As we said the muslims returned back from Abyssinia due to the rumour which prov

ed to be wrong. The main point is that, from the immediate sahaba, Umar RA was s
till not muslim, Uthman RA immigrated and Ali ibn Abi Talib was too young to imm
igrate. How about Abu Bukr RA? He initially decided to immigrate and accompany U
thman. But on the way to the ship in Jeddah, they passed by the leader of the ne
ighboring tribe, Ibn Ad-Daghin. He saw them all leaving and asked them "where ar
e you going and why?" Then Abu Bukr told him of the toture the muslims went thro
ugh and so he said we want to go to a land where we can worship in peace. Full s
tory below:
Narrated by Aisha Bint Abu Bakr (the wife of the Prophet): "I never remembered m
y parents believing in any religion other than the true religion (Islam), and (I
don't remember) a single day passing without our being visited by Allah's Messe
nger in the morning and in the evening. When the Muslims were put to test (troub
led by the pagans), Abu Bakr set out migrating to the land of Abyssinia (Ethiopi
a), and when he reached Bark-al-Ghimad, Ibn Ad-Daghina, the chief of the tribe o
f Qara, met him and said, 'O Abu Bakr! Where are you going?' Abu Bakr replied: '
My people have turned me out (of my country), so I want to wander on the earth a
nd worship my Lord.' Ibn Ad-Dhagina said: 'O Abu Bakr! A man like you should not
leave his homeland, nor should he be driven out, because you help the destitute
, earn their living, and you keep good relations with your kith and kin, help th
e weak and the poor, entertain guests generously, and help the calamity-stricken
persons. Therefore, I am your protector. Go back and worship your Lord in your
town.'"
So Ibn Ad-Dhagina said "let me intercede on your behalf, and let me protect you"
. The tribe of Abu Bukr had accepted they won't protect Abu Bukr anymore, so Ibn
Ad-Dhagina said "I will protect you". So Ibn Ad-Dhagina and Abu Bukr both retur
ned back and Ibn Ad-Dhagina announced "oh people of Mecca, will you accept my pr
otection over Abu Bukr?" Ibn Ad-Dhagina was a neighboring chief, and a person wh
o did frequent trade, so the Quraysh accepted. But they said we will allow it on
one condition that he cannot pray publicly. Indeed, Abu Bukr was the only one w
ith the prophet PBUH who actually prayed publicly. And they didn't want him to p
ray in public because of the effect this had on the people. Because of this, Abu
Bukr was the first person to build a masjid. He basically extended his house an
d made a room into his place of worship. So he decided to make a 'public masjid'
. He prays in this extension and he prayed out load because he can pray out loud
in his own house. And Abu Bukr's recitation was beatuiful - the women and child
ren would gather around listening to this recitation. And as narrated by Aisha R
A he would cry alot while reciting the Qur'an, so the people gathered around his
house every time he prayed. Indeed houses are small and its dead silent so its
easy to hear the recitation. Technically all he was doing was reading in house,
but the Quraysh couldn't take it so they sent a messenger to Ibn Ad-Dhagina and
they said "we have to take back in our condition - he cannot even pray in house"
. So Ibn Ad-Dhagina said "I have no choice except to ask you to stop praying or
allow me out of the protection". And Abu Bukr RA said "I give back your protecti
on, I now take the protection of Allah". Narrated in full below:
Aisha RA continues: "Then a thought occurred to Abu Bakr to build a mosque in fr
ont of his house, and there he used to pray and recite the Quran. The women and
children of the pagans began to gather around him in great number. They used to
wonder at him and look at him. Abu Bakr was a man who used to weep too much, and
he could not help weeping or reciting the Quran. That situation scared the nobl
es of the pagans of Quraish, so they sent for Ibn Ad-Daghina. When he came to th
em, they said: 'We accepted your protection of Abu Bakr on condition that he sho
uld worship his Lord in his house, but he has violated the conditions and he has
built a mosque in front of his house where he prays and recites the Quran publi
cly. We are afraid that he may affect our women and children unfavorably. So, pr
event him from that. If he likes to confine the worship of his Lord to his house
, he may do so, but if he insists on doing that openly, ask him to release you f

rom your obligation to protect him, for we dislike to break our pact with you, b
ut we deny Abu Bakr the right to announce his act publicly.' Ibn Ad-Dhagina went
to Abu Bakr and said: 'O Abu Bakr! You know well what contract I have made on y
our behalf; now, you are either to abide by it, or else release me from my oblig
ation of protecting you, because I do not want the Arabs hear that my people hav
e dishonored a contract I have made on behalf of another man.' Abu Bakr replied:
'I release you from your pact to protect me and am pleased with the protection
from Allah.'"
And after this Abu Bukr had no protection. And this is why when Abu Bukr saved t
he prophet PBUH when the prophet PBUH was being strangled, they beat Abu Bukr al
most to death. He was immobilised for a week in his house. And how could they ge
t away with this? Even though he was Quraysh, his own subtribe claimed they had
no protection over him.
Now between 14-17 people immigrated; as they came back to Mecca they ask "have t
hey accepted have they accepted?". But the first caravan they came accross told
them "no you have heard wrong". And so, this hurt them so much so that they said
"let's just go back to Abyssinia". Even though they were just a doorstep away f
rom their original homeland, they said "let's go back". But of course their emot
ional state prevailed and they said "we're here now so let's just go in". Indeed
look at how times have changed - to leave your land was a huge burden and even
punishment. Now, when they left Mecca they had cancelled their passports and ren
egated from their tribes. Now each one of them has to find new protection.
Uthmaan ibn Mad'oon reached out to Al Waleed ibn Mugira, and he agreed and they
publically anounced and said "I've given my protection to Uthmaan ibn Mad'oon".
Recall Waleed ibn Mugira was one of the most powerful men in Mecca - and he is t
he father of Khalid ibn Waleed. The one where Allah revealed Surah Mudathir. So
not a hair on the head of Uthmaan was touched. And so when Uthmaan saw his musli
m brothers being persecuted, his guilt got the better of him and he said "how ca
n they are suffering and I am not?" So he went to Waleed and he said "please tak
e your protection back. I cannot bear to see my fellow brothers suffer while I h
ave this freedom". SubhanAllah it shows that even though there was nothing wrong
- he voluntarily returned his protection. So Waleed announced that "Uthmaan has
asked his protection be returned". Now he comes walking back and he passes by a
very famous poet, Labeed (who eventually accepted Islam). So Labeed was recitin
g poetry and he says "Verily everything other than Allah is useless". The prophe
t PBUH says this was the most truthful statement any poet ever said. And so Uthm
aan said "Sadaqt". And then he said "every blessing without any doubt will dissa
pear". Uthmaan went so high he said "you have just lied - Jannah will never fini
sh, the pleasures of Jannah will never come to an end". Imagine, the guest of ho
nour is reciting poetry, the entire Quraysh is standing around him, and he is in
terrupted by Uthmaan. Labeed gets irritated and said "since when have you treate
d your guests like this? This is rude." Labeed dosen't know whats going on of co
urse - he dosen't understand Islam or muslims. And so someone stood up in anger
and gave Uthmaan a hard smack and gave him a left eye. When Waleed heard he went
to Uthmaan and said "my nephew why have you taken back this protection? Come ba
ck and I'll give it to you". Uthmaan said "no, my right eye is now in need of th
e blessing my left eye has got".
Abu Salama kept the protection, who was the husband of Ume Salama, the future wi
fe of the prophet PBUH. Abu Salama is a cousin of the prophet PBUH and is in Ban
u Makhzuum. His mothers is Abdullah's sister i.e. the prophet PBUH's father's si
ster. So Abu Salama reached out to Abu Talib, his mother's brother. So Abu Talib
said "of course I will protect you". Abu Jahal found out and got angry and he s
ent people to Abu Talib. But Abu Talib said "If I will give protection to one ne
phew, why can't I protect the other?" And argument broke out; but Allah brought
about a solution we won't accept. Abu Lahab, who recall was Abu Talib's brother
stood up and said "have you not irritated this old man enough? Let him be. For b

y Allah I will have to force my hand and stand with him". Here he is speaking as
a tribesman and a brother - not a religious love. So Abu Lahab defended against
Abu Jahal. And indeed Allah helps Islam from whoever He chooses.
So the situation in Mecca remained status quo, and the Quraysh continued to totu
re and persecute the muslims, so those people got together again and said let's
go back to Abyssinia. But, in the meantime news spread amongst the muslims about
how good Abyssinia was in terms of freedom. They had food and safety in Abyssin
ia and that was enough. But when the muslims heard this, 40% if not 50% decided
to immigrate. That's a huge number. So it's as if the wisdom why Allah allowed t
hese early muslims to return was that the bulk of the muslims also go to abyssin
ia to safety. Indeed there was no other way so many muslims would have immigrate
d. No way they would leave their entire livelehood and homes. So for the second
immigration more than 80 muslims immigrated, headed by Ja'far ibn Abi Talib, the
direct cousin of the prophet PBUH. Note though Uthmaan ibn Affan decided to rem
ain in Mecca and he migrated to Medinah later on. Also, Mus'ab ibn Umair, the fi
rst person to immigrate to Madinah within 3 years, the one whose his own parents
totured him so much, also did not return to Abyssinia even though he went the f
irst time.
Note at the time Mecca only had around a fwe hundred people in it. So 80 people
represents around 15-20% of the people. Recall a 'tribe' was only around 10-15 p
eople. The Banu Hashim were 10 brothers - the descendant of Hashim. Certainly th
ere were not more than 800 people in Mecca. Out of that 80 are migrating; more t
han 10% of your population. And its a huge embarrasment. That your own people ar
e leaving. And this is the Quraysh; the strongest tribe, the strongest, the cust
odians of the Haram. And so when they immigrated, they decided "we cannot allow
this immigration". So they decided to send two people to Abyssinia and appeal di
rectly to the Najashi - the leader of Abyssinia. His name was Ashuma. His grave
is still well known to this day. So they sent Amr ibn Al-Aas and another person.
And Amr was a very cunning and intellegant, shrewd person. He had the mind of a
politician. And so he was sent by the Quraysh. Ume Salama has left us many repo
rts about life in Abyssinia. And Ume Salama narrates "when we landed in Abyssini
a we were treated very hospitably. He granted us security and freedom; in fact w
e did not even hear one ridicule against us. But then the Quraysh heard of our s
tatus, so then they plotted against us so they sent two strong men. And they loa
ded them with many gifts (i.e. camel leather skins) and the two dignotaries arri
ved. THe first thing they did was that they went to all the ministers of Najashi
and gave each of them expensive gifts and leather. And they said 'we have in yo
ur midst a group of rebels, and we want to take them back and we want you to sup
port us in this cause. When we give the neegas (najashi) his gifts, remember our
gifts to you". So this is pure bribary. Look at the hatred of the Quraysh - the
y can't even bear the muslims live in a foreign land. And the next day they spea
k to the neegas and said to him "some foolish youth from amongst our nation are
in your country, and they've invented a new religion. They've left ours and neit
her embraced yours. And the leaders of us have sent us to you so you can hand th
ese young foolish people back to us". So they presented the neegas with lots of
fine gifts. And subhanAllah the prophet PBUH strictly forbade this. He said any
public servant has no right to get any money except for the money they get from
the treasury. He said "you have no right for the publics money. YOu get paid to
do your job. Why don't you sit at your mother's house and see if gift comes to y
ou?". So the Quraysh and trying to bribe him. Notice also they are frightening t
he Najashi with religious, social, political differences etc. They say they were
a 'bunch of youngsters' that have 'broken away from the religion'. Political as
well 'we can control them - they are strangers'.
So the vizeers stood up and said "oh our ruler what they have said makes sense,
return them back to their people and let them deal with their affairs. So all th
e vizeers agreed with the two Qurayshi". Najashi said "Know by Allah, I cannot h
and them back after they have chose my land". Recall Najashi must have granted t

heir permission to live. So he said "they have chosen me, and asked for my prote
ction, the least I can do is to listen to their side of their story". SubhanAlla
h he truly was a just king. And so Najashi said "I won't return them back until
I listen to them". This shows us how sensible and common-sense filled the neegas
was. So Najashi sent a messenger to Ja'far ibn Abi Talib to come to the palace
and explain why they migrated and why their people opposed them. And so the musl
ims became scared, but Ja'far said "we will speak the truth and only say what ou
r prophet PBUH told us to say". So they arrived at the palace and found the neeg
as surrounded by his vizeers. Its an official meeting - all the 'senators' are p
resent. And you have Amr ibn Al-As and his companion on one side, and Ja'far on
the other side. And so Amr ibn Al-As prostrated in front of the Najashi. Ja'far
entered and he walked in firm and he did not lower his head one inch. The minist
er said "how dare you walk in without prostrating to Najashi". SubhanAllah this
was at a time their life was on the balance. But this wasn't an issue of compri
smise even though they are at a state of weakness. BUt Ja'far says "our prophet
PBUH has told us we can only prostrate to your lord". Najashi says "tell me what
is this new religion? And why have you forsaken the religion of the people, nor
become christian or jew?" And so Ja'far gave a response which was the pinnacle
of elequence.
O King! we were plunged in the depth of ignorance and barbarism; we adored id
ols,
we lived in unchastity,
we ate the dead bodies,
and we spoke abominations,
we disregarded every feeling of humanity,
and the duties of hospitality and neighborhood were neglected;
we knew no law but that of the strong,
when Allah raised among us a man,
of whose birth, truthfulness, honesty, and purity we were aware;
and he called to the Oneness of Allah ,
and taught us not to associate anything with Him.
He forbade us the worship of idols;
and he enjoined us to speak the truth,
to be faithful to our trusts,
to be merciful and to regard the rights of the neighbors and kith and kin;
he forbade us to speak evil of women,
or to eat the substance of orphans;
he ordered us to flee from the vices,
and to abstain from evil;
to offer prayers,
to render alms, and to observe fast.
We have believed in him,
we have accepted his teachings and his injunctions to worship Allah, and not
to associate anything with Him, and we have allowed what He has allowed, and pr
ohibited what He has prohibited.
For this reason, our people have risen against us,
have persecuted us in order to make us forsake the worship of Allah and retu
rn to the worship of idols and other abominations.
They have tortured and injured us, until finding no safety among them; we ha
ve come to your country, and hope you will protect us from oppression.
[Reference: Ar-Raheeq Al-Makhtum]
SubhanAllah it was such a powerful speech. Ja'far explains how they had no laws
or ethics before Islam - and recall Abyssinia was a civilised nation so they und
erstood this well. And this speech of Ja'far also shows he understood the neegas
since the neegas knows what a prophet is. He puts instantly himself in the posi
tive and the two delgates sent by the Quraysh in the negative. And again the poi
nt of praising Najashi - this speech swayed and moved Najashi. And he asked the
muslims "do you have any revelation?" Ja'far said "yes I do" and so Ja'far recit

ed Surah Maryam. The one surah that talks about Mary, Jesus AS etc. And again im
agine the voice of Ja'far; all the elite people are hushed and humbled by the re
citation that went on for at least 15 minutes. He recited all of the story of Je
sus AS in Surah Maryam. And even the patriots without understanding Arabic were
moved to tears. And Najashi himself too began to cry. And he said "I swear by Go
d, this recitation and the messages of Moses and Jesus are from the same fountai
n. And he said "go away from me, I will never hand these people to you and don't
even think about it"". As they left, Amr said to his companion "don't worry, I
have one final trick, I will come back tomorrow". His companion though said "lea
ve it yaa Amr, in the end they are our relatives". But this is Amr ibn Al-As, so
he went the next day and he told the neegas "Oh we forgot to mention to you one
thing, that they say something blasphemous about your God, Jesus." And so Najas
hi told the muslims again to come immediately to the palace. At this the sahaba
were struck with immense terror. They know this is Amr's doing. So once again Ja
'far said "we will say what the prohpet PBUH told us to say. We will not change
that Jesus is the prophet, servant and slave of Allah". We learn the most import
ant lesson is that the sahaba used the system of the time to fight the oppressio
n. It's not an islamic state so they can't do anything but what the system allow
s. Nobody is saying "the ways of Najashi is the way of kuffar etc". No - we have
no choice. Ja'far had no quams using the system so we will do the same thing an
d we must do so. And thus Ja'far and the muslims went back to the Najashi. And h
e is a bit irritated. And so he asks "whats this what we heard?" And Ja'far said
"we say exactly what the prohpet PBUH has told us. That Jesus was the slave and
prophet of Allah. That his mother Maryam was a virgin." Notice he didn't go on
the offensive and say 'trinity is wrong; son of God is wrong etc'. We should not
go on the offensive straight away. And even in this there is wisdom. There is a
manner in speaking, and wisdom in the audience you are speaking to. Everything
you should say should be positive and constructive. You cannot lie; but there is
a methadology and manner in speaking. Najashi now gets the point. But now we le
arn that the neegas was not in fact a believer in the trinity. He didn't believe
Jesus is the son of God. In this he resembled Heraclius, the emporer of Rome. S
o when Ja'far speaks the truth, Najashi is even more impressed and so he picks u
s a little branch in front of him, and says "by Allah what you have just said do
esn't exceed what Jesus says by this branch". And so when he says this - Najashi
makes a final decision and turns to Amr with his companion. And said "go back f
rom here, and take all your gifts with you". This is even further humiliaton. An
d Ume Salama said they both left "humuliated, disgraced and degraded". The day b
efore the gifts were accepted, but even now all the gifts were sent back.
Few more points: when Najashi said this when he picked up the twig, rumours spre
ad that "Najashi has become a heretic and he's abandoned the religion of our for
efathers". So a group began to taint him and there was a possibility of a coup d
e tat. And Najahshi is aware of this; so calls all the planners and instigators
to the palace before him. Before this he wrote on a parchment that "I bear witne
ss there is only one God, and that Jesus is the prophet and slave of Allah" and
put it in his robe. And he asks the instigators "whats your problem? Have I not
been a good king to you? A just king? Have I improved the economy?" They said "y
es, yes, yes but you have abandoned our religion". So he says "what do you belie
ve?" and they say "Jesus is the son of God, apart of the trinity etc". And he sa
ys "I swear by Allah this is what I believe" and he pointed at his chest on the
parchment. So its basically a double meaning. Its mentioned before this meeting,
he sent a messenger to the muslims that "I may be killed soon, if I die, I have
prepared a ship for you so if I die that ship is yours and its captain". And it
s narrated that the prophet PBUH eventually wrote him a letter and Najashi wrote
back and said "I am a muslim, I follow you and if you command I will come to Ma
dinah". SubhanAllah. And we know the muslims lived in Abyssinia for more than 12
years. The other story we have was that of another force/family that tried to s
eek powers in the land. And matters increased to the point of a civil war. And U
me Salama narrates "we made dua to Allah to help Najashi". And then civil war st
arted. And so the muslims said "who will go to the battlefield to see who will w

in so we can leave if needed?" So Zubair ibn Awwam volunteered. The battle took
place on the banks of the Nile, and so Zubair camped on the bank and waited to s
ee. And Ume Salama said "in the meantime, we prayed to Allah the most serious pr
ayer". And Zubair came back and said "Rejoice indeed Najashi has won". This show
s us aswell that an important point was Najashi and his opponenet weren't fighti
ng over Islam. It was pure politics. And the muslims sided with one party over t
he other. So there's nothing wrong when there's two parties, you want one party
to win over the other. Its a matter of survival. This shows its in fact islamic
to choose one party and make due if you want. And further the muslims aren't eve
n citizens of the nation - if they were they would have even more impact.
Final point is that Najashi died a number of years later, and the prophet PBUH s
aid "Jibraeel has come and informed me a pious brother of yours has died in a ne
ighbouring land". And he comanded the sahaba to prayer the one, single and only
prayer Salaat-ul Janaazah for Najashi without the body. Never before or after th
is one prayer. The question arises why did he only pray this salah for Najashi?
There are many opinions on this and many different views. In the opinion of Yasi
r Qadhi, he did this because nobody in Abyssinia prayed salaat-ul Janazah over h
im since Najashi was a secret muslim; thus this is why the prophet PBUH prayed t
his salah.