The Excellent Exemplar - Muhammad — Page 27
THE EXCELLENT EXEMPLAR — MUHAMMAD 27 on the return journey to Mecca. He stopped on the way at a place called Nakhla for a few daps and sent word to Mut’im bin ‘Adi, a leading Meccan, asking whether he could be permitted to return to Mecca. Mut’im replied that he was prepared to sponsor his re - entry into Mecca, and when the Prophet approached Mecca Mut’im and his sons met him in the outskirts and escorted him back into the town. But on the whole Mecca was as hostile as before, and the Meccans were determined that the doctrine preached by Muhammad should gain no footing among them. They resorted to every device to make life impossible for the Prophet and his followers in Mecca. Muhammad’s prayers and the revelations that came to him steadily were his only sources of consolation and strength. The latest revelations began to hint at the necessity for him to leave Mecca. Mecca was the town of his birth, where he had spent the whole of his life, had married, where his children had been born, and where the Divine Call had come to him. Despite the bitter and cruel persecution that he and his followers continued to suffer, its people were very dear to his heart and he knew that the parti ng, whenever it came, would be hard for him to bear. But his life was completely dedicated to his mission and he was ready to carry out in good spirit whatever might be God’s pleasure concerning him. The painful prospect of having to leave Mecca was, howev er, softened by the Divine assurance that God would surely bring him back to it (28:86). The determination of his next move came about as a result of a long - followed custom of the Prophet, namely, to try to make