PEACEFUL BEGINNING OF
THE PROPHETIC MISSION
Instead of meeting people in their homes and at gatherings and trying to gain a position among the nobles of Makkah, Muhammad would wander into the barren hills of the desert. He would sit for hours and ponder over the mysteries of creation. The vast silence of the desert, with endless sand and sky during the days and equally endless darkness at night, alive only with the twinkling of millions and millions of tiny stars, seemed to bring him very close to the Creator.
Muhammad often stayed alone for days in the Cave of Hira, near the top of Jabal al-Nur, or the Mountain of Light, three miles from Makkah. He would return home only for more supplies of food and water and then go back to the solitude of nature to pray and meditate, asking the Maker of the heavens and the earth for answers to the questions that surged in his mind. What is man’s true role in life? What does the Lord require of men as His servants? From where does man come, and where will he go after death?
It was to find answers to these difficult questions that he went off into the stillness of the desert. With these questions in mind, worldly gain, loss, comfort and distress did not concern him. Instead, he urgently wanted the answers to these essential questions about the truth. For nothing less than the truth could satisfy his soul. This phase of the Prophet’s life is referred to in the Quran in this verse:
“Did He not find you wandering and give you guidance?” (93:7)
He spent the whole month of Ramadan in the Cave of Hira. Finally, after the Prophet had spent six long months in the cave, God turned to him in mercy to guide him to the path of truth. At age 40, on 12 February 610 AD, the Prophet was sitting alone in his cave when the angel of the Lord appeared to him in human form, bringing the first message from God. The Prophet’s quest had finally been rewarded. God had granted him guidance and chosen him as His Prophet. The first revelation received by the Prophet forms part of the beginning of the ninety-sixth chapter of the Quran:
“Read! In the name of your Lord, who created: created man from a clot [of blood]. Read! Your Lord is the Most Bountiful One who taught by the pen, taught man what he did not know.” (96:1-5)
These were the first words of the Quran. The Prophet felt these lines were written on his heart. However, the experience left him surprised and confused. He even thought that he might be falling ill. So he rushed back to his wife, Khadijah.
Being very kind and understanding, Khadijah tried her best to reassure him.
She said: “By God, I pray and hope that you will be the Prophet of this nation. By God, He will not let you down. You are kind to your relations. You speak the truth, help the poor bear their burden, honour guests, and help those in distress. Surely, God will never let you fail.” (Sahih al-Bukhari, Hadith No. 3)
Khadijah then suggested they go and consult her cousin Waraqa ibn Nawfal, who had become a Christian hermit.
When Waraqa heard the entire account from the Prophet, he told him that the revelation he had experienced was from the same source as the messages of the Prophet Moses and Jesus. Then, gradually, he began to understand—his quest had finally been rewarded. His restless soul had been joined with his Lord. The Prophet continued to receive divine revelations from time to time over the next twenty-three years when the Archangel Gabriel would come to him in different forms. Sometimes he would be huge and fill the whole horizon, and sometimes he would be just a pair of eyes watching him. At other times he remained invisible, and only his voice could be heard. Sometimes the voice was muffled, like a ringing in the Prophet’s head. However, the meaning was always evident.
Khadijah was the first to respond to the call of the Prophet. Her cousin, the wise man Waraqah, explained that just as Gabriel had come to Moses earlier on Mount Sinai and told him to guide his people, so would Muhammad become the Prophet of his people. However, Waraqah also warned that not all the people would listen to the Prophet, and some would even try to harm him and his followers. Therefore, the Prophet would need great courage and patience. Khadijah understood and became the Prophet’s most substantial help and support in the following trials.
The next to respond to the Prophet was his cousin, Ali. Zayd, his foster son, was the third. Finally, Abu Bakr, a respected merchant, was the first convert outside the family to become the Prophet’s closest companion. To begin with, the Prophet taught Khadijah and the small group of friends how to pray, and they would pray together.
This small group of the faithful were the first believers of Islam. In the first stage, the Prophet was asked to spread the message of Islam quietly to avoid arousing any hostility.
Being an influential merchant, Abu Bakr brought some of his friends, also wealthy merchants, into the fold of Islam. However, most of the conversions occurred among the weak and the poor.
In the second stage, the Prophet received the command from God to spread the message publicly, but first to his kin.
When Prophet Muhammad started communicating his mission to the general public, he met with a strong reaction. The people considered Islam’s teachings as insulting their forefathers’ religion. Some remarked that he had gone mad. Soon they all went away without considering the Prophet’s words.
There was one main reason for the Quraysh to oppose the Prophet and keep him from spreading his message. Makkah was a pilgrimage centre because the Kabah housed 360 idols of the neighbouring tribes and nations. Since Islam believed in only One God, the Quraysh feared that once the concept of One God became popular, the tribes would stop visiting the Kabah to pay homage to the idols. This would deprive them of the respect they commanded as guardians of the Kabah. Besides, the prosperity of Makkah depended mainly on these idols, to whom offerings were made all year round by significant numbers of the neighbouring tribespeople. Trade flourished alongside the pilgrimage, which was good for Makkah, for the townspeople had no other way of making money; farming or planting orchards in such a desert area was out of the question. The Kabah was their sole asset. However, not all of the Makkans were hostile. Some gave serious thought to the message of the Quran and gradually began to accept Islam. There were about 200 Makkans, as well as people from the neighbouring settlements, who entered the Islamic fold.
The Quraysh, who enjoyed the Makkan leadership, considered the teachings of the new religion an insult to the religion of their forefathers. In Islam, they saw a danger to their leadership. Such leaders as Abu Jahl and Abu Lahab were the most hostile to the Prophet. They began to give serious thought to the matter. Islam was fast gaining ground, so they thought they could not afford to postpone taking action. They had to nip this `menace’ in the bud.
The chiefs of different clans gathered to discuss the matter. They all felt that if Abu Talib did not come their way, they would have no difficulty in finding a solution to this problem. So they all came to Abu Talib to tell him to stop Muhammad from spreading his message.
They warned him, “Tell Muhammad to stop spreading his message, or you will abandon him. If you fail to do so, you should be ready to suffer for the deeds of your nephew.”
Abu Talib, an old man, felt he could not resist their wrath. So he told the Prophet what the Quraysh chiefs had said to him and then added, “My dearest nephew, look to your safety and the safety of your uncle, and do not cause me to carry a burden I cannot bear.”
For a while, the Prophet stood motionless. On the one hand, there was his old uncle, weakened by the people’s opposition, and on the other hand, he was responsible for proclaiming the truth till his last breath. Moreover, his faith and conviction in the truth were the only sources of strength. So he decided to discharge his duty, whatever the cost. In a firm and calm voice, and with tears in his eyes, he said:
“O, uncle! By God Almighty, I swear that even if they were to place the sun on my right and the moon on my left, I would not give up my mission. I must go on carrying it out until I die.”
Abu Talib, touched by the sincerity and force of the words uttered by his nephew, remained motionless for a while. Then he turned to the Prophet and said:
“My nephew, go your way. Do your duty. Let my people turn against me. I am with you. No one shall harm you as long as I live.” (Al-Sirah al-Nabawiyyah - Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, p. 240)
