The Life of Prophet Muhammad as A Preacher of Islam (4/7)

In order not to excite suspicion and incur the hostility of the Quraysh, a secret meeting was arranged at 'Aqabah, the scene of the former meeting with the converts of the year before. Muhammad came accompanied only by his uncle 'Abbas, who, though he was still an idolater, had been admitted into the secret. 'Abbas opened the solemn conclave, by recommending his nephew as a scion of one of the noblest families of his clan, which had hitherto afforded the Prophet protection, although rejecting his teachings; but now that he wished to take refuge among the people of Yathrib, they should bethink themselves well before undertaking such a charge, and resolve not to go back from their promise, if once they undertook the risk. Then Bara b. Ma'rur, one of the Banu Khazraj, protesting that they were firm in their resolve to protect the Prophet of God, besought him to declare fully what he wished of them.

Muhammad (Peace be upon him) began by reciting to them some portions of the Qur'an, and exhorted them to be true to the faith they had professed in the one God and the Prophet, His apostle; he then asked them to defend him and his companions from all assailants just as they would their own wives and children. Then Bara b. Ma'rur, taking his hand, cried out, "Yea, by Him who sent thee as His Prophet, and through thee revealed unto us His truth, we will protect thee as we would our own bodies, and we swear allegiance to thee as our leader. We are the sons of battle and men of mail, which we have inherited as worthy sons of worthy forefathers." So they all in turn, taking his hand in theirs, swore allegiance to him.

As soon as the Quraysh gained intelligence of these secret proceedings, the persecution broke out afresh against the Muslims, and Muhammad advised them to flee out of the  city, "Depart unto Yathrib; for the Lord hath verily given you brethren in that city, and a home in which ye may find refuge." So quietly, by twos and threes they escaped to Yathrib, where they were heartily welcomed, their co-religionists in that city vying with one another for the honour of entertaining them, and supplying them with such things as they had need of. Within two months nearly all the Muslims except those who were seized and imprisoned and those who could not escape from captivity had left Mecca, to the number of about 150. There is a story told of one of these Muslims, by name Ṣuhayb, whom Muhammad called "the first-fruits of Greece" (he had been a Greek slave, and being set free by his master had amassed considerable wealth by successful trading); when he was about to emigrate the Meccans said to him, "Thou camest hither in need and penury; but thy wealth hath increased with us, until thou hast reached thy present prosperity; and now thou art departing, not thyself only, but with all thy property. By the Lord, that shall not be;" and he said, "If I relinquish my property, will ye leave me free to depart?" And they agreed thereto; so he parted with all his goods. And when that was told unto Muhammad, he said, "Verily, Suhayb hath made a profitable bargain."

Muhammad (Peace be upon him) delayed his own departure (with the intention, no doubt, of withdrawing attention from his faithful followers) until a determined plot against his life warned him that further delay might be fatal, and he made his escape by means of a stratagem.

His first care after his arrival in Yathrib, or Medina as it was called from this period - Madinah al-Nabi, the city of the Prophet - was to build a mosque, to serve both as a place of prayer and of general assembly for his followers, who had hitherto met for that purpose in the dwelling-place of one of their number. The worshippers at first used to turn their faces in the direction of Jerusalem - an arrangement most probably adopted with the hope of gaining over the Jews. In many other ways, by constant appeals to their own sacred Scriptures, by according them perfect freedom of worship and political equality, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) endeavoured to conciliate the Jews, but they met his advances with scorn and derision. When all hopes of amalgamation proved fruitless and it became clear that the Jews would not accept him as their Prophet, Muhammad (Peace be upon him) bade his followers turn their faces in prayer towards the Ka'bah in Mecca.  (see Surah Al-Baqarah, 2: 144.)

This change of direction during prayer has a deeper significance than might at first sight appear. It was really the beginning of the National Life of Islam: it established the Ka'bah at Mecca as a religious centre for all the Muslim people, just as from time immemorial it had been a place of pilgrimage for all the tribes of Arabia. Of similar importance was the incorporation of the ancient Arab custom of pilgrimage to Mecca into the circle of the religious ordinances of Islam, a duty that was to be performed by every Muslim at least once in his lifetime.

There are many passages in the Qur'an that appeal to this germ of national feeling and urge the people of Arabia to realise the privilege that had been granted them of a divine revelation in their own language and by the lips of one of their own countrymen.

"Verily We have made it an Arabic Qur'an that ye may haply understand.”  (Surah Al-Zukhruf, 43: 3)

"And thus We have revealed to thee an Arabic Qur'an, that thou mayest warn the mother of cities and those around it.”   (Surah Ash-Shurah, 42:7)

"And if We had made it a Qur'an in a foreign tongue, they had surely said, ' Unless its verses be clearly explained (we will not receive it).”    (Surah Fussilat, 41: 44.)

"And verily We have set before men in this Qur'an every kind of parable that haply they be monished: An Arabic Qur'an, free from tortuous (wording), that haply they may fear (God).”   (Surah Az-Zumar, 39: 28-29)

"… Verily from the Lord of all creatures hath this (book) come down, ... in the clear Arabic tongue.”    (Surah Ash-Shu’ara’, 26:192, I95.)

"And We have only made it (i.e. the Qur'an) easy, in thine own tongue, in order that thou mayest announce glad tidings thereby to the God-fearing, and that thou mayest warn the contentious thereby." (Surah Maryam, 19: 97.)

But the message of Islam was not for Arabia only; the whole world was to share in it.  As there was but one God, so there was to be but one religion into which all men were to be invited. This claim to be universal, to hold sway over all men and all nations, found a practical illustration in the letters which Muhammad (Peace be upon him) is said to have sent in the year A.D. 688 (A.H. 6) to the great potentates of that time. An invitation to embrace Islam was sent in this year to the Emperor Heraclius, the king of Persia, the governor of Yaman, the governor of Egypt and the king of Abyssinia. The letter to Heraclius is said to have been as follows: — "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate, Muhammad, who is the servant of God and His apostle, to Hiraql the Qayṣar of Rum. Peace be on whoever has gone on the straight road.  After this I say, Verily I call you to Islam. Embrace Islam, and God will reward you twofold. If you turn away from the offer of Islam, then on you be the sins of your people. O people of the Book, come towards a creed which is fit both for us and for you. It is this—to worship none but God, and not to associate anything with God, and not to call others God. Therefore, O ye people of the Book, if ye refuse, beware. We are Muslims and our religion is Islam." However absurd this summons may have seemed to those who then received it, succeeding years showed that it was dictated by no empty enthusiasm.  These letters only gave a more open and widespread expression to the claim to the universal acceptance which is repeatedly made for Islam in the Qur'an.

"Of a truth it (i.e. the Qur'an) is no other than an admonition to all created beings, and after a time shall ye surely know its message.” (Surah Saad, 38: 87-88.)

"This (book) is no other than an admonition and a clear Qur'an, to warn whoever liveth; and that against the unbelievers’ sentence may be justly given.” (Surah Ya-Sin, 36: 69-70.)

"We have not sent thee save as a mercy to all created beings.” (Surah Al-Anbiya’, 21: 107.)

"Blessed is He who hath sent down al-Furqan upon His servant, that he may be a warner unto all created beings.” (Surah Al-Furqan, 25: 1.)

"And We have not sent thee otherwise than to mankind at large, to announce and to warn.” (Surah Saba', 34: 28.)

"He it is who hath sent His apostle with guidance and the religion of truth, that He may make it victorious over every other religion, though the polytheists are averse to it." (Surah As-Saff, 61: 9.)

In the hour of his deepest despair, when the people of Mecca persistently turned a deaf ear to the words of their prophet (Surah An-Nahl: 23, 114, etc.), when the converts he had made were tortured until they recanted (Surah An-Nahl: 108), and others were forced to flee from the country to escape the rage of their persecutors (Surah An-Nahl: 43, 111)—then was delivered the promise, " One day we will raise up a witness out of every nation." (Surah An-Nahl: 84.)

This claim upon the acceptance of all mankind which the Prophet makes in these passages is further prophetically indicated in the words " first-fruits of Abyssinia," used by Muhammad (Peace be upon him) in reference to Bilal, and " first-fruits of Greece," to Ṣuhayb; Salman, the first Persian convert, was a Christian slave in Medina, who embraced the new faith in the first year of the Hijrah. Thus long before any career of conquest was so much as dreamed of, the Prophet had clearly shown that Islam was not to be confined to the Arab race. The following account of the sending out of missionaries to preach Islam to all nations, points to the same claim to be a universal religion: "The Apostle of God said to his companions, 'Come to me all of you early in the morning.' After the morning prayer he spent some time in praising and supplicating God, as was his wont; then he turned to them and sent forth some in one direction and others in another, and said : 'Be faithful to God in your dealings with His servants (i.e. with men), for whosoever is entrusted with any matter that concerns mankind and is not faithful in his service of them, to him God shuts the gate of Paradise : go forth and be not like the messengers of Jesus, the son of Mary, for they went only to those that lived near and neglected those that dwelt in far countries.' Then each of these messengers came to speak the language of the people to whom he was sent. When this was told to the Prophet he said, 'This is the greatest of the duties that they owe to God with respect to His servants.' "

(Continued)