Introduction to the Study of The Holy Quran — Page 119
119 Nineveh, was a holy man, a Prophet like me. " The Prophet also told ‘Addas of his own Message. ‘Addas felt charmed and believed at once. He embraced the Prophet with tears in his eyes and started kissing his head, hands and feet. The meeting over, the Prophet turned again to Allah and said: Allah, I submit my plaint to Thee. I am weak, and without means. My people look down upon me. Thou art Lord of the weak and the poor and Thou art my Lord. To whom wilt Thou abandon me—to strangers who push me about or to the enemy who oppresses me in my own town? If Thou art not angered at me, I care not for my enemy. Thy mercy be with me. I seek refuge in the light of Thy face. It is Thou Who canst drive away darkness from the world and give peace to all, here and hereafter. Let not Thy anger and Thy wrath descend on me. Thou art never angry except when Thou art pleased soon after. And there is no power and no refuge except with Thee. 134 Having said this prayer, he set back for Mecca. He stopped en route at Nakhlah for a few days and set out again. According to Meccan tradition he was no longer a citizen of Mecca. He had left it because he thought it hostile and could not return to it except with the permission of the Meccans. Accordingly, he sent word to Mut‘im bin ‘Adiyy—a Meccan chief, to ask if Meccans would permit him to come back. Mut‘im, though as bitter an enemy as any other, possessed nobility of heart. He collected his sons and relatives. Arming themselves, they went to the Ka‘bah. Standing in the courtyard he announced he was permitting the Prophet to return. The Prophet then returned, and made a circuit of the Ka‘bah. Mut‘im, his sons and relatives, with swords unsheathed, then escorted the Prophet to his house. It was not protection in the customary Arabian sense which had been extended to the Prophet. The Prophet continued to suffer and Mut‘im did not shield him. Mut‘im’s act amounted to a declaration of formal permission for the Prophet to return. The Prophet’s journey to Ta’if has extorted praise even from the enemies of Islam. Sir William Muir, in his biography of the Prophet, writes (speaking of the journey to Ta’if ): There is something lofty and heroic in this journey of Muhammad to at-Ta’if; a solitary man, despised and rejected by his own people, going boldly forth in the name of God, like Jonah to Nineveh, and summoning an idolatrous city to repent and support his mission. It sheds a strong light on the intensity of his belief in the divine origin of his calling. 135 Mecca returned to its old hostility. The Prophet’s home town again became hell for him. But he continued to tell people of his Message. The formula, "God is One", began to be heard here and there. With love and regard, and with a sense of fellow- feeling, the Prophet persisted in the exposition of his Message. People turned away but he addressed them again and again. He made his proclamation, whether the people cared or not, and persistence seemed to pay. The handful of Muslims who had