Life of Muhammad — Page 132
sa 132 partner with Him, and that some of us take not others for lords beside Allah. ' But if they turn away, then say, ‘ Bear witness that we have submitted to God' " ( Zurq a n i ). The invitation to Islam was an invitation to believe that God is One and that Muhammad sa is His Messenger. Where the letter says that if Heraclius becomes a Muslim, he will be rewarded twice over, the reference is to the fact that Islam teaches belief in both Jesus as and Muhammad sa. It is said that when the letter was presented to the Emperor, some courtiers suggested it should be torn up and thrown away. The letter, they said, was an insult to the Emperor. It did not describe the Emperor as Emperor but only as S a h ibul R u m, i. e. , the Chief of Rome. The Emperor, however, said that it was unwise to tear up the letter without reading it. He also said that the address, ' Chief of Rome', was not wrong. After all, the Master of everything was God. An Emperor was only a chief. When the Prophet sa was told how his letter had been received by Heraclius, he seemed satisfied and pleased and said that because of the reception which the Roman Emperor had given his letter, his Empire would be saved. The descendants of the Emperor would continue long to rule over the Empire. That is in fact what happened. In the wars which took place later, a large part of the Roman Empire, in accordance with another prophecy of the Prophet sa of Islam, passed out of the possession of Rome; yet for six hundred years after this, the dynasty of Heraclius remained established in Constantinople. The Prophet's sa letter remained preserved in the State archives for a long time. Ambassadors of the Muslim King, Man su r Qal a w u n, visited the court of Rome, and were shown the letter deposited in a case. The then Roman Emperor showing the letter said it had been received by a forefather of his from their Prophet sa and had been carefully preserved.