From Abyssinia to the Boycott

The Muslims in Makkah faced open persecution, threats and torture. In Rajab of the 5th year of the mission, the Prophet ﷺ said to his Companions, "This land has become too constricted for you, so for those of you who want to, why don't you emigrate to the neighboring land of Abyssinia? For there is a Christian king there, who is a just king. He shall allow you to worship without interference." That king was the Najashi (Negus) of Abyssinia, As'hama ibn Abjar. Fifteen people emigrated, 11 men and 4 women. They travelled for about a day and a half to the port of Juddah (today's Jeddah), and from there took a ship to Abyssinia. Among them were Uthman ibn Affan and his wife Ruqayyah, the Prophet ﷺ's daughter. Others included Abd al-Rahman ibn Awf, Uthman ibn Maz'un, Zubayr ibn al-Awwam and Mus'ab ibn Umayr. Abu Salama went with his wife Umm Salama, and Amir ibn Rabi'ah with his wife Layla. All of those who went were Muslims of high standing in the Quraysh, who had the freedom to leave. The lower-status believers, many of them slaves, could not go, even though they needed it most. These included Bilal, Khabbab, Ibn Mas'ud and Ammar.

Placed here because: Ep. 16: "They emigrated in Rajab" of the 5th year of the dawah.

In Ramadan of the fifth year of his mission, the Prophet ﷺ recited the whole of Surah al-Najm before a gathering of Muslims and members of the Quraysh in Makkah. The surah builds toward a powerful ending, and its force moved everyone present. When he reached the last verse, "So prostrate to Allah and worship Him" (53:62), the Muslims fell into sajdah, or prostration. The Quraysh were so moved that they prostrated with them. For the first time, Muslims and non-Muslims all united behind the Prophet ﷺ. The only one who refused was al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, or in another narration Umayyah ibn Khalaf. He took a handful of sand, put it to his head, and said that this was enough for him. Ibn Abbas RA narrates this account in Sahih al-Bukhari, and scholars accept it as authentic. The detail that it happened in Ramadan comes from Ibn Ishaq. Later reports add a much weaker story. These reports are not found in the six main books of hadith, nor in the biographies of Ibn Ishaq and Ibn Hisham. They appear only in later works that collected everything, such as al-Tabari's Tafsir and al-Wahidi's Asbab al-Nuzul. They claim that after verse 20 of the surah, shaytan added two lines praising the idols al-Lat, al-Uzza and Manat. The lines called them "the exalted cranes, whose intercession is to be hoped for." One version says that only the Quraysh heard these words, and the Muslims did not. A further, more extreme version says that the Prophet ﷺ himself mistook shaytan's words for those of Jibril AS and recited them, until Jibril AS came back and told him the words were not his. The Western orientalist Sir William Muir later gave this story the name "the satanic verses". Islamic sources call it Qissat al-Gharaniq, the Story of the Cranes.

Placed here because: Ep. 16: "in the month of Ramadan ... in the 5th year of the dawah, the Prophet ﷺ recited Surah al-Najm in its entirety."

About fifteen Muslims had emigrated to Abyssinia in the month of Rajab to escape persecution. A few months later, word reached them that the Quraysh had accepted Islam. The news was an exaggeration. What had really happened was that the Quraysh had joined the Muslims in prostrating when Surah al-Najm was recited in Makkah. The emigrants had not been persecuted in Abyssinia, but living in an unfamiliar land, with a strange language and culture, had been hard. They longed for home. So they quickly packed their belongings and set out for Makkah, with no way to confirm whether the rumor was true.

Placed here because: Ep. 16: "they came back in the month of Shawwal. They emigrated in Rajab but came back just 3 months later."

The first group of emigrants to Abyssinia had come back to Makkah after hearing a rumour that the Quraysh had accepted Islam. The rumour proved false, and the persecution of the Muslims went on as before. Meanwhile, news spread among the Muslims of the safety and freedom they had found in Abyssinia. So more than 80 Muslims set out for Abyssinia a second time. They were perhaps 40 to 50 percent of all the Muslims, and more than a tenth of Makkah's whole population. They were led by Ja'far ibn Abi Talib RA, a first cousin of the Prophet ﷺ. Uthman ibn Affan RA, who had gone the first time, stayed in Makkah and later emigrated to Madinah instead. Mus'ab ibn Umayr RA had also gone the first time, and he too did not return to Abyssinia.

Placed here because: Shortly after the first emigrants returned to a Makkah as hostile as they had left it.

In the second emigration, more than eighty Muslims left Makkah for Abyssinia. Makkah was a town of only a few hundred people, so this was about a tenth of the city. For the Quraysh, the guardians of the Haram, it was a humiliation to see their own people fleeing from them. They sent two envoys to the king of Abyssinia, the Najashi, whose name was As'hama ibn Abjar. One was Amr ibn al-As RA. The sources disagree on the other: some name Abdullah ibn Abi Rabi'ah, others Umara ibn al-Walid. The two men took with them a large gift of fine leather. The story is told by Umm Salama RA, who was one of the emigrants. Until then, she says, the Muslims had been treated with every kindness by the Najashi and had never heard a harsh word from his people. The envoys did not go to the king first. They visited each of his ministers in turn, gave each one a gift, and asked a favour. They explained that some foolish young men from Makkah had run away to Abyssinia, and that their families wanted them home. When the matter came before the king, would the ministers please support the request? The next day the envoys appeared before the Najashi himself and presented his gifts. They told him that these young men had abandoned the religion of their fathers without accepting the king's religion either, and that the leaders of their people were asking for them to be returned. All the ministers spoke up together in support of the Quraysh. But the Najashi refused. He swore that he would not hand over people who had chosen his land and his protection above all others, at least not before he had heard what they had to say for themselves. He sent for the Muslims. They were frightened. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib RA told them that they would speak only the truth, and only what the Prophet ﷺ had taught them. When they entered the hall, the king was seated with his bishops around him. The Quraysh envoys bowed down in prostration before him, but Ja'far walked in standing upright. One of the ministers demanded to know why he had not prostrated. Ja'far answered that the Muslims prostrate to no one except their Lord. The Najashi asked them what this new religion was, which was neither his own Christianity nor the faith of their fathers. Ja'far's reply is one of the most famous speeches in the Seerah. He said that they had been a people of ignorance. They worshipped idols, ate dead animals, committed indecency, cut off their relatives, and the strong among them preyed on the weak. Then Allah sent them a Messenger ﷺ from among themselves, a man whose family and honesty they knew well. He called them to worship one God, to be truthful, to keep ties with their relatives and be good to their neighbours, to pray, fast and give charity, and to stop shedding blood, consuming the wealth of orphans and slandering others. They believed him and followed him. For that, their own people tortured them and tried to force them back to idol worship. So they had come to the king's land, choosing him over every other ruler, in the hope that they would not be wronged there. The Najashi asked whether they had with them anything of what their Prophet ﷺ said had been revealed to him from God. Ja'far recited the opening of Surah Maryam, which tells the story of Mary and the birth of her son Jesus. The bishops wept even though they could not understand the Arabic. When the verses were translated, the Najashi wept too. He swore that this recitation and the messages of Moses and Jesus had sprung from the same fountain. Then he told the envoys to leave, saying he would never hand these people over to them. On the way out, Amr told his companion that he had one more trick to try. His companion urged him to let it go, since the emigrants were their own relatives. Amr ignored him. The next morning he returned to the king and claimed that the Muslims said something outrageous about Jesus. The Muslims were summoned a second time and were even more afraid. Again Ja'far told them they would say exactly what the Prophet ﷺ had taught and nothing else. Before the king he said that Jesus was the servant of Allah, His Messenger, and His Word, which He cast into the virgin Mary. Ja'far did not attack the Christian belief in the Trinity. He simply stated what the Muslims believed and let it stand. The Najashi picked up a small twig from the floor. He said that what Ja'far had described did not differ from what Jesus himself had taught by even the length of that twig. Years later it became known that the king did not share the official doctrine of his priests, and that Ja'far's words matched what he privately believed. He dismissed the envoys a second time, and now he also returned their gifts. Umm Salama RA said the two men left humiliated and disgraced. The Muslims went on living in Abyssinia in peace and safety until they rejoined the Prophet ﷺ at Khaybar. Some of the king's own people grumbled that he had abandoned their religion, and he answered them using a parchment hidden inside his robe.

Placed here because: Shortly after the second emigration, when the Quraysh sent Amr ibn al-As to bring the Muslims back.

One day Abu Jahal, a leader of the Quraysh, publicly cursed and insulted the Prophet ﷺ for as long as he wished, and no one stood up to defend him. Hamzah, the Prophet ﷺ's uncle, was away at the time. He was a well-known archer and one of the strongest men in Makkah. When Hamzah returned from his expedition, some women taunted him. They asked what kind of uncle he was if his own nephew could be insulted with no one to defend him, and where the honour of Banu Hashim had gone. Hamzah asked whether it had happened in public. They told him the whole of Makkah had seen it. Furious, Hamzah marched to the Ka'bah with his bow still in his hand. He struck Abu Jahal across the face with it, drawing blood. He demanded to know how Abu Jahal dared to curse his nephew. Then, without having planned it, he declared that he too followed the Prophet ﷺ's religion. Hamzah went home confused, unsure whether the new religion was true. He prayed to Allah to guide his heart to it if it was true, and spent a sleepless, miserable night. The next morning he went to the Prophet ﷺ and told him everything. The Prophet ﷺ spoke with him until he was convinced, and Hamzah testified that he was speaking the truth.

Placed here because: Sixth year of the dawah; Ep. 18 tells it immediately before Umar's conversion, "three days" earlier.

Hamzah became a Muslim most likely in Dhu al-Hijjah of the sixth year of the dawah. Three days later, the Muslims of Makkah gained a second man whom the Quraysh had thought could never be won over. This was Umar ibn al-Khattab. He and Abu Jahl were the strongest men of their generation, both in body and in family standing. They were also the two fiercest enemies the new faith had. Before this, Umar had shown a moment of softness. A woman named Layla was loading her camel for the second emigration to Abyssinia. She told him that his cruelty was driving them from their homes just so they could worship Allah. Umar softened for a moment, and wished her blessing wherever she went. Her husband, Amir ibn Rabi'ah, heard about it. He said that his father's donkey would accept Islam before Umar did. Neither of them knew that the Prophet ﷺ had made a du'a about Umar. He had asked Allah to strengthen Islam through whichever of the two men, Abu Jahl or Umar, was dearer to Him. Umar's son, Abdullah, later said that Umar was the dearer of the two. More than one story is told of how Umar came to Islam. They are best read as strands of a single rope. One night Umar went looking for a drink. None of his friends were at home, and even the wine-seller was out. So he went to the Ka'bah to walk off the craving. There he found the Prophet ﷺ alone in the dark, praying. Umar crept up behind him, meaning to beat him. Instead, for the first time, he listened. The Prophet ﷺ was reciting Surah al-Haqqah. Umar told himself that this was a poet's verse. At that moment the recitation said that it was not the word of a poet. He thought it might be the word of a soothsayer, and the recitation answered that too. He wondered whether the man had made it up. The verses said that if he had invented any of it, Allah would have seized him by the right hand and cut his aorta. Umar stood there until the surah was finished, and then went home. He said afterwards that Islam entered his heart that night, even though he did not yet accept it. Then one day Abu Jahl was speaking at length among the Quraysh about the man who had insulted their gods and their forefathers. He offered a reward to whoever would get rid of him. The reward was a hundred red and black camels and a hundred measures of silver. Umar went home, took his sword and set out. On the way he met Nu'aym ibn Abdillah al-Nahham, who was secretly a Muslim. Nu'aym asked him where he was going. Umar said he was going to kill Muhammad ﷺ. Nu'aym was frightened. He asked whether Umar really thought the Banu Abd Manaf would let him go on living after he killed one of their own. Then, to turn him aside, Nu'aym told him he had better put his own house in order first. His sister Fatima and her husband Sa'id ibn Zayd had accepted Islam. This did not calm Umar. He went to their house. Through the door he heard the Qur'an being recited. Khabbab ibn al-Aratt was inside with them, because the Prophet ﷺ had appointed him as their teacher. Khabbab hid, and Fatima sat on the written page to hide it. Umar pounded on the door and demanded to know what the murmuring had been. They denied that there had been anything. Umar struck at Sa'id, but the blow landed on his sister. Fatima and her husband were bleeding, but they were now beyond fear. They told him that yes, they were Muslims, and he could do whatever he liked. Seeing them stand so firm changed him, just as Layla's words had. He asked to see what they had been reading. First Fatima made him swear not to harm it. Then she told him that a mushrik could not touch it until he had washed. Umar did ghusl and read from Surah Taha. Then he asked to be taken to the Prophet ﷺ. Sa'id led him to the house of al-Arqam, where the Muslims met in secret. Umar still had his sword in his hand. Someone inside cried out that Umar was at the door with a sword. Hamzah told them to let him in. He said that if Allah wanted good for Umar, he would accept Islam. If not, Umar's own sword would be the end of him. The Prophet ﷺ took hold of Umar's collar. He asked him what he was doing there. He warned him that if he carried on down this path, Allah would destroy him with a punishment. Umar said he had come to believe in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. The Prophet ﷺ cried "Allahu akbar," and everyone in the house heard it. That same day the Muslims, about forty of them, walked to the Ka'bah in two lines. Umar led one line and Hamzah led the other. They prayed there in public for the first time, and no one dared to touch them. The Prophet ﷺ gave Umar the name al-Faruq, meaning the one who separates truth from falsehood. Years later, as Umar lay dying, Ibn Mas'ud said that from the day Umar became Muslim, the Muslims never stopped being held in honour. Umar was not a man to hide what he had done. He went to Abu Jahl's door to tell him in person that he now believed in Allah and His Messenger ﷺ. Abu Jahl cursed him and slammed the door in his face. Then Umar asked who the biggest gossip in Makkah was. People pointed him to Jamil ibn Ma'mar al-Jumahi. Umar confided in Jamil that he had become a Muslim. Jamil ran out into the streets, barely dressed. He shouted that Ibn al-Khattab had become a Sabian. Umar followed behind him, correcting the word. He called out, "Aslamtu," which means "I have accepted Islam." A crowd at the Ka'bah fought him until al-As ibn Wa'il gave him protection. The Prophet ﷺ later said something about Umar. He said that there had been people before who were spoken to by the angels without being prophets, and that if anyone in his community was like this, it was Umar. And when Umar became caliph, the faith that had once been forty people walking to the Ka'bah spread over most of the known world.

Placed here because: Ep. 18: "just three days after the conversion of Hamzah ... It most likely occurred in Dhu al-Hijjah in the 6th year of the dawah."

In the 7th year of the dawah (the call to Islam), the clans of the Quraysh agreed among themselves that the Prophet ﷺ must be killed. They knew, however, that his own clan, Banu Hashim, would never hand him over. So they went one last time to his uncle Abu Talib. They offered him whatever blood money he wanted if he gave the Prophet ﷺ up. If he refused, they threatened to cut off all trade, marriage and social ties with Banu Hashim and their cousin clan, Banu al-Muttalib. Abu Talib refused. The two clans left Makkah and moved to the Valley of Abu Talib, just outside the city. The Quraysh wrote the terms of the boycott in a treaty and hung it inside the Ka'bah. For about two to three years, the clans endured severe hardship and survived on leaves and shrubs. A few sympathisers secretly sent them food, most famously Mut'im ibn Adi and Hakim ibn Hizam. Throughout this time, the Prophet ﷺ still went out in the hajj seasons to call the visiting tribes to Islam. Three things brought the boycott to an end. First, the Prophet ﷺ prayed for a famine to strike the Quraysh, and it did. Second, a group of Quraysh with softer hearts, led by Hisham ibn Amr and Zuhayr ibn Abi Umayya, spoke out against the boycott at a public gathering and turned opinion against Abu Jahal. Finally, the Prophet ﷺ told Abu Talib that Allah had informed him that termites had eaten the treaty, leaving only the words "In the name of Allah". When the Quraysh opened it, they found this was true, and the pact was void.

Placed here because: Ep. 18: "With these two conversions, both Hamzah RA and Umar RA, the Quraysh really felt threatened ... It's said that in the 7th year of the dawah, all the Qureshi tribes came together."