The Sealed Nectar (22 page)

‘Don’t be cast down, verily, Allâh is with us.’"

4. The party continued its journey until it reached to solitary tents belonging to a woman called Umm Ma‘bad Al- Khuza‘iyah. She was a gracious lady who sat at her tent- door with a mat spread out for any chance traveller that might pass by the way. Fatigued and thirsty, the Prophet [pbuh] and his companions wanted to refresh themselves with food and some milk. The lady told them that the flock was out in the pasture and the goat standing nearby was almost dry. It was a rainless year. The Prophet [pbuh], with her permission, touched its udders, reciting over them the Name of Allâh, and to their great joy, there flowed plenty of milk out of them. The Prophet [pbuh] first offered that to the lady of the house, and he shared what was left with the members of the party. Before he left, he milked the goat, filled the container and gave it to Umm Ma‘bad. Later on, her husband arrived with slender goats hardly having any milk in their udders. He was astonished to see milk in the house. His wife told him that a blessed man passed by the way, and then she gave details about his physical appearance and manner of talk. Here Abu Ma‘bad realized on the spot that the man was the one whom Quraish were searching for and asked her to give full description of him. She gave a wonderful account of his physique and manners, to which we will go in detail later in the process of talking about his attributes and merits.

Abu Ma‘bad, after listening to his wife’s account, expressed a sincere wish to accompany the Prophet [pbuh] whenever that was possible, and reiterated his admiration in verses of poetry that echoed all over Makkah to such an extent that the people therein thought it was a jinn inculcating words in their ears.

Asma’, daughter of Abu Bakr, on hearing those lines, got to know that the two companions were heading for Madinah .[Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/54] The short poem opened with thanks giving to Allâh having given them (the Ma‘bads) the chance to host the Prophet [pbuh] for a while. It then gave an account of the bliss that would settle in the heart of the Prophet’s companion whosoever he was; it closed with an invitation to all mankind to come and see by themselves Umm Ma‘bad, her goat and the container of milk that would all testify to the truthfulness of the Prophet [pbuh] .

5. On his way to Madinah , the Prophet [pbuh] met Abu Buraidah, one of those driven by their lust for the reward of Quraish. No sooner did he face the Prophet [pbuh] and talk with him, than he embraced Islam along with 106

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seventy of his men. He took off his turban, tied it round his lance and took it as a banner bearing witness that the angel of security and peace had come to imbue the whole world with justice and fairness.[Rahmat-al-lil'alameen 1/101]

6.

The two Emigrants resumed their journey. It was during this time that they met Az- Zubair at the head of a caravan returning from Syria. There was warm greeting and Az- Zubair presented to them two white garments which they thankfully accepted.[Bukhari 1/554]

On Monday, 8th Rabi‘ Al- Awwal, the fourteenth year of Prophethood, i.e. September 23rd. 622, the Messenger of Allâh arrived at Quba’.[Rahmat-al-lil'alameen 1/102]

As soon as the news of Muhammad’s arrival began to spread, crowds came flocking out of Madinah . They would come every morning and wait eagerly for his appearance until forced by the unbearable heat of the midday sun to return. One day they had gone as usual, and after a long wait and watch they retired to the city when a Jew, catching a glimpse of three travellers clad in white winding their way to Madinah , shouted from the top of a hillock: "O you people of Arabia! Your grandfather has come! He, whom you have been eagerly waiting for, has come!" The Muslims immediately rushed holding their weapons, (to defend him)[Bukhari 1/555]

. The joyful news soon spread through the city and people marched forward to greet their noble guest.

Ibn Al- Qayyim said: "The shouts of ‘
Allâhu Akbar
’ (Allâh is Great) resounded in Banu

‘Amr bin ‘Auf. Muhammad’s [pbuh] elation correspondingly increased, but with rare sense of timing and propriety, called a halt. Serenity enveloped him and the ñevelation was sent down:[Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/54]

"... then verily, Allâh is his Maula (Lord, Master or Protector), and Gabriel,
and the righteous among the believers, - and furthermore, the angels - are
his helpers."
[Al- Qur'an 66:4][Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/54; Ibn Hisham 1/493]

‘Urwah bin Az- Zubair said: They received the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] , and went with them to the right. There Banu ‘Amr bin ‘Awf hosted him. That was on Monday, Rabi‘ Al- Awwal. He sat down silent, and
Al- Ansar
(the Helpers), who had not had the opportunity to see him before, came in to greet him: It is said that the sun became too hot so Abu Bakr stood up to shade him from the hot sun rays.[Bukhari 1/555] It was really an unprecedented day in Madinah . The Jews could perceive concretely the veracity of their Prophet Habquq, who said: ‘God has come from At- Taiman, and the Qudus one from Faran Mount.’

Muhammad [pbuh] stayed in Quba’ with Kulthum bin Al- Hadm, a hospitable chief of the tribe of ‘Amr bin ‘Awf. Here he spent four days: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday . It was during this period that the foundation of Quba’ Mosque was laid on the basis of pure piety. ‘Ali hung back in Makkah for three days to return the trusts, on behalf of the Prophet [pbuh], to their respective owners. After that he started his emigration journey to catch up with him at Quba’.[Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/54; Ibn Hisham 1/493]

On Friday morning, the Prophet [pbuh], sent for Bani An- Najjar, his maternal uncles, to come and escort him and Abu Bakr to Madinah . He rode towards the new headquarters amidst the cordial greetings of his Madinese followers who had lined his path. He halted at a place in the vale of Banu Salim and there he performed his 107

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Friday prayer with a hundred others [Bukhari 1/555] . Meanwhile the tribes and families of Madinah , the new name for Yathrib and a short form of ‘The Messenger’s
Madinah
(City)’, came streaming forth, and vied with one another in inviting the noble visitor to their homes. The girls of the Madinese used to chant beautiful verses of welcome rich in all meanings of obedience and dutifulness to the new Messenger.

Though not wealthy, every
Ansar
(Helper) was wholeheartedly eager and anxious to receive the Messenger in his house. It was indeed a triumphal procession. Around the camel of Muhammad [pbuh] and his immediate followers, rode the chiefs of the city in their best raiment and in glittering armour, everyone saying: "Alight here O

Messenger of Allâh, abide by us." Muhammad [pbuh] used to answer everyone courteously and kindly: "This camel is commanded by Allâh, wherever it stops, that will be my abode."

The camel moved onward with slackened rein, reached the site of the Prophetic Mosque and knelt down. He did not dismount until it rose up again, went on forward, turned back and then returned to kneel down in the very former spot. Here, he alighted in a quarter inhabited by Banu Najjar, a tribe related to the Prophet [pbuh]

from the maternal side. In fact, it was his wish to honour his maternal uncles and live among them. The fortunate host, Abu Ayyub Al- Ansari, stepped forward with unbounded joy for the Divine blessing appropriated to him, welcomed the Noble Guest and solicited him to enter his house. [Za'd Al-Ma'ad 2/55]

A few days later, there arrived the Prophet’s spouse Sawdah, his two daughters Fatimah and Umm Kulthum, Usama bin Zaid, Umm Aiman, ‘Abdullah — son of Abu Bakr with Abu Bakr’s house- hold including ‘Aishah [R]Ç. Zainab was not able to emigrate and stayed with her husband Abi Al- ‘As till Badr Battle. [Bukhari 1/556]

‘Aishah [R]Ç said: "When the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh] arrived in Madinah , both Abu Bakr and Bilal fell ill. I used to attend to their needs. When the fever took firm grip of Abu Bakr he used to recite verses of poetry that smacked of near death; Bilal, when the fit of fever alleviated, would also recite verses of poetry that pointed to clear homesickness." ‘Aishah [R]Ç added:

"I briefed the Prophet [pbuh] on their grave situation, and he replied: O Allâh, we entreat You to establish in our hearts a strong love for Madinah equal to that we used to have for Makkah, or even more. O Allâh, bless and increase the wealth of Madinah and we beseech You to transmute its rotten mud into wholesome edible fat." [Bukhari 1/588]

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Life in Madinah

The Madinese era could be divided into three phases:

1. The first phase was characterized by too much trouble and discord, and too many obstacles from within coupled by a hostile wave from without aiming at total extermination of the rising faith. It ended with Al- Hudaibiyah Peace Treaty in Dhul Qa‘da 6 A.H.

2. The second phase featured a truce with the pagan leadership and ended in the conquest of Makkah in Ramadan 8 A.H. It also witnessed the Prophet

[pbuh] inviting kings beyond Arabia to enter the fold of Islam.

3. In the third phase, people came to embrace Islam in hosts. Tribes and other folks arrived in Madinah to pay homage to the Prophet [pbuh]. It ended at the death of the Prophet [pbuh] in Rabi‘ Al- Awwal 11 A.H.

The First Phase: The Status Quo in Madinah at the Time of Emigration
Emigration to Madinah could never be attributable to attempts to escape from jeers and oppression only, but it also constituted a sort of cooperation with the aim of erecting the pillars of a new society in a secure place. Hence it was incumbent upon every capable Muslim to contribute to building this new homeland, immunizing it and holding up its prop. As a leader and spiritual guide, there was no doubt the Noble Messenger [pbuh], in whose hands exclusively all affairs would be resolved.

In Madinah, the Prophet [pbuh] had to deal with three distinctively different categories of people with different respective problems: 1. His Companions, the noble and Allâh fearing elite [R]

2. Polytheists still detached from the Islam and were purely Madinese tribes.

3. The Jews.

1. As for his Companions, the conditions of life in Madinah were totally different from those they experienced in Makkah. There, in Makkah, they used to strive for one corporate target, but physically, they were scattered, overpowered and forsaken. They were helpless in terms of pursuing their new course of orientation. Their means, socially and materially, fell short of establishing a new Muslim community. In parallel lines, the Makkan Chapters of the Noble Qur’ân were confined to delineating the Islamic precepts, enacting legislations pertaining to the believers individually and enjoining good and piety and forbidding evils and vices.

In Madinah , things were otherwise; here all the affairs of their life rested in their hands. Now, they were at ease and could quite confidently handle the challenges of civilization, construction, means of living, economics, politics, government administration, war and peace, codification of the questions of the allowed and prohibited, worship, ethics and all the relevant issues. In a nutshell, they were in Madinah at full liberty to erect the pillars of a new Muslim community not only utterly different from that pre- Islamic code of life, but also distinctive in its features in the world at large. It was a society that 109

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could stand for the Islamic Call for whose sake the Muslims had been put to unspeakable tortures for 10 years. No doubt, the construction of a society that runs in line with this type of ethics cannot be accomplished overnight, within a month or a year. It requires a long time to build during which legislation and legalization will run gradually in a complementary process with mind cultivation, training and education. Allâh, the All- Knowing, of course undertook legislation and His Prophet Muhammad [pbuh], implementation and orientation:

"He it is Who sent among the unlettered ones a Messenger
(Muhammad [pbuh]) from among themselves, reciting to them His
Verses, purifying them (from the filth of disbelief and polytheism),
and teaching them the Book (this Qur’ân, Islamic laws and Islamic
Jurisprudence) and
Al- Hikmah
(
As- Sunna
: legal ways, orders, acts of
worship, etc. of the Prophet Muhammad [pbuh].)."
[Al- Qur'an 62:2]

The Prophet’s Companions [R] , rushed enthusiastically to assimilate these Qur’ânic rules and fill their hearts joyfully with them:

"And when His Verses (this Qur’ân) are recited unto them, they (i.e.

the Verses) increase their Faith."
[Al- Qur'an 8:2]

With respect to the Muslims, this task constituted the greatest challenge for the Messenger of Allâh [pbuh]. In fact, this very purpose lay at the heart of the Islamic Call and the Muhammadan mission; it was never an incidental issue though there were the matters that required urgent addressing.

The Muslims in Madinah consisted virtually of two parties: The first one already settled down in their abode, land and wealth, fully at ease, but seeds of discord amongst them were deeply seated and chronic enmity continually evoked; they were
Al- Ansar
(the Helpers). The second party were
Al-Muhajirun
(the Emigrants), homeless, jobless and penniless. Their number was not small, on the contrary, it was increasing day by day after the Prophet

[pbuh] had given them the green light to leave for Madinah whose economic structure, originally not that prosperous one, began to show signs of imbalance aggravated by the economic boycott that the anti- Islamic groups imposed and consequently imports diminished and living conditions worsened.

2. The purely Madinese polytheists constituted the second sector with whom the Prophet [pbuh] had to deal. Those people had no control at all over the Muslim. Some of them nursed no grudge against the Muslims, but were rather skeptical of their ancestors’ religious practices, and developed tentative inclination towards Islam and before long they embraced the new faith and were truly devoted to Allâh. However, some others harboured evil intentions against the Prophet [pbuh] and his followers but were too cowardly to resist them publicly, they were rather, under those Islamically favourable conditions, obliged to fake amicability and friendliness. ‘Abdullah bin Ubai, who had almost been given presidency over Al- Khazraj and Al- Aws tribes in the wake of Bu‘ath War between the two tribes, came at the head of that group of hypocrites. The Prophet’s advent and the vigorous rise of the new spirit of Islam foiled that orientation and the idea soon went into oblivion. He, seeing another one, Muhammad [pbuh], coming to deprive him and his 110