The life of the Holy Prophet of Islam — Page 16
this matter. At this point someone suggested that any one who would be the first person to enter the door of the Holy Kaaba the next morning, should be the one to receive this honor of placing the stone in its place and they should all abide by his judgment. So in this way they came to a peaceful compromise. So it so happened that the first person to enter the Holy Kaaba was Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). Upon seeing him all the tribes were overjoyed and proclaimed, “It is Al-Am ī n (the trustworthy), we accept him! It is Muhammad!” Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) called for a sheet of cloth, laid it upon the ground, and then placed the stone in the middle of it. He then asked all of the tribes to select a single representative from the each of the tribe who was then asked to grasp an edge of the cloth. All of the chosen representatives then carried the stone together to the Kaaba. When they reached to the proper place, Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) placed it in the wall. When he was assigned the duty of prophethood, every moment of his life was dedicated for calling the people towards Islam. He took every risk to convey the message of God to the people, to bring them closer to God and to save them from His anger and Hellfire. He had an overwhelming pain for the people, for not recognizing their Creator, that Almighty Allah has mentioned it in the Holy Quran, the agony and pain he felt for the others: Haply thou wilt grieve thyself to death because they believe not. (Holy Quran, 26:4) If we know the meaning of the Arabic word “B ā khi‘un” mentioned in the above verse of the Holy Quran, then it is possible to have the idea of the pain and suffering of the Holy Prophet, for his people. “B ā khi‘un” means the suffering, which someone feels by cutting the jugular vein, when the knife reaches the back tissues of the neck. Mercy for those who besieged him, and his companions in Shi‘b Abi Talib The Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) remained under intense persecution and suffering for about three years in shi‘b Abi Talib, when he was boycotted by his opponents. When the Quraish had blocked the locality from every side so that no supplies of any kind could reach the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). During this period Abu Talib, the uncle of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), and the wife of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him), Hadrat Khadijah, who had been a source of peace and consolation for him ever since the beginning of the call, passed away. During that extreme persecution, when the Muslims were dying with hunger, it so happened that hunger spread in Mecca due to draught, and people started dying there. But Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) was so merciful that when he received this news, he offered fervent supplications to God, “O my Lord have mercy upon them, and save them from the punishment of hunger. ” Just imagine that Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) himself was suffering with hunger, due to the boycott of the same people, but he was praying for them, that God should help them, to save them from hunger. So Almighty God heard the prayers of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) and there were heavy rains, and draught was over. Kind treatment of the opponents after the fall of Ta’if The battle of Ta’if was with those people who severely persecuted the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). And after the opponents were defeated many of them fled away but a large number of them were arrested. These people were from the tribe of Tay, and they fought under the leadership of the son of Hatim. When they were defeated, the son of Hatim ran away but Afshanah, the daughter of Hatim, was arrested. When the prisoners of war were