WEEK 03

DAY 02
Preaching by the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H)
After the prophet received his first revelation in the cave of Hira, he only told his wife khadija and her cousin
Waraqa bin Nawfal, about the event. Khadija was the first to accept the message. Waraqa confirmed the
prophethood, and for some days there was a break in revelation which is known as Fatrah tul wahi.

1. Secret Preaching:
The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) passed this time in restlessness and anxiety, until one day, he saw angel Jibrael
again, in the sky seated on a chair. The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) became frightened and rushed home. He
asked Khadija to cover him up, after which he received a revelation which said:
“O you wrapped up (in a mantle)!
Arise and deliver your warning!
And glorify your Lord.” (74: 1-3)
In obedience to the command of Allah, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) invited his friends and relatives to the
religion of Islam. He did not, at this stage, make any public announcement.
• The first person to believe in him was his wife, Khadija, who accepted his message without any
hesitation.This was followed by the acceptance of Islam by ten years old, Ali, son of Abu Talib. The
first freed slave to accept Islam was Zaid bin Harith. The first Person outside the Prophet’s immediate
family was his close friend, Hazrat Abu Bakr, who invited many people to Islam and many prominent
companions Muslim through him.
• Within a period of three years, while the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) was preaching his message in secret,
about forty righteous and God-fearing people accepted Islam. Among them were, Talha, Zubair,
Jaffar, Usman Abdur Rahman bin Auf, Sa’ad bin Abi Waqas and Abdullah bin Masud.
• The house of Hazrat Zaid bin Arqam (Dar e Arqam ) became the first preaching centre of Islam,
where the Prophet (pbuh) met these early converts and taught them the revelations he received.
Muslims prayed twice in a day and would often go to the mountains outside Makkah to worship
secretly.
• None of the Holy Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) uncles accepted Islam. Abu Talib gave protection to the Holy
Prophet . Abu Lahab believed that his nephew was self-deceived.

2. Preaching to Banu Hashim:

After the revelation of the verse, “And warn your nearest relatives.” (26:214)
• the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) called Hazrat Ali and asked him to prepare a meal and assemble the Banu
Hashim. Hazrat Ali R.A did what he was told and most of the clan of Hashim came to the meal, about
forty of them. After the meal Abu Lahab said to everyone, ‘Your host has placed a spell upon you’
and with that they dispersed before the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) could say more.
• The next day, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) asked Hazrat Ali R.A to do the same and invited his kinsmen
for a meal; but this time he made sure he addressed them. ‘ O sons of Abd-ul-Mutalib ! Allah has
commanded me to call you unto Him. Which of you, then, will help me in this, and be my brother
and my successor?’
When no one responded, the young Hazrat Ali R.A spoke up and said, “O Prophet of Allah, I will be
your helper in this. I will fight him who fights you”.
• The men laughed at the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H), but from among the women, the Holy Prophet’s
(P.B.U.H) aunt, Safiyah, accepted Islam as her son Zubair had done. Umm-al-Fadl, the wife of the
 Holy Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) uncle Abbas, and her sisters Maymunah, Salma, and Asma also came into
the faith.

3. Open Preaching:
Soon afterwards he received another revelation through which the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) was given the
order: “Expound openly what you are commanded and turn away from those who join false gods with
Allah.” (15:94)
• Following this command, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) assembled the people of Makkah at the Safa hill
and said to them: “O Quraish, if I were to tell you that a large army has gathered on the other side
of his mountain and is ready to attack you, would you believe me?” They all said that they would,
since they had never heard him tell a lie. But when he asked them to believe in one Allah and his
Prophethood, they became angry and some of them shouted: “You have gone mad”.
• Abu Lahab, one of his uncles, said, ‘may you perish forever, did you call us for such a thing?’. The
Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) was shocked at the harsh response and the rejection by the Makkans. Allah
comforted him by revealing the following verses regarding the punishment awaiting Abu Lahab: ‘May
the hand of Abu Lahab perish, doomed he is. His wealth and his properties shall not safe him; he
shall be thrown into a flaming fire of hell.’(111:1-3)
After this, all of them dispersed.
The Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) now started to address the people in public and private gatherings and on
approach routes to Makkah which were used by pilgrims to the Holy city. His efforts were successful and
people started embracing Islam. After this event the prophet and his followers had to face persecutions
which continued until they migrated to Madina.

3.(b) Was it significant that the Prophet began preaching the message in secret? [4]
• yes, it was significant
• because the message was new and so the Prophet and his closest followers needed time to get used
to it.
• Also, they did not know how the Quraysh would react so it was better to wait until they had some
strength in numbers before openly preaching.
• It was also better to wait until they were guided by God to preach Islam openly as the Prophet (pbuh)
always followed divine instructions.
• It symbolises the importance of Spiritual and Mental Jihad. While they were secretly preaching, they
capitalised on their intellect, character and habits. It was the secret preaching due to which
Muhammad (PBUH) garnered support that lifted Islam.

Migration to Abyssinia

• The Persecution and hostilities of the Quraish started slowly but by the middle of fifth year of
prophethood/615 AD, they became intense. Some of prophet’s followers were persecuted to death
e.g Sumayya and her husband Yasir.
It was at this time that surah az-Zumar was revealed: “Good is for those who do good in this world,
and Allah’s earth is spacious. Only those who are patient shall receive their rewards in full, without
reckoning.”(39:10)
After this revelation, the Prophet allowed the Muslim converts to migrate to Abyssinia, where the
King Ashamah, who held the title of Negus(Najashi), was a just man.

• The first group of Muslims who migrated were a group of 12 men and 4 women, including the
Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) daughter Ruqayyah and her husband Hazrat Usman. Hazrat Abu Bakr also left
 for Abyssinia but came back when one of his friends gave him protection. After a long journey in a
boat , they reached the capital, Aksum, where they were received warmly and given freedom to live
and practice their religion.

• That same year in the month of Ramadan, the Prophet (P.B.U.H) was by the Ka’aba when he started
to recite the verses of Surah al-Najam, as they were revealed to him, in the presence of many
idolaters. The Impact of the word of Allah was such that, spellbound, they fell in prostration. News
of this event was mis-reported in Abyssinia, and the migrants, led to believe that the whole of Makkah
had accepted Islam, made their way back. On reaching back Makkah, they realized that the news was
not true. The Quraish had heard reports about the good treatment to the migrants whilst in Abyssinia
and, in their fury, they redoubled their persecutions.

• Seeing the plight of the Muslims, the Holy Prophet (P.B.U.H) allowed them a second migration. This
time the group leaving Makkah was large. There were 83 men and 19 women who secretly made the
journey led by the Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) cousin Jafar ibn Abu Talib. They included Hazrat Sawdah and
her husband Sakran, Zubair, Abu Ubaidah bin Jarrah, Abdur Rehman bin Auf etc.

• The leaders of the Quraish, rather than celebrating the departure of these Muslims from Makkah,
were furious and determined that they should not be left in peace to settle and, perhaps, even
increase their number by preaching Islam in Abyssinia. Hence, they planned to send a delegation of
two men, Amr bin Aas and Abdullah bin Rabiyya, with some gifts to the king to request him to hand
over the emigrants to them. The sole purpose of this two-man delegation was to slander the faith of
Islam in the eyes of the Christian King Negus.
They appealed to the generals first and then to Negus himself, saying: “Some foolish young men and
women of our people have taken refuge in this kingdom. They have left their own religion, not for
your, but for one they have invented, one that is unknown to us and to yourselves. We beg you
to restore them (to their elders).” They accused the Muslims of having strange beliefs about Jesus.

• Negus, being a just ruler, asked the Muslims to explain themselves before he reached a decision
about whether or not he would return them to the Quraish. Jafar ibn Abu Talib, who was an eloquent
speaker, stepped forward and answered:

✓ “O King! We were ignorant people and we lived like wild animals. The strong among us lived by
preying upon the weak. We obeyed no law and we acknowledged no authority save that of brute
force. We worshipped idols made of stone or wood, and we knew nothing of human dignity.
✓ And then God, in His Mercy, sent to us His Messenger who was himself one of us. We knew about
his truthfulness and his integrity. His character was exemplary, and he was the well-born of the
Arabs.
✓ He invited us toward the worship of One God, and he forbade us to worship idols. He exhorted us
to tell the truth, and to protect the weak, the poor, the humble, the widows and the orphans. He
ordered us to show respect to women, and never to slander them. We obeyed him and followed
his teachings.
✓ Most of the people in our country are still polytheists, and they resented our conversion to the
new faith which is called Islam. They began to persecute us and it was in order to escape from
persecution by them that we sought and found sanctuary in your kingdom.”

• When Negus asked for an example of the Prophet’s (P.B.U.H) message, Jafar choose well and recited
Surah Maryam, verses 17-26, about Hazrat Maryam the mother of the Prophet Isa nad his miraculous
birth without a father.
 It is said that when Jafar finished, the recitation, Negus and his entire court had tears in their eyes.
Negus said:
"By God this and Gospel are the lights of one candle".
• Thereafter he returned the gifts, sent by the leaders of the Quraish and told them that even if they
offered him a mountain of gold, he would not hand over the people who had sought his refuge.
• When the envoys of the Quraish came back to Makkah unsuccessful, it infuriated the Quraish and
they intensified their persecutions of the believers remaining in Makkah. It was at this time that the
Prophet’s uncle Hazrat Hamza and Hazrat Umar ibn al-Khattab entered the fold of Islam.

4. (b) Why did the people of Makka pursue these Muslims? [4]

• The Makkans wanted to destroy the new faith, as it threatened their own religious and economic
stability and therefore, did not want the Muslims to escape and for Islam to flourish.
• The Makkans had fears due to the increasing number of Muslims and the this migration encouraged
those to accept Islam who previously feared persecutions.
• They wanted to bring emigrants back and persecute them in order to discourage others from
accepting Islam.
• The success of this Migration was a threat to their political leadership in Arabia. This migration also
threatened their economic prosperity.

4(b) What was the importance of making this migration at that time? [4]
• The migration to Abyssinia was a significant event which can be described at the first major political
move taken by the Holy Prophet pbuh..
• The migration to Abyssinia made the feelings of unity among Muslims stronger;
• the emigration to Abyssinia gave the Muslims a chance to carry the message of Islam further and
out of Arabia.
• The migration provided practical training during the Holy Prophet’s pbuh lifetime for the
establishment of a Muslim society in which the Prophetpbuh did not live.
• The Muslims came to know that there were places where they could seek shelter and protection
from the persecution of the Quarish.
• It ultimately gave birth to the idea of a greater migration to Madina.