A reality check - Little hope the Jews will believe - Part 1
The Meccan call to Islam
The blessed Prophet Muhammad called the pagans to Islam in Mecca for thirteen years, very few of them accepted Islam even though the Prophet Muhammad exerted himself day and night. The pagans intensified their animosity towards the believers gradually until it became too difficult for them to remain in Mecca.
The migration to Abyssinia
Some of them migrated to Abyssinia, modern day Ethiopia, where there was a just Christian king that protected the Muslims and allowed for them to practise their religion. There were two migrations to Abyssinia prior to the main migration from Mecca to Madina. What’s very interesting about the trips to Abyssina, is that the Prophet was fully aware of his surroundings and kept a keen interest in the current events of his time.
The year of sadness
In the latter years of the Meccan phase the Prophet lost his blessed wife Khadijah and then his uncle Abu Talib, this year was known as the year of sadness. Their respective deaths had a huge impact on the life of the Prophet, by losing his blessed wife Khadijah he lost his moral support, he became lonely with no one to consult and take care of him. And by losing Abu Talib he lost his protection, the Arabs were a tribal society. The tribe protected its people, the head of the tribe had full command over his followers, being without a tribe was worse than being stateless today, and one would become totally vulnerable. So, when Abu Talib died, the Prophet Muhammad lost all protection which meant it was open season to attack him wherever and however his opponents wanted to. Therefore, naturally the Prophet was looking to move to a new location to protect his followers and continue the mission.
The pledges of Al Aqaba
During the Hajj season people from all over the world would come to perform Hajj, and this was an excellent time to give dawah and invite people to Islam. The Prophet had attempted to relocate and invite the second biggest city to Islam, Ta’if, but that turned out to be the worst ten days of the Prophets life, the people of Ta’if gathered their children and threw rocks at the Prophet to the point he fled from Ta’if and was described as bleeding profusely, he later mentioned to Aisha in Madina, those were his most difficult ten days. So groups of people would come for Hajj, there was a group from Madina who came in the eleventh year and the Prophet invited them to Islam, all six of them accepted Islam and returned to Madina. The following year they came back but they were thirteen in number and the all accepted Islam and pledged protection to the Prophet inviting him to Madina. These two pledges were known as the first and second pledge of Aqabah.
The Migration to madina
In the thirteenth year when the oppression had become unbearable the Prophet Muhammad gave the command to the believer to secretly migrate to Madina, which they did in ones and twos, at day time and night time. Eventually the Prophet Muhammad also made this mighty journey with his best friend Abu Bakr.
The Prophet Muhammad was aware that Madina consisted of two Arab tribes, who were at war with one another for years, and now they wanted an end to this tribal feud and live peacefully they were the Awz and Khazraj, both Pagan tribes. The next group of people in Madina were the Jews and they were three tribes Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa and Banu Quraydah. There were some Christians but much smaller in number.
The Prophet Muhammad was very enthusiastic and hopeful with his journey to Madina. The Pagans had agreed to submit to the Prophet and accept Islam, and the Jews were people of the book, so what could possibly go wrong? The Prophet Muhammad was very hopeful and optimistic that the Jewish tribes will all submit and accept him as the final messenger of Allah. As described in great detail in the books of the Jews1, they had prophesies about the arrival of their messiah2, the final prophet, in Madina, and they were waiting eagerly to greet him and follow him. 3
But to the surprise of the Prophet Muhammad, the Jews of Madina rejected him vehemently, even though they made peace agreements with him, they broke every single treaty. Not just that but over the period of ten years in Madina each Jewish tribe betrayed their treaty and attempted to kill the Prophet, high treason against the state on three separate occasions, leading to three separate retributions for their betrayal of the treaty.
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