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Posted on: Sep 07, '08

Introduction to Islam - Part II

The earlier blog ended with the first revelation of the Holy Quran by Allah to Muhammad (SM/PBUH).

When Muhammad (SM) awoke the words remained as if inscribed upon his heart. He went out of the cave on to the hill side and heard the same awe-inspiring voice say: "O Muhammad! Thou art Allah's messenger and I am Jibrail (Gabriel)!" Then he raised his eyes and saw the angel, in the likeness of a man, standing in the sky above the horizon. The angel repeated the aforesaid words. Muhammad (SM) stood quite still , turning away his face from brightness of the vision, but whichsoever he might turn his face, there always stood the angel confronting him. At length the angel vanished and he returne in great distress of mind to his wife Khadijah. She did her best to reassure him, saying that his conduct had been such that Allah would not let a harmful sopirit come to him and that it was her hope that he was to become the Prophet of the people. On their return to Mecca she took him to her cousin Waraqa ibn Naufal, a very old man 'who knew the scriptures of the Jews & Christians'. He declared his belief that the heavenly messenger, who came to Moses (PBUH) of old had come to Muhammad (SM) and that he was chosen as the messenger of Allah.

For the first three years or rather less of his mission , the Prophet preached only to his family and his intimate
friends, while the people of Mecca as a whole regarded him as one who had become a little mad. The first of all his converts was his wife Khadijah, the second his first cousin Ali (Ra.). His old friend Abu Bakr (Ra.) was among those early converts with some of his slaves & dependents.

At the end of the third year the Prophet received the command to 'arise & warn', whereupon he began to preach in public, pointing out the folly of idolatry in face of the tremendous laws of day & night, of life & death, of growth & decay which manifest the power of Allah and attest to His sovereignty. It was then when he began to speak against their gods, that the Qurayesh became actively hostile , persecuting his poorer disciples mocking and insulting him. The one consideration that prevented them from killing him was fear of the blood vengeance of the clan to which his family belonged.

The converts of the first four years were mostly humble folks unable to defend themselves against oppression. So cruel was the persecution they endured that the Prophet advised all who could possibly contrive to do so to emigrate to a Christian country, Abyssinia. And still inspite of persecution and emigration, the little company of Muslims grew in number. Qurayesh were seriously alarmed. The idol worship at the Ka'bah, the holy place to which all Arabia made pilgrimage ranked for them , as guardians of it, as first among their vested interests. At the season of the pilgrimage they posted men on all the roads to warn the tribes against the 'mad man' preaching in their midst. They tried to bring the Prophet to a compromise, even offering him the kingship and also tried to obtain the support of his uncle Abu Talib to kill him, but to no avail. The exasperation of the idolators was increased by the conversion of Omar (Ra.) one of their key stalwarts. They grew more and more embittered till things came to such a pass that theyu decided to ostracise the Prophet's whole clan, idolaters who protected him & Muslims who followed him. Their chief men caused a document to be drawn up to the effect that none of them or those belonging to them would hold any intercourse with that clan or sell to them or buy from them. Then for three years the Prophet was shut up with all his kinsfolk in one of the gorges that run down to Mecca. Only at the time of the pilgrimage could they venture out.

At length some kinder hearts among Qurayesh grew weary of the boycott of old friends & neighbours. They managed to bring the document that was placed in Ka'bah for reconsideration, when it was found that all the writing had been destroyed by white ants except the words Bismika Allahumma (In Thy name, O Allah). When the elders saw the marvel, the ban was removed. Meanwhile the opposition to his preaching has gone rigid, he had littlke success in Mecca and an attempt to preach in the city of Taif was a failure. His mission seemed like a failure by worldly standards, when at the season of the yearly pilgrimage he came upon a group of men who heard him gladly.

They came from Yathrib, a city more that 200 miles away which has since become world famous as Al-Madinah, 'the City par excellence'. At Yathrib there were Jewish tribes with learned Rabbis who had often spoken to the pagans of a Prophet soon to come among the Arabs with whom when he came, the Jews would destroy idolatry. When the men from Yathrib saw Muhammad (SM) they recognised him as the Prophet as described by the Rabbis. On their return they told what they had seen & heard and in the next pilgrimage season a deputation from Yathrib entered into a treaty with the Prophet at a place named Al-Aqabah, then returned to Yathrib with a Muslim teacher in their company and soon there was not a house in Yathrib wherein there was not mention of the Prophet. The next year during pilgrimage seventy three Muslims from Yathrib vowed allegiance to the Prophet and invited him to their city. At Al-Aqabah by night, they swore to defend him as they would defend their own wives & children. It was then that the Hijrah, the Flight to Yathrib was decided as the death of Abu Talib, chief protector of the Prophet had made the Qurayesh desperate to kill him. But still they had to reckon with the vengeance of his clan upon the murderer.

Soon the Muslims who were in a position to do so began to sell their propertyand left Mecca unobtrusively for Yathrib.Qurayesh getting the wind of what was going on dreaded of the Prophet who if escaped what might happen. They finally cast lots and chose a slayer out of every clan to attack & kill the Prophet as one man, thus his blood would be on all Qurayesh. As Ibn Khaldun asserts, it was at this time the Prophet received the first revelation ordering him to make war upon his persecuters, 'until persecution is no more and religion is for Allah only'.

The last of the able Muslims to remain in Mecca were Abu Bakr, Ali and the Prophet himself. Abu Bakr, a man of wealth had brought two riding camels and retained a guide ready for the Flight. The Prophet only waited for Allah's command. It came at length. It was the night appointed for his murder. The slayers had set forth for his house. He gave his cloak to Ali bidding him to lie down on his bed, so that anyone looking would think that Muhammad (SM) lay there. Then he left the house, went to Abu Bakr's place and they two went to a cavern in the desert hills and hid there till the hue & cry was past. Once a search party came very close and Abu Bakr exclaimed, "O Prophet !What would happen now, we are only two of us!" The Prophet calmly said, "We are not two, Allah is with us". Then once the danger was apparently over, Abu Bakr with the help of his son and daughter who used to bring them food at late hours of the night, got the camels and the guide and one night they set out on the long ride to Yathrib.

After travelling for many days by unfrequented paths, the fugitives reached a suburb of Yathrib, whither for weeks past the people of the city had been going every morning, watching for the Prophet till the heat drove them to shelter. The travellers arrived in the heat of the day, after the watchers had retired. It was a Jew who called out to the Muslims in derisive tones that he whom they expected had at last arrived.

Such was the Hijrah, the Flight from Mecca to Madinah which comes as the beginning of the Muslim era. The thirteen years of humiliation, of persecution, of seeming failures, of prophecy still unfulfilled were over. The ten years of success, the fullest that has ever crowned one man's endeavor had begun. The Hijrah came as a clear division in the history of the Prophet Muhammad (SM)'s mission, which is evident in the Holy Quran. Till then he was a preacher only. Thenceforth he was the ruler of a state at first a very tiny one which grew in ten years in the empire of Arabia.The kind of guidance which he and his people needed after the Hijrah was not the same as that which they had before needed. The Madinah Surahs differ, therefore, from the Meccan Surahs. The latter give guidance to individual soul and to the Prophet as warner, the former give guidance to growing social and political community and to the Prophet as example, lawgiver and reformer......

To be continued....

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rollercoaster2001 said:
write something on the love for allah!!!!
the oneness and the relation with man...i have listened from some fakirs...it blows the mind!!
informative reading dear.

September 21, '08

Latav2063 said:
Thanks for sharing this..It was enlightening.

September 10, '08

neha_sh2000 said:

September 08, '08

astrologychat said:

informative and detailed version of Islamic values and Philosophy.
Great effeort

September 08, '08

deen25 said:
Asslamalleikum Janab, mashaallah, islam ko duniya ke logo se vakif kara rahe ho
Great dear...... nice

September 07, '08

Pagal-Bhoot said:
thnx for sharing...

September 07, '08

ashokthakur said:
very informative

September 07, '08

Usman1973CAP said:
Quite enlightening. May Allah swt reward u abundantly! (Ameen)

September 07, '08

sonali594 said:
thanks titan for sharing,as i m interested in all dharmas but i go through that path are different but point of thoughts are one

September 07, '08

geetsudha said:
thanx titan,even though i hv read about islam thru books,still i hv learnt a bit more from ur posts,thanx dear,luking forward to the next one.

September 07, '08

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