"Yes, I am now a Muslim, but I continue to struggle against what I used to love over many, many years." "What has passed of my life is longer than what remains." "I look around me in Makkah... and I see shadows of the past days coming out at me from every corner." "I see life as it used to be," "and I see the people:" "Utbah Ibn Rabeeah, Abu Al-Hakam," "Al-Waleed Ibn Al-Mugheerah," "Umayyah Ibn Khalaf, Al-Aas Ibn Wail, Abu Talib." "I see Umar Ibn Al-Khattab, Quraysh's ambassador, champion and defender." "I see Bilal carrying buckets of water and lighting the fire for his master." "I see Khalid Ibn al-Waleed, Quraysh's military commander, and Amr Abn Al-Aas, its mastermind." "I see myself" "Abu Sufyan Sakhr Ibn Harb Ibn Umayyah Ibn Abd Shams Ibn Abd Manaaf... assuming the overall leadership of Quraysh." "Where have those days of old gone?" "Then I see the present when everything has changed." "It is a totally different epoch now." "Hence, I wonder:" "should I reject what I see around me... or should I reject myself?" "And you!" "Won't you say something?" "Won't you give me some advice?" "You did not protect me." "Now defend yourselves against me." "Utbah Ibn Rabeeah, where have you gone?" "If I do not cry for your revenge today, should I now cry for you being in the fire?" "Do you think that now that God has given His messenger his hometown," " he will live here?" " Do not worry, people of the Ansar." "Other people from the Ansar said the same as you have just said, and the Prophet was informed of it." "He said:" ""By no means, my people of the Ansar." "My life is with you and my death is with you."" " My brother, Abu Hudhaifah!" " How are you, sister?" " I have given my pledge, Abu Hudhaifah." " I know." "I pray to God to make you firm in your belief in Islam and to purge your heart of the traces of jahiliyyah." "Both Abu Sufyan and myself need this prayer." "This is my brother, Salim." "Do you remember him?" "How could I forget him when you have made him your son?" "God has abrogated that." "He says: "Call them by their fathers names"." "He is my brother in Islam." "I am his ally and he is mine, and God is our master." "Only death will separate us." "Or we are together as martyrs for God's cause." "Salim is a good scholar of the Qur'an." " Who is it?" " Open the door, father?" "Abu Jandal!" "Is that how a father meets his son after such a long absence?" "How will I meet one of Muhammad's companions... after what I had done?" "Now I am wanted." "Come with us, father, to meet God's messenger." "What?" "You will take me to him to kill me after what I have done?" "God's messenger has declared safety for you." "You have nothing to fear." "Has he really?" "You have taken from him a safety order for me?" "Has Abdullah taken from him a safety order for me?" "Do not worry, father." "God's messenger (PBUH)... spoke to his companion when he gave a declaration of safety in your favour." "He said "whoever meets Suhail Ibn Amr should not look hard at him." "By God, Suhail is a man of wisdom and integrity." "A person like Suhail cannot but appreciate Islam." "How much?" "Safwan;" "Abu Wahb;" "Wait a minute." " Safwan!" " Go away from me." "Have you come to take me and hand me over to your friend?" "I have come to you from the kindest, most forbearing and most generous of people." "His glory is your glory and his kingdom is your kingdom." "I have requested him to grant your safety and he has declared it." "Come back with me to meet him, may God guide you aright." "How can I tell that what you are saying is true?" "You may be trying to deceive me." "You did it before." "This is the Prophet's turban which he was wearing when he entered Makkah." "He gave it to me as a mark of my sincerity." "Do not lead yourself to ruin." "I think what has brought you here is that you fear that the Prophet... will kill you in revenge for his uncle." "Leave me alone." "Where can you flee?" "Some men who fled like you have come back." "They went to God's messenger seeking safety." "He granted them their safety and accepted them as Muslims." "I think this is your only option." "How can I be like them?" "I have killed Hamzah, Muhammad's own uncle." "I have no family or clan to protect me." "God's messenger has abrogated all that is related to the pride of jahiliyyah, and the glory of ancestry." "That you have killed Hamzah, well, remember that he is a Prophet who seeks neither revenge nor retribution." "He only aims to provide guidance for people." "He has pardoned Hind Bint Utbah, despite what she did to his uncle." "Go to him before it is too late." "I have given you sincere advice, and it is after all up to you." "By God, this is Wahshi who killed Hamzah." "You, enemy of God, where will you go?" "Come with us to God's messenger to pass against you the judgement you deserve." "He is under my care, may God bless you all." "I will take him to God's messenger." "Will you not welcome your cousin, Ikrimah?" "You are most welcome, Abu Sulaiman." "Welcome to the immigrant rider, as God's messenger said when he saw you approaching him." "Had he said the 'fleeing rider', he would have stated the truth." "God's messenger is not one to rebuke or humiliate anyone." "You have seen how pleased he was to see you embracing Islam." "Welcome to God's sword." " Is that how they call you now" " I pray to God to deserve this title." " Will this bondage never end?" " Haven't you become a Muslim?" "Hasn't God's messenger pardoned you for what you had done?" "Yes, but he then asked me to describe to him how I killed Hamzah." "Did you not see how his face changed?" "He then told me to keep my face away from him if I can." "That is all over now." "We are all brothers in Islam." "Do not look to the past." "Look only to what you will do in the rest of your life." "I need to look back so as to know how hard I should work in order to compensate for what I have missed." "Then you are a true Muslim." "You have to thank Umm Hakeem for seeking your safety from God's messenger." "Otherwise, you would have perished." "Perhaps I have known the truth for some time." "Two things stopped me from acting on that: pride and honouring my father." "I felt that if I were to become a Muslim I would testify that he was Abu Jahl." "I had the same feeling with regard to my father, Al-Mugheerah, and the Qur'anic verses speaking about him." "Yet maintaining our stand in support of falsehood does not save our fathers from the fire." "It only puts us with them when all people are on their own." "I killed Hamzah to win my freedom." "Yet Quraysh continued ever since to look at me as a slave." "I am not allowed to sit with them, share an opinion with them, or eat with them in the same plate." "I would even hear them referring to me as Jubair Ibn Mut im's slave." "When they and I have embraced Islam, I hear them referring to me as Hamzah's killer." "One fetter is broken only to be replaced by another." "Until when?" "Until when?" "Am I to remain an outcast for the rest of time, just like a camel with scabies, or a sheep isolated from its flock?" "When will I be just one among ordinary people?" "What an accursed spear you are!" "You brought me to this end." "Can you now release me of it?" "As you consider our meeting here now, with all of you being Muslims, you may remember your previous meeting here when you were idolaters." "Then you split, with some embracing Islam and some rejecting it." "You then flocked to Islam, one after the other, some early and some late, until now that you are together again, under the banner of the religion of the truth." "You should thank God for having guided you." "The early ones cannot be the same as the latecomers, Umar." "Do not grieve for the past except to do better in your coming days." "Many a person may do something good and be pleased with himself, only to go the wrong track afterwards, and the end result would be his ruin." "On the other hand, a person may commit something evil, then he regrets it and turns to God in repentance, keen to do well in future." "He ends up a winner." "You have given us hope, Umar." "How good you all are as an advance party!" "We now know that you were fighting us for your and our sake, but we fought you only for our own interest." "All praise be to God that he gave you victory over us when we were idolaters." "That is a victory for us now that we are Muslims." "This matter of Islam is coming close to perfection." "All Arabs are close to accepting it, as they still follow Quraysh." "What makes you cry, Umar, when things are coming perfectly well for Islam, as Salim has rightly stated?" "I only feared that when things seem perfect, they soon start to take a downward trend." "It will be a short illness, by God's will." "God's messenger fell ill in the past and recovered." "Why are you exceedingly distressed?" "The religion is complete now, as God has said:" ""This day I have perfected your religion for you and have bestowed on you the full measure of My blessings and have chosen Islam as a religion for you."" "Quraysh has accepted Islam, then Taif accepted it after the Battle of Hunain." "Then we had all those delegations from the Arabian tribes, coming from all corners, to pledge loyalty to Islam." "God revealed the surah that says: "When God's help and victory come, and you see people embracing God's religion in large numbers, then extol your Lord's limitless glory, and praise Him, and seek His forgiveness." "He is the One who accepts repentance."" "When the religion is complete, the message is perfected and revelations cease, then it is as though the Prophet is given notice that his time is up." "On top of all this comes what his servant, Abu Muwaihibah, told me of what he said at Al-Baqee' graveyard." "You remember his speech during his pilgrimage:" ""People, listen to me as I explain to you, for I do not know whether I will ever meet you again in this place." "Know, then, that your blood, property and honour are forbidden you till you meet your Lord in the same way as the sanctity of this day of yours, in this month of yours, in this city of yours." "You will certainly meet your Lord and He will certainly question you about what you do." "I have delivered my message." "He who holds something belonging to another for safekeeping must give it back to the person to whom it belongs." "All usury transactions are hereby abrogated." "You may claim only your capital, neither inflicting nor suffering any injustice." "People, Satan has given up any hope of being worshipped in this land of yours." "He is satisfied, however, to be obeyed in matters which you consider trivial." "Guard yourselves against him, lest he corrupts your faith." "I've left with you what should keep you safe from going astray should you hold fast to it" "It is something clear and simple:" "God's Book and the Sunnah of His Prophet." "People!" "Every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim, and all believers are brothers." "It is illegal for anyone to take the property of his brother unless it is given without any coercion." "Do not be unjust to yourselves." "Have I delivered my message?" "Lord, be my witness." "Lord, be my witness." "God is supreme;" "God is supreme." "God is supreme;" "God is supreme." "I bear witness that there is no deity other than God." "I bear witness that there is no deity other than God." "I bear witness that Muhammad is God's messenger." "I bear witness that Muhammad is God's messenger." " Peace be with you" " Peace be with you" "Did you see the Prophet today?" "How did you find him?" "Pain has increased and he is severely ill." "Bilal, find out what the matter is." "God's messenger has been late." "Why is God's messenger late coming out to lead the prayers?" "God only knows, sister." "May God give him full recovery." "God's messenger is in much pain." "He says:" "let someone lead the prayer." "Umar, come here and lead the prayer." "God is supreme;" "God is supreme." "What have you done to me, Bilal?" "By God when you told me to lead the prayer I only thought that God's messenger has ordered you to do so." "Otherwise, I would not have led the prayer." "God's messenger did not give me any such order." "When I did not see Abu Bakr, I thought that of all present, you were the best to lead." "What delayed you, Abu Bakr?" "Your absence has placed on me a burden as heavy as Mount Uhud." "I led the Asr prayer, thinking that God's messenger has ordered that." "When the Prophet heard me starting, he disapproved." "He sent a message saying:" "No, no, no." "God does not approve." "Let Abu Bakr lead the prayer." "Has his illness become so severe that someone else had to lead the prayer?" "All power operates by God's will." "Come on." "It is nearly time for Maghrib prayer." "Lead the prayer in obedience of the order of God's messenger." "Abu Bakr..." " Where are you going now?" " To my home at Al-Sunh." " Do you think I can also go to my home?" " Yes." "Haven't you seen that God's messenger is now well, as we all love to see him" "He came out and prayed with us, then admonished us." "Abu Al-Hasan, how did you find God's messenger?" " All praise be to God." "He is recovering." " All praise be to God." "I swear by God I have seen death in God's messenger's face, just as I could recognize it in the faces of Abd Al-Muttalib's descendants," "even though he came out and admonished the people." "I think that before the day is out..." "If you have something in mind you want to speak to him about, go now and speak to him." "God's messenger was given a choice and he chose to be with God in heaven." "God's messenger has passed away." "Umar, God's messenger has passed away." "May your mothers lose you all!" "What are you saying?" "May God cut the tongues of those claiming that God's messenger has died." "No..." "Yes, Umar." "The news came from Aishah's home." "I said:" "No." "God's messenger has not died." "If anything, he has gone to his Lord as did Moses when he was absent from his people for forty nights." "He returned to them after some of them claimed that he had died." "God's messenger is certain to come back like Moses did, and he will cut the hands and feet of those who claim that God's messenger has died." "You have now experienced the one death that God has ordained that you shall have." "You shall not experience another death." "Don't you understand what I am saying?" "Should anyone claim that God's messenger has died, I will strike him with this sword of mine." "Umar!" "Hold it and listen." "Have you heard what these people are saying." "They have become hypocrites." "Listen to me, all of you." "All praise be to God who has power over all His creatures." "Now, whoever worships Muhammad should know that Muhammad has died." "But he who worships God knows that God is eternal and does not die." "I seek shelter with God against Satan, the accursed." "Muhammad is only a messenger: all messengers have passed away before him." "If, then, he dies or is slain, will you turn about on your heels?" "He that turns about on his heels will not harm God in any way." "God will reward those who are grateful to Him." "Umar, you need to attend to people's affairs." "Let not the tragedy distract you from ensuring that the Muslims' affairs are set right." "Well, say what you have." "The Ansar and their leaders are meeting at the meeting place of Bani Sa'idah considering whom to appoint as successor to the Prophet." "I think that they have agreed to choose Saad Ibn Ubadah." "Find someone to bring Abu Bakr out of Aishah's home right now." "Well, Umar, don't you see that I am busy preparing God's messenger's body for burial" "It is very serious, Abu Bakr." "By God, had I been told now that my son has died, it would not distract me from the tragedy of losing God's messenger." "Yet, I have awoken from my initial shock." "If the day is over theMuslimshavenot settledthequestionofwhotosucceedGod'smessenger, their unity will be undermined." "Then our tragedy of undermining Islam will be greater than the tragedy of losing God's messenger." "Islam comes first." "Warm welcome to our brothers, the Muhajireen." " Who is this?" " Saad Ibn Ubadah" " What is wrong with him?" " He is unwell." "What is your meeting about, Ansari brothers" "We are the supporters of God's cause and the defenders of Islam." "We have given our contribution to the cause of Islam." "You have become one community with us, and a group of our people." "We are the original people of this city and its overwhelming majority." "Hence, the ruler should come from among us so that people will accept him." "This is our chief, Saad Ibn Ubadah, whom we have agreed to be the ruler." "Hold it, Umar." "People of the Ansar, you have said your word and it is a true word that we accept in full." "Whatever good you said about yourselves is certainly true and well deserved." "You are well aware that when God handed Makkah over to His messenger youexpressedyourfearthat theProphetwouldchoosetosettle withhispeoplethere , he said: 'Far from it." "Life is with you and death is with you.'" "All praise be to God!" "It is God who has favoured us all by guiding us to Islam." "He will reward every one with the perfect reward." "But we should consider the welfare of the Muslims." "The Arabs will not accept leadership unless it comes from Quraysh, as they command the best ancestry." "The Arabs will only accept a ruler chosen from among them." "I am happy to offer you one of these two men." "Pledge your loyalty to either of them." "I have the best solution." "We provide one leader and you, the Quraysh people, provide one." "This is a recipe for weakness of the Muslims." "Once there are two leaders, there will be disagreement and division." "People will support one or the other." "But there should be one leader and we all will be his assistants and counsellors." "People of the Ansar: you were the first to give support." "Do not be the first to change things." "People of the Ansar!" "People of the Ansar!" "If we have a good record of striving against the idolaters and in the service of Islam, we only did that in the hope that we win God's pleasure by obeying His messenger." "We must not boast about this before other people." "Nor should we seek any worldly returns for what we did." "However, Muhammad belonged to Quraysh and his own people have a stronger claim to him." "I for one shall never oppose them." "I call on you to fear God and not to be in dispute with them." "Your hand, Umar, and we will pledge loyalty to you." "No, never." "By Him who sent Muhammad with the message of the truth," "I prefer to have my head chopped off, provided it is not in punishment for a sin, than to lead a community that includes Abu Bakr." " You are stronger than me." " If I have any strength, it is at your service, and you are the better person." "After God's messenger, no one should ever be ahead of you." "You are the man who was alone with the Prophet when he was hiding in the cave." "When the Prophet was ill, he appointed you to lead the prayer." "People of the Ansar!" "Aren't you all aware that God's messenger appointed Abu Bakr to lead the prayer?" "Who of you is happy to take a position ahead of Abu Bakr?" " We will never lead Abu Bakr." " That's right; we will never." "Your hand, Abu Bakr." "You must have had a hard struggle today, father." "God has spared us great strife." "By God, we were never tested in any situation with God's messenger as we have been tested today." "We had the tragedy of the Prophet's death and our fear that the bond between Muslims would be severed after his death." "Checked by:" "Ahmad Fawzy Proofread by:" "Doaa"