Hazrat Safiyyah — Page 11
11 11 HADRAT SaFIYYAH ra the case, then what would you have done?” Hadrat Zubair ra replied immediately, “O Prophet of Allah, I would have died fighting the people of Makkah. ” 6 This is why Hadrat Zubair ra is given the honour of being recognised as the first to lift a sword in the defence of Islam. This is exactly the kind of attitude Hadrat S afiyyah ra wanted her son to have. It was the result of her wonderful training that when Hadrat Zubair ra was put through unthinkable torture to make him renounce Islam and return to his old pagan religion, his response was that he would never go back to disbelieving no matter what it cost him. Five years after the start of the Prophethood of Muhammad sa , the cruelty of the disbelievers towards the Muslims surpassed all bounds in Makkah. The Holy Prophet sa advised his followers to migrate to Abyssinia, which is called Ethiopia today. The first group to travel to Ethiopia consisted of about fifteen Muslims. Hadrat Zubair ra was part of this group. Hadrat S afiyyah ra was very distressed upon being separated from her son, but since it was the directive of the Holy Prophet sa and it insured the safety of her son, she very patiently and uncomplainingly bid farewell to her beloved son to go to a foreign land. When barely three months had passed since these migrants