Islam and the Freedom of Conscience — Page 109
~ 109 ~ accounts which they give of their visions seem to bear an extraordinary likeness to one another. It scarcely appears reasonable to suggest that all these visionaries ‘imagined’ such strikingly similar experiences, although they were quite ignorant of each other's existence. '' 48 Regarding the migration of the companions of the Holy Prophet sa to Abyssinia (the Prophet sa was in Makkah at the time) he wrote: ''The list seems to have included very nearly all the persons who had accepted Islam and the Messenger of God must have remained with a much reduced group of adherents, among the generally hostile inhabitants of Makkah, a situation which proves him to have possessed a considerable degree of moral courage and conviction. '' 49 John William Draper In his book A History of the Intellectual Development of Europe , John William Draper wrote: ''Four years after the death of Justinian, A. D. 569, was born at Mecca, in Arabia the man who, of all others, 48 John Bagot Glubb. The Life and Times of Muhammad. Hodder & Stoughton. 1970 (reprint 2002) 49 Ibid,