THE PRINCE OF EXISTENCES—U. W. B.—ADDRESSES THE PIL­GRIMS TO THE SANCTUARY. THE INHABITANTS OF YATHREB COME TO MEKKAH, AND THOSE HONOURED INDIVIDUALS PROFESS THE FAITH.

In the book Dallaylu-n-nabawwat [indications of the prophetship] it is narrated by Zohry that the prophet— u. w. b.—was in the habit of presenting himself to the people during the season of the pilgrimage and sacred visitation, when he conversed with the chiefs of the tribes, requesting them to receive him and to protect him from insults, to enable him to proclaim his message. He said: ‘I do not wish to force you to anything. Only permit any­one who approves of my invitation [to the Faith] to receive it, and protect me from being killed, that I may recite to you the book of Allah the Most High and promulge His message.’ No one would, however, agree to this proposal, and all said: ‘His own people are better acquainted with him [than we are].’ But when the time arrived that the surface of the law of the Omnipotent—whose name be glorified—should be unfolded, and that His servants should be delivered from the darkness of unbelief and error, namely, during the season of the pilgrimage to the house of the Ka’bah in the eleventh year after the mission, six men of the inhabitants of Madinah presented themselves in the locality of A’qâbah to his grace-bestowing lordship the best of men, and that prince asked them: ‘Who are you?’ They replied: ‘We are inhabitants of Madinah, of the tribe of Khazraj.’ His lordship bade them to be seated, and invited them to listen to his words. They com­plied, and the prophet—u. w. b.—asked them to follow the right religion, reciting to them the Qurân. The Khazraj having often heard the Jews of Madinah say that this is the time when the prophet of the latter days would appear, said to each other: ‘By Allah! this is the prophet about whose mission they have informed us; now we must believe him, lest any of the [other] inhabitants of Madinah should forestall us.’ And having been ennobled by the felicity of [professing] the religion, they said: ‘O apostle of God, we are returning, and shall inform our people of what we have heard. We have left them in such a state that among two of our tribes there is enmity which exists not in any nation. God will entrust their affairs to thee, and if they assemble thou wilt pacify them, for no man is more excellent than thou.’ The names of those six fortunate individuals are the following: Asaa’d Bin Zarârah, A’wûf Bin Hâreth Bin Ghufrân, Râfi’ Bin Mâlek Bin A’jlân, Qottaybah Bin A’amer Bin Jadylah, A’qâbah Bin A’amer Bin Mâly, and Jâber Bin A’bdullah Bin Rabâb. When these six men returned they promulged the mission of his lordship the refuge of the apostolate in Mekkah, and all the chief historians, as well as biographers, have in their books recorded the manner in which the Anssâr had begun to profess Islâm, in the same way as has just been done. But A’li Bin Hâshem has a tradition that at the time when a war was being waged between the Awus and the Khazraj, which was called Ba’at, and the Awus had vanquished the Khazraj, Asaa’d Bin Zarârah and Dhikrân Bin A’bd Qays came on the part of the Khazraj during the time of the sacred visitation in the month Rajab to Mekkah to ask assistance from the Qoraish. Asaa’d, who was a friend of O’tbah Bin Rabia’h, alighted at the house of the latter, and explained the reason of his arrival, but O’tbah replied: ‘There is a long way between our country and yours. Moreover, an event has occurred among us which hinders us from undertaking a war against your enemies.’ Asaa’d asked about that event, and O’tbah continued: ‘There is a man among us who pretends to be an apostle from God, considers our wise men to be fools, insults our gods, and corrupts the principles of our youths.’ Asaa’d queried further: ‘Who is the man that has this pretension?’ O’tbah replied: ‘Muhammad Bin A’bdullah Bin A’bd-ul-Muttalleb, and he belongs to the noblest tribe of our people.’ Having pondered on the dignity and authority of his lordship the refuge of the apostolate—u. w. b.—Asaa’d wanted to know where he could be found, and O’tbah rejoined: ‘He is sitting in a room [near the Ka’bah], but thou must neither speak to him nor listen to what he says, because he is a magician, and will deceive thee by his sorcery.’ Asaa’d replied: ‘I am a pilgrim, and must cir­cumambulate [the Ka’bah].’ O’tbah continued: ‘Put a little cotton in thy ears, and then circumambulate.’ With this advice Asaa’d complied, and began the ceremony, but during the second turn he said to himself: ‘There will be no greater fool in existence than myself if such an event has taken place in Mekkah, and I return to my people without informing them of it.’ Accordingly he pulled out the cotton from his ears, approached the prophet—u. w. b.—without saluting him, but using the greeting of the time of ignorance.* His lordship then said: ‘Allah the Most High has communicated to me a salutation which is better than this, because it is that of the denizens of paradise.’ Thereon he pronounced with his wonderfully eloquent tongue the words: ‘Peace be upon you!’ Asaa’d asked: ‘What is thy invitation?’ He replied: ‘I invite you to testify that there is no God but Allah, and that Muhammad is the apostle of Allah; and I order you to attribute no partner to the Most High in anything, to do good to your parents, and not to kill your [female] infants wantonly.’ After that he recited some verses from the Surah entitled Cattle.* Asaa’d then pronounced the formula of monotheism, and said: ‘O apostle of Allah, may my father and mother be a sacrifice for thee! we are of the inhabitants of Yathreb and of the Khazraj tribe. Between us and our brothers there are ties [of affinity] which have been snapped. If Allah the Most High were, by the blessing of thy intervention, again to unite them, no one would be more respected than thyself, and if our people were to profess the religion, it would acquire publicity. I swear by Allah that the Jews have often described thee, and have informed us of thy advent. I hope our locality will become the mansion of thy exile; for [both] the Christians and the Jews have predicted it. Praise be to Allah the Most High for having led us to thee. I swear by God that I came to ask aid, but that the Most High has given me something which is a thousand times more precious.’ At that time the ‘legal alms’* were established, and Asaa’d exclaimed: ‘Behold the prophet of God, about whose advent the Jews had constantly given us information, has established legal alms, and has brought [the religion of] Islâm.’ In short, when the Khazraj returned to Madinah, they invited the people to profess Islâm, and so described the properties and attributes of his holy and prophetic lordship—u. w. b.—to the people that his fame began to spread, the light of the Faith commenced to shine and to throw rays upon the minds of the people of that country.