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paarsurrey
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We continue learning about Muhammad’s peaceful life in Mecca:
FIRST CONVERTS
21. Waraqa evidently referred to the prophecy in Deuteronomy
18 : 18. When the news reached Zaid, the Prophet’s freed
slave, now about thirty years of age, and his cousin 'Ali, about
eleven, they both declared their faith in him. Abu Bakr,
friend of his childhood, was out of town. As he returned he
began to hear of this new experience which the Prophet had had.
He was told that his friend had gone mad and had begun to
say that angels brought him messages from God. Abu Bakr
trusted the Prophet completely. He did not doubt for a
minute that the Prophet must be right-he had known him to
be both sane and sincere. He knocked at the Prophet’s door
and on admission into his company asked him what had
happened. The Prophet, fearing lest Abu Bakr should mis-
understand, began a long explanation. Abu Bakr stopped the
Prophet from doing so, and insisted that all he wanted to know
was whether an angel had really descended upon him from
God and had given him a Message. The Prophet wanted to
explain again, but Abu Bakr said he wanted to hear no explana-
tion. He wanted only an answer to the question whether he
had had a Message from God. The Prophet said, “Yes” and
Abu Bakr at once declared his faith. Having declared his
faith, he said, argument would have detracted from the value
of his faith. He had known the Prophet long and intimately.
He could not doubt him, and he wanted no argument to be
convinced of his truth.
22. This small group of the Faithful then were the first believers of Islam : a woman full of years,
an eleven-year-old boy, a freed slave living among strangers,
a young friend and the Prophet himself. This was the party
which made the silent resolve to spread the light of God all
over the world.
23. When the people and their leaders heard of
this, they laughed and declared that these men had gone mad.
There was nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. But as
time went on, the truth began to dawn and as the Prophet
Isaiah (28 : 13) said long ago, precept upon precept, precept
upon precept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and
there a little ; began to descend upon the Prophet.
24. THE FAITHFUL PERSECUTED
God began to talk to Muhammad in “another tongue”. The
youth of the country began to wonder. Those in search of
truth became excited. Out of scorn and derision began to
grow approval and admiration. Slaves, young men, and hap-
less women began to collect around the Prophet. In his
Message and in his teaching there was hope for the degraded,
the depressed and the young. Women thought the time for
the restoration of their rights was near. Slaves thought the
day of their liberation had come and young men thought the
avenues of progress were going to be thrown open to them.
25. When derision began to change into approval and indifference
into attachment, the chiefs of Mecca and the officials began to
take fright. They assembled and took counsel. They decided
that derision was no method to deal with this menace. A more
serious remedy had to be applied. The new influence had to
be put down by force.
26. It was decided that persecution and some
form of boycott must be instituted. Practical steps were soon
taken, and Mecca was pitched against Islam in a serious conflict.
The Prophet and his small following were no longer considered
mad, but a growing influence which, if allowed to grow un-
impeded, would prove a danger to the faith, prestige, customs
and traditions of Mecca. Islam threatened to pull down and
rebuild the old structure of Meccan society, to create a new
heaven and a new earth, the coming of which must mean the
disappearance of the old heaven of Arabia and its old heart.
Meccans could no longer laugh at Islam.
27. It was a question now
of life and death for them. Islam was a challenge and Mecca
accepted the challenge, as enemies of Prophets had always
accepted the challenge of their Prophets. They decided not
to meet argument by argument but to draw the sword and put
down the dangerous teaching by force ; not to match the good
example of the Prophet and his followers by their own, nor to
reply to kind words in kind, but to maltreat the innocent and to
abuse those who spoke kindly.
Unquote
Thanks
We continue learning about Muhammad’s peaceful life in Mecca:
FIRST CONVERTS
21. Waraqa evidently referred to the prophecy in Deuteronomy
18 : 18. When the news reached Zaid, the Prophet’s freed
slave, now about thirty years of age, and his cousin 'Ali, about
eleven, they both declared their faith in him. Abu Bakr,
friend of his childhood, was out of town. As he returned he
began to hear of this new experience which the Prophet had had.
He was told that his friend had gone mad and had begun to
say that angels brought him messages from God. Abu Bakr
trusted the Prophet completely. He did not doubt for a
minute that the Prophet must be right-he had known him to
be both sane and sincere. He knocked at the Prophet’s door
and on admission into his company asked him what had
happened. The Prophet, fearing lest Abu Bakr should mis-
understand, began a long explanation. Abu Bakr stopped the
Prophet from doing so, and insisted that all he wanted to know
was whether an angel had really descended upon him from
God and had given him a Message. The Prophet wanted to
explain again, but Abu Bakr said he wanted to hear no explana-
tion. He wanted only an answer to the question whether he
had had a Message from God. The Prophet said, “Yes” and
Abu Bakr at once declared his faith. Having declared his
faith, he said, argument would have detracted from the value
of his faith. He had known the Prophet long and intimately.
He could not doubt him, and he wanted no argument to be
convinced of his truth.
22. This small group of the Faithful then were the first believers of Islam : a woman full of years,
an eleven-year-old boy, a freed slave living among strangers,
a young friend and the Prophet himself. This was the party
which made the silent resolve to spread the light of God all
over the world.
23. When the people and their leaders heard of
this, they laughed and declared that these men had gone mad.
There was nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. But as
time went on, the truth began to dawn and as the Prophet
Isaiah (28 : 13) said long ago, precept upon precept, precept
upon precept ; line upon line, line upon line ; here a little, and
there a little ; began to descend upon the Prophet.
24. THE FAITHFUL PERSECUTED
God began to talk to Muhammad in “another tongue”. The
youth of the country began to wonder. Those in search of
truth became excited. Out of scorn and derision began to
grow approval and admiration. Slaves, young men, and hap-
less women began to collect around the Prophet. In his
Message and in his teaching there was hope for the degraded,
the depressed and the young. Women thought the time for
the restoration of their rights was near. Slaves thought the
day of their liberation had come and young men thought the
avenues of progress were going to be thrown open to them.
25. When derision began to change into approval and indifference
into attachment, the chiefs of Mecca and the officials began to
take fright. They assembled and took counsel. They decided
that derision was no method to deal with this menace. A more
serious remedy had to be applied. The new influence had to
be put down by force.
26. It was decided that persecution and some
form of boycott must be instituted. Practical steps were soon
taken, and Mecca was pitched against Islam in a serious conflict.
The Prophet and his small following were no longer considered
mad, but a growing influence which, if allowed to grow un-
impeded, would prove a danger to the faith, prestige, customs
and traditions of Mecca. Islam threatened to pull down and
rebuild the old structure of Meccan society, to create a new
heaven and a new earth, the coming of which must mean the
disappearance of the old heaven of Arabia and its old heart.
Meccans could no longer laugh at Islam.
27. It was a question now
of life and death for them. Islam was a challenge and Mecca
accepted the challenge, as enemies of Prophets had always
accepted the challenge of their Prophets. They decided not
to meet argument by argument but to draw the sword and put
down the dangerous teaching by force ; not to match the good
example of the Prophet and his followers by their own, nor to
reply to kind words in kind, but to maltreat the innocent and to
abuse those who spoke kindly.
Unquote
Thanks
