The Life & Character of the Seal of Prophets (sa) – Volume III — Page 221
VI - All Races Invited to Islām 221 It is related in various narrations that upon sending Ṣalīṭ bin ‘Amr towards Yamāmah, the Holy Prophet sa committed two letters of invitation to him: one addressed to Haudhah and the other to Thumāmah bin Uthāl. However, this is not correct, because as already mentioned earlier in this book, Thumāmah had already been taken captive in a Sariyyah , and then subsequently accepted Islām of his own accord. Hence, at this occasion, if the Holy Prophet sa did in fact write a letter to Thumāmah, it was definitely not an invitation to Islām, rather, it would have been an instruction to deliver the letter of the Holy Prophet sa to Haudhah and assist Ṣalīṭ bin ‘Amr in preaching to him. This is how ‘Allāmah Zarqānī has settled this difference of opinion. 1 The six letters of invitation to Islām described above were dispatched by the Holy Prophet sa immediately after the Treaty of Ḥudaibiyyah. According to certain narrations, all of these letters were sent out on the same day, and according to some narrations, they were written one after the other, and then dispatched. 2 The letters written after this were sent with intervals, and God- willing, we shall mention them at their appropriate place. The six letters of invitation to Islām mentioned above gives a person the opportunity to understand the immensely active and tireless nature in which the Holy Prophet sa fulfilled his obligation of preaching as soon as he became free after his treaty with the Quraish. In a single instance, the Holy Prophet sa threw the seeds of Islām in all the four corners of Arabia. This action of the Holy Prophet sa sheds great light on a statement he made upon returning from an expedition of war: 1 Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al- Qusṭalānī, Volume 5, p. 65, Rusuluhū sa , Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) 2 * Aṭ-Ṭabaqātul-Kubrā, By Muḥammad bin Sa‘d, Volume 1, p. 124-126, Dhikru Bi‘thati Rasūlillāhi sa Ar-Rusula Bi-Kutubihī Ilal-Mulūki Yad‘ūhum Ilal-Islām , Dāru Iḥyā’it-Turāthil-‘Arabī, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) * Tārīkhur-Rusuli Wal-Mulūk (Tārīkhuṭ-Ṭabarī), By Abū Ja‘far Muḥammad bin Jarīr Aṭ-Ṭabarī, Volume 3, p. 137, Dhikrul-Aḥdāthillati Kānat Fī Sanati Sittim-Minal-Hijrah/Dhikru Khurūji Rusuli Rasūlillāhi sa Ilal-Mulūk, Dārul-Fikr, Beirut, Lebanon, Second Edition (2002) * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 5, p. 3, Wa Ammā Mukātabatuhū ‘Alaihiṣ-Ṣalātu Was-Salāmu Ilal-Mulūki Wa Ghairihim, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996) * Sharḥul-‘Allāmatiz-Zarqānī ‘Alal-Mawāhibil-Ladunniyyah, By Allāmah Shihābuddīn Al-Qusṭalānī, Volume 5, p. 3, Wa Ammā Mukātabatuhū ‘Alaihiṣ-Ṣalātu Was-Salāmu Ilal-Mulūki Wa Ghairihim, Dārul-Kutubil-‘Ilmiyyah, Beirut, Lebanon, First Edition (1996)