coming strongly, frequently and regularly.[]

Some details pertinent to the successive stages of Revelation:

Before we go into the details of the period of communicating the Message and Prophethood, we would like to get acquainted with the stages of the Revelation which constituted the main source of the Message and the subject-matter of the Call. Ibn Al-Qayyim, mentioning the stages of the Revelation, said:

The Second: What the angel invisibly cast in the Prophet’s mind and heart. The Messenger of Allâh said: 'The Noble Spirit revealed to me ‘No soul will perish until it exhausts its due course, so fear Allâh and gently request Him. Never get so impatient to the verge of disobedience of Allâh. What Allâh has can never be acquired but through obedience to Him.’'

The Third: The angel used to visit the Messenger of Allâh in the form of a human being and would speak to him directly. This would enable him to fully understand what the angel said. The angel was sometimes seen in this form by the Prophet’s Companions.

The Fourth: The angel came to him like the toll of a bell and this was the most difficult form because the angel used to seize him tightly and sweat would stream from his forehead even on the coldest day. If the Prophet was on his camel, the camel would not withstand the weight, so it would immediately kneel down on the ground. Once the Messenger of Allâh had such a revelation when he was sitting and his thigh was on Zaid’s, Zaid felt the pressure had almost injured his thigh.

The Fifth: The Prophet saw the angel in his actual form. The angel would reveal to him what Allâh had ordered him to reveal. This, as mentioned in (Qur’ân), in Sûrah An-Najm (Chapter 53 - The Star), happened twice.

The Sixth: What Allâh Himself revealed to him in heaven i.e. when he ascended to heaven and received Allâh’s behest of Salât (prayer).

The Seventh: Allâh’s Words to His Messenger at first hand without the mediation of an angel. It was a privilege granted to Moses - Peace be upon him - and clearly attested in the Qur’ân, as it is attested to our Prophet in the Sûrah Al-Isrâ’ (Chapter 17 - The Journey by Night) of the Noble Qur’ân.

Some religious scholars added a controversial eighth stage in which they state that Allâh spoke to the Prophet directly without a curtain in between. This issue remains however unconfirmed.

Proclaiming Allâh, the All-High;and the Immediate Constituents

The first Revelation sent to the Prophet implied several injunctions, simple in form but highly effective and of serious far-reaching ramifications. The angel communicated to him a manifest Message saying:

For convenience and ease of understanding, we are going to segment the Message into its immediate constituents:

1. The ultimate objective of warning is to make sure that no one breaching the pleasures of Allâh in the whole universe is ignorant of the serious consequences that his behaviour entails, and to create a sort of unprecedented shock within his mind and heart.
2. ‘Magnifying the Lord’ dictates explicitly that the only pride allowed to nourish on the earth is exclusively Allâh’s to the exclusion of all the others’.
3. ‘Cleansing the garments and shunning all aspects of abomination’ point directly to the indispensable need to render both the exterior and interior exceptionally chaste and pure, in addition to the prerequisite of sanctifying the soul and establishing it highly immune against the different sorts of impurities and the various kinds of pollutants. Only through this avenue can the soul of the Prophet reach an ideal status and become eligible to enjoy the shady mercy of Allâh and His protection, security, guidance and ever-shining light; and will consequently set the highest example to the human community, attract the sound hearts and inspire awe and reverence in the stray ones in such a manner that all the world, in agreement or disagreement, will head for it and take it as the rock-bed in all facets of their welfare.
4. The Prophet must not regard his strife in the way of Allâh as a deed of grace that entitles him to a great reward. On the contrary, he has to exert himself to the utmost, dedicate his whole efforts and be ready to offer all sacrifices in a spirit of self-forgetfulness enveloped by an ever-present awareness of Allâh, without the least sense of pride in his deeds or sacrifices.
5. The last verse of the Qur’ân revealed to the Prophet alludes to the hostile attitude of the obdurate disbelievers, who will jeer at him and his followers. They are expected to disparage him and step up their malice to the point of scheming against his life and lives of all the believers around him. In this case he has got to be patient and is supposed to persevere and display the highest degree of stamina for the sole purpose of attaining the pleasure of Allâh.

These were the basic preliminaries that the Prophet had to observe, very simple injunctions in appearance, greatly fascinating in their calm rhythm, but highly effective in practice. They constituted the trigger that aroused a far-ranging tempest in all the corners of the world.

The verses comprise the constituents of the new call and propagation of the new faith. A warning logically implies that there are malpractices with painful consequences to be sustained by the perpetrators, and since the present life is not necessarily the only room to bring people to account for their misdeeds or some of them, then the warning would necessarily imply calling people to account on another day, i.e. the Day of Resurrection, and this per se suggests the existence of a life other than this one we are living. All the verses of the Noble Qur’ân call people to testify explicitly to the Oneness of Allâh, to delegate all their affairs to Allâh, the All-High, and to subordinate the desires of the self and the desires of Allâh’s servants to the attainment of His Pleasures.

The constituents of the call to Islam could, briefly speaking, go as follows:

1. Testimony to the Oneness of Allâh.
2. Belief in the Hereafter.
3. Sanctifying one’s soul and elevating it high above evils and abominations that conduce to terrible consequences, besides this, there is the dire need for virtues and perfect manners coupled with habituating oneself to righteous deeds.
4. Committing one’s all affairs to Allâh, the All-High.
5. All the foregoing should run as a natural corollary to unwavering belief in Muhammad’s Message, and abidance by his noble leadership and righteous guidance.

The verses have been prefaced, in the voice of the Most High, by a heavenly call mandating the Prophet to undertake this daunting responsibility (calling people unto Allâh). The verses meant to extract him forcibly out of his sleep, divest him of his mantle and detach him from the warmth and quiet of life, and then drive him down a new course attended with countless hardships, and requiring a great deal of strife in the way of Allâh:

Suggesting that to live to oneself is quite easy, but it has been decided that you have to shoulder this heavy burden; consequently sleep, comfort, or warm bed are items decreed to be alien in your lexicon of life. O Muhammad, arise quickly for the strife and toil awaiting you; no time is there for sleep and such amenities; grave responsibilities have been Divinely determined to fall to your lot, and drive you into the turmoil of life to develop a new sort of precarious affinity with the conscience of people and the reality of life.

The Prophet managed quite successfully to rise to his feet and measure up to the new task, he went ahead in a spirit of complete selflessness, relentlessly striving and never abating in carrying the burden of the great Trust, the burden of enlightening mankind, and the heavy weight of the new faith and strife for over twenty years, nothing distracting his attention from the awesome commission. May Allâh reward him, for us and all humanity, the best ending. The following research at hand gives an account in miniature of his long strive and uninterrupted struggle he made after receiving the ministry of Messengership.[]

Phases and Stages of the Call

The Muhammadan Call could be divided into two phases distinctively demarcated:

1. The Makkan phase: nearly thirteen years.
2. The Madinese phase: fully ten years.

Each of the two phases included distinctive features easily discernible through accurate scrutiny into the circumstances that characterized each of them.

The Makkan phase can be divided into three stages:

1. The stage of the secret Call: three years.
2. The stage of the proclamation of the Call in Makkah: from the beginning of the fourth year of Prophethood to almost the end of the tenth year.
3. The stage of the call to Islam and propagating it beyond Makkah: it lasted from the end of tenth year of the Prophethood until Muhammad’s emigration to Madinah.

The Madinese phase will be considered later in its due course.

The First StageStrife in the Way of the Call

Three Years of Secret Call:

It is well-known that Makkah was the centre for the Arabs, and housed the custodians of Al-Ka‘bah. Protection and guardianship of the idols and stone graven images that received veneration on the part of all the Arabs lay in the hands of the Makkans. Hence the difficulty of hitting the target of reform and rectitude in a place considered the den of idolatry. Working in such an atmosphere no doubt requires unshakable will and determination, that is why the call unto Islam assumed a clandestine form so that the Makkans should not be enraged by the unexpected surprise.

The Early Converts:

The Prophet naturally initiated his sacred mission right from home and then moved to the people closely associated with him. He called unto Islam whomsoever he thought would attest the truth which had come from his Lord. In fact, a host of people who nursed not the least seed of doubt as regards the Prophet , immediately responded and quite readily embraced the true faith. They are known in the Islamic literature as the early converts.

Khadijah, the Prophet’s spouse, the mother of believers, was the first to enter the fold of Islam followed by his freed slave Zaid bin Harithah, his cousin, ‘Ali bin Abi Talib, who had been living with him since his early childhood, and next came his intimate friend Abu Bakr As-Siddiq (Abu Bakr the truth verifier). All of those professed Islam on the very first day of the call.[] Abu Bakr, and from the first day he embraced Islam, proved to be an energetic and most zealous activist. He was wealthy, obliging, mild and upright. People used to frequent his house and draw nigh to him for his knowledge, amity, pleasant company and business. He invited whomever he had confidence in to Islam and through his personal efforts a good number of people converted to Islam, such as ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan Al-Umawi, Az-Zubair bin ‘Awwam Al-Asadi, ‘Abdur Rahman bin ‘Awf, Sa‘d bin Abi Waqqas, Az-Zuhri and Talhah bin ‘Ubaidullah At-Tamimy. Those eight men constituted the forerunners and more specifically the vanguard of the new faith in Arabia. Among the early Muslim were Bilal bin Rabah (the Abyssinian), Abu ‘Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah from Bani Harith bin Fahr (the most trustworthy of the Muslim Nation), Abu Salamah bin ‘Abd Al-Asad, Al-Arqam bin Abi Al-Arqam from the tribe of Makhzum, ‘Uthman bin Maz‘oun and his two brothers Qudama and ‘Abdullah, ‘Ubaidah bin Al-Harith bin Al-Muttalib bin ‘Abd Munaf, Sa‘id bin Zaid Al-‘Adawi and his wife Fatimah - daughter of Al-Khattab (the sister of ‘Umar bin Al-Khattab), Khabbab bin Al-Aratt, ‘Abdullâh bin Mas‘ud Al-Hadhali and many others. These were the Muslim predecessors. They belonged to various septs of Quraish. Ibn Hisham, a biographer, counted them to be more than forty.[]

Ibn Ishaq said: 'Then people entered the fold of Islam in hosts, men or women and the new faith could no longer be kept secret.'[]

The Prophet used to meet and teach, the new converts, the religion in privacy because the call to Islam was still running on an individual and secret basis. Revelation accelerated and continued after the first verses of 'O you wrapped in garments.' The verses and pieces of Sûrah (chapters) revealed at this time were short ones with wonderful strong pauses and quite fascinating rhythms in full harmony with that delicate whispering setting. The central topic running through them focused on sanctifying the soul, and deterring the Muslims from falling prey to the deceptive glamour of life. The early verses used as well to give a highly accurate account of the Hell and the Garden (Paradise), leading the believers down a new course diametrically opposed to the ill practices rampant amongst their compatriots.

As-Salât (the Prayer):

Muqatil bin Sulaiman said: 'Salât (prayer) was established as an obligatory ritual at an early stage of the Islamic Call, a two rak‘ ah (unit of prayer) Salât in the morning and the same in the evening;

Ibn Hijr said: 'Definitely the Prophet used to pray before ‘The Night Journey’ but it still remains a matter of controversy whether or not the prayer was established as an obligatory ritual before imposing the rules of the usual five prayers a day. It is related that obligatory prayer was established twice a day, in the morning before sunrise and after sunset. It is reported through a chain of narrators that when the Prophet received the first Revelation, Gabriel - the angel, proceeded and taught him how to observe Wudu (ablution). When the Prophet had finished, he took a handful of water and sprinkled it on his loins.[]

Ibn Hisham reported that when it was time for prayers, the Messenger of Allâh and his Companions went into a mountain valley to pray secretly. Abu Talib once saw the Messenger of Allâh and Ali praying, he asked them what they were up to. When he got to know that it was obligatory prayer, he told them to stay constant in their practice.[]

The Quraishites learn about the Call:

This stage of the Call, even though conducted in a clandestine manner and on an individual basis, its news leaked out and assumed a public interest all over Makkah. In the beginning, the Makkan leaders did not care much about Muhammad and took no heed of his teachings. At first, they thought that Muhammad was merely a religious philosophist like Omaiyah bin Abi As-Salt, Quss bin Sa‘idah, ‘Amr bin Nufail and their ilk who used to philosophize on godship and religious obligations. But this attitude of indifference soon changed into real apprehension. The polytheists of Quraish began to watch Muhammad’s movements closely and anxiously for fear of spreading his Call and producing a change in the prevalent mentality.[]

For three underground years of activism, a group of believers emerged stamped by a spirit of fraternity and cooperation with one definite objective in their mind: propagating and deeply establishing the call unto Islam. For full three years Muhammad had been content to teach within a rather narrow circle. The time had, however, come to preach the faith of the Lord openly. The angel Gabriel had brought him down a further Revelation of Allâh’s Will to confront his people, invalidate their falsehood and crush down their idolatrous practices.