Muhammad: Seal of the Prophets — Page 268
MUHAMMAD : SEAL OF THE PROPHETS 268 the sentiments of His righteous servants. ’ In Aasim’s case God safeguarded even his corpse from being touched by the pagans. About the same time another tragic event took place on a larger scale. It has been mentioned that Banu Sulaim and Banu Ghatafan were settled in Nejd, which was a plateau in central Arabia, and were in league with Quraish against the Muslims. Through their mischievous activities and incitements, the whole of Nejd was being poisoned with enmity towards Islam. About the time when the tragedy of Raji’ was enacted, Abu Braa Aamiri, who was a chief of Banu Aamir of central Arabia, came to see the Holy Prophet, pe ace be on him, who treated him with courtesy and kindness and expounded the teachings of Islam to him. He listened eagerly, and, though he did not embrace Islam, he requested the Holy Prophet to send a few Muslims with him who should expound Islam to the p eople of Nejd. He expressed the hope that the tribes of Nejd would not reject his message. The Holy Prophet expressed his distrust of the people of Nejd. Abu Braa assured him that there was no ground for apprehension and that he stood guarantee for the saf ety of his emissaries. The Holy Prophet believed his word and sent a company of seventy of his Companions to Nejd to carry the message of Islam to the Nejd tribes. It appears that at the time when Abu Braa visited the Holy Prophet, a few persons belonging to the tribes Ra’l and Zakwan, clans of Banu Sulaim, who had also presented themselves before the Holy Prophet, reinforced the request of Abu Braa. The party selected by the Holy Prophet for this mission was mostly Ansar and were well versed in the Holy Qu ran. They were poor people, who made their livelihood out of wood that they collected during