Life-of-Muhammad

32Life of Muhammad saHajj twelve men from Medina came to Mecca to join theProphet sa . Ten of these belonged to the Khazraj and twoto the Aus tribe. They met the Prophet sa in the valley ofMina and, holding the Prophet's sa hand, solemnlydeclared their belief in the Oneness of God and theirresolve to abstain from all common evils, frominfanticide, and from making false accusations againstone another. They also resolved to obey the Prophet sa inall good things. When they returned to Medina, theystarted telling others of their New Faith. Zeal increased.Idols were taken out of their niches and thrown on thestreets. Those who used to bow before images began tohold their heads high. They resolved to bow to noneexcept the One God. The Jews wondered. Centuries offriendship, exposition and debate had failed to producethe change which this Meccan Teacher had produced ina few days. The people of Medina would go to the fewMuslims in their midst and make inquiries about Islam.But the few Muslims could not cope with the largenumbers of inquiries, nor did they know enough. Theydecided, therefore, to address a request to the Prophet sato send them some one to teach Islam. The Prophet saagreed to send Mus‘ab ra , one of the Muslims who hadbeen in Abyssinia. Mus‘ab ra was the first missionary ofIslam to go out of Mecca. At about this time, theProphet sa had a grand promise from God. He had avision in which he saw that he was in Jerusalem andProphets had joined behind him in congregationalworship. Jerusalem only meant Medina, which wasgoing to become the centre of the worship of the OneGod. Other Prophets congregating behind the Prophet saof Islam meant that men following different Prophetswould join Islam, and Islam would thus become auniversal religion.Conditions in Mecca had now become most critical.Persecution had assumed the worst possible form.Meccans laughed at this vision and described it aswishful thinking. They did not know that thefoundations of the New Jerusalem had been laid.