Islam - Its Meaning for Modern Man — Page 305
305 the eyes of the Meccans themselves. In the case of the Prophet and the Muslims, however, the Meccans threatened armed opposition. The Prophet would have been within his rights to treat this as a casus belli , but he was determined not to adopt any course which should involve fighting and violence. So he stayed outside the Sanctuary limits, and a course of negotiations was commenced which extended over several days. In the end, the terms of a treaty were agreed upon, which the Muslims considered not only utterly one-sided but humiliating. Even the drawing up of the treaty in writing evoked caveats and objections from the Meccan side. Ali, the Prophet’s cousin, who was chosen as the scribe for the text of the treaty, had written that one party to the treaty was “Muhammad, the Messenger of Allah. ” The Meccan envoy took exception to this description and insisted that the Prophet should be described as “Muhammad, son of Abdullah. ” The matter was referred to the Prophet, who said: “I am the Messenger of Allah, and I am the son of Abdullah. If they prefer that I should be described as son of Abdullah I would accept their suggestion. ” Ali was reluctant to make the change, but he had to yield. One of the terms of the treaty was that if a Meccan youth became a Muslim and left Mecca to join the Muslims without the permission of his father