Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 219
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 219 propagate Islam among the Meccans. He was granted permission and arriving in Mecca he persuaded several Quraish secretly to embrace Islam. Though, after the battle of Badr, the pagan remnants of Aus and Khazraj rapidly embraced Islam and were absorbed among the Muslims, yet some of them who secretly entertained feelings of jealousy and rancour against the Holy Prophet and the Emigrants joined the disaffected and were always on the look - out for opportunities of damaging the cause of Islam and weakening the Muslims. Their leader was Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, who ostensibly became a Muslim after the battle but continued to nurse his grievance against the Holy Prophet, and became a centre of disaffection against Islam and the Muslims. Shortly after the battle of Badr, news was received that the Byzantines, who had for some years been under great pressure from the Iranians and had been continuously pushed back, had inflicted a severe defeat on the Iranians and had started recovering the territory which they had lost to them. This piece of news was a source of satisfaction to the Muslims, as their sympathies were with the Byzantines, while Quraish affected sympathy for the Iranians; and also because the victory of the Byzantines fulfilled the prophecy of the Holy Quran set out in 30:3 - 7.