Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 426
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 426 the attitude of one who, sore troubled and distressed, humbly begs for mercy. Long did he continue thus occupied with passionate entreaty before his Lord. After sunset, the Holy Prophet proceeded to Muzdalifah, a distance of three or four miles, where, after leading the combined sunset and evening services, he spent the night in supplication, under the open sky, like all his fellow pilgrims. After sunrise, h e returned to Mina and sacrificed the camels that had been brought for the purpose. After three days spent at Mina he proceeded to Mecca and on arrival there he performed the circuits of the Ka’aba and drank from Zam zam. Three more days were spent at Mecc a and then the Holy Prophet returned to Medina with his followers. The final year of the Holy Prophet’s residence at Medina opened peacefully. The greater part of the peninsula acknowledged his authority. His days were now chiefly occupied with the reception of embassies, the issue of prescripts to his various delegates s cattered over the land and the consolidation of the Islamic state. Badhan, the Persian governor, who had earlier submitted himself to the Holy Prophet, died about this time. His son Shehr was continued in the government of San’a and the surrounding district. But the other provinces hitherto combined under his authority, a s Ma’reb, Najran and Hamdan were divided among different governors. A new cause of danger suddenly arose, in the emergence of three false claimants to the Prophetic office in different quarters of the peninsula. Their pretentions were not, however, developed