Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 72
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 72 when this rumour reached the Muslims in Abyssinia, they were greatly comforted and some of them immediately set out on the return journey to Mecca, but when they arrived near Mecca, they were undeceived and became perplexed. Even if some of them had returned from Abyssinia, the greater number of these immediately went back. As the persecution of Muslims by Quraish was daily mounting, other Muslims, under the direction of the Holy Prophet, began to prepare secretly to follow th em and joined them one by one. Thus the total number of emigrants to Abyssinia reached a hundred, of whom eighteen were women. Very few Muslims were left with the Holy Prophet in Mecca. This additional migration to Abyssinia is sometimes described as the s econd migration. In this context, it is necessary to draw attention to an utterly unlikely and unfounded story that is related as the basis of the rumour, which resulted in the return of some of the original migrants to Abyssinia. It is alleged that as the Holy Prophet, pe ace be on him, was eager that he might be vouchsafed some revelation which should prove effective in attracting Quraish to Islam and in removing their hostility towards it, when, during the course of his recitation of Sura Najm, he arrived at the verses ‘N ow, tell me about your goddesses, Lot and Uzza, and the third one, Manat, another of them’, Satan, taking advantage of his eagerness, caused the following words to issue from his mouth: ‘These are exalted personages and their intercession may be hoped for. ’ It is said that Quraish were greatly pleased on hearing such exaltation of their goddesses by the Holy Prophet, so that when he and the Muslims prostrated them at the end of the recitation of the Sura, they also