In Part 1, we have argued that the Character of early Muslims is
encapsulated by actions, not by idle talks.
Practicality takes precedent over dogmatism.
Before we illustrate
this idea in the light of Hijrah, some definitions would be handy at this
stage.
Dogma, defined as a set
of principles, did play a big role in the lives of early Muslims. But dogmatism, defined as rigid adherence to
“one correct view,” did not. The Prophet
and his Companions embraced practicality, but not pragmatism as encapsulates in
the Machiavellian’s famous dictum: “the end justifies the means.”
The decision to go with
the event of Hijrah, to mark the beginning of Islamic Era, was driven by the spirit
of concrete action over intellectual speculation, and of practicality over
dogmatism. It was the same spirit that
drew them out of the desert to become the conquerors of the world. In short, it was Hijrah, not any other events,
that captures the essence of this very spirit.
Thus, when Muhammad the
Prophet, upon him be peace, met the dead end with the leaders of Quraysh,
having no hope that they would listen to him, he went looking for other
alternative to establish his “base.”
Now, we know that Muhammad
did not choose to be the Prophet, and was in fact bewildered when the first
Revelation hit him, but he knew what his job entails. Being the last Prophet, he had no choice but
to succeed. He does not have the luxury
of waiting for 300 years before his mission is to be the force to be reckoned
with, as Christianity was. He would have
died before that, and many things can happen within three centuries, as
attested by the history of Christianity.
When his tribe, Bani
Hashim, was boycotted because the tribe members protected him—though the
majority of them were not yet Muslims at that time—it gave clear signal that any
wish of making Islam supreme in Makkah, or of establishing Islamic way of life
there, was effectively closed. This took
place around the seventh year of his Prophethood. Muhammad therefore had no choice but to search
for other “base.”
The majority of his
companions were already migrated to Ethiopia, but that faraway land only
accorded protection to his followers as refugees. Christianity was deeply ingrained there. The Muslims who lived in Ethiopia can escape
persecution from their own people in Makkah, but they could not grow as a
sovereign nation.
Thus, after the boycott
was lifted, the Prophet went to Taif, hoping that the people of Thaqif (the
tribe living in Taif) would accept his calling. But the Thaqif treated him worse that the
Quraysh did. Not only that their elders
insulted him, but to add salt to the wound, they asked their children to throw
stones at the Prophet. This story is
well known.
Dejected, but never a
quitter, the Prophet went searching for other fertile grounds. Every Hajj season, he approached every tribe
he could meet to call them to Islam, and to look for the possibility of
establishing his base with them. In most
cases, however, he didn’t have much opportunity to have meaningful discussions
with them, because these tribes had been forewarned about a “madman” who can
work magic on people’s mind. They were
told to be careful and not to listen to him.
His own uncle, Abu Lahab, made it his business to follow the Prophet
every time the latter went to meet these tribes, and told them not to listen to
his “deranged” nephew.
All his efforts had been
fruitless until he met a group of people from the town of Yathrib (later
renamed Madinah when the Prophet migrated there). Thrice
he met the people from this town, each with different group. The first and the second meetings were not
quite successful, but the third meeting, which was unplanned and took place at al
Aqabah during the Hajj season, bore fruit.
In that meeting, the
Prophet bounced into six men and asked: “Who are you?”
“We are members of the
Khazraj,” they replied.
Knowing a little bit
about the people in Yathrib, the Prophet asked: “You are from the allies of the
Jews?”
“Yes,” they replied.
Sensing the opportunity,
the Prophet said: “Will you not sit down so that I can speak with you.” They
agreed.
From that unplanned
meeting, the Prophet found a fertile ground with these people. Sensing that these men were familiar with his
message, on account that they were neighbours to the Jews, he seized the
opportunity to present Islam to them.
It so happened that the
Arabs in Yathrib were divided into two main factions: the Tribe of Aus and the
Tribe of Khazraj. One cannot accept the
leadership of the other, and always at the loggerhead with one another. It also happened that there were three Jewish
tribes in Yathrib, whose role, among others, was to perpetuate the enmity
between the Aus and the Khazraj. When
the Aus clashed with the Khazraj, their Jewish allies would side with one
against the other. In fact, during the
chanced meeting between the Prophet and these six men from Yathrib, the Aus and
the Khazraj were still nursing the aftermath of the bloody clash known as
Bu’aath war.
Occasionally, the Jews
too clashed with the Arabs. In fact,
for years the Jews in Yathrib had been threatening the Arabs, saying that a
Prophet in Arabia was about to appear and that, when he did appear, the Jews
would follow him and would, with his help, destroy the Aus and Khazraj
tribes. Thus, after the Prophet
presented Islam to them, they said to one another, “O people, by Allah, you
know that he is indeed the Prophet that the Jews threatened you about, so do
not let them beat you to him.”
It was from this chanced
meeting that Islam experienced the reversal in fortune, for the better, that is. All six became Muslims, and when they went
back to their town, they invited others to Islam. They had been successful. Many joined the fold of Islam, including from
the tribe of Aus. About a year later, the Muslims from Yathrib
came back to Makkah for Hajj season.
This time, they selected 12 men to be their representatives, to meet the
Prophet and to take the pledge of obedience, also in al Aqabah. In Seerah, this is known as the First Pledge
of Aqabah.
It is known as the First
Pledge of Aqabah, although it was the second meeting at the same place, because
in the first meeting, there was no pledge (not to be confused with the first
two meetings with the people of Yathrib which bore no fruit). In the first meeting, the Prophet simply
invited them to Islam and they accepted it.
In the second meeting, they officially appointed 12 men among their clan
leaders to be the delegates, two of which were from the tribe of Aus.
In this meeting, they
requested the Prophet to send someone to teach them the details of Islam and to
lead the Muslims in prayer. The Prophet
sent Mus’ab bin Umayr, a companion who had memorized most of the Quran which
was revealed at that point. Other than
teaching Islam and Quran, and leading the Muslims there in prayer, as well as
inviting others to join Islam, Mus’ab was to be the eyes and the ears for the
Prophet, with respect to the possibility of establishing the Islamic base in
Yathrib.
They came back again
next year, also during the Hajj season.
This time, they selected 72 delegates to take the Second Pledge, two of
them were women. They also invited the
Prophet to officially join them as their leader, as well as welcome other
Muslims to their town.
Traditions tell us that
the Prophet’s uncle, Abbas, who was not yet a Muslim at the time, had
accompanied the Prophet in the Second Pledge.
Communications had been made prior to this meeting, and Mus’ab had
relayed their desire to invite the Prophet to their town, as their supreme
leader. And the Prophet had been looking
forward to the idea, believing that the Muslims can start a new era in Yathrib.
After all, that was what he had been searching
all along.
Now, Abbas did not
accompany his nephew the Prophet for the safety of the latter during the
meeting, but for the safety of his nephew if indeed he joined them in their
town. He wanted to make sure that the Muslims
in Yathrib understood what their invitation means. He told them in no uncertain terms that, what
his nephew brought, had caused the Arabs to turn against him. By inviting him to their town, it means that
they had declared war with other Arab tribes.
If they still insisted on having him within their midst, then they would
have to protect him, against all hostile tribes, as they would their wives and
children. In short, they would have to
die and sacrifice everything for him.
“If you are not willing
to do all that,” Abbas concluded, “then let him stay with us. At least we can protect him from harm.”
“But if we do all that,”
one of their spokesmen said, “what do we get in return?”
“Paradise,” the Prophet
answered.
One by one the 72 delegates
gave their pledge of obedience and loyalty to the Prophet. Wasting no time, the Prophet quickly sent the
Muslims, in batches, to Yathrib, before he finally migrated there with his
bosom companion, Abu Bakar.
The story of their
migration and their sacrifice is well known.
The story of the Prophet’s migration, as well as the extreme precaution
he took because the Quraysh were chasing him with their swords, is also well
known. We need not relate it here.
All that is left to say
is that, with that migration, the New Era had begun. The Muslims could, by then, chart their own
destiny and live a life as a sovereignty nation. There were, no doubt, problems from within
and from without. The Jews had been
thorns in the flesh. Abdullah bin Ubay, who
was about to be crowned a king by the Khazraj before the migration took place,
became very sore that the coronation never took place. Unable to fight against the Prophet man to
man, he led his loyal followers to embrace the religion outwardly, but remained
enemies from within, causing many harms and dangers to the Islamic State.
As for the threats from
the outside, suffice to say that the Islamic community in Yathrib (by then
known as Madinah) never lost their vigilant.
Conflicts, clashes and wars had always been their standard features.
But the Islamic State
thrived, the Islamic community prospered, and the Islamic Way of Life was
practiced fully. Soon they became the
equal to their archenemy, the Makkans, and not long afterward, the Masters of
Arabia.
In spite of that “chanced
meeting,” all this did not happen by chance, nor by clinging to dogmatism, but
by careful planning and by being practical.
No doubt God’s Will was with them, but God would not make it happen if the
Prophet and his companions did not work for it. That “chanced meeting” only took place because
the Prophet had been deliberately looking for the opportunity.
Seizing the opportunity,
he approached it slowly and patiently, but methodically. He did not rush the people of Yathrib into
the matter. In the first meeting, he
only presented the message of Islam to them, without putting any conditions to
it. He did not even ask them to adhere
strictly to the idea of not associating any gods beside Allah, though this is
the core of Islamic belief. He also did
not send any of his companions to teach them how to live as Muslims. He simply wanted them to be comfortable with
the idea of the “new religion,” without being dogmatic about it.
By the time the second
meeting took place, the number of Muslims was growing in Yathrib, and they
started to feel comfortable with the simple message of Islam. So he took the pledge from them not to
associate anything with Allah, and to avoid from indulging in some activities,
considered repulsive in Islam, such as stealing, fornication, killing their
children, and telling lies. The “mild”
content of this First Pledge of Aqabah led it to be known later as the “Pledge
of Women.” As they were beginning to
feel comfortable with the idea and the simple message of Islam, the Prophet
sent his learned companion to teach them the Islamic way of life.
By the third meeting,
they were ready, nay eager, to make him their supreme leader, and were willing
to die for him, so he took the Second Pledge of Aqabah, which later to be known
also as the “Pledge of War.”
In all these episodes, the
Prophet was being practical, not dogmatic, in his approach.
This side of the story
is never told in the official celebration of Ma’al Hijrah. We celebrate the event of Hijrah, but its
spirit is lost, except superficially, which is a pity.
The
End.
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