DARUl - ummah

A Thoughtful Inquiry:

 

Furthermore the Prophet displayed numerous qualities which Heraculus, the Byzantine Roman Emperor, recognized as indicating that Muhammad was indeed the Prophet who they (the Christians) had been expecting as the following narration shows:

 

"'Abdullah ibn 'Abbas reported that Abu Sufyan ibn Harb informed me that Heraculus had sent a messenger to him while he had been accompanying a caravan from Quraysh. They were merchants doing business in ash-Sham (i.e. Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan), and at the time when Allah's messenger had a truce with Abu Sufyan and the idolatrous Quraysh. So Abu Sufyan and his companions went to Heraculus at Ilya (Jerusalem). Heraculus called them in the court and he had all his dignitaries around him. He called for his translator who, translating Heraculus's question, said to them:

 

'Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a Prophet?' Abu Sufyan replied, 'I am the nearest relative to him.' Heraculus said, 'Bring him close to me and make his companions stand behind him.' Heraculus told his translator to tell Abu Sufyan's companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man and that if I told a lie they should contradict me. Abu Sufyan added, 'By Allah, had I not been afraid of my companions labelling me a liar, I would not have spoken the truth about the Prophet.' The first question he asked me about him was: 'What is his family status amongst you?' I replied, 'He belongs to a noble family amongst us.' Heraculus further asked, 'Has anybody else amongst you ever claimed the same before him?' I replied, 'No!' He said, 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?' I replied 'No!' Heraculus asked, 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?' I replied, 'It is the poor who follow him.' He said, 'Are his followers increasing or decreasing?' I replied, 'They are increasing.' He then asked, 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards?' I replied, 'No!' Heraculus said, 'Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim?' I replied, 'No!' Heraculus said, 'Does he break his promises?' I replied, 'No. We are at truce with him, but we do not know what he will do in it.' I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that Heraculus asked, 'Have you ever had a war with him?' I replied, 'Yes.' Then he said, 'What was the outcome of the battles?' I replied, 'Sometimes he was victorious and sometimes we.' Heraculus said, 'What does he order you to do?' I said, 'He tells us to worship Allah, and Allah alone, and not to worship anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray, to speak the truth, to be chaste and to keep good relations with our kith and kin.' Heraculus asked the translator to convey to me the following, 'I asked you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact all the Prophets come from noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing, your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have suspected that this man was following the previous mans statement. Then I asked you whether anyone of his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative, and if it had been in the affirmative, I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his kingdom. I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies before he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative. So I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about Allah. I then asked you whether the rich people or the poor followed him. You replied that it was the poor who followed him. And in fact all the Prophets have been followed by this very class of people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You replied that they were increasing, and in fact this is the way of true faith, until it is complete in all respects. I further asked you if there was anybody, who after embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded his religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact this is the sign of true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely. I asked whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative and likewise the Prophets never betray.

 

Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replied that he ordered you to worship Allah and Allah alone and not to worship any thing along with Him and forbade you to worship idols and ordered you to pray, to speak the truth and not to commit illegal fornication. If what you said is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet and I knew it from the scriptures that he was going to appear, but I did not know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him and if I were with him, I would certainly wash his feet.' "

 

Heraculus then asked for the letter addressed by the Allah's Messenger which was delivered by Dihyah to the Governor of Busra, who forwarded it to Heraculus to read. The contents of the letter were as follows:

 

 

"In the name of Allah, the Beneficent, the Merciful. From Muhammad, the slave of Allah and his Messenger to Heraculus the ruler of Byzantines. Peace be upon him who follows the right path. Furthermore I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward, and if you reject this invitation you will be committing a sin by misguiding your peasants: "O People of the Scripture! Come to a word common to you and us that we worship none but Allah and that we associate nothing in worship with Him, and that none of us shall take others as Lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say: Bear witness that we are Muslims (i.e. those who surrendered to will of Allah)."

 

 

Abu Sufyan then added, "When Heraculus had finished his speech and had read the letter there was a great hue and cry in the royal court. So we were turned out of the court. I told my companions that the issue of Ibn Abi Kabsha (a derogatory nick name for the Prophet) has become so prominent that even the King of the Byzantines is afraid of him. Then I started to become sure that he would be the conqueror in the near future until I embraced Islam." The sub-narrator adds: "Ibn An-Natur was the governor of Jerusalem and Heraculus was visiting Jerusalem, he got up in the morning in a sad mood. Some of his priests asked him why he was in that mood? Heraculus was a foreteller and an astrologer. He replied, "At night when I looked at the stars, I saw that the leader of those who practice circumcision had appeared. Who are they who practice circumcision?" The people replied, "Except the Jews nobody practices circumcision, so you should not be afraid of them. Just issue orders to kill every Jew present in the country." While they were discussing it, a messenger sent by the king of Ghassan to convey the news of Allah's Messenger to Heraculus was brought in. Having heard the news, he ordered the people to go and see whether the messenger of Ghassan was circumcised. The people, after seeing him, told Heraculus that he was circumcised.

 

Heraculus then asked him about the Arabs. The messenger replied, "Arabs also practice circumcision." After hearing that Heraculus remarked that sovereignty of the Arabs had appeared. Heraculus then left for Homs and stayed there until he received the reply of his letter from his friend who agreed with him in his opinion about the emergence of the Prophet and the fact that he was a Prophet. On that Heraculus invited all the heads of the Byzantines to assemble in his palace at Homs. When they assembled, he ordered that all the doors of his palace be closed. Then he came out and said, "O Byzantines! If success is your desire and if you seek right guidance and want your Empire to remain then give a pledge of allegiance to this Prophet!" On hearing this the people ran towards the gates of the palace like onagers but found the doors closed. Heraculus realised their hatred towards Islam and when he lost hope of their embracing Islam, he ordered that they should be brought back in audience. He said: "What I just said was to test the strength of your conviction and I have seen it." The people prostrated before him and became pleased with him, and this was the end of Heraculus's story (in connection with his faith).

 

 

Another Inquiring Mind

 

Heraculus was not the only ruler to recognize the Prophethood of Muhammad. Negus, the ruler of, Abyssinia, similarly recognised the message of Islam and the words of Qur'an as being of divine origin when he questioned the Muslims who had emigrated to escape the tortures and oppression of the pagan Quraysh. The Prophet's claim is given added weight by numerous Christian and Jewish scholars, both in Muhammad's time, and afterwards who recognised him as the final messenger foretold in their scriptures.

 

The case of Heraculus has already been mentioned. Bahira, the monk whom some Orientalists have vainly tried to suggest was the teacher of Muhammad, recognised the signs of Prophethood on him whilst Muhammad was a boy accompanying his uncle Abu Talib's caravan to Syria, as did Waraqah, one of the few Christians in Makkah, who had translated some parts of the Christian scriptures into Arabic, who was the cousin of Muhammad's wife Khadijah. Indeed, after the Prophet had received the first revelation, he went to this same Waraqah, who said "Surely, by Him in whose hand is Waraqa's soul, thou art the Prophet of these people. There has come unto you the greatest angel, who came unto Moses. You will be called a liar, and they will use you despitefully, and cast you out and fight against you." Al-Jurud ibn Akala, a Christian scholar and ruler of his people came to visit the Prophet and said: "By Allah you have come with the truth, and have spoken truly, as a Prophet I have found your description in the Gospel, and the son of the Virgin has announced your coming." Al-Jurud then accepted Islam along with his people. Also Muqauqas, the King of the Copts, in his response to the letter sent to him by the Prophet inviting him to Islam wrote: "I have read your message and have understood what you have mentioned in it, and what you are calling to. I have known that a Prophet would be sent and thought that he would appear in Sham, and I have honoured your messenger."

 

 

The story of one the Prophet's companions, Salman the Persian, further illustrates this:

 

"I was a Persian man from the peoples of Isfahaan from a town known as Jayi. My father was the town chief. To him, I was the most beloved of the creature Allah. His love of me reached the point whereby he trusted me to supervise the fire he lit, which was not allowed to be let to die down. My father owned land, and one day while he was busy he told me to go and inspect the land and to bring from it some things he wanted. On my way I came across a Christian church. I heard the voices of the prayers of the people inside. I did not know what goes on with the lives of other people because my father had kept me confined to his house. So when I came across those people and I heard their voices I went inside watching what they were doing. When I saw them I liked their prayers and became interested in their religion. I said to myself: 'By Allah, this religion of theirs is better than that of ours.' By Allah I did not leave them until sunset, and never inspected my father's land. I asked: 'Where is the origin of this religion?' They said: 'In as-Sham (i.e. Greater Syria).' I returned to my father who had become worried and sent after me. Upon my arrival he said: 'O son! Where have you been? Didn't I trust you with an assignment?' I said: 'I came across some people praying in their church and I liked what they were on from their religion. By Allah I stayed with them until sunset.' My father said: 'O Son! There is no good in that religion. The religion of your fathers is better.' I said: 'No, by Allah, it is better than our religion.' He threatened me and chained me by my foot and kept me confined to the house. I sent to the Christians requesting to let me know of the arrival of any Christian trade caravan coming from as-Sham. A trade caravan arrived and they informed me about it.

 

I told them to keep me informed about the people of the caravan, and when they were about to finish their business and return to their country. I took off the chains from my foot and joined the caravan until we reached as-Sham. Upon my arrival I asked: 'Who is the best amongst the people of this religion of yours?' They said: 'The Bishop in the Church.' I went to him and said: 'I like this religion and I love to be with you, serving you in your Church, to learn from you and to pray with you.' The Bishop agreed. After a while I learnt that this Bishop ordered and motivated his people to pay charity only to keep it for himself. He did not give it to the poor. He heaped up seven jars with gold and silver! I hated him so much because of what I saw him doing. The Bishop died. The Christians gathered to bury him. I told them that he was a bad man who ordered you to release your money for charities only to keep if for himself and that he did not give anything of it to the poor. They said: 'How do you know this?' I said: 'I can show his treasure.' They said: 'Show us!' I showed them the place and when they saw it they said:

 

'By Allah we will never bury him!' They took his dead body and crucified and stoned it. They replaced their bishop. I never saw a man from those who do not pray the five prescribed prayers better than him; nor a man detached from this worldly life and attached to the hereafter more than him; nor a committed person who works day and night better than him. I loved him more than anything else I loved before. I stayed with him for sometime before his death. When his death approached I told him: 'O teacher, I stayed with you and loved you more than anything else I loved before. Now you are approached by the decree of Allah, so who would you recommend for me and what would you like to order me?' The Bishop said: 'By Allah! People are in a total loss, they altered and changed what they were on. I do not know of anyone who is still holding to what I am on except a man in al-Musil, so join him.' When the man died, I moved to al-Musil and met the recommended person. I told him that my former master at the time of his death recommended that I join you. He also told me that you are holding to the same as he was. The man of al-Musil told me to stay with him; I stayed with him and found that he was the best man holding onto the matter of his friend. Soon he died.

 

When death approached him I asked him to recommend some other person who is on the same religion. The man said: 'By Allah! I don't know of anyone who is on the same matter of ours except a man in Nasiyibin, so join him.' Following his death I moved to the man of Nasiyibin and stayed with him for a while. The same story repeated itself. Death approached and before he died, I came to the man and asked for his advice as to whom and where to go. The man recommended that I join another man on the same religion in Am'muriyiyyah, which I did, and earned some cows and one sheep. When death approached the man of Am'muriyiyyah, I repeated my request. The answer was different. The man said: 'O son! I do not know of anyone who is on the same religion as we are. However, the time of emergence of a Prophet will shade you. This Prophet is on the same religion of Abraham. He comes from Arabia and migrates to a place located between landscapes of black stones. Palm trees are spread between these scapes. He has certain well known signs. He eats food given as a gift and he does not eat from charity.