We mentioned some of the totures and trails the sahabah had to undergo in the ea

rly Meccan phase. Today we'll continue where we left off - we mentioned the totu
res of Bilal, Ammar, Yasir, Summaya, Khabbab ibn al-Arat and many others. Especi
ally the sahabah who were not from the Quraysh i.e. they were from the slave-cla
ss, because they were not protected by anyone from the society of Mecca.
What happened to the prophet PBUH himself? Did he undergo any physical pain and
suffering? There's no question he underwent a lot of emotional pain. Physically,
no doubt the muslims from the Quraysh overall and the prophet PBUH himself were
relatively protected. But this does not mean that nothing happened to them. Rat
her we have a number of incidents in which the prophet PBUH was physically harme
d. Eventually of course they talked about assassinating the prophet PBUH, and th
ey had mutliple such attempts culminating in the 'grand' assassination attempt w
hich took place the night before the Hijrah. So even the prophet PBUH suffered p
hysically and there a number of these incidents that have been narrated.
Now, sometimes Allah in His divine wisdom protected the prophet PBUH, and someti
mes He didn't. And this was for a wisdom Allah alone knows. Of the time he was p
rotected there was a time when Abu Jahal was boasting to his peers and he said "
I swear by al-Lat and al-Uzza, that if I see this man again (the prophet PBUH) I
am going to put my foot on his neck (i.e. when he's in sajdah) and I am going t
o throw sand onto him". Because the prophet PBUH was one of the few people who w
ould right in front of the ka'bah. Most of the muslims would not; they would pra
y privately in their homes. But the prophet PBUH would pray publically and the Q
uraysh got irritated at this so Abu Jahal is saying he is going to put his foot
on the prophet PBUHs neck. Abu Hurrairah narrates the prophet PBUH came one day
and started praying. When the prophet PBUH went into sajdah, Abu Jahal came forw
ard ready to put his foot on the neck of the prophet PBUH, but before he got to
him, the people around him saw he turned backwards and started pushing with his
hands away. When he got back the people said "what happened to your threat?" Abu
Jahal replied "I saw between me and him a pit of fire, and there were wings hov
ering above that fire". When the prophet PBUH finished he told the muslims "this
fire was brought by angels, and had he taken one step closer, the angels would
have shredded him into bits". And because of this Allah revealed the conclusion
of surah Iqra:
Have you seen the one who forbids (Abu Jahal)
A servant when he prays?
Have you seen if he is upon guidance
Or enjoins righteousness?
Have you seen if he denies and turns away Does he not know that Allah sees?
No! If he does not desist, We will surely drag him by the forelock A lying, sinning forelock.
Then let him call his associates;
We will call the angels of Hell.
No! Do not obey him. But prostrate and draw near [to Allah ].
Notes:
The 'nasia' is the forehead, and this is an expression in Arabic; if you hold on
to the forlock of a sheep or a cow, the animal is in your control. So this is an
expression in Arabic which Allah is using here to indicate complete control.
'Nadia' is an illusion to the 'nadi' of the Quraysh i.e. their parliment (an are
a of the Haram), and Abu Jahal was sitting in this Nadi when he said this threat
. In the Nadi Abdul Muttalib would have his high chair; so Allah is saying 'call
your people from the Nadi'.
So if you understand the story, surah Iqra comes completely into place here: tha

t the prophet PBUH is donig sajdah but Abu Jahal tries to stop him. All of the e
nding of the surah is a reference to Abu Jahal.
It is also narrated by Urwa ibn Zubair, who himself is not a sahabi as he was bo
rn right after the death of the prophet PBUH; his father is Zubair ibn al-Awwam,
the cousin of the prophet PBUH, and his mother is Asma bint Abu Bakr, and his a
unt is A'isha RA, and his older brother is Abdullah ibn Zubair, he is the most f
amous tabi' in terms of lineage. He did not become a sahabi because he was too y
oung. So Abdullah ibn Zubair asked Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As, another famous sa
habi from Mecca: "tell me the worst thing you that you saw happen to the prophet
PBUH in Mecca". This shows us the curiosity of the sahabah. So he wanted to kno
w the worst thing that happened to the prophet PBUH. So Abdullah ibn Amr narrate
s "once the prophet PBUH was praying next to the ka'bah when Utbah ibn Abi-Muayt
" - note Utbah is considered to be, among four or five people, as one of the mos
t ignobal and vile of the enemies of Islam. As we said we can divide the enemies
of Islam into two general categories; there were those who were somewhat of a n
oble character, and they never stooped to low tactics such as this: "I'm going t
o step on his foot" or what Utbah will do in this narration. Uqba was probably t
he worst, even worse than Abu Jahal. However, the other extreme was of people li
ke Khalid ibn Waleed RA and Umar ibn al-Khattab RA. They are opponents but they
don't get nasty i.e. they are honourable opponents - they keep it above the belt
. Generally speaking those who kept it noble, Allah eventually guided them to Is
lam. Greatest example are people like Abu Suffyan and Khalid ibn Waleed. Umar ib
n al Khattab. These people were not followers of Islam at the beginning - they w
ere enemies who did a lot of harm. But their harm was within the system i.e. leg
ally, using their tongues, sometimes they got physical but they didn't do things
like toture innocent slaves. They didn't do that type of stuff. Other people li
ke Abu Jahal, Uqba ibn Abi Muayt, Waleed ibn Mughira the famous poet of Mecca wh
o inveted lies, that category of people were eliminated and not guided to Islam.
So Abdullah ibn Amr narrates "once the prophet PBUH was praying in front of the
ka'bah when Uqba ibn Abi-Muayt came from behind him and he took of his thobe (ga
rment) and threw it around the prophet PBUHs neck and began to choke him. And th
e prophet PBUH was struggling with that choking and the people did not intervene
at all until finally Abu Bakr was told his companion is being totured. So he ru
shed to the masjid, and he began beating up Utbah from behind and said 'Are you
going to kill a person just because he says My Lord is Allah?'". And Allah revea
led verses in the Qur'an quoting Abu Bakr with this exact phrase. Again this sho
ws us Abu Bakr is not a regular sahabi - he is someone Allah has explicitly ment
ioned is a sahabi in the Qur'an. The only person whom Allah testifies is a sahab
i by indirect name is Abu Bakr. "Iz yakoolu sahebehee" i.e. "when he says to his
companion" - the only other sahaba quoted in the Qur'an is Zayd so clearly thes
e two sahabah are definately at a different level to the other sahaba.
Sometimes the harm was not physical but rather emotional i.e. a matter of presti
gue. Ibn Mas'ud narrates in Bhukari, and Ibn Mas'ud saw this incident as an eye
witness but he could not do anything as he was of the slave class. Had he done a
nything his life would have been taken immediately. So ibn Mas'ud says "once the
prophet PBUH was praying in front of the ka'bah" - this shows they usually atta
cked the prophet PBUH in public to drive the point - "when Abu Jahal and a group
of his peers were sitting around each other, and the day before a camel had jus
t been sacrificed. So Abu JAhal said 'who amongst you will go to the carcuss of
the camel and bring the entrails/intestines and throw it on the back of Muhammad
when he is praying to his Lord?'" So it's a challenge Abu Jahal is posing. Ibn
Mas'ud then says "And so the worst of them, Uqba ibn Abi-Muayt stood up, and he
went". Now can you imagine - this is a noble man of Quraysh, he must have been w
earing his fine clothes, he's considered to be of the leaders, he goes to a dead
carcuss and puts his hand inside this filthy decomposing body, and carries it w
ith his own hands; entrails, blood, this disgusting sticky substance. Can you im
agine the hatred he has in his heart that's even more disgusting that this act?

And he comes from that yard, and walks all the way into the city. And the prophe
t PBUH is still praying - as we know the prophet PBUHs prayer was long. It's not
like our prayers, two minutes and we're done. Literally some prayers were 2 or
3 hours, others were minimum 15 minutes. So Uqba waited for the prophet PBUH to
go into sajdah, and when the prophet PBUH fell into sajdah, Uqbah came and dumpe
d all of the stomach and entrails and intenstines - all onto the head of the pro
phet PBUH while he is in sajdah and the weight of it was so heavy the prophet PB
UH could not lift his head up.
Ibn Mas'ud said "the people began to laugh so hard, that some of them fell onto
their sides, and others were hitting themselves, and I was standing from a dista
nce looking but I had NO way to help". He was just ibn Mas'ud, no one would have
supported him. These are Abu Jahal and kings of Quraysh, ibn Mas'ud is like Bil
al - they would have been instantly killed because they don't have any honour. T
his is not their society, they are slaves in this society. Ibn Mas'ud continues
"I was of those who are seeing him but I could not do anything and the prophet P
BUH, remained sajid i.e. in sajdah, until some persons went to tell Fatimah RA"
- at this time, Fatimah was probably around eight or nine years old. Went to tel
l her "that your father needs your help". So someone with some mercy went to tel
l Fatimah RA that her father needs her help. And so "Fatimah was a juwariya (lit
tle girl) at the time, and she began crying and running towards the prophet PBUH
and helped him get this dead animal off of his back - and the prophet PBUH then
stood up; he managed to stand up, and he turned and he faced them. And he raise
d his finger up to Allah, and when they saw him in this fashion they became quie
t.
They became quiet, and he began making dua against them by name: "Allahuma alayk
a be Abi Jahal. Allahuma alayka be Uqba ibn Abi-Muayt..." And he mentioned each
of them three times, until all of them had a deadly pale in their faces. The blo
od drained from their faces and the people that are mentioned here: Abu Jahal ib
n Hashim, Utbah ibn Rabbiyah, Shaybah ibn Rabbiyah, Waleed ibn Uqba, Ummayah ibn
Khalaf and Uqba ibn Abi-Muayt. Ibn Mas'ud said "and there was a seventh but I f
orgot his name". So seven people were in this 'nadia' i.e. this gathering, and t
hen Ibn Mas'ud said "And I swear by the One who sent Muhammad SAW with the truth
, that I myself saw every one of these seven, dead in the Battle of Badr". The f
irst engagement Allah took care of all of them. Every one of these seven, the en
emies that didn't have any nobility, there's no point so Allah did not save them
. They don't have any good in them. This shows they had no humility, completely
callous their hearts were sealed. So Ibn Mas'ud said every one of the seven were
dead at the battle of Badr and he saw their bodies dragged into the well and th
rown into the well of Badr.
Eventually of course the matters got worse than this, and talks began of assassi
nation - it's narrated in ibn Ishaaq that once the news spread that they had pla
nned to assassinate to the prophet PBUH, and a neighbour told Fatimah RA about t
his, and Fatimah RA ran home and told the prophet PBUH that they're planning to
assassinate him. And the prophet PBUH said "fear not for Allah will take care of
me." And he asked her to bring her water; he did wudu, made dua to Allah and he
walked into the masjid. And this was towards the end of the Meccan era, because
the assassination talk only began in the 8th/9th/10th year of the dawah. Techni
cally we're still in the fourth/fifth year. So they said "we will assassinate hi
m" and they had their weapons prepared, so the prophet PBUH did wudu, walked int
o the masjid. They had their arms and were ready to kill him, but not one of the
m could move. They all became paralysed. They could not stand up. And the prophe
t PBUH took some sand and threw it at their faces while they are sitting and loo
king at him. And he said "May these faces be cursed" and in this narration the s
ahabi says "every one of these were of the ones who were killed in the battle of
Badr".
And there are many more incidents aswell, the point we are stressing is the prop

het PBUH himself was physically and emotionally totured. The question arises: of
all the toture and pain and suffering, we firmly believe that our prophet PBUH
is the best prophet. We firmly believe his followers were the best followers. We
firmly believe Allah loves the prophets and loves the followers of the prophets
. So why then were they tested in this fashion and manner? What is the wisdom in
such hardship and persecution? Why not give them immediate victory and let the
people believe? In fact its not just Islam - even Isa AS, his followers were per
secuted. Musa AS - his followers suffered at the hands of Firone. So why when th
ey are on the side of Allah? Our prophet PBUH, there's a dead carcuss being thro
wn on him. Why? There are many reasons:
1. To remind them, and through them to remind us that Allah did not create us to
live a comfortable life in this world. There's a purpose for Allah creating us,
and that purpose is the next world. Allah says "He has created life and death,
He is one who causes you to laugh and cry". Every human has good and bad happen
to him. You have occasions when you're happy, and occasions when you're sad. So
Allah reminds them and hence us, that we are not created to just live in this wo
rld. Therefore of the wisdoms is to earn in whatever way possible, Allah's mercy
that will get us to paradise. You have to do something to gain that mercy from
Allah. Paradise is too much to be 'earned' in a lifetime of good. But Allah will
magnify the small that you do, and that will then give you Allahs blessings and
ultimately paradise. So it's the wisdom of Allah to test mankind, to see those
who are pure and firmly believe in him, and those are worthy to be blessed versu
s those who aren't pure and not worthy.
Allah says in surah Ankaboot "Did mankind think they would be left without being
tested and tried? Verily we tested the people before them, and through these te
sts Allah will show who are those who are true, and who are those who are hypocr
ites". Allah says is Baqarah verse 214 "Do you think you will enter Jannah just
like that? Allah has yet to test you!" and "Allah has told you what happened to
the people before you. They were shaken and afflicted with hardships and with po
verty until they called out 'when will the help of Allah come?!' Verily the help
of Allah is indeed close". We mentioned Khabbab ibn Arat, the one whose slave l
ady would take hot iron from the coals and use it to toture Khabbab on his back.
One day he came to the prophet PBUH and said "Ya RasulALLAH how long? For how l
ong will we be like this? How long will we be tortured? Why don't you ask Allah
to help us against these people?" So the prophet PBUH was sitting against the ka
'bah - he came forward to show the importance and he said "Indeed the people bef
ore you they would be tortured worse than this. And one of them would have a com
b of iron that would strip his flesh off of his bones and another would have a s
aw or knife cut himself in half, and still that would not turn them away from th
e worship of Allah. Verily I swear to you by the One who has sent me that Allah
will perfect this religion and matter, until you will see a day in which a musli
m lady shepard will take her flock from Hadra-Mout to San'a, (two cities in Yeme
n that very far away), and she will only be scared of Allah and the wolf to eat
her sheep". Of course this is exactly what happened. The prophet PBUH said "Alla
h will fulfill this promise but you are those who are being hasty".
Notice the prophet PBUH had full faith - this religion WILL succeed but there wi
ll be trails in the beginning but the sahabah were being hasty. The punishments
which the prophet PBUH described or iron combs and being cleaved in half, this i
s exactly what happened to the early Christians at the hands of the Romans. The
Romans were a pagan nation until Constantine converted in 321AD and adopted Chri
stianity; until that time, Romans were a pagan nation and they persecuted the ch
ristians. The emporer burnt the christians and used them as light bulbs, literal
ly, doused them with petrol and used them as light bulbs in his city of Rome. Th
ey became his light bulbs for a few days - they were persecuted very severely in
some cases, worse than the early Muslims. So the prophet PBUH is saying "there
were muslims before you who were persecuted worse than this, and they did not sw
erve away from the worship of Allah. Allah will give us victory but you need to

be patient". And therefore from this we learn and this is from the wisdoms as to
why they had to undergo hardship, that the blessings of Allah are earned throug
h trail and struggle. They don't just come; you need to earn them through whatev
er tests come your way. Allah says in the Qur'an:
"With difficulty comes the ease".
The yusr will come with the usr - there must be the difficulty, and then the eas
e comes. Even the prophets of Allah are not handed the blessings on a silver pla
tter. They need to struggle to earn it and show it. In this is wisdom: a later p
erson could come and say, if the prophets didn't undergo struggles, "subhanAllah
they didn't have any struggles they were prophtes Allah gave them peace and sec
urity instantaneously" - but they suffered worse than us, so automaically we rea
lise they were better than us.
Of the last points of some of the blessings is that the companions and even the
prophet in his own way, they, through their struggles clearly demonstrated their
superiority over us. Without any question you see it in their struggles. It's n
ot just speech of Allah that "Allah is pleased with them"; it's not just the spe
ech of the prophet PBUH that "my sahabah are the best of all generations". You s
ee it in what they do and how they live their lives. And even amongst the sahaba
h, not all of them are the same. Those who converted in Mecca have a higher degr
ee than those who converted in Madinah etc. Allah says "the earliest who convert
ed have a degree higher, and then the Ansar".
The last point is that so we can have real examples, shining lights of guidance,
such that when we face trails and tribulations, we can find comfort and solace
and role models - and indeed there is no society that has undergone the type of
persecution that the early muslims of Mecca did, and therefore every persecutio
n that takes place, we can find some kind of comfort when we look at what happen
ed to the early sahabah.
When the sahaba reached around 20/30 - the prophet PBUH realised he need a place
to congregate. Alot of muslims were secret - they hadnt informed their relative
s or friends, or especially their masters. There was no 'mosque' they could pray
in other than the ka'bah. Masjid-al-Kuba was the first mosque in Islam (mention
ed by Allah) - there was no physical masjid before Kuba built upon taqwah i.e. i
n Islam. So there's no sanctuary, and hence the prophet PBUH decided to choose t
he house of Al-Arqam ibn-abil-Arqam. And his name is probably Asad ibn Abil-Uzza
. Al-Aqram is his title i.e. his common name. So Darul-Arqam became the place wh
ere the sahaba meet. When did this happen? We don't have any year, but probably
we estimate around the middle of the 3rd/beginning of the 4th year. In other wor
ds, as soon as the daw'ah went public - this happened a few months after that. R
acall after 3 years the dawah went public - the first three years was in secrecy
. After 3 years the persecution began so the prophet PBUH shortly after this cho
oses a meeting place. Why the house of Al-Arqam? What is the wisdom behind choos
ing his house? The books of seerah do not mention this so we have to study him,
where his house was and try to derive some benefit.
1. Al-Arqam was from the nobleman of Quraysh but not from the tribe of Banu Hash
im - he was from the tribe of Banu Makhzum, Abu Jahal's tribe. So by choosing so
meone from the Banu Makhzum automatically no one expects a makhzumi will help a
hashami because there is huge rivalvry between them. So the prophet PBUH chose s
omeone from a completely rival tribe as no one would have expected it. Islam is
more important than tribalism, but the jaheleya Arabs can't look beyond this.
2. He was of the first 10 people to accept Islam. So clearly then he can be comp
letely trusted. Because this is a secret place which no one is supposed to know
about.

3. According to one report, he was a young man (18/19) that inherited this prope
rty from his father. This adds to the disguise that nobody would think an 18 yea
r old to be such a brave person who would risk it all to help the prophet PBUH.
4. According to another report, he did not announce his Islam - so this was an a
dded cover of secrecy. No one even expects him to be muslim let alone help the s
ahabah and the prophet PBUH.
5. The house of Al-Arqam was located behind the mountain of Saffat. And this mou
ntain was in the center of Mecca. And why would you want a secret meeting place
smack in the middle of Mecca? Traffic. Everybody has to go to downtown every day
. Mecca - every one goes there in that area every single day. So people walking
to and fro in this area is the most natural thing in the world. It's right under
their noses - they are walking to a house right in the middle of downtown becau
se it's a stone's throw away from the ka'bah. Literally the house is right next
to the ka'bah. And so when they walk in people will think they are walking into
the haram. When they walk out people will think they are walking out of the hara
m. It's a location that it would be very easy to explain why you are walking to
and from that direction. And why they're so many people going back and forth to
that area. And we can assume but they probably ensured they went to the haram fo
r a while and came back so no suspicion arose.
6. His house must have been large because we had at least 40 people congregating
in the house. So this clearly means the house of Al-Arqam must have been large.
This is where Ammar ibn Yasir accepted Islam, Suhayb Ar-Rumi accepted Islam, Um
ar RA accepted Islam; where Khabbab brought Umar RA after Umar RA repented and c
hanged his mind for trying to kill his own sister. Then when he made sure Umar w
as sincere Khabbab brought him to the house of Al-Arqam. And he gave the codewor
d, but Al-Arqam said "who have you brought? How can you bring Umar al Khattab ha
ve you lost your mind?". So after explaining Khabbab brings Umar RA to the house
of the Al-Arqam and Umar RA accepts Islam.
So this was the central station for the muslims. And when you look at the reason
s why this house was chosen, once again you find a lot of wisdoms and you find c
learly the prophet PBUH was a highly intellectual human, he's not just choosing
any random house there's reasons why even this house was chosen.
The next major incident was the first immigration to Abyssinia. When these tacti
cs of open intimidation, toture and humiliation continued, the prophet PBUH sugg
ested to the sahaba that "this land has become too constricted - why don't you i
mmigrate to the christian land of Abyssinia for those who want to? The king ther
e is a just king who will let you worship without trouble". And this was said in
Rajab in the fifth year of the dawah. And so after 3 years dawah went public; l
ess than 1.5 years after this the prophet PBUH makes this announcement so we can
imagine the hardship that happened in these 1.5 years. It got so difficult, the
prophet PBUH allows the sahaba to immigrate. Most of us will never understand t
he hardship involved with immigrating from land to land. Uprooting yourself comp
letely in Jaheleya Mecca was unheard of. As a qurayshi you had to be linked to M
ecca. If you went anywhere else, you have no honour or protection because there
is no law or government or civilisation. You become a 2nd/3rd class citizen. Thi
s is Arabia - imagine going to a foriegn land. On top of that, there is no bank
transfer. Your property is your property. And you can't sell it because you can'
t tell anyone you are leaving. So it will just be taken over by other people aft
er you're gone. When they performed Hijra to Medina, the sahaba suffered immense
finanicial loss. And so, when you're making Hijra, you are entering in a world
with no honour, protection and you are at the mercy of those around you. To make
matters worse, its a land in Africa, people don't even speak Arabic. The cultur
e is completely different. So this underscores how difficult Mecca was for them
to prefer going to Abyssinia over staying in Mecca.

When the prophet PBUH gave this command, 15 people migrated in total, 11 men and
4 women. Among them was Utham ibn Affan and his wife Ruqayyah, the daughter of
the prophet PBUH (so this was the first couple). Next was Abdur Rehman ibn Auf,
Uthman ibn Madoon, Zubair ibn al-Awwam, Musaab ibn Umair, Abu Salma and his wife
Umme Salma. She was left all alone without any support when Abu Salma died. So
out of mercy to her the prophet PBUH sent a proposal to Umme Salma. And a number
of other sahaba.
It's unclear whether they all secretly immigrated or whether it was known. They
made their way to Jeddah, and then took a ship to Abbyssina. Other reports sprea
d that news reached the Quraysh. This is also acceptable as at this time, there
is no reason for the Quraysh to stop them. And there is one report which suggest
s the news was public. It ivolves Umar RA. Note there was four couples who migra
ted. Aamin ibn Rabiya and his wife Laila was one of them. It was narrated Laila
packed her bags and loaded the camels. And Umar RA passes by and sees they are t
ravelling. So he asks "where are you travelling to?" Travelling was a massive de
al for them. Its not a normal thing. Laila is understandably so irratated and sa
id "this all because of you, and your terrorising of us just because we want to
worship of Allah. Because of you we have to go somewhere else". Instead of getti
ng angry, Umar RA showed compassion and said "has the matter reached that level?
May Allah be with you". And he walks on his way. So she is completely flabbegas
ted - so when her husband comes home, she tells him about this. Her husband snor
ted in contempt and said "do you really think he will be merciful and accept Isl
am? The donkeys of the father's house will embrace Islam before he does". Subhan
Allah this shows us Umar RA had an outer hardness but inside he was very compass
ionate and soft. Indeed when he hit his own sister, as soon as she bleeds what h
appens? We will see. And indeed teh sahaba never expected him to accept ISlam. S
o this also shows we should never condemn people to hell.
So Umme Salma said "we began to live in a good land. And we were safe with regar
ds to our worship and did not fear any persecution". Notice every one who migrat
ed were all high status qurayshi people. Why couldn't the lower status immigrate
? They were slaves. And they didn't have the political luxury to immigrate. This
shows us that the people who needed to immigrate the most couldn't do so. Bilal
, Khabbab, Ibn Masud, Ammar etc all couldn't do so. And the more elite, Utham ib
n Affan - who was the one who was sent for Hudabiya because they know the Qurays
h would never touch him as they loved him so much. So the elite of the muslims i
mmigrated. And this shows us, a person does have to take care of themselves. And
this isn't unislamic. And indeed there was no point for them to stay and be per
secuted. So you make the best of a bad situation and whoever CAN leave and be im
migrated, then did.
This also shows not all of the lands of the non muslims were the same. Some of t
hem are peaceful and could be inhabited in peace. Mecca and Abyssinia were not t
he same. There are lands where freedom is guaranteed; and others were people are
persecuetd. So clearly this shows Islam says we should live in a land provided
we can worship Allah. And if we have this freedom we should remain law abiding c
itizens. The model of the Abyssinian muslims is a model we should benefit from.
And the model is: you live as a minority in a majority non muslims land, and you
obey the laws of the land and you understand you are citizens; and you don't in
tend to overthrow the constitution of the government. The Abyssinian muslims did
not do this - they just lived, worshipped and participated in the community wit
hout any problems. Many extremists say its haraam to live in America. In reponse
we say the muslims lived in Abyssinia and their goal was nothing but to worship
Allah. And they remained there for over a decade. In fact for 14 years - 7 year
s after the Hijra the muslims were still in Abyssinia. It was only after the bat
tle of Kabar the prophet PBUH sent a letter of Jaffa in Abyssinia and tell them
to come back to Medina. This shows there was a community of believers living in
Abyssinia even when there was a fully functioning darul-Islam in Medina. Thus ho
w about when there is no khalifa, or no darul-Islam? Also notice, the prophet PB

UH described the Najashi of Abyssinia (the emperor of Abyssinia), who was Ashama
ibn Abjar, as a 'just' king. Why? Because he did not peresecute his subjects no
r did he persecture in his religion. Thus allowing people freedom in worship is
considered to be a just king. Is it possible a christian can be praised for this
freedom and yet our shariah does not allow this? The Islamic government does no
t have the right to ban other religions. This utopic government some of the narr
ow minded people think about is not a real vision, nor does it match with the sh
ariah. There was always a minority of non muslims living among muslims in the pa
st. And its unislamic for a government to ban a religion. Indeed, when the musli
ms conquered Persia, the persians were zorostrians, not the people of the book.
And so by unanimous concession, the muslims accepted them as similar to the peop
le of book. Thus the correct opinion mentioned by Ibn Tammiyah is that this appl
ies to any religion - any pagan religion. Thus, we cannot ban any religion. The
Islamic shariah guarantees this freedom to any non muslim. This shows us the per
ception many non muslims have is incorrect; and also the perception of many over
-zealous muslims themselves.
So the wisdoms of choosing Abyssinia as the safety net were as follows:
1. The king of Abyssinia was a just king that allowed freedom of worship.
2. Abyssinia was familiar with the Quraysh and muslims due to trade that happene
d between them. It wasn't as if the prophet PBUH said go to china i.e. somewhere
the muslims had never heard.
3. Its easy passage. The journey was to Jeddah, which took a day or two, not too
far. And from there it was a ship to Abyssinia which took 5/6 hours. So within
two days you could be in Abyssinia. Much closer to Yemen or Rome.
4. There are christians, not pagans. And chrisitans are much closer to muslims.
Allah says "the closest and the ones who have the most love for the muslims are
those who say we are the followers of Jesus". And its also said that this king h
e followed a version of christianity that wasn't the trinitarian version.
When Jesus was raised up, his followers were immersed in a huge confusion. "What
happened, where is he?" And within a decade the question came "who is he? what
was he?". And one group, the true followers of Jesus like Barnabus, James etc sa
id he was just a man, a prophet, a noble person who obeyed one God like Moses AS
. Another person came along by the name of Paul who never met Jesus, and he taug
ht a version of christianity that was a different version. That you have to beli
eve in the death and ressurection of Jesus AS. And that he came to abbrogate the
law. Don't follow the law of Moses or Abraham etc. This is why christians don't
have a law - even though Jesus was circumcised, he didn't eat pork etc. And thi
s controversy continued for 300 years. One group of christians remained firm. Mo
dern day scholars called them jewish chirstians, or messianic jews (i.e. they be
lieved Jesus was a prophet) - these were the real muslims. One group was the pau
line christians, and they Jesus was the son of God. And eventually the trinity w
as put into the mix. You never find the trinity in the old testament, and rarely
/nothing in the new testemant. So Constantine, the emporer of Rome, called a hug
e council in Narseea. And he calls all christian bishops. And you have opposing
views, some say he was the son of God, some say he was three Gods, some say ther
e were two Gods etc. Constantine makes a decree - the creed of Narseea. And this
creed says there are three that rule in Heavan, but these three are only One. B
asically 3=1. The main opponent was a man by the name of Arias. And after this m
eeting Constantine said he had to be executed. Arias fled for his life and he fl
ed south - that he fled down while the narseean creed was spreading down through
the Roman emporer. There's not a single branch of christianity that was of the
original pre-narseean creed. Recall the story of Salman al Farasi. His last teac
her said "I don't know anyone left upon my religion". Thus there is a theory tha
t Najashi was influenced by Arias, thus when Islam came to him, that's why he in

stantly said "this comes from the same well as Jesus". He instantly recognised i
t. So the theory is that Najashi could have been on the true christanity.