Humble Beginning

When the Prophet SAW died at the age of 63, he left behind more than 100,000 companions.  For more than half of his mission as a prophet, however, he had only a handful of followers.  Most of the time, they were being persecuted.

The Prophet started his mission at the age of forty, when he received the first revelation in the cave of Hira.  A man suddenly appeared to him and asked him to read verses written on a piece of cloth the man was holding.

As Muhammad was unlettered and said he cannot read, the man embraced him so hard he was choking for breath.  This happened three times and finally the man himself read the verses to him and these verses were imprinted in his heart.

Muhammad  was bewildered and very confused with the event.  He ran home as soon as the man suddenly disappeared.  He thought he had been possessed by the demon.  His wife comforted him, saying that Allah will not put a good man like him under the spell of the Devil.  Then she took him to see her cousin, Waraqah, the Christian scholar in Makkah at the time.

After listening to his story, Waraqah declared that the one who visited him was also the one who visited Prophet Moses.  Then Waraqah said if he is still alive the day Muhammad is being persecuted, Waraqah would stand behind him.

Muhammad became more confused and anxious, and asked Waraqah why would people want to do horrible things to him.  Because all along people always like him and even called him al-Amin, the trusted one.  Waraqah said that such is the nature of the job as a prophet and the mission he carries.

Details about this story can be found in the tafsir  of surah al-Alaq (Quran: 96).  Or any seerah book.

Because the Prophet was so bewildered and confused, and because he did not want people to call him a madman, he thought that death would be better.  So he went to the hill nearby with the idea of throwing himself down.  When he was at the top of the hill, the same being who visited him the first time appeared again.  But this time not as a man. Rather, as an angel. 

The angel, whose name is Gabriel, appeared on the sky in his own form.  He was so gigantic that he covered the whole horizon.  No matter where Muhammad turned his face, he saw the Angel Gabriel.  By then he knew the matter was not his choice.  It is decreed that he shall be the last prophet, or the last brick in the house of prophethood.

His wife, Khadijah, readily believed in him.  Then he talked to his bosom friend, Abu Bakar, a man about two and half year younger than him.  Abu Bakar also readily believed in him.  His slave whom he adopted as his son, Zayd, who about 25 years old, also readily believed in him. 

He didn't talk about his experience with Ali, because Ali was just a boy of 10 years old at the time.  But Ali, who lived with him, saw the Prophet and Khadijah were praying.  Upon inquiry, Muhammad told Ali about his appointment as a prophet to revive the true religion. 

Ali also readily believed in him, but thought that since he was a minor, he must get permission from his father first, Abu Talib.  Half way to his father’s house, the young but wise boy thought that his father never asked permission from God for Ali to be born.  Why should he now ask his father’s permission to believe in one true God.  He came back and declared his faith.

Through his wife, a few women entered Islam.  Through Abu Bakar, many young man of noble birth entered Islam.  Through Zayd, many men of slave or servant status entered Islam. 

Several months later, about 40 people became Muslims.  The Prophet taught Islam to them secretly.  After three years had passed, Allah commanded the Prophet to spread the message of Islam openly.  Then the persecution started.  The torture and persecution were so severe that a few of his followers died.  The Prophet then told his followers to find safer place to live and practiced Islam.  About 100 of his followers then migrated to Abyssinia in two successions.  Only a handful were left behind in Mekah.

The situation was getting worse by the day.  The leaders of Makkah, frustrated that Abu Talib, the uncle and protector of the Prophet, refused to hand Muhammad for them to kill, boycotted the whole clan of the Prophet, known as the clan of Bani Hashim.  No one shall have any relationship with Bani Hashim, although the majority of Bani Hashim were not yet believers at that time.  If they refuse to hand over Muhammad so that they can kill him, then the whole clan shall die of starvation.

Abu Talib, as the leader of the clan, brought the whole clan to camp at the valley outside of the Makkah city, living secluded from people.  The boycott lasted three years.  Many died of sickness and malnutrition.  Many times they went without food and had to survive even on leaves and grass.

Soon after the boycott was lifted, his uncle Abu Talib and his wife Khadijah died.  The severity of the boycott had taken toll on their health.  The  Prophet had lost his protector (uncle) and his comforter (wife).  This took place on the tenth year of his mission.

He went seeking help at the nearby town called Taif.  Instead of helping him, the leaders of Thaqif, as the people of Taif is called, chased him out, telling the kids to throw stones at him.  He fled, bleeding.

There was nothing more he can do with the Makkans, his hometown people, known as Quraish.  Those who believed him have believed.  The majority of them followed their leaders, who considered Muhammad the enemy number one.  So the Prophet went for other tribes who came to Makkah during hajj season to spread the mission. 

His task was made difficult because the leaders of Makkah kept following him telling the people not to listen to him, accusing him as a madman who bring nothing but trouble to the people.  One of these leaders was his own uncle Abu Lahab, who sided with the enemies.

When things appeared bleak and his mission met dead end, Allah sent help in the form of six men from the town in the north known as Yathrib.  These people belonged to Khazraj clan of Yathrib.  They believed in him and spread the message in their town.  The message was well accepted.  Next two years, they came back to Makkah with 72 delegates to pledge their obedience to him and invited him to migrate to their town. 

The Prophet then sent his followers to Yathrib, including those who came back from Abyssinia.  Soon the Prophet also migrated to Yathrib and change the name of the town to Madinatul Rasul, meaning the City of the Messenger.  The town is called Madinah for short until this day.  He migrated to Madinah three years after the death of his uncle and his wife.

For the first five years in Madinah, the city was continually under attacks not only from outside including from Makkah and other tribes who wanted to destroy Islam, but the Muslims had to contest with the enemies from inside the city, the Jews and the hypocrites.  After that, the Muslims were stronger and by the eight year of his migration to Madinah, the Prophet brought 10,000 armies to conquer Makkah without bloodshed.

By the time he died three years later, he subdued the whole of Arabian Peninsula.   About five years after his death, the Muslims defeated the world superpowers at that time, the Persian and Roman empires. 

The final brick at last perfected Allah grand design.  The house that Allah built through His prophets since the prophet Adam was not a single house that we imagine, but the world itself.  From a humble beginning, the universal and timeless message that the Prophet brought reached the whole world.