Lesson 90 Starting the Call

1. Lesson 90Starting the Call

2. [16] The secret preaching of Islam

3. When the revelation resumed again after its pause, the Prophet (SAWS)started to call upon those whom Allah ordered him to, namely, all humans and all jinn (genies).

4. Calling upon them to worship Allah (SWT) the glorified and exalted, the one and only and to reject worshipping anything other than Him, creatures and idols alike.

5. Allah (SWT) directed His noble Messenger (SAWS) to start preaching Islam secretly.

6. Thus the Prophet began preaching Islam secretly to those whom he trusted and confided in of his family members and closest relatives and friends, and to his close circle of fellow tribesmen.

7. He persisted on this mission of calling people forth to Allah in secret for three years with perseverance, until a few people believed in him.

8. They used to pray and carry out their religious practices in secret, hiding from others, not publicizing their religion in front of the people of Quraysh;

9. to the extent that they even had to practice their religion in hiding from their own family members and children.

10. When their number became almost thirty and had to summon with the Prophet (SAWS) to receive guidance and learn from him,

11. the Prophet chose a big house which belonged to one of the men called Al-Arqam ibn ul-Arqam. They used to meet there,

12. and little by little they increased in number until Allah (SWT) ordered the Prophet (SAWS) to preach his mission publicly.

13. [17] The reason of inviting people to Islam secretly

14. When the Angel Jibril “Gabriel” (SAWS) first descended with the revelation of the Qur’an on Prophet Muhammad (SAWS),

15. towards the end of the month of Ramadan in the year he turned forty years of age, in the cave of Hirâ', in which he used to meditate,

16. the Prophet (SAWS) was not ordered at that time to fulfill the mission and deliver Allah’s message to people,

17. but the matter was limited to Jibril’s (AS) delivery of Allah's message to him (the Prophet) and to the glorification of Allah (SWT) with what appears in the Surat Al-‘Alaq, which can be translated as,

18. "Read: In the Name of your Lord Who created, Created man from `Alaq (a clinging mass, leech-like clot). Read: And your Lord is The Most Honorable, Who taught by the pen. He taught man what he did not know." (TMQ, Al-`Alaq: 1-5).

19. Then, after the revelation ceased for a period of time, it came back with Allah's order to preach and deliver His message.

20. The people of Makkah, to whom the Prophet (SAWS) was sent, were rough and snobbish people.

21. Among them were those who served the Ka`bah (the place of worship which Allah commanded the Prophets Ibrâhîm “Abraham”(AS) and Ismâ`îl “Ishmael”(AS)

22. to build on the foundations that Adam (AS) laid down and in which direction all Muslims pray and to which Muslims go for pilgrimage),

23. who had its keys in their possession and who took care of the idols that were sacred among all Arabs, whom they worshipped and to whom they offered sacrifices and gifts.

24. The people of Makkah knew nothing of what was revealed to the Prophet (SAWS) and were of characters that would not come to believe in him easily.

25. Therefore, it was from Allah's (SWT) wisdom to have the preaching of the Islamic religion in its onset in secret,

26. so as not to surprise the Arabs with what would aggravate them and what would cause them to reject the religion and be a cause for assaults, wars and bloodshed.

27. Moreover, the Prophet (SAWS) had no adherents or supporters at the time when the mission was in secret; and since Allah (SWT) always ascribes reasons to causes,

28. He (SWT) did not order His Prophet (SAWS) to preach the mission publicly before preparing for him the causes of victory over his opponents in this matter.

29. Especially, since his people, to whom he was sent, were the most attached people to the idols they worshipped and to their ancestors' beliefs.

30. It is well-known that among people, there are those who are highly-regarded and of high esteem among their people, and there are those who are not.

31. The former people's pride prevents them from responding to whoever calls upon them to desert whatever their people believe in, and to deny their ethnic ties and deeply-rooted traditions.

32. This is because each of them thinks that his lone submission to others weakens his position in the perspective of his people.

33. Thus, if these highly-regarded people are faced with a sudden declaration of a callthat conflicts with what they believe in, they would make sure to appear to deny and resist the call as a whole.

34. Moreover, those who are neither highly-regarded nor noble are followers of the leaders and nobles;

35. and if asked publicly to reject those nobles' way they would not find the courage to follow the preacher as long as none of the nobles preceded them to it.

36. Accordingly, the public declaration of the mission needs a prelude to pave the way for both parties.

37. This can only be achieved through secretly attracting members of both parties, so that when they have formed a decent-sized group,

38. through which the mission gets declared and preached in public, it would be easy for others to reject their people's traditions and follow what the preachers call for, of what their hearts accept and their instincts do not reject.

39. [18] The earlier Muslims

40. The first person to be called forth to Islam was Khadîjah bint Khuwaylid, the wife of the Prophet (SAWS) and it is almost agreed upon by scholars that she was the first to embrace Islam.

41. Moreover, it is also well known that Abu-Bakr As-Siddîq was the first to embrace Islam among the men, `Ali ibn Abu-Tâlib among the boys, and Zaid ibn Haritha among the slaves.

42. After Khadîjah, `Ali ibn Abu-Tâlib, the Prophet's cousin, embraced Islam at the age of 10; and he used to live with the Prophet (SAWS).

43. When the time for prayer came, the Prophet (SAWS) used to accompany `Ali secretly to the mountain passes of Makkah to pray and then come back as quietly as they left.

44. Once, Abu-Tâlib (the Prophet’s uncle) saw them praying and asked the Prophet (SAWS), “Oh nephew! What is this new religion that I see you have embraced?”

45. He replied: “Oh uncle! This is Allah's religion, His angels' religion, His messengers' religion, and our father Ibrâhîm 's “Abraham’s” religion.

46. Allah has sent me as a Messenger to deliver it to the people; and you uncle is the one who is most deserving of my advice and of my guidance to embrace the true religion, and the one who should embrace it and help me with it the most.”

47. Abu-Tâlib replied, “Oh my nephew! I cannot abandon my ancestors' religion.” However, he consented that his son `Ali could follow this religion and promised the Prophet (SAWS) to protect and help him.

48. Then Zayd ibn Hârithahembraced Islam. He was the Prophet's waiting boy whom the Prophet freed, then adopted and let him marry Um Ayman who was among the first people to embrace Islam.

49. Then Abu-Bakr As-Siddîq embraced Islam. He was a friend of the Prophet (SAWS) before Prophethood and knew of his honesty;

50. so when the Prophet informed him of his message, Abu-Bakr believed him immediately and said, “I sacrifice my mother and father's life for you, you are trustworthy, and I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are His Messenger”.