Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 71
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 71 Najm (Chapter 53) in the courtyard of the Ka’aba at a time when several of the chieftains of Quraish were also present and so were some Muslims. When he finished the recitation of the Sura, he fell down in prostration and all the Muslims and the disbelieve rs who were present also prostrated themselves. ’ The hadith does not mention why the disbelievers fell into prostration, but it appears that when the Holy Prophet recited, in a moving voice, the verses of the Sura which stressed the Unity of God and His Po wer and Might and His bounties and concluded with the warning: ‘The Hour of Judgment is approaching, none but Allah can avert it. Do you then wonder at this announcement, and laugh at it, and do not weep, and continue preoccupied with vanities? Arise, and prostrate yourselves before Allah, and worship Him’, the Holy Prophet and the Muslims immediately fell into prostration and Quraish were so moved by the scene and the whole atmosphere that they too, involuntarily, fell into prostration. This was nothing to be wondered at. Quraish were not atheists and acknowledged the existence of God. Thus, when, on the recitation of these majestic and glorious words, the Holy Prophet and the Muslims all went into prostration, Quraish were so overcome that they too went in to prostration. But this was only a momentary reaction. After the prostration, Quraish were the same idol worshippers as they had been before. It is possible the Quraish, who were anxious to secure the return of the emigrants to Abyssinia, taking advantage of this involuntary action of theirs, may have started the rumour that Quraish had all embraced Islam and that Mecca had become a place of pea ce and security for the Muslims. It is also possible that