• 5.1 Hijrah to Abyssinia
  • 5.1.1 Reasons for Al-Hijrah to Abyssinia
  • 5.1.2 Reasons for Choosing Al-Habashah
  • 5.1.3 Lessons from Al-Hijrah to Al-Habashah
  • 5.1.4 Ruling on Hijrah
• Major Events
  • 5.2 The Islām of Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib
  • 5.3 The Islām of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb
  • 5.4 Quraish’s Desperation and the Embargo
    • 5.4.1 Terms of the Embargo
    • 5.4.2 The Suffering of Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib
    • 5.4.3 Hishām Bin Al-Hārith – One Man’s Determination to End the Embargo
    • 5.4.4 Lessons from the Embargo
  • 5.5 Miracles of Prophet
    • 5.5.1 First Miracle: Document Being Eaten Up by Termites
    • 5.5.2 Second Miracle: Strength of Rasūlullāhﷺ
    • 5.5.3 Third Miracle: Splitting of the Moon
    • 5.5.4 Fourth Miracle: Āyāt Predicting Victory of the Romans

5. The Early Immigrants & Major Events

5.1 Hijrah to Abyssinia

Two Migrations to Al-Habashah: We move on to Al-Hijrah to Al-Habashah. There were two migrations that happened to Al-Habashah; the first one happened in the fifth year of Bi’thah – following Revelation, and it was composed of a small group; 12 men and four women. The second Hijrah – migration, was of a larger group and it was composed of 83 men and 18 or 19 women, and this was more of a sporadic migration, maybe they did not go in one group. Now, how come there are two migrations to Al-Habashah? When the first group went to Al-Habashah, they heard a rumour that the people of Quraish had become Muslim. Rasūlullāhﷺ received the Āyāt of Sūrah An- Najm and he recited those Āyāt, and those Āyāt were so powerful and it had so much effect on the people of Quraish [that] when they heard the last Āyah which is an Āyah of Sujūd, and Rasūlullāhﷺ and the Muslims made Sujūd, the Kuffār made Sujūd with them. They were so in tune with the Āyāt, they made Sujūd with the Muslims, and this was the origin of that false rumour that the people of Quraish became Muslim. So you had a group of the ones who made Hijrah come back to Makkah to find out it was a false rumour, so now you had another Hijrah which was a larger group.

Quraish Pursue Muslims Even in Abyssinia: When Rasūlullāhﷺ saw the pain and suffering that his Companions were going through, he said, “Why do you not go to Al-Habashah, because therein is a King who does not oppress anyone. Lā Yuzlam ‘Indahū Ahad – the King is just and he does not oppress anyone.” So they went to Al-Habashah, and the first to leave were ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān and his wife, the daughter of Rasūlullāhﷺ. There is a narration that says that ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān and his wife are the first to make Hijrah in the sake of Allāh after Lūt. They went to Al-Habashah and the second group came, so they left Makkah. Does that mean that the people of Quraish would leave them alone? No. Even though the Muslims in Abyssinia were no threat to Makkah politically, they were no threat to the economical interests of Makkah, nevertheless the people of Quraish did not want to leave the Muslims alone. In other words, even if we are left alone, we are not going to leave you alone, we are going to stay after you until we destroy your religion. So the people of Quraish assembled a delegation to go and meet with An-Najāshī to ask him to turn over the Muslims, and who did they choose for this mission? ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, and ‘Abdullāh Ibn Rabī‘ah in one narration and ‘Āmir Bin Rabī‘ah in another narration, but the central figure here is ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas.

Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas was a diplomat, was a very intelligent man of Quraish, he had wide connections, he was a friend of the kings of the world at that time, so he was the right person to choose. And he was a mastermind in plotting and planning, and you can see that he was very good in conspiracies against the Muslims. That was the personality of ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas before Islām. ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas went to An-Najāshī, and the plan was that he was going to go and meet the top officials first, and he was going to give every one of them gifts, or in other words, bribes. And he was going to present to them his case and say that in your land are some fools who ran away from Makkah, we want you to turn them over. So he wants to work it out with all of the top officials before he meets with An-Najāshī, so when he talks to An-Najāshī and he consults his officials, they will all give him a unified opinion that you should hand them over. So he went to every one of them, had a meeting with every one of them, and gave them gifts, and then he went to meet An-Najāshī. And he had [already] told the officials, “I prefer that you hand us over these people without having them meet An-Najāshī.” I do not want them to meet An-Najāshī because their words are very effective; they feared Qur’ān.

‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas Asks An-Najāshī to Hand Over Muslims : So he worked out the plan and he went to meet An- Najāshī, and he told An-Najāshī, “There are some fools among them who came to your land, we know them and they left our religion and they did not follow yours,” and he went on and on and on. In the end he said, “We want you to hand them over to us.” Now, all of the officials were already there and they said, “Yes, hand them over!” An-Najāshī said, “No, I will not hand over people who sought refuge in my land until I hear their side of the story.” See the justice that An-Najāshī had, and the choice of Rasūlullāhﷺ to have his Sahābah go to the right place. So An-Najāshī called the Muslims to come and meet him.

Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib Eloquently Presents their Case to An-Najāshī : The Muslims received a message, they were told that ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas has met with An-Najāshī and An-Najāshī wants to meet you. So they had a Shūrā –advice, and Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib was to be their spokesman, the only spokesman, and that they are going to speak the truth. They went in to meet An- Najāshī. An-Najāshī asked them, “What religion are you following? You left the religion of your people, you did not join my religion, you did not join any of the religions of the world, who are you?” There is a Hadīth narrated by Umm Salamah , it narrates the speech that Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib gave in front of An-Najāshī, and I want to read the exact words of Ja’far because there is a lot to learn from this presentation. Ja’far said – and Ja’far is the cousin of Rasūlullāhﷺ, he is the brother of ‘Alï Ibn Abī Tālib – he said,

“O King! We were a people of polytheism; we worshipped idols, ate the meat of animals that had died, offended rules of hospitality and permitted things forbidden, as in the shedding of one another’s blood and so on. We completely ignored matters of right and wrong.”

So notice the opening of the speech is talking about their background. I want you to follow the speech and look at how Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib arranges speech. Keep in mind that he is talking to someone who has no background whatsoever about Islām; he does not know anything about it, he is speaking to someone who is Christian, and he is speaking to a king. So he gave him background information of who we used to be, this was our situation; we were people of Shirk who used to worship idols, we used to eat the meat of dead animals, we offended rules of hospitality and permitted things forbidden, we used to shed each other’s blood, we completely ignored matters of right and wrong. So he gave him an impression that we used to live in a chaotic stage. And then he said, “And so God sent to us a Prophet from among ourselves whose honesty and trustworthiness we knew well.”

With this statement he has established credibility in the Prophet. So now An-Najāshī knows that Muhammadﷺ is from among the people, his people know him very well, they know his trustworthiness, and they know his truth. “He summoned us to pray to God alone and without associates, told us to respect rights of kinship, to honour rights of hospitality, to pray to God the Almighty and Glorious, to fast for Him, and to worship none other than Him.”

Here he gave him issues of Tawhīd – Oneness of Allāh, and also the morals that Islām teaches; he gave him a little bit of both. And he said,

“And so he called us to God, to affirm His Oneness, to worship Him, and to tear down all the other stones and idols [that] we and our forefathers had worshipped apart from Him. He ordered us to be truthful in our speech, to keep to our trust, to respect kinship ties and hospitality rights, and to abandon things forbidden, and the shedding of blood. He forbade us to do anything immoral; to tell lies, to misuse the funds of orphans, or to make false accusations against women of virtue. He ordered us to worship God and to associate no other God with Him. He told us to pray, to give alms, and to fast.”

And then he enumerated for him all aspects of Islām. Can anyone have any disagreement with anything that Ja’far said? [Regarding] truth, trustworthiness, [and so on]?

So it is important when we are speaking to somebody who does not know anything about Islām, to illuminate to them the aspects of Islām, the good teachings of Islām. Sometimes in our Da’wah we assume that people know that Islām teaches good; many do not, and Ja’far took that into consideration and he went through the morals and the character- building that Islām promotes. In addition to talking about the ‘Ibādāt, he spoke about Salāh, Zakāh and Siyām, and he also spoke about Tawhīd which is very important to present – the worship of Allāh alone and tearing down the stones and idols. You can also notice that it was very brief and to the point; he did not go on and on and on in details, he did not turn it into an argument or a debate, because remember, he is dealing with a king; you cannot argue with such a person if you want to bring them closer to Islām. So he made it a very short and brief presentation, but it is complete, it is comprehensive, there is nothing missing. And then he said,

“And so we believed in him and trusted him, following him in the instructions he bought from God. We worship God alone without a partner and associating no one with Him. We forbade what he has forbidden and considered permissible what he allowed us. But our people aggressed against us and harmed us, seeking to draw us out of our faith, to return us to the worship of idols instead of God, and to have us again consider permissible the abominations we had previously allowed. When they treated us with violence and persecution, besieged us, and prevented us from performing our religion, we left for your country and chose you above others. We desired your hospitality and hoped we would not be harmed in your domain, O King.”

Wonderful ending. Let us look at the statements before that. He said our people aggressed against us, harmed us, they tried to force us to give up our faith, they besieged us, they persecuted us. Do you not think that this will strike a chord with An-Najāshī who is coming from a Christian background that stresses the issue of suffering and sacrifice? So these words must have brought An-Najāshī closer and would throw in his heart feelings of mercy towards these people, and a feeling of shared [suffering], of something that we have common between us; this suffering sounds like the suffering ‘Īsā went through, sounds similar to what the Prophets went through, because this is a man who was steeped in his religion. And then in the end Ja’far Bin Abī Tālib said that the reason why we came here was because we were looking forward to your hospitality, and we chose you over all other kings of the world.

An-Najāshī and Bishops Weep Heavily : An- Najāshī, the Negus – Negus is the translation of An-Najāshī – replied and said, “Did you bring anything with you from what he [Muhammadﷺ] brought?” An-Najāshī now wants to hear Qur’ān. Ja’far Bin Abī Tālib recited some Āyāt of Qur’ān. Which Āyāt did he choose? There are many Āyāt that he could choose, [but] which Āyāt did he choose? Sūrah Maryam. Look at the choice of Āyāt; he recited to him verses from Sūrah Maryam. Umm Salamah says, “I swear, the Negus wept so hard, his beard was soaked, and all his Bishops cried so hard, they wet their Bibles.” So it must have been an emotional presentation and recitation to cause An-Najāshī, the King, and his Bishops to cry. An-Najāshī wet his beard and the Bishops wet their Bibles which were laying in front of them.

People who Love Jesus get Emotional when they Hear the Story of Jesus in Qur’ān : One Brother, he was working as a taxi driver in the US, he said, “I was asked to drive a Priest from Coronado Island to San Diego, which was quite a long distance within the city, and it was very late at night. So we had a conversation and he asked me, ‘What are you?’ I said, ‘I am a Muslim,’ [I asked,] ‘Who are you?’ He replied, ‘I am a Catholic Priest, and I am here for a convention.’” So this Brother said, “Do you know that our Qur’ān has spoken about Jesus? Would you like me to recite to you some verses in Qur’ān about Jesus?” He said, “Yes, go ahead.” So the brother said, “I went on reciting verses from Sūrah Maryam and translating them, and I kept on going on and on and on and the priest was silent sitting in the back; it was late at night and he was sitting in the back.” He said, “And then suddenly the priest told me to stop, ‘This is my destination.’” The Brother said, “When I looked at him, I saw tears running down his cheeks.” That is how strongly influenced he was by the verses of Sūrah Maryam. He said, “But the good thing after that; he gave me a hundred dollar tip.”

So people who love ‘Īsā, who love Jesus, when they hear the story of Jesus in Qur’ān, it is quite emotional. So it caused An-Najāshī to weep

The Negus Refuses to Hand Over Muslims to Quraish : An-Najāshī, the Negus, refused to hand over the Muslims to the delegation of Quraish. And as soon as both the Muslims and the delegation of Quraish left, ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas made a threat that I am going to make a comeback and I am going to bring an end to the Muslims. ‘Abdullāh Ibn Rabī‘ah, or let us say his partner since there is a difference on the name [as we mentioned previously], his partner said, “No, do not do that, they are still our relatives,” [he was telling him that] you do not have to go that far; fine, he refused to hand them over, let us just go back. ‘Amr Ibn Al -‘Aas said. “No, tomorrow I am going to come back and I am going to tell the King that they say that Jesus is a slave.” He did go the next day and said, “They say some bad things about Jesus, they claim that he is a slave and he is not the son of God.” ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas does not believe in all of this stuff anyway, but it was just to cause Fitnah. So An-Najāshī obviously was quite concerned; An-Najāshī is a religious person and he does not want any heretics in his land, so he recalled the Muslims. Umm Salamah says, “There was nothing that worried us more than that event, it caused us great concern. Same thing; we decided that we are going to speak the truth, Naqūlul Haqqa Ayna Mā Kān – we are going to say what our Prophet has taught us, we are going to tell the truth no matter what happens.

We are going to speak the truth.” Same thing; Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib was to be their spokesman, and they went and An-Najāshī asked them, “What do you say about ‘Īsā?” He said, “We say that he is ‘Abdullāh – he is the servant of Allāh, he is the slave of Allāh, he is the Messenger of Allāh, he is the Word of Allāh casted on Maryam, Mary, the chaste and virgin.” The Negus said, “There is no difference between what you say about him and what I say about him,” and immediately the Bishops started making a commotion, they were angry to hear this response from An-Najāshī; how can he approve such a thing? Even though it was all the same, with the exception of him being the servant of Allāh. But they said he is the Spirit of Allāh that was blown into Maryam, the Word of Allāh, that Mary was the chaste and virgin; it is all the same except for this difference, which is not a minor difference, it is a critical difference, on whether ‘Īsā, Jesus, is the son of Allāh or not. Now, the Christians of Abyssinia would have been Orthodox Christians who believed in the divinity of Jesus, so the Priests did not like what they heard.

An- Najāshī stood and said, “Say whatever you want to say, these people are going to be free in my land.” A decisive decision was made that these people are going to get my protection. And Umm Salamah says that ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas and his partner were left with disgrace because An- Najāshī drove them out and even gave them back their gifts, because in the first visit of ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas, the first thing An-Najāshī asked ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas was, “What did you bring me from your land?” ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas said, “I have brought you some leather products,” and that was the best thing that An-Najāshī used to like; leather products. So he had this friendship relationship between him and ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, but when it came to principle, An-Najāshī stood with the truth and he refused to hand over As-Sahābah .

So that is the story of Al-Hijrah to Abyssinia.

5.1.1 Reasons for Al-Hijrah to Abyssinia

What were the reasons for this Hijrah? How come the Muslims fled their land and went to Abyssinia? How come they would leave the best place on the face of the earth, Makkah, and go somewhere else?

To Flee Persecution: Well, the first reason is to flee persecution. They were being tortured in Makkah, so Rasūlullāhﷺ allowed them to leave to flee from this persecution, so that they would free themselves from this physical pain; that is the first reason. Ibn Hazm says, “When the number of Muslims increased and the persecution increased, Allāh allowed them to migrate.”

To Safeguard their Faith: The second reason is to safeguard their faith. Not everyone will be able to handle the torture; some people would give up their Īmān. Not everyone has the strength of Bilāl, not everyone can resist what Khabbāb Ibn Al-Aratt went through. So if a person fears on the safety of their religion, they should go somewhere else. And Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “Lā Yudhillul Mu’minu Nafsah –The Believer should not humiliate themselves, Yu‘arridu Nafsahū Li-Mā Lā Yutīqu Minal-Balā –by facing harm which he is not able to handle.” So if it is too much for a person to handle, then they should not put themselves in that difficult situation. To give you an example of what this concept means, there was once a man who came to Rasūlullāhﷺ with pure gold the size of an egg, and he gave it to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “This is Sadaqah, and it is all what I have.”

Rasūlullāhﷺ was upset and said, “One of you would come and give up all of their wealth, and then after that they would come and ask me for assistance.” So Rasūlullāhﷺ did not want this person to give up all of his money and then ask for help. Keep your money, give what you are able to give, but keep some for yourself; why do you say this is all what I have? But then we know that Abū Bakr As-Siddīq  at one point of time had given up all of his wealth to Rasūlullāh and Rasūlullāh praised that. How come the response of the Messenger of Allāh was different? Rasūlullāhﷺ knew in the situation of Abū Bakr  that he can handle the situation, he can give up all of his wealth and he would not get down to the level of begging, he will be able to take care of himself. However, not everyone is like Abū Bakr , so for other people, they should not put themselves in that difficult situation that they are not able to handle. You give up everything in that moment of high emotions, but after that when things calm down, you start rethinking and saying, ‘Oh, what have I done! I have given up all of my money, what can I do now?’ So not everyone will be able to handle what was going on in Makkah, therefore Rasūlullāhﷺ told them to leave and safeguard their religion. Ibn Is’hāq says, “The Muslims then left towards Abyssinia fearing for their faith.”

An Embarrassment for Quraish and a Secondary Base Outside of Makkah: Number Three: We have a quote here by Sayyid Qutb, and before I read this quote [I want to ask], what is your impression of the people who went to Abyssinia? Were they the strong and noble among Quraish or were they the weak? They belonged to the strong and wealthy families of Quraish, and Sayyid Qutb states,

“It would not be correct to say that they had gone there for reasons of personal safety alone, for they included some of the most powerful and wealthiest of the Prophet’s followers and of his fellow tribesmen. The majority of them were from the tribe of Quraish including Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, and a number of young men who were accustomed to providing protection to the Prophetﷺ, such as Az-Zubair Bin Al-Awwām, ‘Abdur Rahmān Ibn ‘Awf, Abū Salamah Al-Makhzūmī, ‘Uthmān Ibn ‘Affān, to mention a few. There were women belonging to some of the most prominent families of Quraish, such as Umm Habībah, the daughter of Abū Sufyān, the Quraish’s unrivalled Non-Muslim leader, who would have never been persecuted in Makkah.”

Umm Habībah would never have been persecuted in Makkah, no one would be able to touch her; she is the daughter of Abū Sufyān, the leader of Quraish. [Sayyid Qutb continues,] “There were no doubt other reasons for the Muslims’ immigration to Abyssinia; there was the need to shake the religious and social foundations of Quraish’s most noble and powerful families. There could be no greater insult or threat to the Quraish dynasties than seeing their proudest and most noble sons and daughters running away for conscientious and religious reasons, leaving their cultural heritage and tribal homeland behind.”

So the ones who made Hijrah, belonging to the wealthiest and strongest families of Quraish, having them leave, according to the view of Sayyid Qutb, is to cause an embarrassment and to shake the structure of Quraish. And Quraish’s position in Arabia was not because of the strength of its army – Quraish were small in number, nevertheless no one dared to attack them, and they used to be held in very high esteem, they had this deep respect in the hearts of everyone around them, and that was because of the values that they had – it was also because of their location next to the House of Allāh, and the fact that they were the guardians of Al-Ka’bah. So for the people to see that the noblest among their men and women had to leave Makkah to flee for the safety of their religion was such an embarrassment for the people of Quraish, and it would shake their foundations in Arabia.

According to another author, Munīr Al -Ghadhbān, his view is that Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to have a secondary base outside of Makkah so that if something happens in Makkah [then] at least the Religion can survive somewhere else, and now since the numbers had increased, the Muslims could spare dividing into two groups; one group stays in Makkah, [and] one group would leave and stay in Abyssinia. And what would strengthen this view is the fact that the Muslims in Abyssinia never went back to meet the Prophetﷺ when he was in Madīnah until the seventh year of Hijrah, they waited seven years after Rasūlullāhﷺ made Hijrah to travel back to Madīnah. And they were not enjoying their stay, they wanted to be close to Rasūlullāhﷺ, but they stayed there until they got the permission from Rasūlullāhﷺ to come, and Rasūlullāhﷺ gave them this permission when it was safe for them to come back; now Islām was firmly established. Because in the first few years in Madīnah, Madīnah was under constant threat, and the Muslims never really had safety; just because they had a State did not mean that they were secure, they were always under threat from an attack from one direction or another, but after seven years, Islām now had its roots deep, it was firmly established, it was strong, and that is when the Sahābah came back from Abyssinia.

Importance of Al-Hijrah to Al-Habashah in our Current Situation : Now, brothers and sisters, I am spending more time than normal on this story of Al-Hijrah. Usually in books of Seerah they would just glance over the whole thing in a few pages and that is it, but we are spending a lot of time on this – we have already spent some time on the early session and we will spend some time this session – because of the importance of Al -Hijrah to Al-Habashah in our situation. This was a Muslim minority living among Non-Muslim majority, it was a predominantly Christian country, so there are some resemblances there, but when it comes to An-Najāshī, we do not have any personalities similar to him in the West – a deeply religious leader with justice – we have not had anything like that. Maybe at one moment of time, laws and constitutions of the West were somewhat close to the personality of An-Najāshī, but that has pretty much changed now. But I still think that this is an important subject and we need to talk about it.

Now, unfortunately there is not a lot of narrations that survived dealing with Al-Habashah in particular and dealing with the Makkah era in general. If you open any book of Seerah, for example this book in front of me, the book is around 700 pages, and the Makkah era is 150. So 150 pages are dealing with 13 years of the life of Rasūlullāhﷺ and everything before that, and then you have almost 600 pages dealing with the last 10 years of the life of Rasūlullāhﷺ , so you can see the disproportion here. There are a few reasons for that:

Number One: The documentation of Hadīth was not allowed until the Muslims were in Madīnah. In Makkah, Rasūlullāhﷺ did not allow them to write down Hadīth because he did not want it to mix with Qur’ān and cause confusion; let us first concentrate on Qur’ān, and then after that you can document the Hadīth. That is one reason.

Second Reason: Our early scholars were not very interested in Makkah compared to their interest in Madīnah. Why? Because all of the laws and issues relating to the Islāmic State were learned in Madīnah. Makkah did not really relate much to our early scholars because they were living under a Khilāfah and they were concerned with the Islāmic law, the Islāmic State, the institutions of the Muslim society, and all of that is to be learned from the 10 years of Madīnah, not Makkah. So that is why you would find that the writings on Madīnah are detailed and elaborate while there is not much written about Makkah. Now I think we now need to give more focus to the 13 years Rasūlullāhﷺ spent in Makkah because there is a significant percentage of the Muslims around the world living as minorities. You have a hundred million plus living as a minority in India, 60 million Muslim minority in China, millions of Muslims living in Russia, millions of Muslims living in Western Europe, in Northern America, in South America. There is a lot of Fiqh that is needed for these Muslim minorities and that is to be learned from the years of Makkah, so we need more study to be done on the narrations that survived from Makkah.

5.1.2 Reasons for Choosing Al-Habashah:

How come Rasūlullāhﷺ chose Abyssinia to start with? Why not Syria? Why not ‘Irāq? Why not Egypt? How come Abyssinia? Why not the Persian Empire? The Roman Empire? The Byzantine Empire? There could have been many other choices; how come Rasūlullāhﷺ chose Al-Habashah?

Justice : Well, the number one reason which is stated in the Hadīth, is the saying of Rasūlullāhﷺ, “Fa-Inna Bihā Malik Lā Yuzlamu ‘Indahū Ahad – Go to Abyssinia because therein is a King who does not oppress anyone.” Justice was the primary reason for the Muslims going to Al-Habashah; they were in search of justice. Because they were fleeing persecution, so they needed to go to a place where they would get justice, and that was Abyssinia.

Familiarity with Al-Habashah : The second reason, which is a secondary reason, is the fact the Arabs were familiar with Al-Habashah. Number one, Quraish used to have business with Abyssinia; that was one of the areas that they would do business with in winter – people of Quraish had two journeys; one in summer and one in winter. One branch of the ones in winter would go to Al-Habashah, Abyssinia, so they already had an established commercial relationship. And number two, Rasūlullāhﷺ from very early on was exposed to Abyssinian culture; his first nurse was from Al- Habashah. His first nurse Umm Ayman, who took care of Rasūlullāhﷺ and breastfed him, she was from Al-Habashah, according to Sahīh Al-Muslim she was from Abysinnia. And Umm Ayman was not just Abyssinian [by name], but her culture, her language was Abyssinian. In one narration it states that she presented Rasūlullāhﷺ with this food, so Rasūlullāhﷺ asked, “What is this?” She said, “This is a dish that we make in Abyssinia and I wanted you to try it.” So she was even cooking some Abyssinian dishes in Arabia. Her accent; she could not get rid of her Abyssinian accent, for example, according to Ibn Sa’d, when she would say Salāmullāhi ‘Alaikum, which means ‘Peace of Allāh be upon you,’ she would say, Salāmillāh ‘Alaikum, which means ‘No peace on you’. So Rasūlullāhﷺ would tell her, “Just say Salām; do not go beyond that, just say Salām.” Or in the Battle of Hunain, she was making Du‘ā’ for the Muslims, she wanted to say Thabbat Allāhu Aqdāmakum, she said Sabbat Allāhu Aqdāmakum. Thabbat Allāhu Aqdāmakum means ‘May Allāh make your feet firm,’ but rather than saying firm she was saying Sabt which means Saturday, which means the whole sentence does not mean anything. Rasūlullāhﷺ told her, “Uskutī Fa-Innaka ‘Asrā Al-Lisān – Stay quiet, because you have a difficult tongue.” So she was not even able to get rid of her accent. And this was a person very close to Rasūlullāhﷺ, and Rasūlullāhﷺ remained close to her for all of his life, and he married her to his adopted son Zayd Bin Hārithah. So that was the familiarity of Rasūlullāhﷺ with Al-Habashah which started very early on.

Abyssinians were Christians : Number Three: Because the Abyssinians were Christian, and the Muslims used to see the Christians the closest to them. When you compare them to the Idol-Worshippers of Quraish or the Magians, Al-Majūsiyyah of Persia, the Christians were the closest.

Language of Communication : Now, what was the language of communication between Ja’far and An-Najāshī, the Negus? Probably it was Arabic. There are some narrations which state that the Negus lived for a few years in Hijāz and that he spoke Arabic, and even if he did not live in Arabia, because of these established commercial ties between the Arabs and the Abyssinians, it is possible that the Abyssinians spoke Arabic or knew Arabic. And this would make more sense because we would find it difficult to, for example, understand how the Negus would weep when he hears Qur’ān if it was translated through an interpreter. You know, when the Negus cried, we would suspect that he was understanding the meanings of the Āyāt in the original language for it to have that effect on him.

The Islām of An-Najāshī : Did the Negus become Muslim? He definitely did, even though according to Ibn Taymiyyah he was not capable of applying any of the laws of Islām. Ibn Taymiyyah says, “For a fact, An-Najāshī did not rule according to Qur’ān. The authentic opinion is that he did not even pray, [and] he did not make Hijrah, which was mandatory at the time.” So he did not practice Islām, but he believed in the Oneness of Allāh, and he did what was possible for him to do for someone in his position. And Ibn Taymiyyah also brought in over here the story of Sayyidinā Yūsuf , he said even though Yūsuf  was a Nabï of Allāh, but he was not able to apply all of the laws of Allāh  on a Non-Muslim population. And actually Ibn Taymiyyah has a very interesting essay on this, I did not have time to translate it, but his views are quite fascinating regarding this issue of a Muslim ruling over Non-Muslims, or someone in this situation of An-Najāshī; what are their excuses in not applying the laws of Sharī‘ah. We are not going to get into that, but definitely he did become a Muslim, and he was being taught Islām by Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, and he might have had some secret sessions with Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib to study Islām because the Islām of An-Najāshī was not made public.

So when An-Najāshī passed away, in Al-Bukhārī, Rasūlullāhﷺ says, “On this day a righteous man died in Abyssinia, so let us pray on him,” let us make Salātul Janāzah on him. And Rasūlullāhﷺ knew the exact day when An-Najāshī died, he knew it on the same day, which means that Jibrīl  came to Muhammadﷺ to inform him about that event. So it was an important [enough] event that Jibrīl had to come and convey to Rasūlullāhﷺ, and the Messenger of Allāh, Al-Mustafā, led Salāh on An-Najāshī, he prayed for him. In another Hadīth, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Istaghfirū Li-Akhīkum –Ask Allāh to forgive your brother.” He was asking the Sahābah to make Du‘ā’ for An-Najāshī.

5.1.3 Lessons from Al-Hijrah to Al-Habashah

Some lessons to learn from the narrations:

Firmness and Steadfastness of Sahābah : Number one which really stands out, and that is the firmness and the steadfastness of the Sahābah . They held tight to their principles. They did not compromise even though they knew they would be in danger. They went to An-Najāshī and said, “‘Īsā is the servant of Allāh.” And in their earlier discussion, they said we are going to speak the truth no matter what happens. So it is important to have the spirit that we are not here to protect ourselves but we are here to protect our religion. Our religion comes first, even if we have to give up our lives in the process. And we would go through whatever pain and suffering we have to, to safeguard Islām. So that is the first lesson.

Sahābah Would Never Compromise Religion for Tradition:  Second Lesson: They would not give in to the local traditions that would contradict Islām. They would adopt local traditions and culture that does not contradict with the Religion, but whenever they see a contradiction, they were willing to stand against it. It was the tradition of the Abyssinians to make Sujūd whenever they would come to greet the Negus, and when ‘Amr Ibn Al- ‘Aas went to An-Najāshī, he said, “Beware , when these people come in they are not going to make Sujūd for you.” And when they came in, truly, as ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas suspected, they did not make Sujūd. An- Najāshī was angry and he asked, “How come you do not make Sujūd to me like everybody else does?” They said, “We do not make Sujūd to anyone but Allāh.” In our religion, we do not make Sujūd for anyone but Allāh. And they had pride; even though they were in a foreign land living through difficult situations, but you can see that they had pride in their religion.

Jamā‘ah and Organisation :  Number Three: When we say that the Muslims in Makkah had a Jamā‘ah and an Amīr, someone who wants to argue against this concept can come back and say, ‘Well, obviously they had a Jamā‘ah and an Amīr; Rasūlullāh was there, what do you expect?’ Well what about in Abyssinia? Were the Muslims living like we are today; loose, and everyone is doing their own thing and going in their own direction? Or were they organised under one banner and a common leadership? This is one thing that stands out in all of the narrations, that the Muslims were organised, they were a group, and they worked together in a Jamā‘ah, and they had a leader – Ja’far Bin Abī Tālib; he was their spokesman, he was their Amīr. So this is not an optional thing, it is not something that if you like it you will do it. Muslims, wherever they are, they have to be in an organised fashion. This is an organised religion, it is not individual spiritual thing that you do on your own, it is a religion that has many of its ‘Ibādah done collectively to teach us the spirit of Jamā‘ah; Salāh is done collectively, Hajj is done collectively. So Muslims living in the West, they have to organise, they have to come together in a movement, and they have to have a common leadership which they stand behind. The decision was made in Abyssinia that only one man will speak, and we will not interfere or go against and contradict what he is saying.

Participation of Muslim Women :  Number Four: You can see the extent of the participation of Muslim women, and now I want you to contrast this and balance it with what I spoke about earlier on when I was speaking about the role of the Muslim woman as a wife and a mother. You see, Islām is somewhere between the two extremes. In every matter, you have the two extremes; Tarafāni Wa Wasat – two extremes and a middle. Islām is the middle of everything, it is the middle way; Ummatan Wasatā. So for every situation you have two extremes, and the Fiqh and the wisdom is to know where the exact middle is. Because you have a lot of points on a spectrum, but only one point, one dot, is the middle. So it is very easy to hit everything but the middle ground, but it is not easy to hit the exact target of middle ground, and that is where the Fiqh and wisdom comes into play. It is very evident in the early Muslims’ history that the Muslim sister had a very important role to play. The first Muslim was a woman, the first Shahīd in Islām was a woman – the first martyr was Sumayyah. You can see the participation of Muslim women in Hijrah to Abyssinia, their participation in the Hijrah to Madīnah, their participation in Jihād, their participation in Jamā‘ah, their participation in teaching and learning. So some of the artificial barriers that we have erected now did not exist in the time of Rasūlullāhﷺ. Among us today are people who are carrying it to the both extremes; one extreme is that men and women can mix and laugh and joke without any barriers, hijab is optional, and then on the other extreme, even the voice of a woman is not allowed to be spoken in public; we might as well just have them living in a different planet. So these are two extremes, but we need to find the middle road. And I want to give you an example to show you the relationship that men and women had in the time of Rasūlullāhﷺ, and this conversation is relevant to the immigration to Al-Habashah.

When the Muslims came back to Madīnah in the seventh year of Hijrah, the wife of Ja’far Ibn Abī Tālib, Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais, went to visit Hafsah, the daughter of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, who was the wife of Rasūlullāhﷺ. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb came to visit his daughter, and he came in and saw this woman sitting in her room [and] he asked her, “Who is this woman?” She said, “Hādhihī Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais – This is Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb asked, “Al-Habashiyyah? – Is this the Abyssinian woman?”

– Not that she is from Abyssinia, but he was referring to the fact that she has been in Abyssinia for so long. – “Is this the Abyssinian woman? Al-Bahriyyah? –Is this the woman who came from the sea?” Because they had to cross the sea to get into Madīnah. Hafsah said, “Yes.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb told Asmā’, “We made Hijrah before you, therefore we have more rights to Rasūlullāh than you do.” Straight, like that; he went to her and said we made Hijrah before you therefore we are closer to Rasūlullāhﷺ than you and we have more rights to him than you do. Asmā’ was quite angered by that statement and she said, “No, you are not closer to Rasūlullāhﷺ than us, you were with the Messenger of Allāh, he was feeding the hungry among you, teaching the ignorant among you, while we were in a distant despised land.” We were in a faraway land and despised, we were not very comfortable over there, we did not like it being far away from Rasūlullāhﷺ.

We were feeling homesick to the Messenger of Allāh, not to Makkah, it was to the Messenger of Allāh, we wanted to be with him. And then she said, “And I am going to go and tell Rasūlullāhﷺ what you are saying now and I am not going to add anything to it or subtract anything, I am going to say it as you said it.” And she went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and said, “This is what ‘Umar told me.” Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “And what did you say?” And she repeated the same statement. Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “No, ‘Umar and his companions do not have more rights than you do to me,” meaning they are not closer to me than you, “they have the reward of one Hijrah and you have the rewards of two Hijrah.” You get double the reward than they do. Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais said, “When Rasūlullāhﷺ mentioned this Hadīth to me, the Sahābah who were in Abyssinia, Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī and his friends, would come to me in large groups, all trying to learn this Hadīth of Rasūlullāhﷺ from me, [and] there was nothing better for them in this world than this Hadīth.” This Hadīth was so valuable to them, it was worth the world and everything in it. So here you see that first of all,

‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb is speaking to this woman, and they are having a conversation, and it was a straight-forward conversation, and then Asmā’ Bint ‘Umais is teaching the Sahābah, Abū Mūsā Al-Ash‘arī and the other men, about this Hadīth. So this was the nature of the relationship that existed. Obviously, if you look at all of the references we have that deal with the relationship of men and women, you would find that there was an element of formality in their dealings, you would not find any incident where they would joke and laugh with each other. So they knew their limits, but at the same time it was not that extreme as we might see among some Muslims now.

Umm Habībah :  An example of the participation and the strength of the early Muslims would be Umm Habībah. Ya’nī [regarding] Umm Habībah  , keep in mind the following factors and see how difficult it was on her. Number one, she is the daughter of the unrivalled leader of Makkah, Abū Sufyān. So for her to leave that comfortable life – wealth, nobility in her society – and go and live as a foreigner in an alien land, is not easy. So number one, she was the daughter of Abū Sufyān. Number two, she is living in a foreign land. Number three, which was disastrous; when her husband [‘Ubaidillāh Bin Jahsh] reached to Abyssinia, he apostatised and became Christian. He was one of the Sahābah who made Hijrah, [but] when he got there he changed his mind. Now, ‘Ubaidillāh Bin Jahsh went through different stages in his life, he kept on flipping back and forth before Islām, changing his mind and going into different religions, so this was his personality. So when he got there to Al-Habashah, he just changed from being a Muslim to being a Christian, and the most influential person on a woman is her husband. And it was very difficult for Umm Habībah to deal with this situation, her husband apostatising and becoming Christian. Obviously after that they had to separate. Keep all of these factors in mind and see how strong she was, and how steadfast she was, and how she was able to hold firm on her religion.

5.1.4 Ruling on Hijrah

What is the ruling on Hijrah?

[Number one:] Migration is compulsory if a Muslim individual is unable to establish his basic Islāmic practices in the land, such as Prayer, fasting and the Adhān. If a Muslim is unable to establish the essential practices of Islām, then they must find somewhere else.

[Number two:] It is permissible, if a Muslim is confronted with problems that make life difficult in that land, to leave his land to another land of Islām seeking relief.

Number three: It [Hijrah] is forbidden if by leaving a Muslim neglects the Islāmic duty in his land that no one can replace him in. If someone is playing a critical role and no one can step in and take that role, then it is forbidden for a person to leave.

Ruling on Living among Non-Muslims :  What is the ruling on living among Non-Muslims? And that is one topic that Muslims in the West have been avoiding talking about. We shy away from certain topics because they are controversial, we do not want to deal with them, but eventually we will be faced with real problems that will force us to deal with these issues, and we need to have frank discussions on such matters, we cannot just throw them in the closet, brush them under the carpet, and think that they will go away. When it comes to living in a Non-Muslim land, it is the consensus of Muslim scholars that it is not allowed, and the Ahādīth are very clear, “Ana Barī’un Min Man Aqāma Baina Zahrāniyyal Mushrikīn – Ihave nothing to do with a Muslim who lives among the ones who associate gods besides Allāh.”

This is one Hadīth of many different narrations. The scholars gave exceptions; they said if a person is propagating the Message of Islām, and is practicing Islām freely, then that is an excuse for them to stay. They also gave temporary excuse for someone who is doing business or seeking knowledge, but this is on a temporary basis, it is not to settle indefinitely. Therefore it is not allowed for us to live in Non-Muslim environments unless we are fulfilling our responsibilities of Da’wah, otherwise we are accumulating sins by default. So Da’wah is not an optional thing for us but it is something that justifies a Muslim living in a Non-Muslim society. And we need to understand Da’wah in a comprehensive way; it does not mean that every single person needs to do the same thing, we mean the Da’wah in a comprehensive way. Anything that is serving the welfare of Islām, anything that serves the propagation of the Message, would fall under Da’wah, it does not necessarily mean that you are distributing leaflets to Non-Muslims or you are giving speeches to them, these are two ways, but there are many others. Relief work is work of Da’wah, charitable work is work of Da’wah, teaching Muslims living in the West is a work of Da’wah too, so we need to understand this concept of Da’wah in a comprehensive way.

‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn Gives Up Protection :  ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn was one of the Muhājirīn who were in Abyssinia, he came back to Makkah, and since he left, he had to come in with some protection, and he was offered protection by Al-Walīd Bin Mughīrah who was one of the elders of Makkah. ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn entered into Makkah, he saw that every other Muslim was going through persecution except for himself, this did not make him happy, he felt jealous; how come everyone else is going through this purification of their sins except myself? So he went to Al -Walīd Bin Mughīrah and told him, “I do not need your protection, I am giving it back to you.” He [Walīd] asked, “Why my son are you doing that?” He said, “I want the protection of Allāh, I do not want your protection.” Walīd said, “Well, since I have given you protection publicly, you have to give it back publicly.” So they went next to Al-Ka’bah and Al-Walīd Bin Mughīrah said, “‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn has given me back my protection.” ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn said, “Yes, I did find Al -Walīd Bin Mughīrah to be a very trustworthy and honest man, but I want to be under the protection of Allāh and Allāh alone.” Later on, he was sitting in a gathering around one of the most famous poets of Arabia, Lubaid, and Lubaid was reciting some of his poetry, and he said, “Kullu Shay’in Khalallāha Bātilun –Everything save God is vanity.”

Everything is going to go away. ‘Uthmān said, “Yes, you are right.” Now, this was a gathering that held a lot of people. And then he [Lubaid] continued and said, “Wa Kullu Na‘īmin Lā Mahālata Za’ilun –And all pleasures must fade.” ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn interrupted and said, “That is wrong, the pleasures of Paradise never fade away.” Lubaid, being a respected, famous poet of Arabia, was kind of shocked; how could someone in the audience respond to me like that? So he said, “O men of Quraish, those who sat with you used to not be so insulted, when did this come about so?” So one man in the audience said, “Do not worry about it, this is one of the fools who followed the religion of Muhammad, do not take it to heart.” ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn responded and they had a fight. So the man stood up and he punched ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn in his eye until the whole thing was black. Al-Walīd Ibn Mughīrah saw this and he came to ‘Uthmān and said, “There was no need for your eye to go through that suffering. You were under my protection, why did you give it up?” ‘Uthmān Ibn Maz‘ūn said, “No, not so. I swear, the only problem is that my good eye is in need of what the other one suffered for God’s sake. Actually I am under the protection of One stronger and more capable than yourself, O Ibn ‘Abd Shams.” Al-Walīd offered again and said, “Do you want to come back to my protection?” ‘He said, “No, I want to be under the protection of Allāh.” And remember that some of these are from Ahādīth, some of them are from Seerah; we are trying to mix both, to learn from Ahādīth and to learn from Seerah.

Abū Bakr  Gives Up Protection :  Abū Bakr As-Siddīq  did not make Hijrah to Abyssinia but he was suffering in Makkah, so he requested permission from Rasūlullāhﷺ to allow him to migrate; Rasūlullāhﷺ gave him permission. Abū Bakr  left Makkah and he reached to Bark Al-Ghamād in Yemen, and then he met with Sayyid Al- Ahābīsh Ibn Dughunnah; Al- Ahābīsh are a tribe who used to live close to Makkah. Abū Bakr met with him, [and] Ibn Dughunnah asked him, “Abū Bakr, where are you heading towards?” Abū Bakr said, “My people have offended me, treated me badly, and forced me to leave.”

Ibn Dughunnah said, “Such a person like you is an asset to his people. You are not a person to leave, and you are not the person to be driven out of your land.” Why? Because, he said, “You aid those who are in distress and you are kindly towards the needy.” And then he said, “Go back, you are under my protection.” And he took him to Makkah and he went in front of the people of Makkah and said, “Abū Bakr is under my protection. How you can drive out such a person from your land?! He is an asset for you. You drive out a person like Abū Bakr? He is under my protection.” The people of Quraish came to Ibn Dughunnah and said, “Well, we accept your protection but we are not going to allow Abū Bakr to worship publicly, so please make sure that he does not [do this].” Ibn Dughunnah came to Abū Bakr and said, “Your people do not want you to offend them, so do not worship publicly.”

Previously what Abū Bakr would do is he would pray outside in front of the people, and ‘Ā’ishah said, “My father used to be a man with a very soft heart, and when he would recite the verses of Qur’ān, he would cry.” So you would have all of the kids and women and men attracted around Abū Bakr watching him, and this turned the people of Quraish crazy, they felt that this will be a Fitnah for their people, seeing this Khushū’ in Abū Bakr. So Ibn Dughunnah told Abū Bakr to worship privately and Abū Bakr agreed. For a while, Abū Bakr was praying in the privacy of his home, and then he had an idea, he decided to make a Musallā in the Fanā’ of his house; Fanā’ is an open area of the house. In some styles of Islāmic architecture, usually you would have the house built in [the shape of] a square and in the middle it is empty, so that would be Fanā’. Or Fanā’ could mean like a backyard or something, a place that is open but is part of the house. So Abū Bakr took his Fanā’ to be a Musallā, so even though it was inside his house, but people could still see it from outside. So now the same problem happened again; all of the people would gather and there would be crowds outside the house of Abū Bakr, watching him pray; they were amazed by the Khushū’ that Abū Bakr As-Siddīq had. The people of Quraish were furious, they went to Ibn Dughunnah and they said, “We told you, we do not want him to worship publicly.” So Ibn Dughunnah went to Abū Bakr and spoke to him about it and Abū Bakr  said, “I will give you your protection back, I do not need it, I will be in the protection of Allāh.” And he did give up the protection of Ibn Dughunnah.

Lessons from Story of Abū Bakr :

Hijrah Purely for the Sake of Worshipping Allāh : Number One: When he [Abū Bakr] met with Ibn Dughunnah and Ibn Dughunnah asked him, “How come you are migrating from your land?” Abū Bakr As-Siddīq said in one narration, “Asīhū Fil Ard Urīdu Ana A’budu Rabbī – Iwant to travel in the land in order to worship my Lord.” Sonow Abū Bakr is leaving with no purpose but to worship Allāh, to go in the land and worship Allāh  , seeking freedom. What will he do with that freedom? Worship Allāh. They would use every resource that they had to please Allāh . He was not travelling to do business, he said, “I want to worship Allāh; that is why I am leaving.”

Muslims Should Have a Righteous Reputation : Second Lesson: What did Ibn Dughunnah know about Abū Bakr? What was the reputation that Abū Bakr had among the Non-Muslims? Caring for the needy, providing for the poor, sponsoring the orphan, standing up for right; that was the reputation of Abū Bakr; he was not known for ill manners and corrupt character, he was known for these righteous values which every person on the face of the earth who has decency would recognise their value. And this should be the personality of the Muslim wherever they are, this should be what the people know of you; your righteousness, your standing up for what is right, your charitable work, and that is what led Ibn Dughunnah to say that I am going to give you protection, he said, “You are an asset for your people, we cannot let you leave, we cannot allow you to leave Makkah! You are a credit to them, you are a pride for your people.” And this should be the reputation of every Muslim, this is what the people should know about us.

Public ‘Ibādāt is Da’wah :  Number Three: His Salāh was a Da’wah. Publicly practicing the rituals of Islām is Da’wah. For the people to see Hajj, for them to see our Iftār in Ramadān, [is Da’wah]. We used to hold in our mosque open dinners in Ramadān, we would invite the neighbourhood to come and break fasting with us, and some of them would even fast – they are Non-Muslims – they would fast, they would join in. In fact, many people seemed to be enthusiastic to participate with Muslims in Ramadān. Let them do that, let them go ahead, let them taste the value of Siyām, the flavour of it, and invite them to have Iftār, let them see the socialisation that the Muslims have in Ramadān. Salāh, Salāh At-Tarawīh; we should not hide in our enclaves, in our Masājid, and close it off to the public, this is Da’wah. Abū Bakr As-Siddīq would do it in public and the people of Quraish were furious because they thought that this will attract the people to Islām, seeing the Khushū’ that he had would bring them closer to Allāh . So we should publicly do these ‘Ibādāt because there is a special flavour in them and there is a uniqueness in the rituals that Allāh  has prescribed on us. And that will also relate to number four:

We Should Publicise the Message :  Number Four: We should publicise the Message. The enemies of Islām would not mind if you are praying in your cubicle; that is your private life, we are not going to interfere with it, but they are going to be resistant to you doing it in public, and that is what we should do, because we want to attract the good among all people to become Muslim, and the good heart will be attracted by good things. We finished Al-Hijrah Ilā Al-Habashah.

Major Events

5.2 The Islām of Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib

Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib was a hunter, he would go out and hunt in the desert, and then he would come back and tell all the stories about his hunting expeditions. So one day while he was out hunting, Abū Jahl approached Rasūlullāhﷺ and started cursing Muhammadﷺ, while the Messenger of Allāh was silent. Rasūlullāhﷺ would not respond to the ignorant words, Wa A’rid ‘Anil Jāhilīn – Allāh  has told Muhammadﷺ: Turn away from the ignorant. Al-A’rāf: 199

The Muslim should not be side-tracked by trivial issues and should not turn the Da’wah into a personal thing; one should not take it personally. If the insults are directed towards a person because that person is calling to Islām, one should not take it personally. Allāh  says: We know that you, [O Muhammad], are saddened by what they say. And indeed, they do not call you untruthful, but it is the verses of Allāh that the wrongdoers reject. Al-An‘ām: 33

 They are not rejecting you, they are rejecting the Message that you are presenting them with, that is what they are against. So Rasūlullāhﷺ was calm and he did not respond back to Abū Jahl. Abū Jahl then threw a rock at Muhammad and hit him in his head, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was bleeding. A slave-girl saw that, and when Hamzah came back from hunting, she went and told him the whole story. Hamzah obviously was very upset when he heard that this happened to his nephew Muhammadﷺ, even though Hamzah was a Mushrik –a Non-Believer,at the time, but because of the relationship between him and Muhammadﷺ, he felt that an attack on Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him, was an attack on himself.

So he walked up to Abū Jahl, and Abū Jahl was sitting with other leaders of Quraish right in front of Al-Ka’bah, and Hamzah just came back from hunting and he was still carrying his bow with him, and he walked up straight to Abū Jahl and he hit him on his head with his bow and said, “Take it! And I am now following the religion of Muhammad.” When Hamzah said that, he did not say it out of conviction, he said it out of pride, he said it to anger Abū Jahl, and when that happened and blood was starting to flow out of the head of Abū Jahl, Banū Makhzūm, the relatives of Abū Jahl, stood up to fight Hamzah, but then Banū Hāshim stood up to protect Hamzah, and they were about to fight until Abū Jahl interfered and said, “No, leave Abū ‘Imārah alone – leave Hamzah alone – because I did shamelessly attack his nephew Muhammadﷺ.” So Abū Jahl calmed things down.

When Hamzah went back home, there is a narration that states that Hamzah went back home and he was surprised at the action he himself took. And he went back and when his emotions calmed down, he started to assess the situation; did I do the right thing? What have I done? And he felt that he was in trouble, because he did not think it out properly, and he was asking himself, ‘Should I become a Muslim or not?’ Now, if I want to withdraw, I have already told Abū Jahl that I am a Muslim and that is dishonouring [my word].

In their culture it was not right to change your opinion just like that; you say that you are a Muslim and then the next day you just change your mind and say, ‘No, I was wrong.’ So it was difficult for him to back out, but then the same thing, it was difficult for him to commit because he never really thought about it. So Hamzah said, “At night, I spent my whole night praying to Allāh, asking Him to guide me to the truth, and to tell me if I have done the right thing or not.” So he was praying to Allāh  at night and was saying, “O Allāh, if this is the right decision, then put the love of it in my heart, if it is the wrong decision then please, O Allāh, find a way out for me.” Now, you can notice here that these people used to pray to Allāh . When they would make Du‘ā’, they would make Du‘ā’ to Allāh, so their religion was a religion of confusion. They worshipped Allāh but then they still worshipped other gods, and when you would ask them why are you worshipping the other gods, they would say because these gods are intermediaries between us and Allāh, and then they would say that Allāh has daughters – the angels. So it was a big lump of confusion mixed in with culture and tradition, but there was still some traces of the religion of Ismā‘īl in there, for example, they still did Hajj, even though they did it the wrong way, they still gave sanctity to the House of Allāh , even though they surrounded it with idols, but some remnants of the religion of Ismā‘īl were retained.

Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib said, “Early in the morning, I woke up and I had my heart filled with love of Islām. So I went to Rasūlullāhﷺ and I told him that I am a Muslim.” And that was one of the greatest moments for Rasūlullāhﷺ, to now have his dear uncle Hamzah on his side – Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib. So that is how Hamzah  became Muslim. Obviously this must have caused agony to Abū Jahl; Abū Jahl would have thought that I have done good by hurting Muhammadﷺ , but then eventually that was the cause of the Islām of Hamzah. And that is the Qadr of Allāh; you never know what will be the cause of good, so ‘Asā An Takrahū Shay’an Wa Huwa Khairullakum – Perhaps you hate a thing and it is good for you. Al-Baqarah: 216

Abū Jahl thought that he was harming Islām by hurting Rasūlullāhﷺ, he did not know that his own action would be the cause of the Islām of Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib. And Ibn Is’hāq says, “Wa Kāna Islāmu Hamiyyah – The Islām of Hamzah was out of pride, but then it turned into sincerity.” So initially it was done with the wrong intention, he did it just to show Abū Jahl that I am with my nephew, but then Allāh  changed it into [it] becoming for the sake of Allāh and for the sake of Allāh alone. And one scholar said, “I started studying Islām to show off and to argue and to debate, but then after that, the knowledge of the Religion of Allāh humbled me and I became sincere.” So I started out with the wrong intention but then down the line my intention was being rectified and corrected. So the Religion of Allāh, after it stays in a heart for a long time, it draws a person closer and closer to Ikhlās – sincerity.

5.3 The Islām of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb

The Last Person you Would Expect to Become Muslim :  ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, as you all know from his early history, was a staunch enemy of Islām, and we mentioned how ruthless he was in persecuting the Muslims. One day, Lailah, the wife of ‘Āmir Bin Rabī‘ah, met ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb asked her, “Umm ‘Abdillāh, where are you heading?” She said, “You have maltreated us and oppressed us, so I am going to leave to one of God’s countries to worship my Lord.” She was leaving towards Abyssinia. And ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb told her, “Sahhibat Kis- Salāmah –May peace be with you.” May you have a safe journey. That was a very strange statement to come from ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb; ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb showed no sympathy towards any Muslim, male or female, so for ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb to make Du‘ā’ for this woman and to say, ‘May peace be with you, may you have a safe journey,’ shocked her. This was the end of the conversation between her and ‘Umar, and then ‘Umar left. When her husband came, she told him, “Do you know what happened?” He said, “What?” She said, “I met ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb,” – and that was not good news! And then she said, – “and he asked me where I was going and I told him, and then he told me in a very sympathetic way, ‘May you have a safe journey.’” So her husband laughed and said, “Are you expecting that ‘Umar will become a Muslim?” She said, “Maybe, why not?” He laughed and said, “‘Umar will not become a Muslim until the donkey of his father does.” It is impossible! Himār Al-Khattāb – the donkey of his father will become a Muslim before this man does, take that idea out of your mind, forget about it, it is just impossible, he cannot become a Muslim! That was their impression of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb.

‘Umar’s First Step towards lslām :  ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb narrates, and he is narrating his own story, he says, “I used to love drinking, I was in love with wine, and I had some drinking partners whom I would meet every night, and we used to meet in a place in Hazwarah, so I went late that evening to meet my friends.” He was going to the pub down the street, and he did not find anyone, there was no one there. He said, “So I decided to go to the wine dealer, but I found his shop closed.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “I went around looking for other options [but] I did not find anyone, it was too late [in the night]. [So I thought] since the pub is closed and the liquor store is closed then why not go and make Tawāf around Al-Ka’bah? Do something better.” ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb said, “I went to make Tawāf around Al-Ka’bah.” And who do you expect he found there? Who else would be praying next to Al-Ka’bah at that late hour of the night? Muhammadﷺ. He said, “There was no one there but me and Muhammadﷺ, and Rasūlullāh did not sense my presence.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb says in one narration, “I wanted to sneak and attack him,” and in another narration, “I wanted to listen to what he was reciting.”

So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Rasūlullāhﷺ would pray with Ka’bah in front of him towards the direction of Jerusalem.” Therefore Rasūlullāhﷺ would be praying towards the wall of Al-Ka’bah that had the Yemeni corner of the Black Stone. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “I went from behind and I was hiding between the cloth of Al-Ka’bah and the Ka’bah.” So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb had his back towards Al- Ka’bah and he had the cloth of Al-Ka’bah over him, so you cannot see him. And he said, “I was sneaking around Al-Ka’bah until I was right in front of Muhammadﷺ, nothing is between me and him except the cloth of Al-Ka’bah, but he could not see me. And I was able to hear his recitation, he was right in front of me, and he was reciting from Sūrah Al-Hāqqah.” He said, “And I just froze in my tracks listening to the wonderful words of Qur’ān. And then I told myself, ‘These must be the words of a poet.’” The next Āyah that Rasūlullāhﷺ recited in Sūrah Al-Hāqqah was: Wa Mā Huwa Biqawli Shā‘irin Qalīlam Mā Tu’minūn –And it is not the word of a poet; little do you believe. Al-Hāqqah: 41

 ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “I was shocked and I said to myself, ‘These must be words of a soothsayer, how did he know what was in my heart? These must be words of a soothsayer.’” The next Āyah was: Walā Biqawli Kāhinin Qalīlam Mā Tadhakkarūn – Nor the word of a soothsayer; littledo you remember. Al-Hāqqah: 42

 ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “That was the first step in bringing me towards lslām.” Now the foundation of Kufr in the heart of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb is cracked, nevertheless his heart is still filled with hatred towards Muhammadﷺ and the Muslims; he was not there yet, he was one step closer, but he still inhibited because of the hatred that he has in his heart towards the Muslims.

‘Umar  on his Way to Kill Muhammadﷺ :  One day ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb decided that he was going to bring an end to this misery, to this disunity among Quraish; once and for all I am just going to go and kill Muhammadﷺ no matter what happens. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb had this dedication, he believed that he needs to rid his people from these Sābi’īn – anyone who would become Muslim they would call them Saba’/Sābi’īn/Sabians, in other words they apostatised from the religion. So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “I am going to go and kill him.” He heard that Muhammadﷺ was with 40 of his followers in Dārul Arqam, he picked up his sword [and was] walking down the streets of Makkah alone. Now, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb knows that he would be killed if he tries to kill Muhammadﷺ, but he was determined to do it. Walking down the streets of Makkah, who did he meet? He met one of his relatives who was Muslim in secret, Nu‘aim. So Nu‘aim saw ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and he saw evil in his eyes and anger, [and] he asked ‘Umar, “Where are you heading?” He said, “I am going towards Muhammad to kill him.” Nu‘aim now has to think on the spot; what did he say? Nu‘aim said, “Why do you not take care of your household first?” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “What is wrong with my household?” Nu‘aim said, “Your sister has become Muslim.” By saying that, Nu‘aim has put the sister of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and her husband in danger. Why would Nu‘aim do that? Why did he put Fātimah Bint Al-Khattāb and her husband in danger? He did it because he wanted to save Muhammadﷺ. So the Sahābah held Rasūlullāhﷺ in high esteem and they saw that they could sacrifice their lives if it was going to protect his.

So Nu‘aim told ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, and this was news to him, that your sister has become Muslim, and Fātimah was the wife of Sa‘eed Bin Zayd Bin ‘Amr Bin Nufayl; Sa‘eed is one of the 10 who were given the glad-tidings of Jannah. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb changed course and now he was heading towards his sister’s house. Khabbāb Bin Aratt was teaching Fātimah and her husband Qur’ān, so he had the scroll with him and he was reciting to them Sūrah Tā -Hā. When they heard the footsteps of ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb, Khabbāb went into hiding and Fātimah took the scroll and she hid it under her thigh. And then ‘Umar came in, and he said, “What was that sound that I heard?” They said, “We did not hear anything.” ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb said, “Yes, I did hear you recite something. Tell me what it was.” And then he said, “And I have heard that you have become Muslim”, and he immediately attacked Sa‘eed Bin Zayd and he started punching him. Fātimah interfered and rose up to defend her husband, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb hit her in her face. When ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb saw blood flowing out of the face of his sister, he became very sorry and he apologised. She said, “I have become Muslim and my husband is Muslim, and do whatever you want.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Give me that scroll you were reading.” She said, “No.” ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb swore in the name of his gods that I am going to return it back to you, give it to me. She said, “Innaka Mushrikun Najas – You are Polytheist and you are impure.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb went and washed himself and he came back. So she gave him the scroll and ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb recited the first verses of Sūrah Tā-Hā.

And ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb went on reciting these words, and when he finished he said, “These are wonderful words.” When Khabbāb Ibn Al-Aratt heard that, he came out of hiding and said, “O ‘Umar! I hope that God will choose you, because I heard the Messenger of Allāh yesterday make a Du‘ā’ and say, ‘O Allāh! Guide one of the two ‘Umars; ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb or ‘Amr Bin Hishām’, and I hope that you are the one Allāh will select.” Rasūlullāhﷺ, just one day before, made a prayer and said, “O Allāh! Guide one of the two ‘Umars,” and who are they? ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and the other one is ‘Amr Bin Hishām. Who is ‘Amr Bin Hishām? Abū Jahl. Rasūlullāhﷺ asked Allāh to strengthen Islām with one of these two men. ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb told Khabbāb Ibn Al-Aratt, “I want to become Muslim, where can I meet Muhammad?” Khabbāb told him, “Go and meet him in Dārul Arqam.”

‘Umar Accepts Islām :  ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb went to Dārul Arqam and he knocked on the door. Rasūlullāhﷺ would hold secret meetings with the Sahābah in Dārul Arqam because the movement of Islām in Makkah was underground, it was not public. So one of the Companions stood up and he peeked through the door, and who would he see in front of him? ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb. He went to Rasūlullāhﷺ, [and] it says in the narration that the Sahābï was frightened and surprised and he told Muhammadﷺ, “‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb is outside, and he is carrying his sword too.” Because remember, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was carrying his sword; his intention was to go and kill Muhammadﷺ, so he was carrying his sword with him. This Companion had all the right to be frightened; this was ‘Umar. Now, who in that gathering offered to go and open the door? Who is the one who can stand up and face ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb? Who would it be? Well, Rasūlullāhﷺ did go later on but who was the one who first stood up and said, “I am going to go?” Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib; the one who would stand up against ‘Umar was Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib. He said, “O Messenger of Allāh, if ‘Umar has come for a good reason, we will reciprocate, but if he has come with the wrong intentions, then I will kill him with his own sword.” Rasūlullāhﷺ told Hamzah, “No, I will open the door for him.” Rasūlullāhﷺ went and he opened the door.

Now, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was one of the tallest men of Quraish. When ‘Umar was Khalīfah, they received some pieces of cloth from one of the Islāmic states. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb distributed these cloths evenly, he gave everyone one piece. When ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb stood to give Khutbah, he had two pieces on, so ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “Isma‘ū Wa Atī‘ū – Listen and obey!” Salmān Al-Fārsī stood up and said, “We will not listen and we will not obey.” ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb asked, “How come?” Salmān said, “Because you have given each one of us one piece and you are wearing two pieces.” ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb did not respond, he told his son ‘Abdullāh to stand up and respond to what Salmān was saying. ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar stood up and said, “My father is a very tall man, very well-built, one piece of cloth would not be enough for him, so I gave him mine.” Salmān Al-Fārsī said, “Fal-Ān Nasma’ Wa Nutī’ – Now we will hear and obey.” So this was the standard of justice that they had, even the Khalīfah could not have preference over the masses. There were people who were willing to stand up and fix the mistakes that they would see, Inkār Al-Munkar, like Salmān Al-Fārsī. So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was not only tall but he was very well-built, and for a while he was a wrestler; he used to wrestle in Makkah at his young age, so he was a huge well-built man. Rasūlullāhﷺ opened the door for ‘Umar Ibn Al- Khattāb, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was described as being of medium height and medium build. Rasūlullāhﷺ was not short and not too tall, not very thin but at the same time not a heavyweight; he was medium. So you can imagine Rasūlullāhﷺ in front of this huge man.

Rasūlullāh grabbed ‘Umar by his clothes and dragged him in and put him down on his knees and told him, “O ‘Umar! When are you going to stop? Are you waiting for Allāh to strike you with a thunderbolt?!” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “O Messenger of Allāh! I have come to become Muslim.” Now, this happened between Rasūlullāhﷺ and ‘Umar right next to the gate, and all of the other Sahābah were in a different room, so they did not see what was happening. When ‘Umar said that, Rasūlullāhﷺ said, “Allāhu Akbar!” All of the Sahābah knew what had happened, they realised that ‘Umar became Muslim. They were so happy with that news, they made a Takbeer that was so loud [that] they immediately had to disperse, because it was heard by the people of Makkah.

The Islām of ‘Umar was a turning point in the history of Islām in Makkah. ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd says, “The Islām of ‘Umar was victory, his immigration to Madīnah was help to Islām, and his reign – his Khilāfah – was mercy.” ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd says, “We were never able to pray in front of Al-Ka’bah publicly until ‘Umar became Muslim.” So an Islām of one person changed the situation of all of the Muslim community; that was how valuable ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was, such a great asset. ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd also says, “We used to conceal our Islām until ‘Umar became Muslim, then we would proudly proclaim our Islām.” It is mentioned in one of the narrations of Seerah that when ‘Umar became Muslim, Rasūlullāh lined up the Muslims in two ranks; one rank was headed by Hamzah, the other rank was headed my ‘Umar, and they went down the streets of Makkah marching publicly, proclaiming their religion, while Rasūlullāh was walking between the two ranks.

People Surround ‘Umar from Every Direction Beating him :  When ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb became Muslim, he asked, “Who has the biggest mouth in Makkah?” Who is the one who cannot hold water in his mouth, the one who can publicise this news? ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb did not want to take it step by step, he wanted everyone to know that I became Muslim. They told him, “Jamīl Al-Jumahī.” ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “At that time I was young, but I can still remember everything I saw.” He said, “I followed my father and he went to Jamīl.” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said to Jamīl, “Do you know what I did?” Jamīl said, “What?” He said, “I have become Muslim.” ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “Immediately, as soon as Jamīl heard the news, he stood up dragging his gown behind him – his gown was trailing – and he went running towards the mosque, Al-Ka’bah, and he went in front of everyone and started screaming to the top of his voice, ‘O PEOPLE OF QURAISH! ‘UMAR HAS BECOME A SABIAN!’”

So ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was trying to correct the announcement by saying, “No, I have become a Muslim”, but this man is not hearing anything ‘Umar is saying, he is going around publicising the news, broadcasting [it like] it was on national TV; everyone knew that ‘Umar became Muslim. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “People started flowing towards me.” Jamīl did a very good job; people were just flowing towards ‘Umar. ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “So the people surrounded my father from every direction, they were beating him and he was beating them. They were fighting for hours, until the sun was right on top of their heads and it was too hot for them to continue.” And then ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb went home, and the people were surrounding his house; they wanted to kill ‘Umar, this for them was unbelievable news – ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb becoming Muslim, that is not an easy thing, so they wanted to kill him. And ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “My father was at home and then a man came and asked my father, ‘What is wrong?’ ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, ‘These people want to kill me.’ The man said, ‘No, they will not kill you.’ And then he stood outside and said, ‘Leave the man alone, does he not have the right to choose the religion he wants to believe in? I am giving him protection.’” ‘Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “Immediately the people left.” Abdullāh Ibn ‘Umar said, “And then later on I asked my father in Madīnah – I still had memories of what happened – [so] I asked my father in Madīnah, ‘Who was that man who came and helped you?’” ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb said, “O my son, that was Al-‘Aas Bin Wā‘il.” The father of ‘Amr Ibn Al-‘Aas, he was not a Muslim. The tribe of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb was very small and they were not very strong, but their allies were the tribe of Al- ‘Aas Bin-Wā‘il; they were the allies of Banū ‘Udaÿ, the family of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb. So he came in to help a member of his allies and he gave ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb protection.

Lessons from the Islām of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb

A few notes on the story of the Islām of ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb :

Rasūlullāhﷺ Knew People and their Qualities:  We find here one of the leadership qualities of Muhammadﷺ; Rasūlullāhﷺ knew the personal traits of people very well. When Rasūlullāhﷺ made the Du‘ā’ – the prayer, [asking Allāh] to guide ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb or Abū Jahl, why did Rasūlullāhﷺ choose these two people in particular? ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb and Abū Jahl had some personal traits that qualified them to be outstanding leaders in whatever areas they were in. These two men were outstanding leaders; both of them. They had personal qualities that nominated them to lead people and to manage their affairs. Abū Jahl, by the way, is not his name, that is a nickname that was given to him by the Rasūlullāhﷺ.

He used to be called by his people before that Abul Hakam, which is also not his [real] name, but it was a name given to him by his people. His original name is ‘Amr Bin Hishām, but he was such a wise and intelligent man, his people called him Abul Hakam, which means ‘Father of Wisdom’ – they named him Father of Wisdom. Now, when his intelligence did not lead him to Islām, he became disqualified and he was called Abū Jahl –Father of Ignorance. Rasūlullāhﷺ called him Father of Ignorance because no matter how wise a person is, if their wisdom does not lead them to the truth, it is not wisdom. No matter how intelligent they are, if their intelligence does not lead them to Islām, they have no intelligence. And that is the admission they will make on the Day of judgement. Allāh  says about the people on the Day of Judgement, when they realise they are going to Hellfire: And they will say, “If only we had been listening or reasoning, we would not be among the companions of the Blaze.” Al-Mulk: 10

 Where were our minds? Where was our intelligence? These two men had determination, they had commitment to a cause; if they believe in something, they are willing to work for it until the end. They are relentless in pursuit of their objectives, and they are strong. And in situations of difficulty, they rise above everyone else. You would find that in every situation that was difficult, Abū Jahl would rise and would lead his people. Even though it was an evil, but he did it right. He was good in what he was doing, even though he was on the wrong path. So Rasūlullāhﷺ wanted to win one of these men over to Islām because they would bring with them all of their resources. ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb had these personal qualities, he had sincerity; when he believed in something, he would not go in twisted rounds or turns, he would face a thing head on, and he was very courageous and brave, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was looking at these personal qualities. You see, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb does not have a strong tribal backing, ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb, when it comes to Islām, he will come with his personal qualities, not his family background, because his family background was not that of the noblest in Quraish, even though he did come from the core tribes of Quraish, but his tribe was not a leading tribe, nor were they many in numbers to give them such a strong presence in Makkah, but it was his personal qualities that nominated him to that Du‘ā’. And Allāh  destined that He will choose him out of these two to become the ally of Islām. So Rasūlullāhﷺ knew the people.

Rasūlullāh’sﷺ Deep Understanding of People and how to Cure their Diseases:  The second lesson to be learned is another leadership quality that Rasūlullāh possessed, and that was his deep understanding of the people and how to cure their diseases. Even though ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb had these excellent personal qualities, but he was suffering from a serious malice; ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb’s heart was filled with hatred towards the Muslims, so as soon as ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb became a Muslim, Rasūlullāhﷺ knew where the disease was and how to cure it. It is narrated that Rasūlullāhﷺ placed his hand on the chest of ‘Umar Ibn Al -Khattāb and said, “O Allāh, cure his heart from hatred,” and he made that Du‘ā’ three times. So Rasūlullāhﷺ put his hand on the disease and cured it.

The Best of you in Jāhiliyyah are the Best of you in Islām if you Understand Religion :  The third lesson is: Khiyārukum Fil Jāhiliyyah Khiyārukum Fil Islāmi Idhā Faqihū –The best of you in Jāhiliyyah –pre-Isalmic era, are the best of you in Islām…” Now, Rasūlullāhﷺ did not leave this statement open, because this is not a general rule, it is not necessarily [the case] that every person who was good before Islām is going to be good after Islām. If a person was good before Islām, they had some good personal qualities, and then they become Muslim but they deviate within Islām and they do not follow the Sunnah of Rasūlullāhﷺ and they do not have good understanding of Islām, they could end up causing more harm than benefit. And there are many examples of people who had a lot of good personal qualities, but when they became Muslim they did not understand the Religion correctly, so they ended up causing a lot of detriment and harm. So Rasūlullāhﷺ qualified the statement by saying, “Idhā Faqihū – if they understand.” Fiqh means understating, Fiqh does not mean that you memorise rules. Now we have used the word Fiqh as a label to talk about Islāmic law, but the word Fiqh in Hadīth has a more broader meaning, it means understanding, comprehension. So Rasūlullāhﷺ says [that] the people who have good personal qualities before they become Muslim, they would become the best among the Muslims if they understand the Religion. So there is a pre-requisite there; they have to understand the Religion.

5.4 Quraish’s Desperation and the Embargo

5.4.1 Terms of the Embargo

Ibn Hajar states, “When Quraish saw that some of the Believers had gone to live in a different land and were safe – the ones who were in Abyssinia – and that ‘Umar has embraced Islām, they realised that Islām was beginning to rapidly catch on. They then decided that there would be no solution other than to kill the Prophetﷺ.” [So] Islām now has a branch in Abyssinia, it has a base surviving there, [and] inside Makkah they have won over Hamzah Bin ‘Abdul Muttalib and ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb; things are getting out of control, now we have to get beyond our hesitation of killing Muhammad because of fear of the retaliation by Banū Hāshim, we have to do something. And that led them to the signing of the embargo against Muhammadﷺ, because Quraish now officially requested Banū Hāshim to hand over Muhammadﷺ to kill him. Obviously Banū Hāshim refused, so the result was an agreement between the various tribes of Quraish to boycott Banū Hāshim [and Banū Muttalib]. The embargo started in the month of Muharram of the seventh year after the Message began, and it was that no one would deal with them, no trade would be conducted between them, and no one would marry of them or to them, until they give up the Prophet Muhammadﷺ.

So it was a commercial blockade, and also it was that no family relations are established with them; no marriage [was] to be done with them and they would accept no marriage offers coming from Banū Hāshim [and Banū Muttalib]. And they are to be surrounded in their enclave, in their neighbourhood in Makkah, and the people of Quraish wanted to ensure that no food would reach to Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib. Again, this was not only to Banū Hāshim, but it included Banū Muttalib, and Al-Muttalib had a very close relationship with their brethren from Banū Hāshim and they stood with them in that difficult moment. And by the way, Al-Imām Ash-Shāfi‘ī is a descendant of Banū Muttalib, so he is close to Rasūlullāhﷺ.

5.4.2 The Suffering of Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib

So the people of Quraish came together and they signed this agreement, the embargo, and they posted the document inside Al- Ka’bah. Things became quite severe, Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib were suffering hunger, and it is reported by Sa’d Ibn Abī Waqqās, “We were so hungry that we used to eat leaves of trees.” We would go to the trees and just grab the leaves and eat them, that is how hungry we were. And these were Mushrikīn by the way, Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib, many of them were Non-Muslims, and they went through all of this. W hy? Because they refused to hand over Muhammadﷺ. So the embargo included the Muslims and Non-Muslims of Banū Hāshim [and Banū Muttalib], all of them were included in it, because they refused to hand over the Messenger of Allāh Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of Allāh be upon him.

Two or three years passed, and Hishām Bin Al -Hārith, who was the most enthusiastic in refusing the terms of the embargo – he was a relative to Banū Hāshim from his maternal side – what he used to do during those two or three years was that he would load a camel with food, and he would take it on top of the hill that was overlooking the enclave of Banū Hāshim, and then he would hit the camel and set it free and release it so it would go down the hill and end up among Banū Hāshim, and he would do that secretly, obviously. So he was the one who used to sneak in food to the people of Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib. Obviously Hishām Bin Al-Hārith was not included in the embargo because he was not himself from Banū Hāshim or Banū Muttalib, but he had some relationship with them through his mother’s side.

5.4.3 Hishām Bin Al-Hārith – One Man’s Determination to End the Embargo

Hishām Bin Al- Hārith went to Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah and he told Zuhair, “Does it please you that you are eating well and dressing well while your own uncles are in that situation of distress? On my part I swear that if these people were the uncles of Abul Hakam, he would not have done so.” Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah was also a relative of Banū Hāshim; they were his relatives from the mother’s side. Hishām is telling Zuhair [that] how can you accept to see your uncles going through that misery and you do nothing, and the one who is calling us to do this is Abul Hakam – Abū Jahl? Now, if these were his uncles, he would not have treated them that way, [so] how come we have to go along with this? You know, it is just like America is asking the Muslim countries to boycott such and such Muslim country, but then if the same thing was done by Israel, America would never ask for an embargo on them. Imagine if Israel has done similar to what ‘Irāq has done – and by the way they have done more already – but will America ever call for an embargo against Isrā’īl? Never. So there is a double standard, and Hishām Bin Al-Hārith was saying [that] Abū Jahl is calling us to boycott our uncles, and he would never do the same to his. Because obviously Abū Jahl was the spearhead of all of these efforts, you would always find Abū Jahl in these places.

Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah responded and said, “Shame on you Hishām. Who am I but one man, what can I do? In the name of Allāh, if I had another person beside me, I would go about abrogating that document.” Hishām said, “Well, there is a person with you.” He asked, “Who is it?” [Hishām said,] “Myself, I am going to be with you.” Zuhair said, “Then find us a third person.” Hishām set off to find a third person; he went to Al-Mut‘am Bin ‘Udaÿ. He told Al-Mut‘am Bin ‘Udaÿ, “Mut‘am, are you pleased to have two clans of Banū ‘Abd Manāf suffer while you look on in agreement with Quraish about that? By God, if you enable them to do this, they will soon be treating you the same way.” If we allow this precedence to be set, it could backfire and one day it could happen to you or me. Al-Mut‘am said, “Well, what am I able to do? I am just one person.” Hishām said, “No, you are not one person, there is a second person with you.” [He asked,] “Who is it?” [He said,] “Myself.” Al -Mut‘am said, “How about you find us a third person?” [He said,] “I did.” [He asked,] “Who is it?” [He said,] “Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah.” Al Mut‘am said, “Find us a fourth.” Hishām went to Abul Bukhtarī and presented to him the same thing, and Abul Bukhtarī said, “Well, we need more people.” He said, “We are now four.” He said, “Go and find us a fifth.” Hishām went; he is doing something, he is working, he is lobbying against this oppression of Quraish. So he went and got a fifth person who was Zam‘ah Bin Al -Aswad. Now they decided that they are going to go and meet at night in Al-Hujūn, so they all met together in Al-Hujūn, and the agreement was that tomorrow morning we were going to set about destroying this document, but we were going to make it seem as if it was spontaneous.

So next day in the morning, Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah goes in with special clothes, a ceremonial gown that he had on, and he made Tawāf, and that was the time in which the assembly of Quraish meet, and their meeting place was in An-Nadwah close by to Al-Ka’bah. So Zuhair Ibn Abī Umayyah is wearing those special clothes and he made Tawāf and then he came and stood right above the assembly of Quraish, and he told them, “O people of Quraish! Does it please you to eat well, and to dress at will, while Banū Hāshim and Banū Muttalib are going through distress? I swear in the name of Allāh that I am not going to take a seat unless that document is torn apart!” Now a second person from the five stood up, as if it was spontaneous, as if they did not coordinate this among themselves, and said, “Yes! I never agreed to that document from the day it was written.” And now a third person stood up and said, “I swear that I have nothing to do with such a document and I do not want to be part of such an agreement.” And the fourth person stood up, and then finally Hishām himself gave some comments. Now, Abū Jahl stood up and he said, “Hādhā Amrun Dubbira Bi-Layl –This is something that you planned at night.” Donot tell me that it was spontaneous, you planned this aforehand. But it was too late, things were already getting out of control, and Al-Mut‘am Bin ‘Udaÿ went into Al-Ka’bah to tear down the document, and Subhān’Allāh, he goes in and he finds that the document has already been eaten up my termites with the exception of two words; Bismik Allāhum – In the name of our Lord. Everything else was eaten, all of the oppression of the document was eaten, with the exception of the opening words, Bismik Allāhum – In the name of Allāh. So the embargo was ended after two or three years.

5.4.4 Lessons from the Embargo

Lesson One: The Difference People Can Make: Number One: You saw here that five people can make a difference; the whole embargo was abrogated due to the efforts of five people. Actually, it [was] all started by Hishām Bin Al -Hārith alone, it started as an idea in the mind of this man and he set about to implement it, and he recruited a few people around him, and he brought an end to this corrupt agreement – the agreement of oppression. So this shows us the value of organisation; five people came together and had an organised plan and they were able to bring an end to the embargo. So this is the value of working together, this is the value of having organised work. And then it shows you that a person needs to take some action; Hishām went to the first person, the first person gave him a pessimistic view, he said, ‘I am only one person, what can I do?’ Hishām said, ‘Well, you have a second person with you,’ he said, ‘Find a third,’ Hishām set about to find a third. He was a man of action, and he was able to recruit five people and they made a difference.

Brothers and sisters, this Religion needs action, and even though these were Kuffār, these were Mushrikīn, but there is a valuable lesson to learn from this, that you need to take the first step, you need to do some action. And when Rasūlullāhﷺ was first given the Risālah – you see, there is one opinion of scholars that Muhammadﷺ became a Prophet when he received the revelation of Iqra’, and he became a Rasūl when he was given the revelation of Qum Fa’andhir; that is one view that some scholars hold, because there is a difference between Nabï and Rasūl. Nabï, which is translated as Prophet, is someone who is receiving Revelation from Allāh, but it does not necessarily mean that it is a mandate on them to propagate the Message. However a Rasūl, which is translated as Messenger, is a Nabï who is commanded by Allāh to propagate the Message. Rasūlullāhﷺ received the Revelation in the verses of Iqra’, so he then became Nabï. And then the Revelation stopped for a while, and he was not conveying the Message at that time, he was not given the command yet by Allāh  to propagate the Message, until he was given the revelation of Qum Fa’andhir – Stand up and warn; that is when he became a Rasūl according to the opinion of some scholars.

So you can notice that the first commands Allāh  gave to Muhammadﷺ which made him a Rasūl were the commands of “Stand up”. Stand up! Rasūlullāhﷺ was wrapped in his garments; Allāh  said that you have to stand up, you cannot be sitting down, you cannot be lying on your bed, you have to stand up. This Religion needs men and women to stand up and take action – Qum Fa’andhir. So the Muslim is standing up, and even when the Muslim is sitting down or lying down, they are not relieved of their duties. Alladhīna Yadhkurūnallāha Qiyāman Wa Qu‘ūdan Wa ‘Alā Junūbihim – [Those] who remember Allāh while standing or sitting or [lying] on their sides. Āl-‘Imrān: 191

 Youare never relieved; as a Muslim you are continuously doing something. So we need to take action, and ‘Umar Ibn Al-Khattāb used to make this Du‘ā’ and say, “O Allāh, I seek refuge in You from the strong Disbeliever and the weak Believer.” The Believer should be strong, and unless we stand up and go ahead and do something, things will not change. We cannot expect our problems to be solved by some supernatural force. From the time of Mūsā and on, Allāh  has not punished a nation through a supernatural event. For example, with the people of Sālih, they were destroyed by the thunderbolt, with the people of ‘Ād, they were destroyed through the tornado, with the people of Lūt, Allāh  made the earth sink, but from Mūsā and onward, Allāh  has brought about change through the hands of the Believers. Allāh  prescribed Jihād on the Ummah of Mūsā, they were the first Ummah to wage Jihād, it was the Ummah of Mūsā. Before that, the Ambiyā’ did not fight, but from Mūsā and onward, Allāh  would punish the Non-Believers through the armies of Al-Mu’mineen – the Believers.

5.5 Miracles of Prophet :

5.5.1 First Miracle: Document Being Eaten Up by Termites:

Second Lesson: The miracle of the document being eaten up by termites, and this brings up again the issue of the soldiers of Allāh. Wamā Ya’lamu Junūda Rabbika Illā Hū – And none knows the soldiers of your Lordexcept Him. Al-Muddaththir: 31

Who would imagine that termites would be a soldier for Allāh? So this is a miracle that happened at the time of Rasūlullāhﷺ, you can add it to the many other miracles that occurred on the hands of Muhammadﷺ.

5.5.2 Second Miracle: Strength of Rasūlullāhﷺ

Another incident that [we] can classify as a miracle is the wrestling of Rasūlullāhﷺ with Rukānah. Rukānah was the strongest wrestler in Makkah, Rukānah had never ever lost a wrestling match, and he was a Non-Believer. He came to Muhammadﷺ and he said, “Would you challenge me?” Rasūlullāhﷺ amazingly accepted the challenge. It seems that Rukānah had done this with the most evil of intentions; he wanted to humiliate Rasūlullāhﷺ. Being a Kāfir, he wants to get a chance to lay his hands on Muhammadﷺ , [but] he did not know the surprise that was awaiting him. They started to fight, and Rasūlullāhﷺ was able to turn Rukānah upside down and throw him on the ground. Rukānah could not believe what had happened, he stood up again and he tried to fight another time; Rasūlullāhﷺ did it a second time. And then Rukānah tried a third time and he lost; for three times in a row. Rukānah then said, “Muhammad, no one has ever put my back on the ground before you, and no one was more hateful in my sight before this than you, but now I testify that there is no God but Allāh, and that you are the Messenger of Allāh.” By the way, the deal was that whoever wins gets a hundred sheep, so this was a bet, this was before betting was made Harām; after that betting was made Harām, but at that time it was allowed. So the agreement was that whoever wins gets a hundred sheep, so Rasūlullāhﷺ got the hundred sheep, but then he gave them back to Rukānah and said, “Take the sheep.” Rasūlullāhﷺ was able to win three times against Rukānah and that shows to us the strength that Rasūlullāhﷺ had, Rasūlullāhﷺ had the strength of 30 men. This is a second miracle.

5.5.3 Third Miracle: Splitting of the Moon:

Third miracle: The people of Quraish were continuously asking for a sign; show us a sign, as if Qur’ān was not sufficient, even though Qur’ān is the greatest miracle of any Nabï. They were asking for a sign so Allāh  revealed to Muhammadﷺ through Jibrīl, “If they are asking for a sign, We will split for them the moon.” The moon will be split, and the time was set. Rasūlullāhﷺ called the Non-Believers and said, “The moon will be split.” And the Non-Believers gathered at night, and there right in front of them they saw the moon split into two halves, and then it came back together. This is a very unique miracle, and it is firmly established in Ahādīth in Bukhārī and Muslim, and in Qur’ān. Bukhārī mentions that the splitting of the moon came between the embracing of Islām of ‘Umar and after the migration to Abyssinia. And in Sahīh Al-Muslim it states that the Makkan people requested Allāh’s Apostle to show them a miracle, and so he showed them the splitting of the moon. Again in Muslim another Hadīth, this Hadīth has been transmitted on the authority of ‘Abdullāh Ibn Mas‘ūd who said, “We were alone with Allāh’s Messenger, may peace be upon him, at Minā’. The moon was split up into two; one of its parts was behind the mountain and the other one was on this side of the mountain. Allāh’s Messenger, may peace be upon him, said to us, ‘Bear witness to this.’” Allāh says: The Hour has come near, and the moon has split [in two]. And if they see a miracle, they turn away and say, “Passing magic.” Al-Qamar: 1-2

When they saw the sign of Allāh, what did they say? They said he cast magic on our eyes; they accused Muhammadﷺ of performing magic. This was not an optical illusion; we would say that the moon actually did split up. And there are some doubts that could be brought up to attack the claim of the Muslims that Allāh has split the moon as a miracle for Muhammadﷺ, some arguments could be presented [such as] if the moon was split how come no one [apart from the few] saw it? How come other people in other parts of the world did not see it? Well, to respond to that, number one; the world is in different time zones, so half of the world is day time, so you cross out half of the world automatically.

And then within the other half, it could be very late for some people so they would not see it, or it could be that the moon is not apparent to them in their particular area because it has already set, or because of overcast weather. So that would eliminate parts of the half of the world which is night. So we have eliminated now most of the world. Now, with the part of the world that had a chance to see the moon – because when the moon was apparent in Makkah, it would have already set in other parts of the world – so with the other parts of the world that can see the moon, usually you do not find people running around at night staring at the sky, right?! And people tend to ignore what is going on above them unless they are told to look up. So the moon could have split but people did not see it, because they were not attuned to the fact that it would split. So that eliminates some other people [and it would be a second response]. And the third response would be that in those days documentation was weak. In many parts of the world the people were illiterate, and where people were literate, they did not document everything that would happen. So you could easily have important events of history going down the hills of history without anybody caring to write them down. So that would eliminate the possibility of some people seeing it but the news not being reported to us. Having said that, there are some scholars who say that this event was documented in India and China, and they say that there are some old writings in China that say that this particular event happened in the year when the moon split, and they use that as a reference point for them to document history. And one needs to do more research to take a look at the original documents that mention this.

So it is firmly established that this event did happen. I am mentioning this without basing a lot or counting on it until more research is done; it is mentioned by some astronomers, and again this information needs to be verified, that there is what appears to be a long divide that goes around the moon. Satellites are [sort of] able to detect continental rifts, so there is such a rift that is going around the moon. If that is true, then that is a clear sign to prove the splitting of the moon. But again, that is something that needs to be verified. I have heard it from more than one source, but again, I would not count on it until it is firmly established.

Al-Khattābi, one of the classical scholars, says, “The splitting of the moon was a great sign that cannot even be compared to signs given to prior Messengers. This is because it was witnessed in the vastness of the universe and traversing beyond the laws of nature. With this, the confirmation of the Prophet’sﷺ Message was by preponderance.” What Al-Khattābi is saying is that no miracle was greater than this, because this was a miracle that happened in Earth and in the Heavens, while every other miracle of other Prophets happened on Earth, was limited to Earth, but this was a sign that was both for the Heavens and the earth. Wallāhu A’lam.

5.5.4 Fourth Miracle: Āyāt Predicting Victory of the Romans:

There was continuous rivalry between the Roman and the Persian Empires, they were always at each other’s necks, and these were the two superpowers of the world. Persia used to rule present day Irān, part of ‘Irāq, Afghānistan, maybe parts of Pākistān, and they went up north, so it was a huge empire. The Byzantine Empire included Turkey and parts of Eastern Europe and Azerbaijan, Armenia and those areas. So these were the two superpowers of the world at that time, and they were having constant warfare among themselves. In one critical battle, the Persians defeated the Romans. The Pagans of Makkah were very happy, and the Muslims were sad at this outcome. Why is that? The reason is because the Pagans felt more close to the Persians because the Persians were worshippers of fire, so they are Mushrikīn like them, therefore the Mushrikīn of Makkah were happy when the Pagans won, while the Muslims ⁸⁵ were on the side of the Romans because the Romans were Christian – People of the Book – who are closer to the Muslims. So the Muslims were siding with the Romans while the Pagans of Makkah were siding with the Persians. Now the Persians won, so the Non-Believers of Makkah are going around telling the Muslims, “Just like the Persians defeated the Romans, we are going to defeat you.” Pagans are winning. Allāh  revealed the verse: Alif, Lām, Meem. The Byzantines have been defeated. In the nearest land. But they, after their defeat, will overcome. Within three to nine years. To Allāh belongs the command before and after. And that day the Believers will rejoice. In the victory of Allāh. He gives victory to whom He wills, and He is the Exalted in Might, the Merciful. Ar-Rūm: 1-5

 Allāh  says that the Romans have been defeated, but they will be victorious Fī Bid‘i Sinīn; Bid‘i Sinīn means less than 10. Allāh  is here promising that the Romans will win within 10 years. Abū Bakr learned of these verses and he went to Abū Jahl and he said, “I want to bet you that the Romans will win.” Abū Jahl said, “Give me a timeframe,” he said, “Less than 10 years,” and they had a bet on one hundred camels. Abū Bakr, obviously believing in the Āyāt of Qur’ān, was willing to bet whatever number Abū Jahl would offer. And Abū Jahl was willing to enter into this bet because it seemed that the Persians are going to roll over the Romans and wipe them out. According to the news of the day, it appeared that the Persians were rolling on and nothing will stop them; they were winning and they were doing so well that it appears to the outsiders that the Romans have no hope. The Persians, they got their act together and now they are attacking and they are winning one battle after another.

The first year passed, second year, third year. Now, Allāh  says in that verse: And that day the Believers will rejoice. In the victory of Allāh. The day the Romans win, the Believers will be joyful, happy, pleased, due to the victory of Allāh. What do you understand from this verse? The understanding that you get is that the Romans will win and the Muslims will be happy because Allāh gave them victory, right? What you understand from this verse is that the Romans will win and the Muslims will be happy when that happens; And that day the Believers will rejoice. Eight years passed, and the Romans won, and the news reached to the Muslims.

Now, the Muslims who were so enthusiastic in their support of the Romans and really wanted them to win, and Abū Bakr went and had a bet, a challenge with Abū Jahl, when the news of the victory of the Romans reached the Muslims, they did not really care much about it. How come? Allāh  says: And that day the Believers will rejoice. And now they received the news but the news is secondary to them. What is the reason? Subhān’Allāh, because the day they received the news was the day they won the Battle of Badr. So the Battle of Badr and the news of the Muslims winning overshadowed everything else, and that was the true rejoicement of the Believers, that was the true happiness in the decisive victory of the Muslims against the Disbelievers. Early on when the bet happened and when these verses were revealed, the Muslims were watchers, they were not the major players in history, they were following the news of what is happening in the world around them, but when the news of the Romans reached them, they were the major players then; now the Muslims were the ones who were fighting the Kuffār and they are going to win against the Kuffār, because you see, you [have to] remember the whole thing; in Makkah this happened because the Mushrikīn were telling the Believers that when the Persians win that is a sign that we will win against you, and Subhān’Allāh, the opposite happened, the Romans won against the Pagan worshippers of Persia, and on the same day the Muslims won against the Pagans of Makkah.

But the miracle does not end there; there is another miracle in this Āyah which falls under the category of scientific miracles of Qur’ān. The word that was used in the Āyah is Adnal Ard. [The Byzantines have been defeated. In the nearest land.] ‘Adnā’ has two meanings in Arabic; one is the nearest, and the other one is the lowest. Nearest – this was the meaning that was adopted by the early scholars because the nearest land to the land of the Arabs was Ash-Shām; Syria and Falastīn. So that was how they interpreted it. But now, in light of science, we have a new understanding of this verse, because it turns out that the battlefield where the battle occurred, next to the Dead Sea, is the lowest point on the face of the earth, it is over 400 feet below sea level. So that is another miracle mentioned in this Āyah.