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THE
CONSISTENT EFFORT OF GOD’S MESSENGER IN
CONVEYING THE MESSAGE
The
communication of the Divine Message was the most essential
characteristic of God’s Messenger, upon him be peace and
blessings. We are troubled whenever we are hungry or
thirsty, or when we have difficulty in breathing; but he
was troubled if a day passed when he could not find
someone to whom he could convey the Divine Message. He was
so concerned about the guidance of people, and so
physically pained by unbelief, that God advised him to be
careful of his health, saying:
Well,
[O Muhammad] it may be that you will kill yourself,
following after them, with grief that they do not
believe in this Message. (al-Kahf, 18.6)
There
was nobody left in Makka whom God’s Messenger had not
invited in public or in private to God’s path. He had
called some, like Abu Jahl who was extremely stubborn, at
least fifty times. One of those whom he particularly
desired should believe was his beloved uncle Abu Talib,
who protected him against the cruelties of the Makkan
polytheists. In the eleventh year of his Prophethood, when
Abu Talib was on his death-bed, God’s Messenger again
invited him to belief, but the Makkan chiefs surrounded
him so as to prevent his embracing Islam. God’s
Messenger was so grieved at Abu Talib’s unbelief that he
said:
I
will ask forgiveness from God for you as long as I
am not forbidden to.1
A
verse was revealed some time later, forbidding him to do
this:
It
is not fitting for the Prophet and those who believe
that they should invoke (God) for the forgiveness of
the polytheists, even though they be near of kin (to
them) after it has become clear to them that they
are companions of the Fire. (al-Tawba, 9.113)
Abu
Bakr, the closest Companion of the Prophet, upon him be
peace and blessings, knew how much God’s Messenger had
desired his uncle’s belief. He took his aged father to
God’s Messenger upon his conversion on the day of the
conquest of Makka, and doing so, sobbed bitterly. When
asked why he was sobbing, he explained:
O
God’s Messenger, I desired very much that my
father should believe, and now he has believed. But
I desired the belief of Abu Talib even more than
that because you desired it. However, God did not
grant him belief. That is why I am weeping.2
His
invitation of Wahshi to Islam
One
of the best examples of the Messenger’s concern was his
invitation to Wahshi, who had killed his beloved uncle,
Hamza, in the Battle of Uhud. After the conquest of Makka,
God’s Messenger sent for him to accept Islam, but the
latter returned the invitation with a letter, including
the following verses:
And
those who invoke not with God any other deity, nor
kill a soul that God has forbidden, except for just
cause, nor commit illegal sexual intercourse -
whoever does this shall receive the punishment. The
torment will be doubled on him on the Day of
Judgement and he will abide therein forever in
disgrace. (al-Furqan, 25.68-9)
After
the verse Wahshi added:
You
invite me to accept Islam, but I have committed all
these sins mentioned in the verse. I have lived
immersed in unbelief, had illegal sexual intercourse
and, in addition, killed your uncle, who was most
beloved by you. Will a man like me be forgiven that
he should become a Muslim?’
God’s
Messenger sent him a written reply containing the
following verse:
Surely,
God forgives not that partners should be associated
with Him, but He forgives save that (anything else)
to whom He wills. Whoever associates partners with
God, he has indeed invented a tremendous sin.
(al-Nisa’, 4.48)
Wahshi
returned the letter with the excuse that the forgiveness
promised in the verse depended on God’s Will. Upon this,
God’s Messenger sent him a third letter in which the
following verse was included:
Say:
‘O My slaves who have transgressed against their
souls! Despair not of the Mercy of God. Surely God
forgives all sins. Truly, He is the Oft-Forgiving,
the Most Compassionate.’ (al-Zumar, 39.53)
Through
this correspondence, God’s Messenger had, in fact,
affected Wahshi’s heart and made it propitious for
belief so that Wahshi could become a referent of the verse
included in the last letter. He had enabled Wahshi to
repent sincerely of his previous sins and elevated him to
the rank of being a Companion.3 Nevertheless, the
martyrdom of Hamza had affected God’s Messenger so
deeply that he whispered to Wahshi:
Will
you try not to present yourself to me too often; it
may happen that I will remember Hamza, and may be
unable to show you the proper affection.
Wahshi
did try to keep out of sight of God’s Messenger. He used
to stand behind a pole and try to catch a glimpse of
God’s Messenger in the hope that he might allow him to
present himself to him. However, it was not long before
God’s Messenger passed away and Wahshi set out to find
an opportunity to make up for having killed Hamza. So,
when the war of Yamamah broke out against Musaylimah the
Liar, he hastened to the front with the spear with which
he had killed Hamza. At the most critical point of the
fighting, he saw Musaylima trying to flee and, straight
away, threw his spear at the impostor. This was the end of
Musaylima, and Wahshi prostrated himself before God.4
While tears were flowing from his eyes, he was as if
saying : ‘Will you now allow me to show myself to you, O
God’s Messenger?’
We
cannot but wish that God’s Messenger was present in
spirit at Yamama and embraced him to show his pardon and
full admission into his noble company.
Ikrima’s
conversion
Another
fine example of God’s Messenger’s nobility and
altruism, his love for mankind and concern about people's
guidance, is his acceptance of Ikrima as a Companion.
Ikrima was one of the most bitter enemies of Islam and the
Messenger. He had participated in all the plots against
Islam and its noble Prophet, upon him be peace and
blessings. He fled to the Yemen with his wife on the day
Makka was conquered while many of his comrades chose
conversion. His wife, Umm Hakam, convinced him to go to
God’s Messenger and ask forgiveness. Despite his
previous crimes, Ikrima was welcomed by God’s Messenger
with the compliment: Welcome, O emigrant rider!
After the conquest of Makka, there was no longer any
‘emigration’ in the true sense, but God’s Messenger,
upon him be peace, alluded, by this compliment, to his
long journey from the Yemen to Madina.
Ikrima
was deeply affected by the nobility of God’s Messenger
and requested him to ask God’s pardon for his sins. When
the Messenger did so, Ikrima felt exhilarated and promised
the Messenger that he would spend for the sake of Islam
the double of what he had spent in fighting against it.
Ikrima
fulfilled his promise at the Battle of Yarmuk. He was
wounded there and taken to a tent. On seeing his wife weep
beside him, he said to her: ‘Don’t weep, for I will
not die before I witness the victory.’
Some
time later his uncle, Hisham, entered the tent and
announced the good news that God had granted the Muslims
victory. Ikrima asked to be helped to stand up, and when
they did so, whispered: ‘O God’s Messenger, have I
carried out the promise I gave you?’
Then,
he recited the verse, Make me die as a Muslim and join
me to the righteous (Yusuf, 12.101), and
submitted his soul to God.5
God’s
Messenger grieved throughout his life for the misfortunes
of mankind
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, grieved
throughout his life for the misfortunes of mankind. There
was no rest for him, and he called people to God’s way
all the time. During his years in Makka, he walked in
streets and visited the fairs held every year around
Makka, in the hope of gaining a few converts. Insults,
derision and torture were not able to to make him forsake
the communication of his Message. When the verse, Warn
your tribe of the nearest kindred (al-Shu‘ara’,
26.214) was revealed, he invited his nearest relatives to
his house for a meal. ‘Ali, the son of Abu Talib, later
narrated the incident as follows:
God’s
Messenger, upon him be peace and blessings, invited
his relatives to his house. After the meal, he
addressed them and said: God has commanded me to
warn my nearest relatives. You are my tribe of the
nearest kindred. I will not be able to do anything
for you in the Hereafter unless you proclaim that
‘there is no deity but God’. At the end of
his speech, he asked them who among them would
support him in his cause. I was, at that time, a boy
with puny legs and arms. When I saw that no one
responded to God’s Messenger, I put aside the
pitcher in my hand and declared: ‘I will, O
Messenger of God!’ The Messenger repeated the call
three times and each time no one, except me,
answered him.6
God’s
Messenger continued to convey his Message without being
tired and daunted. He met reactions of the harshest kind:
he was derided, degraded and beaten; he was expelled from
fairs, and he was stoned in Ta’if. Years passed until he
met, in the twelfth year of his mission, at ‘Aqabah,
outside Makka, with a group of people from Madina. He
communicated his Message to them, and they accepted Islam.
The following year, seventy people from Madina became
Muslims at the same place. These new Muslims took the oath
of allegiance to God’s Messenger and promised to support
him if he emigrated to Madina. This was the beginning of a
new phase in the life of God’s Messenger. He appointed
Mus‘ab ibn ‘Umayr to teach them Islam. When he
emigrated to Madina the following year, there was left no
house without, at least, one convert.7
1.
Ibn Kathir, al-Bidaya, 3.153.
2. Ibn Hisham, Sira, 4.48; Ibn Hanbal, 3.160; I.
Hajar, al-Isaba, 4.116.
3. Haythami, Majma‘ al-Zawa’id, 7.100-1.
4. Bukhari, Maghazi, 21; Ibn Hisham, Sira,
3.76-7.
5. Hakim, Mustadrak, 3.241-3; I. Hajar, al-Isaba,
2.496.
6. I. Hanbal, 1.159; Haythami, 8.302-3.
7. I. Hisham, Sira, 2.73.
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