Positive Response to Prophet From Madinah, Adil Salahi

Positive Response to Prophet From Madinah

Adil Salahi

Arab News, 11/23/04

The Prophet (peace be upon him) continued to be persistent in advocating his message, despite the state of siege imposed by the Quraysh, his tribe that enjoyed supremacy in Arabia. He continued to utilize the pilgrimage season for calling on other tribes to accept God’s message and provide him with protection while he went about fulfilling the assignment God entrusted to him. Some people wondered at his persistence, and said to him: “Have you not despaired of us ever giving you a positive response?” But the Prophet realized that his task was to make God’s message known to people and call on them to accept it. He sometimes took his uncle Al-Abbas with him, even though, to all intents and purposes, Al-Abbas was not a Muslim then.

Yet his efforts with other tribes culminated in the breakthrough that ushered in a radical change in the fortunes of the Islamic message. In one season the Prophet met six people from Madinah, then called Yathrib. They recognized him as God’s messenger, because their Jewish neighbors previously told them that it was time for the advent of a prophet with a message from God. When they listened to the Prophet giving an idea of what he advocated and listened to him reciting the Qur’an, they declared their belief in him. The following year 12 people from Madinah traveled to meet him and declared their acceptance of Islam before returning home with one of his companions, Mus’ab ibn Umayr, whose mission was to advocate Islam, teach new Muslims the Qur’an and study the situation in Madinah so that the Muslims of Makkah can immigrate to Madinah.

The following year, that is, two years after the Prophet first met the six men from Madinah, he met 73 men and two women, who gave him their solemn pledges of complete support. One report gives the following details:

The Prophet met them during the days when the pilgrims stay in Mina, and their meeting place was near the Jamrah, where the pilgrims do the stoning duty. He called on them to believe in God and worship Him alone, and to support him in his advocacy of the divine faith preached by all former prophets and messengers. They asked him to read to them something of God’s revelations, and the Prophet recited Verses 35-52 of Surah 14, Ibraheem. The people hearkened to him and accepted his message. Al-Abbas passed by as he was speaking to them, and he recognized his voice. He asked him who were the people, and the Prophet said: “Uncle, these are Yathrib people from the tribes of the Aws and the Khazraj. I have explained to them my message which I had explained to other tribes before them, and these people have accepted it and promised to take me to their land.” Al-Abbas then dismounted, tied his camel and came forward.

Then addressing them, Al-Abbas said: “People of the Aws and the Khazraj! This man is my nephew, and he is the dearest of all people to me. If you truly believe in him and want him to go with you, I want to take a pledge from you that reassures me that you will never let him down or deceive him. You have Jewish neighbors and the Jews are hostile to him. I fear that they might want to harm him.”

As’ad ibn Zurarah, one of the original Ansari six, was hurt by what Al-Abbas said. He said to the Prophet: “Messenger of God! Permit us to answer him without giving you cause to be angry. We will only confirm our belief in you.” The Prophet said: “Answer him, and you will not be blamed.”

Addressing the Prophet, As’ad ibn Zurarah said: “Messenger of God! Every call has a way to pursue, which might be smooth or rough. You have called on us to accept a message to which other people are hostile and which they find difficult to accept. You called on us to abandon our religion and follow yours, and this is hard, but we agreed to do so. You also called on us to sever our relations with other people, be they close to us or distant, relatives or not; and this is also hard, but we agreed. We are indeed living in a well defended place which no one attempts to usurp, but you also called on us to accept the leadership of a man who is a stranger to us and who has been let down by his uncles and his people. This is again very hard, but we did not hesitate to accept. All these matters people find very hard, except for those whom God wishes to guide to what is best and who seek to receive good reward for their actions. We have responded to you, body and soul, declaring our acceptance of what you preach and recognizing its truth in our hearts. We give you our pledges, and we make a pledge to God, your and our Lord. God’s hand is over our hands. We are ready to shed our blood to spare yours, and our hands are beneath yours. We will defend you as we defend women, our children and ourselves. If we honor our pledges, we are only honoring them for God’s sake. Should we resort to treachery, we will only be deceiving God and we will incur the terrible results of such treachery. This is our word of truth we offer you, Messenger of God. May God help us to fulfill it.”

As’ad then turned to Al-Abbas and said: “As for you who has intervened in our discussion, stopping our discourse with him, only God knows your intention. You say that he is your nephew and that he is the dearest person to you. Well, on our part, we have severed relations with close and distant tribes, and with our near kinsfolk, for his sake, bearing witness that he is God’s messenger. God has sent him with His message. He is not a liar. What is revealed to him is unlike human speech. As for your statement that you need reassurance through pledges, well, we cannot object to this being done for the sake of God’s messenger. You may ask for whatever you wish.” He then turned to the Prophet and said: “Messenger of God! Take from us whatever pledge you wish. Stipulate any conditions to be binding on us for God’s sake.”

The Prophet stated that he wanted them to pledge that they would defend and protect him so as to enable him to deliver his message to the people. They asked what would their reward be if they fulfill their commitments, and the Prophet said: “Paradise.” They expressed their satisfaction and gave him their pledges.

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

Apartheid Wall


The Israeli Land-Grab Apartheid Wall built inside the Palestinian territories, here separating Abu Dis from occupied East Jerusalem. (IPC, 7/4/04).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank, like a Python. (Alquds,10/25/03).

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