|
3. |
Narrated 'Aisha:
(the mother of
the faithful believers) The commencement
of the Divine Inspiration to Allah's
Apostle was in the form of good dreams
which came true like bright day light,
and then the love of seclusion was
bestowed upon him. He used to go in
seclusion in the cave of Hira where he
used to worship (Allah alone
continuously for many days before his
desire to see his family. He used to
take with him the journey food for the
stay and then come back to (his wife)
Khadija to take his food like-wise again
till suddenly the Truth descended upon
him while he was in the cave of Hira.
The angel came to him and asked him to
read. The Prophet replied, "I do not
know how to read.
The Prophet added, "The angel caught me
(forcefully) and pressed me so hard that
I could not bear it any more. He then
released me and again asked me to read
and I replied, 'I do not know how to
read.' Thereupon he caught me again and
pressed me a second time till I could
not bear it any more. He then released
me and again asked me to read but again
I replied, 'I do not know how to read
(or what shall I read)?' Thereupon he
caught me for the third time and pressed
me, and then released me and said, 'Read
in the name of your Lord, who has
created (all that exists) has created
man from a clot. Read! And your Lord is
the Most Generous." (96.1, 96.2, 96.3)
Then Allah's Apostle returned with the
Inspiration and with his heart beating
severely. Then he went to Khadija bint
Khuwailid and said, "Cover me! Cover
me!" They covered him till his fear was
over and after that he told her
everything that had happened and said,
"I fear that something may happen to
me." Khadija replied, "Never! By Allah,
Allah will never disgrace you. You keep
good relations with your Kith and kin,
help the poor and the destitute, serve
your guests generously and assist the
deserving calamity-afflicted ones."
Khadija then accompanied him to her
cousin Waraqa bin Naufal bin Asad bin
'Abdul 'Uzza, who, during the PreIslamic
Period became a Christian and used to
write the writing with Hebrew letters.
He would write from the Gospel in Hebrew
as much as Allah wished him to write. He
was an old man and had lost his
eyesight. Khadija said to Waraqa,
"Listen to the story of your nephew, O
my cousin!" Waraqa asked, "O my nephew!
What have you seen?" Allah's Apostle
described whatever he had seen. Waraqa
said, "This is the same one who keeps
the secrets (angel Gabriel) whom Allah
had sent to Moses. I wish I were young
and could live up to the time when your
people would turn you out." Allah's
Apostle asked, "Will they drive me out?"
Waraqa replied in the affirmative and
said, "Anyone (man) who came with
something similar to what you have
brought was treated with hostility; and
if I should remain alive till the day
when you will be turned out then I would
support you strongly." But after a few
days Waraqa died and the Divine
Inspiration was also paused for a while.
Narrated Jabir bin 'Abdullah Al-Ansari
while talking about the period of pause
in revelation reporting the speech of
the Prophet "While I was walking, all of
a sudden I heard a voice from the sky. I
looked up and saw the same angel who had
visited me at the cave of Hira' sitting
on a chair between the sky and the
earth. I got afraid of him and came back
home and said, 'Wrap me (in blankets).'
And then Allah revealed the following
Holy Verses (of Quran):
'O you (i.e.
Muhammad)! wrapped up in garments!'
Arise and warn (the people against
Allah's Punishment),... up to 'and
desert the idols.' (74.1-5) After this
the revelation started coming strongly,
frequently and regularly."
|
|
6. |
Narrated
'Abdullah bin 'Abbas:
Abu Sufyan bin
Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent
a messenger to him
while he had been accompanying a caravan
from Quraish. They were merchants
doing business in Sham (Syria,
Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan), at the
time when Allah's Apostle had truce with
Abu Sufyan and Quraish infidels. So Abu
Sufyan and his companions went to
Heraclius at Ilya (Jerusalem). Heraclius
called them in the court and he had all
the senior Roman dignitaries around him.
He called for his translator who,
translating Heraclius's question said to
them, "Who amongst you is closely
related to that man who claims to be a
Prophet?" Abu Sufyan replied, "I am the
nearest relative to him (amongst the
group)."
Heraclius said, "Bring him (Abu Sufyan)
close to me and make his companions
stand behind him." Abu Sufyan added,
Heraclius told his translator to tell my
companions that he wanted to put some
questions to me regarding that man (The
Prophet) and that if I told a lie they
(my companions) should contradict me."
Abu Sufyan added, "By Allah! Had I not
been afraid of my companions labeling
me a liar, I would not have spoken the
truth about the Prophet.
The first
question he asked me about him was:
'What is his family status amongst you?'
I replied,
'He belongs to a good (noble) family
amongst us.' Heraclius further asked,
'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed
the same (i.e. to be a Prophet) before
him?
I replied, 'No.'
He said, 'Was anybody amongst his
ancestors a king?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius asked, 'Do the nobles or the
poor follow him?'
I replied, 'It is the poor who follow
him.'
He said, 'Are his followers increasing
decreasing (day by day)?'
I replied, 'They are increasing.'
He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst
those who embrace his religion become
displeased and renounce the religion
afterwards?'
I replied, 'No.'
Heraclius said, 'Have you ever accused
him of telling lies before his claim (to
be a Prophet)?'
I replied, 'No. '
Heraclius said, 'Does he break his
promises?'
I replied, 'No. We are at truce with him
but we do not know what he will do in
it.' I could not find opportunity to say
anything against him except that.
Heraclius asked, 'Have you ever had a
war with him?'
I replied, 'Yes.'
Then he said, 'What was the outcome of
the battles?'
I replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious
and sometimes we.'
Heraclius said, 'What does he order you
to do?'
I said, 'He tells us to worship Allah
and Allah alone and not to worship
anything along with Him, and to renounce
all that our ancestors had said. He
orders us to pray, to speak the truth,
to be chaste and to keep good relations
with our Kith and kin.'
Heraclius
asked the translator to convey to me the
following, I asked you about his family
and your reply was that he belonged to a
very noble family.In fact all the
Apostles come from noble families
amongst their respective peoples. I
questioned you whether anybody else
amongst you claimed such a thing, your
reply was in the negative. If the answer
had been in the affirmative, I would
have thought that this man was following
the previous man's statement. Then I
asked you whether anyone of his
ancestors was a king. Your reply was in
the negative, and if it had been in the
affirmative, I would have thought that
this man wanted to take back his
ancestral kingdom. I further asked
whether he was ever accused of telling
lies before he said what he said, and
your reply was in the negative. So I
wondered how a person who does not tell
a lie about others could ever tell a lie
about Allah. I, then asked you whether
the rich people followed him or the
poor. You replied that it was the poor
who followed him. And in fact all the
Apostle have been followed by this very
class of people. Then I asked you
whether his followers were increasing or
decreasing. You replied that they were
increasing, and in fact this is the way
of true faith, till it is complete in
all respects. I further asked you
whether there was anybody, who, after
embracing his religion, became
displeased and discarded his religion.
Your reply was in the negative, and in
fact this is (the sign of) true faith,
when its delight enters the hearts and
mixes with them completely. I asked you
whether he had ever betrayed. You
replied in the negative and likewise the
Apostles never betray. Then I asked you
what he ordered you to do. You replied
that he ordered you to worship Allah and
Allah alone and not to worship any thing
along with Him and forbade you to
worship idols and ordered you to pray,
to speak the truth and to be chaste. If
what you have said is true, he will very
soon occupy this place underneath my
feet and I knew it (from the scriptures)
that he was going to appear but I did
not know that he would be from you, and
if I could reach him definitely, I would
go immediately to meet him and if I were
with him, I would certainly wash his
feet.' Heraclius then asked for the
letter addressed by Allah's Apostle
which was delivered by Dihya to the
Governor of Busra, who forwarded it to
Heraclius to read. The contents of the
letter were as follows: "In the name of
Allah the Beneficent, the Merciful (This
letter is) from Muhammad the slave of
Allah and His Apostle to Heraclius the
ruler of Byzantine. Peace be upon him,
who follows the right path. Furthermore
I invite you to Islam, and if you become
a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah
will double your reward, and if you
reject this invitation of Islam you will
be committing a sin by misguiding your
Arisiyin (peasants). (And I recite to
you Allah's Statement:)
'O people of the scripture! Come to a
word common to you and us that we
worship none but Allah and that we
associate nothing in worship with Him,
and
that none of us shall take others as
Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn
away, say: Bear witness that we are
Muslims (those who have surrendered to
Allah).' (3:64).
Abu Sufyan
then added, "When Heraclius had finished
his speech and had read
the letter, there was a great hue and
cry in the Royal Court. So we were
turned out of the court. I told my
companions that the question of
Ibn-Abi-Kabsha) (the Prophet Muhammad)
has become so prominent that even the
King of Bani Al-Asfar (Byzantine) is
afraid of him. Then I started to become
sure that he (the Prophet) would be the
conqueror in the near future till I
embraced Islam (i.e. Allah guided me to
it)."
The sub narrator adds, "Ibn An-Natur was
the Governor of llya' (Jerusalem) and
Heraclius was the head of the Christians
of Sham. Ibn An-Natur narrates that
once while Heraclius was visiting ilya'
(Jerusalem), he got up in the morning
with a sad mood. Some of his priests
asked him why he was in that mood?
Heraclius was a foreteller and an
astrologer. He replied, 'At night when I
looked at the stars, I saw that the
leader of those who practice
circumcision had appeared (become the
conqueror). Who are they who practice
circumcision?'
The people
replied, 'Except the Jews nobody
practices circumcision, so you
should not be afraid of them (Jews).
'Just Issue
orders to kill every Jew present in the
country.'
While they were discussing it, a
messenger sent by the king of Ghassan to
convey the news of Allah's Apostle to
Heraclius was brought in. Having heard
the news, he (Heraclius) ordered the
people to go and see whether the
messenger of Ghassan was circumcised.
The people, after seeing him, told
Heraclius that he was circumcised.
Heraclius then asked him about the
Arabs.
The messenger replied, 'Arabs also
practice circumcision.'
(After
hearing that) Heraclius remarked that
sovereignty of the 'Arabs had appeared.
Heraclius then wrote a letter to his
friend in Rome who was as good as
Heraclius in knowledge. Heraclius then
left for Homs. (a town in Syrian and
stayed there till he received the reply
of his letter from his friend who agreed
with him in his opinion about the
emergence of the Prophet and the fact
that he was a Prophet. On that Heraclius
invited all the heads of the Byzantines
to assemble in his palace at Homs. When
they assembled, he ordered that all the
doors of his palace be closed. Then he
came out and said, 'O Byzantines! If
success is your desire and if you seek
right guidance and want your empire to
remain then give a pledge of allegiance
to this Prophet (i.e. embrace Islam).'
(On hearing
the views of Heraclius) the people ran
towards the gates of the palace like
onagers but found the doors closed.
Heraclius realized their hatred towards
Islam and when he lost the hope of their
embracing Islam, he ordered that they
should be brought back in audience.
(When they
returned) he said, 'What already said
was just to test the strength
of your conviction and I have seen it.'
The people prostrated before him and
became pleased with him, and this was
the end of Heraclius's story (in
connection with his faith).
|
