The Quran conveyed the message to the Prophet, and through him to the whole of the Muslim community, that the Muslims can only earn God’s protection on earth if they communicate the word of God:

Apostle, proclaim what is revealed to you from your Lord; if you do not, you will surely fail to convey his message. God will protect you from all men. (Quran, 5:67)

It was the Prophet’s determination to convey the word of God to mankind at all costs that protected him at every stage of his life. Take the example of the emigration of the Prophet from Makkah to Madinah. The Holy Prophet had commenced his mission in Makkah. But the people of Makkah became his dire opponents. In the twelve year of his prophethood it appeared as if the history of Islam would end where it had started—in Makkah. Then, astonishingly, opportunities were created in Madinah for the Prophet and his followers to emigrate and establish a base there.

This new hope for Islam was a direct result of the efforts Muslims made in preaching the word of God in Madinah. It is related in biographies of the Prophet that Muslims went to Madinah from Makkah and propagated Islam until “there was not a house belonging to the Ansar (the inhabitants of Madinah) in which there were not Muslim men and women.”

Longing for Paradise

Bashir says that when the emigrant Muslims arrived in Madinah from Makkah, the water of Madinah did not suit them. A man of the Bani Ghaffar tribe owned a well which went by the name of Beir Roma. The Muhajirs liked its water, and they used to buy one flask off the owner for one ‘Mudd’ (a quarter of a sa’a). The Prophet asked the owner to sell him the well in return for one spring in heaven. The owner replied that he and his family had no other means of livelihood, so he could not give it to the Prophet just like that. Uthman heard about this incident, and he bought Beir Roma for 35,000 dirhams. Then he came to the Prophet. “Will I also receive a spring in heaven in return for this well,” he asked. “Of course,” the Prophet replied. So Uthman donated it to the Muslim public.