The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) - Volume I — Page 303
IX - Exile 303 enemies to astonishment, after all, what kind of inner-strength does this man possess? For nothing seems to move him from his place. Rather, in that era, the words of the Holy Prophet sa especially possessed a kind of power and awe, and in these fierce storms, the Holy Prophet sa would become even more audacious. On one side, if this sight astonished the Quraish, on the other, it also made their hearts tremble. With regards to these days, Sir William Muir writes: “Moḥammad thus holding his people at bay; waiting in the still expectation of victory; to outward appearance defenceless, and with his little band as it were in the lion’s mouth; yet trusting in His Almighty power whose Messenger he believed himself to be, resolute and unmoved; presents a spectacle of sublimity paralleled only by such scenes in the Sacred Records as that of the prophet of Israel when he complained to his master, ‘I, even I only, am left. ’ Nay, the spectacle is in one point of view even more amazing…It is this which brings if possible into still bolder prominence the marvellous self-possession and enthusiasm which sustained Moḥammad on his course. ‘Say unto the Unbelievers. ’ Such was the reiterated message from on high, ‘Work ye in your place. Wait in expectation; WE too in expectancy are waiting. ’” 1 Therefore, this was a vulnerable era for Islām, in that there was no expectancy from the Makkans. But a ray of hope was developing in Madīnah, and the Holy Prophet sa keenly had his eyes set in that direction. Would Madīnah also reject the Holy Prophet sa like Makkah and Ṭā’if, or did it hold a different destiny? Therefore, when the occasion of Ḥajj came the Holy Prophet sa very avidly left his home and reached ‘ Aqabah, near Minā, and looked here and there. Suddenly, the Holy Prophet sa noticed a small group of the people of Yathrib, who immediately recognized the Holy Prophet sa. They came forward and met the Holy Prophet sa with extreme love and sincerity. This time there were twelve people, among whom five were converts of the previous year and seven were new. They belonged to both the Aus and the Khazraj. There names are as follows: 1 Life of ‘Mahomet’, By Sir William Muir, p. 126, Reprint of the 1894 Ed. , Published by Voice of India New Delhi (Publishers)