Life-of-Muhammad

46Life of Muhammad saplans for the vexation of Muslims. They soon found thatit did not fulfil their purpose merely to trouble Muslimsin and around Mecca. It was necessary to attack theProphet sa and his followers at Medina and turn them outof their new refuge. Accordingly they addressed a letterto ‘Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Salul, a leader of Medina,who, before the Prophet's sa arrival, had been accepted asking of Medina by all parties. They said in this letterthat they had been shocked at the Prophet's sa arrival atMedina and that it was wrong on the part of the peopleof Medina to afford refuge to him. In the end they said:Now that you have admitted our enemy in your home, weswear by God and declare that we, the people of Mecca,will join in an attack on Medina unless you, the people ofMedina, agree to turn him out of Medina or give him ajoint fight. When we attack Medina, we will put to thesword all able-bodied men and enslave all women (AbuDawud, Kitab al-Kharaj).‘Abdullah bin Ubayy ibn Salul thought this letter aGod-send. He consulted other hypocrites in Medina andpersuaded them that if they allowed the Prophet sa to livein peace among them they would invite the hostility ofMecca. It behoved them, therefore, to make war uponthe Prophet sa , if only in order to appease the Meccans.The Prophet sa got to know of this. He went to ‘Abdullahbin Ubayy ibn Salul and tried to convince him that sucha step would prove suicidal. Many people in Medina hadbecome Muslims and were prepared to lay down theirlives for Islam. If ‘Abdullah declared war upon Muslims,the majority of the people of Medina would fight on theside of Muslims. Such a war would, therefore, cost himdear and spell his own destruction. ‘Abdullah,impressed by this advice, was dissuaded from his plans.At this time, the Prophet sa took another importantstep. He collected the Muslims and suggested that everytwo Muslims should become linked together as twobrothers. The idea was well received. Medinite tookMeccan as his brother. Under this new brotherhood, the