615 AD/Preaching continued
615 AD. Demand for a sign of Risalat
Despite all the exhortations of the Prophet, the Quraish persisted in asking him for a sign. They insisted that unless some sign be sent down to him from his Lord, they would not believe. They failed to recollect the fate of those people whose prophets were sent with miracles and who were destroyed as they refused to be on right path even after witnessing them.
615 AD.Attack against the Holy Quran
The Holy Quran served as shield for the Muslims, so they launched an attack against the Holy Quran charging that it was not a revealed book. Its authorship was owned by a Christian named Jabir. Allah Himself refuted the charge by pointing out that Jabir, not being Arab, was not proficient in the Arabic language. A challenge was given to them that if it was a work of human authorship, they should produce something like that. The Quraish were unable to accept the challenge and thus, attack on the Quran failed.
616 AD. Quraish attempted character assassination
We know that your heart is distressed by what they say against you. The cure of your heart's distress is that you should celebrate the praises of your Rabb and be of those who prostrate themselves before Him, and worship your Rabb until there come to you which is certain (death). Surah 15.97-99 The growing strength of the Muslim community stirred the Quraish who launched a vilification campaign. Their poets ridiculed the Holy Prophet and his faith. Ali, being a poet, also wrote, highlighting the truth about Islam. The Quraish made undignified attempt towards the character assassination of the Holy Prophet posing him to be a mad, or a victim of hallucination or a ‘vizard’ or a ‘Kahin’ or a victim of some Jinn.
616 AD. Demand of showing Miracles
When all attempts failed, the Quraish made a demand of proof for veracity of the Holy Prophet by way of showing them the angel. They demanded that he should ask God to turn the rocks of Makkah into gold or to show them some miracle or to convert the desert of Arabia into an oasis. Some said that if he was a prophet, and knew of things not known to others, he should show them the spots where treasure was buried under the earth. The Holy Prophet maintained that the Holy Quran was his miracle, and he challenged the unbelievers to produce anything like that.
616 AD.Moon breaks in two pieces
During the lifetime of the Prophet the moon was split
into two parts and on that the Prophet said, "Bear
witness (to thus)."
That the Meccan people requested Allah's Apostle to
show them a miracle, and so he showed them the
splitting of the moon. Bukhari 4.830,831The idolaters of Quraish had been demanding to show a miracle if the claim of being a Prophet is true. They wanted to see if the Prophet can break the moon in pieces. The Holy Prophet صل الله عليه و على الهى و سلم pointed his finger towards the moon and cut into two pieces, one by the side of Mountain Hira and the other at its another side and the Prophet said to be witness. But they were bent upon falsifying the Prophet and replied that it is just magic. One of them questioned that if it is magic, why it is not spelled on you earthly people but there was no reply. Some travelers on their return met Abu Jahl and told his what they saw of the moon but he said that it is just an old magic. The breaking of the moon was testified by a lot of companions and the Holy Quran has also a mention of it.
616 AD.Hz. Umar accepted Islam
In the meantime, the Holy Quran showed its miraculous aspect in many ways. During this period, 'Umar Ibn Al-Khattab adopted Islam. In him the new faith gained a valuable adherent and an important factor in the future development and propagation of Islam. Earlier he had been a bitter enemy of Islam and the Prophet. One day, Umar a fiery youth among the Quraish and an inveterate enemy of the Muslims girded his sword and came out with the intention of putting an end to the life of the Holy Prophet. In the way he met a friend who advised him to take care of his sister and her husband first who had become Muslims. Umar heard some verses of the Holy Quran, at the house of his sister which moved him to such an extent that he hastened to the Holy Prophet to owe him allegiance. His conversion was the result of a miraculous effect on his mind of a surah of the Qur'an which his sister was reading in her house, Thus the party of the Prophet had been strengthened by the conversion of his uncle Hamza, a man of great valor and merit; and of Abu Bakr and Umar, both men of great energy and reputation. The Muslims now ventured to perform their devotions in public.
The conversion of Umar proved to be a matter of a great setback for the Quraish. Al Tufail b Amr of the Daus tribe, an eminent Arabic poet came to Makkah. Quraish met him and put pressure on him not to see Muhammad (peace be on him) as he was a wizard and a sorcerer. He said that, after hearing the verses of the Holy Quran he would judge, being a poet as to how far the Quran was genuine or otherwise. He saw the Holy Prophet, heard some verses of the Holy Quran and was so much impressed that he lost no time in conversion to Islam.
The Quraish also tried in vain, to prevail upon a delegation of a dozen Christians, who came from the interior of Arabia, having heard of the advent of the Holy Prophet, as according to their assessment he was an imposter. They saw the Holy Prophet, heard the Holy Quran, were impressed and were converted to Islam.
616 AD. Bedouins converted
When the Prophet صل الله عليه و على الهى و سلم spoke reproachfully of the sacred gods of the Quraish, the latter redoubled their persecution. But the Prophet, nevertheless, continued his preaching undaunted by the hostility of his enemies or by their bitter persecution of him. And despite all opposition and increased persecution, the new faith gained ground. The national fair at Okadh near Mecca attracted many desert Bedouins and trading citizens of distant towns. These people listened to the teachings of the Prophet, to his admonitions, and to his denunciations of their sacred idols and of their superstitions. They carried back all that they had heard to their distant homes, and thus the advent of the Prophet was made known to almost all parts of the peninsula.
616AD. Quraish offered the crown of Mecca
In view of their failure in the attack on sanctity of the Holy Qur’an, the Quraish changed their strategy. They whipped up their persecution campaign on the one hand, and offered inducements to the Holy Prophet on the other hand by offering him the crown of Makkah in case he desisted from his activities. The Prophet was neither daunted by the persecution campaign nor was he attracted by their inducements and declared that even if all the wealth of the world was offered to him, he would not falter in the fulfillment of the mission entrusted to him by God.
616 AD. Quraish for a decisive blow
Alarmed at the bold part which the Prophet and his followers were now able to assume, and roused by the return of the deputies from Abyssinia and the announcement of their unsuccessful mission, the Quraish determined to check by a decisive blow any further progress of Islam.
616 AD. Quraish approach Abu Talib
By the year 616 C.E. the Quraish felt the ground slipping under their feet and they failed to prevail any Muslim to return to his previous faith. On the other hand some remarkable conversions had been made to Islam which had, by now, spread outside Makkah, and pockets of the Muslims had come to be established in other parts of Arabia. The Quraish became desperate. The only way left before them was to kill Muhammad صل الله عليه و على الهى و سلم . But as he enjoyed the protection of his tribe Banu Hashim, there was no chance for this evel design. The Meccans were more than ever furious at the Prophet's increasing preaching against their religion. They asked his uncle, Abu Talib, to stop him, but he could not do anything. At length, as the Prophet persisted in his ardent denunciations against their ungodliness and impiety, they turned him out from the Kaba where he used to sit to preach, and subsequently went in a body to Abu Talib. They urged the venerable chief to prevent his nephew from abusing their gods any longer or uttering any ill words against their ancestors. They warned Abu Talib that if he would not do that, he would be excluded from the communion of his people and driven to side with Muhammad; the matter would then be settled by fight until one of the two parties was exterminated.
Abu Talib neither wished to separate himself from his people, nor forsake his nephew for the idolaters to revenge themselves upon. He spoke to the Prophet very softly and begged him to abandon his affair. To this suggestion the Prophet firmly replied: "0 my uncle, if they placed the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand to cause me to renounce my task, verily I would not desist therefrom until Allah made manifest His cause or I perished in the attempt." The Prophet, overcome by the thought that his uncle and protector was willing to desert him, turned to depart. But Abu Talib called him loudly to come back, and he came. "Say whatever you please; for by the Lord I shall not desert you ever." The Quraish again attempted in vain to cause Abu Talib to abandon his nephew. The venerable chief declared his intention to protect his nephew against any menace or violence. He appealed to the sense of honor of the two families of the Bani Hashim and the Bani Muttalib, both families being kinsmen of the Prophet, to protect their member from falling victim to the hatred of rival parties. All the members of the two families nobly responded to the appeal of Abu Talib except Abu Lahab, one of the Prophet's uncles, who took part with the persecutors.
616 AD The Rome
In the war which broke out between the Persians and the Byzantines the territories of Syria and Jerusalem belonging to Byzantines fell to Persians in the war in 614 C.E. and next the Persians captured Egypt in 616 C.E. At that time, the Byzantines lay low. The pagan Arabs, Quraish of Makkah rejoiced at the victory of Persia as they were polytheists whom the Quraish favored. They took such victory to signify that their gods were superior to the God of the Christians and the Muslims.
It was at this stage that the Surah Ar-Rum (Surah 30) was revealed and the Holy Prophet prophesied that within ten years the Byzantines would defeat the Persians. The Arabs considered it beyond possibility and prima facie it appeared difficult that they would defeat the Persians but Abu Bakr felt confident that the prophesy would be fulfilled. He had an altercation with some of the Quraish, saying "How can the revelation of God be false?" Ubaiy b Khalf a Quraish leader said to Abu Bakr, "If you are sure, let us have a wager." Abu Bakr agreed and entered into a wager agreement on one hundred camels with Ubaiy b. Khalf with the time limit for the fulfillment as within nine years binding on the heirs of the parties.
The outcome
Within a few years the Byzantines became strong and attacked Persia. In the battle of Issus in 622 C.E. the Persians suffered the first defeat. Other battles were fought during 623-25 in which the Byzantines had the upper hand. The decisive battle was fought on the banks of the Tigris near the city of Mosul in 627 C.E. when Persia surrendered and asked for terms. As a result of this reverse there was a revolt against the Persian king Khosroes II who was killed by his own son Sherwayh who made peace with the Byzantines by abandoning all the conquests that Persia had made earlier. Thus the promise of God as made in Surah Ar-Rum was literally fulfilled. By this time Ubaiy was dead, but his heirs honored the agreement and gave a hundred camels to Abu Bakr! They also accepted Islam. The fulfillment of the forecast was a proof positive of the truth of Islam. Abu Bakr gave away all the hundred camels as Sadaqa.
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