Chief of the Prophets — Page 46
Chapter Four 46 Ḥ ir ā , the same angel again called him. Mu ḥ ammad sa was frightened to see him and went straight home and said to Khadījah ra : َد ِّﺛ ُﺮ ْو ِْىن َد ِّﺛ ُﺮ ْو ِْىن “ Cover me ! Cover me !” Mu ḥ ammad sa had barely laid down when he heard a majestic voice: ( Al - Muddaththir 74:2 - 6 ) O thou that has wrapped thyself with thy mantle ! Arise and warn. And your Lord do extol. And thy heart do thou purify. And uncleanliness do thou shun. Beginning of Preaching With continuing revelation from God , he began to feel more at ease. He secretly started preaching the Oneness of God and the denial of associating partners with Allah. First Muslim s It has already been mentioned that the first convert to Islam was Khadījah ra ; she immediately believed in Mu ḥ ammad sa at the time of the first revelation without any hesitation. However, there is disagreement about who were the next believers. Different historians mention Abū Bakr ra , ‘Alī bin Abī Ṭ ālib ra and Zaid bin Ḥ ārithah ra. However, in our view, this is a useless discussion, since ‘Alī ra and Zaid ra were of the same household, and were still children, and their acceptance or affirmation was not even required. As far as Abū Bakr ra is concerned, most of the historians agree that he was the first one to believe.