When the Prophet (peace be upon him) advocated his message, calling on people to believe in God alone and to abandon idol worship, his own people, the Quraysh, opposed him except for a small number. Most of the other Arab tribes adopted a policy of wait and see, preferring that the confrontation between Islam and idolatry, represented by the Quraysh, should come to an end first before they would support the side achieving victory. While such a policy may be expedient when the confrontation is between two sides of the same type, it is certainly not appropriate in a situation like that in Arabia at the time when the Islamic message was preached by the Prophet. Following God’s guidance should not wait for good prospects. A message should be evaluated on its own merits, not on whether it could achieve victory or not. It often happens that the truth is advocated by a small group or community, which has little power compared with its opponents. It is such small group that should get support because of the message it advocates, not because it can win.
Although the Prophet continued to advocate his message among the Quraysh, the major Arab tribe to which he belonged and which resided in Makkah, he nevertheless was keen to call on anyone he met from any other tribe to accept Islam. The Prophet loved his people and wished them well. He did not know anything that could be better for them than following God’s guidance and accepting Islam. Here we have a report by Dhu Al-Jawshan Al-Dababi about his encounter with the Prophet. “I went to the Prophet after he finished the Battle of Badr, taking with me a young horse born to my mare, Al-Qarha’. I said to him: ‘Muhammad! I brought you this young horse born to Al-Qarha’ for you to ride.’ He said: ‘I have no need for it. If you wish, I could give you in return some of the best body armor we gained in the Battle of Badr.’ I said: ‘I would not exchange it even for a slave.’ He repeated: ‘I have no need for it.’ He then said to me: ‘Dhu Al-Jawshan! Would you not embrace Islam and be with us at this early stage?’ I replied that I would not. When he asked me the reason, I said: ‘I know that your people are opposing you.’ He asked me: ‘Have you heard of their defeat at Badr?’ I told him that I heard of it. He then said to me: ‘We will explain to you.’ I replied: ‘If you manage to win the Kaaba and take residence there, I would.’ He said: ‘May be if you live long enough, you will perhaps see that taking place.’ He then said: ‘Bilal! Take the man’s sack and fill it with dates.’ When I turned my back to depart, he said: ‘He is one of the best men of the Amir tribe.’
“Sometime later I was in my quarters at Al-Ghawr when a traveler passed by. I asked him if he had any news to tell. He said: ‘Muhammad has taken over the Kaaba and resided there.’ I thought: What a stupid man I have been! Had I accepted Islam at that time, he would have given me Al-Heerah now if only I would ask it of him.”
This attitude was typical of many of the Arabs at the time. They wanted to make sure, waiting until the Prophet had triumphed before committing themselves. Such an attitude is also typical of most people at all times. Only small numbers accept a message at the time when it is weak, facing opposition by greater powers. But it is such small numbers who are willing to sacrifice comfort, wealth and life for their faith that bring about its victory. The other type may be good in themselves, but they are never the pioneers. In the report we quoted, Dhu Al-Jawshan states clearly that he would wait until the Prophet was the master of the Kaaba. This is expressed differently in another version which quotes him replying to the Prophet’s question as to what stops him from accepting Islam by saying: “I see that your people have denied you, driven you away from their midst and are now fighting you. I will wait to see how you deal with them. If you overpower them, I will believe in you and follow you, but if they defeat you then I will not follow you.” Such an opportunistic answer does not need any comment from us.
The Prophet was also keen to encourage those who accepted Islam, imparting to them an air of resolve. Ibn Al-Khasasiyyah came to the Prophet and he invited him to accept Islam. He then asked him his name and the man said: “Nadheer!” (which means a warner.) The Prophet said to him: “No. You are Basheer,” (which means the one who brings good news). The Prophet put him with the people of Al-Suffah, which was a building at the back of the mosque where a varying number of people who were strangers in Madinah lived.
Basheer reports: “When the Prophet was given a gift, he would give these people their share, but if he received a charity he would send it all to us, as he and his household did not take charity from anyone. One night he went out and I followed him until he reached Al-Baqee’ (the cemetery in Madinah), and he said: ‘Peace be to you all. This is the place of some believers. We will certainly follow you. To God we all belong, and to Him we all return. You have come to much good, and you have left behind much evil.’ He then turned to me and asked: ‘Who is there?’ I said: ‘Basheer.’ He then said to me: ‘Are you not happy that God has guided your heart, hearing and eyesight to Islam, from among the whole tribe of Rabeeah? The people of your tribe think that without them, the earth would turn upside down, with all its population.’ When I answered in the affirmative, he asked me what brought me with him. I said: ‘I feared that you could come to some harm or that you might be stung by some crawler.’”
We see how the Prophet changed the man’s name from one who gives warnings to one who gives good news. Needless to say, the latter name is better, because it gives anyone who calls it a sense of awaiting good news.
The Prophet also impresses on his companion the need to be grateful to God for guiding him to accept Islam. This is a great blessing for which we should be immensely grateful to God. Since Islam was facing determined opposition by the idolaters and the Jews, the Prophet was always keen to encourage his followers and give them a moral boost. Here he tells his companion that he is the first of a very large Arabian tribe and he is certain to benefit by being ahead of them in accepting God’s message.
