The Devotion of Life — Page 287
287 spiritual terms; in order to create this new world and this new firmament we will have to sacrifice a million-fold. We have to make an edifice that would change the world’s minds and thoughts. We have to prepare an edifice that would alter the world’s civilization. We have to create an edifice that would change the thoughts and emotions of the world. Would such an edifice be prepared without magnificent sacrifices?” The Initial Sacrifices and their Reward “Initially, for quite some time, the result of sacrifices cannot be seen and man thinks that his sacrifices have been to no avail. In actual fact, they are not useless, rather, they are useful and after a short period these very sacrifices bear fruit. The Holy Prophet (Peace and Blessings of Allah be upon him) continually propagated the message of Islam in Mecca for thirteen years, yet very few people believed in him. Thus for a long period his sacrifices appeared to be of no avail because in the period of thirteen years a total of eighty-one people became Muslims. That is, six to seven people per year. Some traditions relate the number to be around two to three hundred. However, even two to three hundred people coming into Islam in the period of thirteen years does not appear very encouraging. If three hundred people were to be approximated for twelve years then in the following twelve years three hundred more people could have become Muslim. However, after the migration to Medina the progress of Islam was greatly beyond expectations.