Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 77
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 77 achievement of their purpose. They prepared valuable gifts for Najashi and all his courtiers, which comprised mainly of articles made from leather for which Arabia was then famous, and handed them over to their delegates. Arrived in Axum, Amr and Abdullah first established contact with the courtiers of Najashi and presented their gifts to them and by this means they gained access to Najashi, and, after presenting their gifts to him, submitted: ‘Mighty King, some of our foolish people have abandoned their an cestral religion and have adopted a new faith which is opposed to your religion also. These people have created great disorder in our country, and now some of them have fled from our country and have taken refuge here. We request that you may be pleased to direct that they should be sent back to us. ’ Some of the courtiers supported their request, but Najashi, who was an intelligent ruler, refused to act unilaterally and said: ‘These people have sought my protection. I will not decide anything without hearin g them. ’ Thus the Muslim migrants were summoned and Najashi asked them what they had to say and what was the religion they had adopted. Jafar bin Abi Talib replied on behalf of the Muslims: ‘Gracious King, we were an ignorant people, given to idol - worship, the eating of carrion, and to all manner of vices. We had no regard for ties of kinship, we misbehaved towards our neighbours, and the strong among us suppressed the weak. In this situation, God raised among us His Messenger whose noble descent; truth and integrity were well known to all of us. He called us to the worship of the One True God, forbade idol - worship, inculcated truth, honesty and beneficence towards kindred. He urged us to behave well towards neighbours, forbade