In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful.
Treasures of the Seerah.
Chapter Two:
The Da'wah of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) in Mecca.
When the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) reached
forty years of age,
Allah, Blessed and Exalted, bestowed His favor
upon all of mankind
by commissioning him (peace be upon him) as a Messenger,
as a guide, a bearer of glad tidings, and a warner.
“And as a summoner unto Allah by His permission, and as a lamp that giveth light.” (33:46)
Here is the Mother of the Believers, 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her),
recounting for us the story of the start of his prophethood (peace be upon him).
'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said:
"The first form of revelation that came to him (peace be upon him)
was true dreams during sleep.
He never saw a dream except that it came true like the bright gleam of dawn.
Then, seclusion became dear to him,
and he used to seclude himself in the Cave of Hira',
engaging in acts of devotion for a number of nights
before returning to his family.
He would then return to Khadijah and replenish his provisions for a similar period,
until the truth suddenly came to him.
The angel said, 'Read!'
He (peace be upon him) said,
'I cannot read.'
He related,
'So he seized me and squeezed me until I reached the limit of my endurance.
Then he released me and said,
"Read!"
I replied, "I cannot read."
So he seized me and squeezed me a second time until I reached the limit of my endurance.
Then he released me and said,
"Read!"
I replied, "I cannot read."
So he seized me and squeezed me a third time, then released me and said:
“Read: In the name of thy Lord Who createth,” (96:1)
“Createth man from a clot.” (96:2)
"Read, and your Lord is the Most Generous, who taught by the pen."'
“Teacheth man that which he knew not.” (96:5)
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) returned with these verses, his heart trembling with fear.
He entered upon Khadijah bint Khuwaylid (may Allah be pleased with her) and said,
'Cover me! Cover me!'
She said: 'They covered him until the terror departed from him.'
He then said to Khadijah, after informing her of what had happened,
'I feared for myself.'
Khadijah said—
and she was the reassuring pillar whom Allah chose for His Prophet (peace be upon him)—:
'Never! By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you.'
Khadijah began this statement with a denial,
followed by an oath:
'By Allah, Allah will never disgrace you,'
and reinforced it by adding 'never.'
All of this demonstrates the profound trust this woman had in her Lord, Blessed and Exalted,
and her true insight into Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The reason upon which she built this conclusion
is what she mentioned immediately thereafter,
saying:
'For you uphold the ties of kinship,
you bear the burdens of the weak,
you provide for the destitute,
you honor the guest,
and you assist those afflicted by genuine misfortune.'
It is as if she were saying to the Prophet (peace be upon him):
'Whoever possesses such noble virtues
can never be disgraced by Allah under any circumstances,
for these traits are qualities of sheer perfection.'
She then took him to Waraqah ibn Nawfal,
who was her paternal cousin.
He had embraced Christianity during the pre-Islamic period of ignorance (Jahiliyyah),
and he used to write the Hebrew scripture as much as Allah willed him to write.
He was an elderly man who had become blind.
Khadijah said to him,
'O cousin,
listen to your nephew.'
Waraqah said to him,
'O my nephew,
what do you see?'
The Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) informed him
of what he had seen.
Thereupon, Waraqah said to him,
'This is the Namus (the angel Gabriel) whom Allah sent down upon Moses.
Would that I were young and strong in those days!
Would that I were alive when your people drive you out!'
At that moment, the Messenger (peace be upon him) found it unlikely that his people would drive him out,
seeing that his people loved him dearly
and only called him 'the Truthful and Trustworthy'
(peace be upon him).
That is why he asked,
'Will they really drive me out?'
He replied, 'Yes;
no man has ever brought the like of what you have brought without being met with hostility.'
This is a crucial rule
and a profound principle upon which Waraqah ibn Nawfal based his judgment,
namely that all the prophets were harmed and faced hostility:
some of them were killed,
some of them were expelled,
some of them were tormented,
and some of them were terrorized;
instances of this are numerous.
He added,
'And if I live to see your day, I will support you with mighty assistance.'
Shortly thereafter, Waraqah passed away,
and the revelation ceased for a period.
The scholars estimated this duration to be six months,
while some stated that it lasted up to three years.
Waraqah ibn Nawfal (may Allah have mercy on him) is considered a Muslim,
and it is authentically reported that the Prophet (peace be upon him) said:
'Do not revile Waraqah,
for I saw that he has one garden or two gardens in Paradise.'
But was he a Companion?
The correct view is that he was not a Companion,
because he did not witness the active mission of the message;
he died after the Prophet (peace be upon him) was commissioned as a prophet
and before he began publicly conveying the message (peace be upon him).
Treasures of the Seerah:
The Alleged Suicide Attempt of the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Al-Zuhri said:
'Urwah informed me from 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that she said:
"The revelation ceased for a while,
so much so that the Prophet (peace be upon him)—according to what has reached us—became grieved
with such sorrow that he repeatedly went out intending to cast himself down from the peaks of high mountains.
But whenever he reached the summit of a mountain to throw himself off,
Gabriel appeared to him and said:
'O Muhammad, you are truly the Messenger of Allah.'
Thereupon his heart would find tranquility,
his soul would be reassured, and he would return.
When the cessation of revelation became prolonged again,
he would go out to do the same;
and whenever he reached the summit of a mountain,
Gabriel would appear to him and say the same to him."
This addition is not from the words of 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her);
rather, it is from the words of al-Zuhri.
He is among the Tabi'un
and did not witness that event,
nor did he mention which of the Companions narrated this to him.
That is why he said, 'according to what has reached us.'
The unbacked reports (balaghat) of al-Zuhri and others are categorized as severed (munqati') hadiths,
and they are weak;
thus, it is not authentic to attribute this to the Prophet (peace be upon him).
Al-Hafiz Ibn Hajar (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
'Furthermore, the one who said "according to what has reached us" is al-Zuhri.
The meaning of this phrase is:
"Among what has reached us regarding the account of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
in this story..."
It is among the balaghat of al-Zuhri,
and it is not continuously connected (mawsul).'
Al-Kirmani said:
'This is the apparent reality.'
Shaykh al-Albani (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
'Attributing this report to al-Bukhari
is a grave error,
because it gives the false impression that this story of throwing himself down is authentic according to the criteria of al-Bukhari,
which is not the case.'
Once you know that this addition is unproven,
it is only right to say
that it is a denounced (munkar) addition in terms of meaning as well;
for it is unfitting for the infallible Prophet (peace be upon him)
to attempt to kill himself by hurling himself from a mountain,
whatever the motive might have been.
The forms of revelation are six, as stated by the people of knowledge:
The first:
True dreams;
this was the beginning of revelation to the Prophet (peace be upon him),
as 'A'ishah (may Allah be pleased with her) said:
'He never saw a dream except that it came true like the bright gleam of dawn.'
The second:
What the angel would cast into the heart of the Prophet (peace be upon him),
such as his saying (peace be upon him):
'The Holy Spirit breathed into my heart
that no soul shall die
until it completes its full provision;
so fear Allah and be moderate in seeking it.'
The third:
That the angel would take the form of a man
and address the Prophet (peace be upon him)
until he comprehended what was said,
as in the Hadith of Gabriel
when he came to the Prophet (peace be upon him)
while he was among his companions—
referencing the famous Hadith of Gabriel.
The fourth:
That it would come to him like the ringing of a bell,
and this was the hardest form upon him,
so much so that the forehead of the Messenger (peace be upon him)
would drip with sweat on a bitterly cold day.
The fifth:
That he would see the angel in the actual form in which Allah, Blessed and Exalted, created him,
and the angel would reveal to him whatever He willed,
such as when Gabriel came to him in the cave.
The sixth:
What Allah, Blessed and Exalted, revealed to His Prophet (peace be upon him) directly
without the intermediation of an angel,
as occurred during his Ascension (Mi'raj, peace be upon him)
to the seventh heaven,
where the daily prayers were ordained upon him.
Treasures of the Seerah:
How Polytheism Entered Mecca.
The tribe of Khuza'ah were the custodians of the Sacred House before Quraysh.
They inherited the custodianship over the House from generation to generation,
and their guardianship of the House lasted for three hundred years,
or, as some say, five hundred years.
During their era, idols were first brought into Mecca,
at the hands of their chieftain, 'Amr ibn Luhayy,
whose word among them was treated like binding law
owing to his esteemed status in their eyes.
This 'Amr ibn Luhayy had traveled to the Levant,
where he observed the people of the Levant worshipping idols.
He asked, "What are these idols that you worship?"
They replied, "These are idols we worship:
we pray to them for rain and they grant us rain,
and we pray to them for victory and they grant us victory."
He said, "Will you not give me one of them
so I may take it to the land of the Arabs that they might worship it?"
So they gave him an idol called Hubal,
which he brought with him to Mecca.
He erected it and commanded the people to worship it, and they obeyed him.
Thus he made light of his people, and they obeyed him;
indeed, they were a defiantly disobedient people.
The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) said:
"I saw 'Amr ibn Luhayy dragging his entrails in the Hellfire."
The Arabs had previously adhered to the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him),
but with the passage of time, they forgot much of the specific religious laws.
This state of affairs continued—
namely, the leadership of the Khuza'ah tribe over the Sacred House—
until Qusayy ibn Kilab married the daughter of the chieftain of Khuza'ah.
Thereafter, he enlisted the help of other Arab tribes to fight Khuza'ah,
defeating them and expelling them from Mecca,
whereupon Qusayy assumed the leadership;
and Qusayy was from Quraysh.
Among the rites that remained with the Arabs from the religion of Abraham (peace be upon him) was the Hajj pilgrimage.
They would perform tawaf around the Ka'bah and sa'i between Safa and Marwah,
stand at 'Arafat and Muzdalifah,
and offer sacrificial camels.
However, due to the long passage of time, they began to say in their talbiyah:
"Here I am at Your service, O Allah, here I am at Your service.
Here I am at Your service; You have no partner,
except a partner who belongs to You—
You possess him and all that he possesses."
Ibn 'Abbas (may Allah be pleased with him and his father) said:
"If you wish to realize the extent of the Arabs' ignorance,
read beyond verse 130 of Surah Al-An'am,"
wherein Allah Almighty says:
“They are losers who besottedly have slain their children without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah bestowed upon them, inventing a lie against Allah. They indeed have gone astray and are not guided.” (6:140)
“They are losers who besottedly have slain their children without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah bestowed upon them, inventing a lie against Allah. They indeed have gone astray and are not guided.” (6:140)
“They are losers who besottedly have slain their children without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah bestowed upon them, inventing a lie against Allah. They indeed have gone astray and are not guided.” (6:140)
"inventing lies against Allah."
“They are losers who besottedly have slain their children without knowledge, and have forbidden that which Allah bestowed upon them, inventing a lie against Allah. They indeed have gone astray and are not guided.” (6:140)
Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) said:
"Among those practices were the false, corrupt rites they fabricated,
which their chief, 'Amr ibn Luhayy—may Allah render him hideous—falsely deemed
an act of public good and mercy toward beasts and livestock,
whereas he was a lying fabricator in doing so.
Yet despite this profound ignorance and misguidance,
these ignorant, rabble-like followers succumbed to him."
Allah (blessed and exalted be He) said:
“Allah hath not appointed anything in the nature of a Bahirah or a Sa'ibah or a Wasilah or a Hami, but those who disbelieve invent a lie against Allah. Most of them have no sense.” (5:103)
"The *bahirah* was a she-camel whose ear they used to slit,
slitting it and dedicating her milk to false deities (*tawaghit*),
while forbidding people from benefiting from her.
As for the *sa'ibah*,
it was a camel set free to roam,
not restricted from any pasture or water source,
nor ridden by anyone,
being consecrated exclusively to the idols.
As for the *wasilah*,
it was a female camel that gave birth to a female offspring immediately following another female;
if she gave birth to a male, it was dedicated to the idols.
As for the *ham*,
it was a stallion camel that had sired ten consecutive offspring from its spine;
it was left alone, neither ridden nor barred from any pasture."
Hafiz Ibn Kathir (may Allah have mercy on him) further stated:
"Rather, they followed him in that which was far more disastrous
and immensely greater:
the worship of idols alongside Allah (Mighty and Majestic is He).
They altered the true religion and straight path
with which Allah had sent His intimate friend Abraham—
namely, the pure monotheism of Allah, worshipping Him alone without partner,
and the prohibition of polytheism.
They corrupted the rites of Hajj and the landmarks of the religion
without knowledge, proof,
or any evidence, whether sound or weak,
merely imitating the polytheistic nations that preceded them.
The Arabs even took, alongside the Ka'bah, false deities (*tawaghit*) which they venerated as they venerated the Ka'bah itself.
They appointed custodians for them—serving as attendants and gatekeepers—
slaughtered sacrifices before them, and circumambulated them.
Yet despite all this, they still recognized the virtue and superiority of the Ka'bah.
As for Quraysh,
they venerated Al-'Uzza and Hubal;
Thaqif possessed Al-Lat;
Al-Aws and Al-Khazraj venerated Manat;
and the tribe of Daws possessed Dhu Al-Khalasah."