“O Prophet! Truly We
                Have sent thee as
               A witness, a bearer
              Of Glad Tidings,
             And a Warner,
            And as one who invites
           To Allah’s (Grace) by His leave,
          And as a Lamp
         Spreading light.”
        (Quran, J-22, S.33, A-45, 46)
        “We sent thee not, but
        As a Mercy for all creatures.”
        (Quran, J-17, S.21, A-107)

The holy prophet Mohammad (PBUH) was born in the year 570 A.D. The people of Mecca bestowed upon him the title of “the Honest and the Truthful man” before he attained prophet hood. Due to his truthfulness and honesty, he enjoyed high rank of credibility among all the tribes and clans of Mecca. They held him in high esteem and consulted him in all-important affairs. When he completed fortieth year of his age Allah honored him with revelation and prophet hood. Initially when he commenced the process of inviting his people to the Islamic faith, following the command of Allah, all the tribes of Mecca including his own clan turned to become his mortal enemy except the selected few. Every tribe of Mecca prided itself with religious fervor in harming and launching physical attack upon the life of prophet, his property and his reputation. Every one showed his utmost contempt to him and his way of worship and tried his best in every conceivable manner to make him refrain from preaching his faith. His uncle, Abu Taalib, a renowned chieftain of Mecca managed to support him to great extent. How the people of Mecca persecuted the prophet and his weak followers and hatched conspiracies to obliterate his preaching I would relate hereunder very briefly a few such incidents and subsequently will record selected facts how the prophet, after his emigration, when he overpowered his opponents, treated them with sympathy and tolerance.

When the people of Mecca realized the firm determination of the prophet and that nothing could stop him from preaching his faith they invited all the tribal leaders of Mecca for a conference at Khaif Banu Kananah, also known as valley of Al-Muhassab, in Mecca. There, they pledged oath of allegiance to their polytheistic customs and infidelity. A common treaty was concluded which provided that henceforth the followers of Mohammad (PBUH) would be boycotted; none would enter into marital ties with them; all business and commercial links would be severed; no eatables to be supplied to them; they would be socially ostracized and excommunicated; imposing total ban upon exchange of visits, communication and even exchange of pleasantries. The treaty forced them to be under house arrest in the valley of Abi Taalib beyond the precincts of Mecca.

Consequent to this unanimous treaty, prophet Mohammad (PBUH) had to undergo, along with his weak followers, the hardship and pain of incarceration. His uncle, Abu Taalib, though he had not converted to his faith, continued his support steadfastly and remained his partner in this difficult period. For three long years, besides exposure to vagaries of climate, they had nothing to eat except the skin of trees and leaves. The details have been comprehensively recorded in books of tradition and biography of Prophet (refer to Bukhari, vol.1, pg. 216 & Muslim, vol. 1, pg. 423)

After three years of this boycott, Allah, the Great, responding to the prayers of the prophet, made the termites eat away the written words of the document of the treaty, recorded upon a parchment and hanging in Ka’ba, except the name of Allah, miraculously. The prophet conveyed to his uncle, Abu Taalib, that the letters contained in the document remained no more. Also during the period of this boycott, various tribal leaders started questioning the propriety of such a harsh measure. The leaders, like Mut’im ibne Udai, Zuhair ibne Abi Umayyah, Zama’a Ibne S’ad, Hesham ibne Amer and Abul Bahtari, proclaimed their opposition to the boycott. Subsequently the boycott was lifted and the prophet along with his followers resumed the process of preaching. After a while, Abu Taalib, the staunch supporter of the prophet expired. Two months had hardly passed over this tragedy that the first and the only wife of the prophet, then, Hadhrat Khadijah Alkubra left for her heavenly abode aggravating his grief. Besides facing grief upon grief, in the absence of Abu Taalib, people of Mecca had their field day for persecuting and torturing the weak companions of the prophet piling upon them misery upon misery.

Hadhrat Bilal Ibne Rabah (R.A) who later became the personal attendant of the prophet and was conferred upon with duty of giving prayer call (Moazzin), was a slave of Umayuah Bin Khalaf who used to torture him because of his conversion to Islamic faith by making him prostrate upon hot sand and stone in extremely hot sun. Later on Hadhrat Abu Bakar Siddeeq (R.A.), witnessing such inhuman torture, bought him from Umayyah and freed him. (Albidayah wal Nihayah 3/75)

Hadhrat Khubab Bin Al-Irith was the sixth person who converted to Islam. Among Muslims he was the first person to have proclaimed Islam openly. As a result he was tortured by the people of Mecca grievously. (Al-Istee’aab 2/21)

Hadhrat Ammar Bin Yasir is also one of those who entered into fold of Islam early. After his family converted to Islam, his whole family was subjected to severe physical torture. (Al-Rauz Al-Anaf 3/201)

Hadhrat Sumayyah (R.A.), mother of Ammar Bin Yasir who embraced Islam in the earliest period, was maltreated by Abu Jahal beyond words. She was shot with a spear between her legs and thus became the first Muslim martyr. (Usud Al-Ghabah 6/156)

Hadhrat Suhaib Roomi, also, is from amongst the earliest companions of the prophet who was oppressed and tyrannized by the people of Mecca. (Al-Isabah 3/356)

When the tyranny and oppression by the people of Mecca exceeded all limits and physical torture became too severe; life in Mecca for the prophet and his companions turned to misery and distress; they could neither practice monotheism nor preach it openly; they were forced at last to emigrate from Mecca.

Emigration means that when Muslims are not allowed to worship Allah according to their faith in their native place, they are subjected to restrictions and prohibition and ban is imposed upon proclamation and preaching of Islam, they should emigrate from such a place to such areas where they may enjoy facilities to worship Allah and propagate their religion freely. In accordance with this principle when it became extremely difficult for the prophet (PBUH) to worship Allah and preach Islam in Mecca and the land of Mecca turned to become land of misery and distress for the monotheists he took the decision to emigrate from Mecca. With the grace of Allah, I shall explain in detail as to why and how the prophet emigrated. Some opponents of Islam, ignorant of the character and life of the prophet have taken the liberty to observe contemptuously that he fled from Mecca and that is what emigration means, which is totally against the facts.

When life in Mecca became too miserable, the prophet thought of his family relations with the people of Ta’ef. Hadhrat Halimah Sa’adiyah who belonged to Ta’ef  was his foster mother. Because of this relationship, he hoped that they would welcome him there.

Accompanied by Hadhrat Zaid Bin Harethah, he went to Ta’ef and delivered to the people of Ta’ef the message of Islam but the way he was maltreated there distressfully the history of Islam can never forget it. The wretched souls set upon him depraved hoodlums who stoned him until he started bleeding (Sharah Zarqani 2/51). At last he had to turn back from Ta’ef with broken heart. On his return journey when he reached a place called Qarn al-Manazil, the Archangel Gabriel approached him saying that he was deputed by Allah with authority to command the angels, if the prophet so desired, to destroy those wretched people by dashing the two mountains skirting the valley in which they resided against each other. But the prophet replied, “I do hope that Allah will create in their progeny such persons who will embrace Islam one day.”