دار محمد Daar Muhammed

أعوذ بالله من الشيطان الرجيم
قُلْ يَا أَهْلَ الْكِتَابِ تَعَالَوْا إِلَى كَلِمَةٍ سَوَاءٍ بَيْنَنَا وَ بَيْنَكُمْ أَنْ لا نَعْبُدَ إِلا اللهَ وَ لا نُشْرِكَ بِهِ شَيْئاً وَّ لا يَتَّخِذَ بَعْضُنَا بَعْضاً أَرْبَاباً مِّنْ دُوْنِ اللهِ فَإِنْ تَوَلَّوْا فَقُوْلُوْا اشْهَدُوْا بِأَنَّا مُسْلِمُوْنَ

سورة آل عمران:64

Say (O Muhammad صلى الله عليه و سلم): ‘O people of the Scripture! Come to a word that is just between us and you, that we worship none but Allah, and that associate no partners with Him, and that none of us shall take others as lords besides Allah.’ Then, if they turn away, say: ‘Bear witness that we are Muslims.’ (Surat Al ‘Imran: 64)

A band of Qurashi men were in the lands of Sham for trade when they received a message from the Caesar asking for a meeting. Amongst the men was Abu Sufyan, a cousin of the Prophet and an arch enemy of Islam at the time. Hiracl, the Ceasar, was eager to know more about the new prophet he had recently heard of and he wanted to hear it from the prophet’s own people.

The Qurashi traders were presented before the king in Ìlia. Also present were the nobles of Rome and the king’s interpreter.

‘Which one of you is the closest in kinship to this man who claims that he is a prophet?’, he asked the men from Quraish.

‘I am’, Abu Sufyan said.

‘Bring him close!’ Caesar commanded, ‘and let his companions sit behind him’. He then turned to the interpreter and said: ‘Tell them that I am to ask this man about the (new prophet). If he lies, let them disprove him.

Later, when recounting this story, Abu Sufyan said: ‘If it had not been the fear of my companions reporting me of being a liar back home, I would certainly have lied about him (the Prophet صلى)’.

‘How is his lineage amongst you?’ the king asked.

‘He has a noble lineage amongst us’

‘Has a statement like his ever been made by anyone amongst you before him?’

‘No’

‘Was any of his forefathers a king?’

‘No’

‘Is it the powerful or the weak who follow him?’

‘The weak’

‘Do their numbers increase or decrease?’

‘They increase’

‘Do any of them turn back out of hatred for their religion after having entered it?’

‘No’

‘Have you ever suspected him of lying before this?

‘No’

Here Abu Sufyan managed to sneak in a few words of suspicion. ‘And we are with him in a period unaware of what he would do in it’, he said, referring to Sulh ul Hudaibiyyah, the ceasefire between the Muslims and Quraish layed down for a period of ten years.

‘Does he betray?’

‘No’

‘Have you fought him?’

‘Yes’

‘How was your fight with him?’

‘War between us is sijal; sometimes it’s him who wins and sometimes it’s us’

‘What does he command you to do?’

‘He says: Worship Allah Alone and do not associate parners with Him and give up what your forefathers used to say. He commands us with as Salah (prayer), to be truthful and virtuous, and to join ties’

To be continued.