Why Did They Become Muslims

part of our book. On the other hand, because the Qur’ân al-kerîm
was revealed gradually in twenty-three years, the Believers
memorized every passage as soon as it was revealed. Yet, when
seventy of the hâfizes (Muslims who had committed the entire
Qur’ân al-kerîm to their memory) were martyred during the war
of Yamâma, [1]
’Umar ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, anxious about the
decrease in the number of the people who knew the Qur’ân alkerîm
by heart, applied to the time’s Khalîfa, Abû Bakr ‘radiy-
Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’, advised and requested that the Qur’ân alkerîm
should be compiled and written down. Upon this Hadrat
Abû Bakr ordered Zayd bin Thâbit ‘radiy-Allâhu ta’âlâ ’anh’,
who had been a secretary for Muhammad ‘alaihis-salâm’, to write
down the sûras (chapters) of the Qur’ân al-kerîm on separate
pieces of paper. The Qur’ân al-kerîm had been revealed in seven
different dialects, including the Qoureishi dialect. In fact,
sometimes, when people could not properly pronounce a certain
[1] Wahsî bin Harb Habashî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ was formerly the slave of
one of the unbelievers of Qoureish. He was bribed to kill Hadrat
Hamza ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’, a blessed paternal uncle of the Messenger
of Allah and one of the early Muslims, in the war of Uhud, the second
Holy War between the Believers and the unbelievers. When the war
was over, the Messenger of Allah pronounced a malediction over
some of the unbelievers. The name of Wahshî was not among the
people accursed, though the Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
knew that he had killed his uncle. When he was asked why he would
not curse Wahshî the blessed Prophet ‘sall-Allâhu ’alaihi wa sallam’
stated: “On the night of Mi’râj (Hadrat Muhammad’s ascent to
heaven) I saw Hamza (the Prophet’s blessed paternal uncle) and
Wahshî entering Paradise arm in arm.” After the conquest of Mekka
Wahshî and other people from Tâif visited the Prophet in the mosque
in Medina and became Muslims. The Messenger of Allah ‘sall-Allâhu
’alaihi wa sallam’ forgave him and ordered him to go to some place in
the vicinity of Yamâma and live there. He felt so embarrassed for what
he had done to Rasûlullah’s uncle that he lived the rest of his life with
his head dropped. During the eleventh year of the Hegira a vehement
battle took place between the Muslims and the renegades commanded
by Musaylama-t-ul-kazzâb, who claimed to be a prophet. Wahshî
‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ joined the battle and killed the false prophet, with
the same sword he had used to martyr Hadrat Hamza. It was then
realized what a great miracle (mu’jiza) it was that the Prophet had sent
him to Yamâma. Wahshî ‘radiy-Allâhu ’anh’ joined various other
Holy Wars and passed away during the caliphate of ’Uthmân ‘radiy-
Allâhu ’anh’.
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