Selected Arabic Poems of the Promised Messiah (as) — Page 242
242 reached Makkah, its Governor, ‘It a b ibn Usaid, went into hiding and Makkah was shaken to the core, and it seemed imminent that its people would renounce Islam. ’ ([ al-K a mil fit-T a r i kh, T a r i kh ibn al-Ath i r, ] Part I, p. 134) He also records— The common and elite of every tribe apos- tatized. Hypocrisy came out in the open, and Jews and Christians started looking for favourable opportunities. Muslims were like sheep on a rainy night due to the loss of their Prophet, their small number and the multitude of their enemy. It was at such a time that the peo- ple said to Hadrat Ab u Bakr: ‘These people only consider the army of Us a mah to be the Muslim army, and, as you can see, the Arabs have rebelled against you. It is, therefore, not prudent to separate yourself from these soldiers. ’ Upon this, Hadrat Ab u Bakr said: ‘By the One who has my soul in His Hand, had I thought that wild, predatory ani- mals would snatch me away, I would still send out Us a mah’s army in accordance with what the Messenger of Allah had commanded. I will never go against a decision taken by the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings of Allah be upon him. ’ Hadrat ‘Abdullah bin Mas‘ u d says: ‘We had reached a stage where we were about to perish if Allah had not conferred his special favour on us in the form of Ab u Bakr who gathered us together to fight by all possible means the rebel- lious tribes and to continue worshipping Allah till death came to us. ’ ([ al-K a mil fit-T a r i kh, T a r i kh ibn al-Ath i r, ] p. 142)