We covered the story of the muslims in Abyssinia and that the prophet PBUH praye

d salaat-ul janaaza for the najashi when he died. Few more points: they remained
there for another 10-12 years. This is significant because the prophet PBUH imm
igrated just 3 years later. But they stayed there after, Madinah, Badr, Uhud, Kh
andak etc. It was only when the prophet PBUH sent a letter to Ja'far after the b
attle of Kaybar. This is interesting because we wonder why did the prophet PBUH
want the muslims to remain in Abyssinia when he was in power, winning battles et
c. Most likely, the prophet PBUH wanted a back up plan in case Madinah didn't wo
rk. And this shows us the long term planning of the prophet PBUH that he's tying
his camel. Only when he if firmly established in Madinah when he expelled all o
f the immediate threats, he called the muslims back. So until Madinah was fully
secure he called the muslims back.
There remains a contraversy that, did people convert to Islam when the muslims w
here there in Abyssinia? There might be few indications, but for sure Islam didn
't pass down to Abyssinia until Islam conquered its land after 50-60 years. They
converted Najashi of course, but there was no large presence of Islam.
Another incident was that Ubayd-Allah ibn Jahsh, a cousin of the prophet PBUH, p
assed away and his wife was Umm Habiba bint Suffyan. And so Ume Habiba became a
widow in Abyssinia. And the prophet PBUH sent her a marriage proposal, and he se
nt it through the Najashi. So the Najashi took charge of the marriage, and he wa
s the one who gifted the mehar to Umm Habiba even though the prophet PBUH didn't
paticularly tell him to.
We return to the affairs in Mecca. Notice that the prophet PBUH never went to Ab
yssinia so it dosen't involve him directly. In Mecca two major conversions took
place after the second immigration to Abyssinia. From initially around 14 people
, it increased to 100 plus that went to Abyssinia. Thus the number and quantity
of muslims left in Mecca was little. Some scholars say there was around 37/38 pe
ople left in Mecca - so the bulk of muslims went to Abyssinia. So Allah blessed
to people to embrace Islam that caused a huge safety net for the muslims.
The first of them was Humza ibn Abi Talib - the uncle of the prophet PBUH. Its n
arrated that Humza was a well known archer. He would often go on long expidition
s and when he returned he would go to the ka'bah, to tawaaf and go home. During
one of these trips, it so happened the prophet PBUH was in Mecca and Abu Jahal m
et the prophet PBUH close to the mountain of Saffat. And Abu Jahal was in a foul
mood that day - so he began cursing and cursing the prophet PBUH like he'd neve
r done so before. Verbal cursing. And the prophet PBUH remained silent not sayin
g one word back until Abu Jahal got tired and just went away. And the woman of B
anu Hashim got extremely insulted, that when Abu Jahal insulted his forefathers
and him obviously its the Banu Hashim lineage being insulted. So the woman got v
ery insulted that "who does he think he is to curse our fathers?" So when Humza
returned, some of the women began to taunt him that "What type of uncle or leade
r are you? When your own nephew is insulted and no one is there to support him?"
So Humza said "what happened?" And they said "Abu Jahal insulted the prophet PB
UH for 20 minutes long and no one said anything back". And Humza began to boil he began to get very angry as its a matter of pride and honour for him. So he s
aid "did this happen in public? Did other people see this humiliaton?" They told
him "the whole of Mecca saw it!". And he basically lost it. And he marched to t
he ka'bah with his bow and arrow still on his person, and went straight up to Ab
u Jahal and smacked him across the face with his bow. This caused a huge gush of
blood to come out. And he said "how dare you curse my own newphew?!" and he did
n't he realise what he was saying but he jsut blurted out "and I too am a follow
er of his religion". And this of course shocked him as much as it shocked everyo
ne else. He did it to say "what are you going to do now?" He just wanted to defe
nd the prophet PBUH because he's his nephew. And Humza was one of the strongest
men in Mecca. When this happened, the Banu Mahkzum around Abu Jahal stood up to
attack Humza but Abu Jahal said "leave him be, for I cursed his newphew like nev

er before so I know why he is angry". Then Humza returned home confused and daze
d thinking "what am I going to do now? I don't know if this Islam is true or not
!" And so Humza made a dua "Oh Allah, you know I am a leader of the Quraysh. And
I've said something that I cannot take back. So if this matter is true, guide m
y heart to it. And if it's not true, let me die right now". And so he spent the
most miserable night of his life tossing and turning. The next morning he went t
o the prophet PBUH and told him the whole story. So the prophet PBUH stood up an
d began talking to him, convincing him until finally Humza said "I testify you a
re speaking the truth and I now don't want to go back to the religion of our for
efathers". So Humza's story is that initially it wasn't sincere, it was just out
of tribalism but he became the leader of the shuhada. When Humza accepted Islam
, this was a huge boost for the prophet PBUH as he was the senior most Qurayshi
to convert. He was the son of Abdul Muttalib, and the brother of Abu Talib! So w
hen Humza converted they had to tone down their hatred towards the prophet PBUH
because of the huge figure Humza was.
Its reported that just three days later Allah blessed the muslims with the conve
rsion of Umar ibn Al-Khattab RA. It most likely occured in the 6th year of the d
awah, 4-5 years before the Hijra. And we mentioned before for the second Hijra w
hen Umar RA passed by Laila, she told Umar when he asked her "where are you goin
g" that "you dare ask me where am I going?! Because of you we have to immigrate.
Because of your animosity we have to leave our homeland and our family just to
worship Allah etc". And she was expecting a harsh response back, but Umar RA sof
tened at her comments and he said "has it reached this level? May Allah protect
you wherever you go". And so of course when her husband came back she told him t
he story but his husband said "his fathers donkey will accept Islam before he do
es". But he didn't know the prophet PBUH had made a dua to Allah. That the proph
et PBUH had made a dua to Allah: "Oh Allah, bring glory to Islam with one of the
se two men who is the more beloved to you, either Abu Jahal or Umar ibn Al-Khatt
ab". These two men were the biggest enemies to Islam; they were physically power
ful; and in terms of lineage the most powerful. So the prophet PBUH said "one of
these two please give it to me". And ibn Umar said clearly "Umar was more belov
ed". And indeed guidance is from Allah, as both these people were beyond hope nobody imagined Umar RA would come to Islam. It also shows us that people of inf
luence and power have more of an impact upon other people. Thus its a sign of in
tellegance to talk to these people. The prophet PBUH's made dua specifially for
one of these two people. Indeed if a big person converts this brings about a hug
e change.
When Umar RA was on his deathbed, Ibn Masud RA said "we have ever remained on iz
za (honour) ever since Umar converted to Islam. We weren't allowed to pray in th
e haram, but when Umar converted, that was the day we all prayed in the haram".
And indeed Umar RA was a legand in Islam. Umar's khilfah was truly the pinnacle
of Islam. In terms of a political sense, it was just unparalleled. And of course
his conversion was a black and white moment. Ibn Abbas asked Umar once "how did
you get the title of Al-Farooq (the one who divides good from evil)". He said t
hat "the prophet PBUH gave me this title because when I converted, we marched to
ka'bah on that day for the first time, headed by two rows, me and Humza, and fo
r the first ever time we prayed in public. And that was when the prophet PBUH ga
ve me this title".
There is more than one story mentioned regarding his conversion. Its narrated th
at once Umar RA went during the evening with a craving for drinking. He went to
the house where all of the young men would go and drink and he found none of the
m were there. Even the wine seller wasn't there. So he said "let me just go do t
awaaf". Just to get his mind off the craving. So he went at night to the ka'bah
and he heard the prophet PBUH reciting Qur'an. All alone in the middle of the ni
ght. No fear no guards, nothing. And so Umar RA thought to himself "now is my ti
me to beat this person up etc nobody will see me". So he crept up behind the pro
phet PBUH and he began to listen to the Qur'an. Of course he had never stopped a

nd listened to the Qur'an - for the first time he was listening to the prophet P
BUH directly recite the Qur'an. Even the prophet PBUH didn't even know. (Umar RA
is narrating this story himself). And Umar RA said he was amazed at the ryhtm a
nd power of the surah. And while the prophet PBUH was reciting Umar RA began to
think "where is this coming from? It must be the statement of a beautiful poet j
ust like the Quraysh is saying". And soon as he thought of this, Surat Al-Haqqah
responded. "And it is not the word of a poet; little do you believe." Then Umar
RA thought "it must the word of a soothsayer/magician". Then the prophet PBUH r
ecited "Nor the word of a soothsayer; little do you remember." Then Umar RA what
is it?! The prophet PBUH said "[It is] a revelation from the Lord of the worlds
." And Surah al Haqqah continues "And if Muhammad had made up about Us some [fal
se] sayings. We would have seized him by the right hand; Then We would have cut
from him the aorta." And Umar RA listened until the prophet PBUH finished the en
tire society. And Umar RA said "that was the first time Islam entered my heart".
Then one day the people were sitting and Umar RA were with them. And Abu Jahal b
egan his rant and said "this man has insulted us and our forefathers, he has don
e so much who will finally rid us of this man? By Allah anyone who succeeds in d
oing this I promise him 100 camels - red or black you choose! And I'll also add
100 pouches of silver". And this was an immense amount of wealth. So basically U
mar RA thought "this is a good amount of money so I'll do it". So he took his sw
ord out and walked towards the prophet PBUH with an unsheathed sword. And subhan
Allah as he is walking towards the prophet PBUH a number of voices are telling h
im not to, that "this is just a man saying there is only one God etc". Until he
passes by Nu'aym bin 'Abdullah, and Nu'aym asks Umar RA "where are you going? wh
at happened?" And so Umar RA said "enough is enough; we have been cursed too lon
g, I am going to kill Muhammad". So Nu'aym said "have you lost your mind; do you
really think the Banu Hashim will let you live? And if you want to do something
, go back and fix your own family first". Umar RA was shocked "what do you mean?
" And Nu'aym said "your own sister and brother in law have accepted Islam!" Nu'a
ym thought "let me get his mind off the prophet PBUH he won't harm his own siste
r". But this enraged Umar RA even more - this was an insult to him. So he marche
d to his sister's house and as he came close to the door, he heard the recitatio
n of the Qur'an. This was because every time someone converted the prophet PBUH
would assign a teacher to the new convert. And so Khabbab was assigned to Umar's
sister, Fatimah bint al-Khattab. And her husband was Sa'eed Ibn Zaid 'Amr Ibn N
ufayl (the Zaid who was one of the hunafa - the prophet PBUH said he saw Zaid as
his own ummah). This shows us that even in this persecution time, the prophet P
BUH had a system set up that any new convert was taught the Qur'an. Today when s
omeone converts nothing even happens - we hug him and then just leave him alone;
this needs to change. So Khabbab was teaching Qur'an to Fatimah and Umar RA is
hearing this through the door. He then bangs the door, and out of fear Khabbab h
ides in the cupboard and Fatimah hides the parchment she was reciting by coverin
g it over with her skirt (as if she was sitting on it). So Umar RA said "what is
this noise I heard you were saying?" And Fatimah said "No you heard nothing etc
". But Umar RA said "No - I know you are both muslims now" and after they contin
ued to deny it he got enraged and punched Sa'eed. But Fatimah got in the way and
he punched her instead. At this moment blood start pouring from her lip and whe
n this happened, both Fatimah and Sa'eed said "Yes so what we have accepted Isla
m and we believe in the prophet PBUH do as you please!". When he saw the blood a
nd this response he got soft again - indeed he was very strict and stern but ins
ide he had a tender and soft heart. Then Umar RA calmed down and said "let me se
e what you are reading". Umar RA was an educated man so he could read and write.
Before reading though, Fatimah told her "you need to purify yourself first to t
ouch the Qur'an" - so Umar quickly did ghusl and read Ta-ha. And then Islam ente
red his heart and he knew this was true.
Sa'eed saw he had completely calmed down, and so when Umar RA requested to see t
he prophet PBUH, Sa'eed took him to the house of Al-Arkam with the sword still i
n his hand. He then bangs on the door of Al-Arkam and when one of the sahaba saw

this he said "Ya prophet PBUH, Umar is outside with a sword in his hand!". And
so Humza says "let him in, for if Allah wants good he will accept, but if Allah
wants other than this the very sword he is holding will be used against him". So
me of the sahaba went to the door and they escorted him to the prophet PBUH and
he sat down in front of the prophet PBUH. Ibn Ishaaq says the prophet PBUH dragg
ed on to his collor, and said "ibn Al-Khattab what are you doing here?" No fear.
And the prophet PBUH said "if you continue in this path, Allah will destroy you
". This is when Umar RA said "I have come to accept Islam" and upon hearing this
the prophet PBUH said "Allah-u-Akbar" so loud everyone in the house heard and k
new Umar RA had accepted Islam. After the conversion of Umar RA they all publica
lly prayed in front of the ka'bah. The narration says there was around 40 people
. Humza and Umar went together, leading the way because nobody would dare harm t
hem.
And there are many other stories narrated. Of them is that he went knocking on A
bu Jahal's door and Abu Jahal opened the door and said "welcome welcome" so Umar
RA said "I have come to personally inform you that I am now a muslim, and am up
on the religion of the prophet PBUH". Abu Jahal slammed the door on his face and
said "may Allah curse you". And then Umar RA said "who is the one who is the mo
st tattle tale in the whole of Mecca". Someone said "Jamil" and so this person w
as the biggest town gossiper. So he went to Jamil and said "I have a secret - I
have accepted Islam and I am following the religion of the prophet PBUH". Jamil
jumped up barely grabbing a garment to cover his nakedness, and rushed outside b
ecause he wants to be the first to tell, so he begins screaming in the streets o
f Mecca before he even gets to the ka'bah. And Umar RA told him to say "Aslaamtu
". And its also narrated that many people had fights with Umar RA in front of th
e ka'bah until Amr ibn Al-As's father gave him protection.
And of course there are so many blessings of Umar ibn Al-Khattab. The prophet PB
UH said "there were people before you who were communicated with but they were n
ot prophets. If there is anybody in my ummah like this, it is Umar RA". Its enou
gh of a blessing to see what happened in his khilafah. Islam quadroupled in size
. Abu Bukr RA solidified Islam in Arabia. Umar RA came and it literally quadrupl
ed.
So with two conversions, both Humza and Umar RA, the Quraysh really felt defeate
d and humiliated. Firstly, the bulk of the muslims fled to Abyssinia. This was t
hreatening and disgraceful. And second two of the most prominent and powerful me
n had left them and joined Islam. Its said in the 7th year of the dawah, all the
tribes got together and agreed "we need to kill Muhammad". And they said "we wi
ll offer any bloody money to do this". So for the final time they went to Abu Ta
lib and say to him "you don't have a choice - either hand over Muhammad and we w
ill give you any blood money, and none of us will do the job; it won't be a Qura
yshi. OR we will have to cut you off from the Quraysh". Again this is absolutely
unprecented. They said "none of us will allow you to get any food or water; we'
ll cut off all marriages with you; there will be no business transactions etc".
It was a complete boycott. Abu Talib himself became furious and he said "do as y
ou please I will never hand him over". So Abu Talib decided to live elsewhere; a
nd so they imposed a type of exile on themselve and moved to a valley the Banu H
ashim owned themselves outside of Mecca. And so Abu Talib lived outside Mecca in
these valleys. The Banu Hashim/Banu Abd Munaf voluntarily went to a Boycott. In
order to solidify this the Quraysh wrote a treaty amongst themselves that nobod
y will basically socialise with the Banu Abd Munaf/Banu Hashim. And they hung th
is treaty inside this treaty. This complete boycott forced the Banu Hashim to le
ave Mecca and they lived outside of Mecca for 2/3 years. We don't have too much
information about this period. Indeed very few lived to narrate these times. Als
o those who went through these times didn't narrate because it was a time of har
dship and difficulty and bad memories seldom stay with us. So for 2/3 years they
lived in these valleys eeking out an existance. Drinking rainwater, eating leav
es etc. One of the main sources of food was that every few weeks someone felt sy

mpathy towards the muslims and sent in secret supplies of food. The most famous
of them was Mut'im ibn Adi whose son became a famous sahabi. Recall Mut'im ibn A
di was a chief of the Banu Nawful, one of the subtribes of the Quraysh. And Mut'
im died before the battle of Badr which happened before the Hijra. And the proph
et PBUH praised him alot - after the battle of Badr, he said if Mut'im was alive
and told him to release all the captives of war he would have done it instantly
without any question. So Mut'im every few weeks would go to the valleys with a
large camel with food, supplies, water, grain etc to feed his fellow brothers. A
nd this would last for many weeks.
It's also reported other people helped the Banu Hashim during this 2-3 years boy
cott: Hakim ibn Hazam who was KHadija's nephew and later became a famous sahabi.
Otherwise they eeked out an existance. Even when forgeiners came Abu Jahal woul
d say "don't sell to these people; I will pay double whatever they are offering"
. Inded only the Quraysh had a boycott with the Banu Hashim not forgeiners but A
bu Jahal tried to prevent even foreigners from selling them supplies. Although t
his was happening, the prophet PBUH still did dawah. During the Hajj season he w
ould go out from the valleys and find converts to Islam.
A number of incidents happened that finally brought about the boycott to end. Th
e first of these is that the prophet PBUH made a dua that "Oh Allah send upon th
em a drought and famine like the famine of Yusuf AS". And so Allah accepted this
dua and the famine became so bad they were forced to eat carcusses and chew on
dead animal skin. And they sent some messengers to try to bring about reconcilli
aton with the prophet PBUH. The second incident is that some of those people of
Quraysh with softer hearts decided enough was enough and that they need to stop
this boycott. One of the main people was the grandson of Abdul Muttalib whose mo
ther, Aatika, was the aunt of the prophet PBUH, Hisham ibn Amr. So his mother's
brother is Abdullah. So Hisham called his friend Zuhair and they said "how can w
e end this boycott?" First thing is to build some strength. So they gathered all
those who had the same views as them. This included of course Mut'im ibn Adi, a
long with Abdul Buktari ibn Hisham and a few more. And then they planned to spea
k up when all of the people were gathered in the naadi the next day. So the next
day when everyone gathered Zuhair stood up and he said "for how long will we st
arve our own kin to death? This is an evil thing!". Abu Jahal became furious and
shouted out "who do you think you are? We all agreed to this treaty!". When he
said this, Hisham stood up and said "no - I didn't agree, you agreed. This is yo
ur idea!". Abu Jahal said "what do you mean my idea? We had a meeting and agreed
!" Mut'im stood up "no we didn't - you forced this on us" Abu Jahal said "no I d
idn't force it!" Then Abu Buktri stood and every single person one by one stood
up challenging Abu Jahal. And he had no one supporting him. When he saw all this
happening, Abu Jahal said "this is certainly a plan all of you have hatched". B
ut of course they didn't confess. And it seemed from this the public support had
shifted against Abu Jahal. And then the final thing happened which completely t
urned the tide. One day the prophet PBUH went to Abu Talib in the valleys and sa
id "Oh my uncle, Allah has told me that the treaty they wrote has been eatan up
by termites and ants except for the phrase 'in the name of Allah'". And of cours
e this treaty was in a sealed pouch, in the ka'bah which is locked up where no o
ne has entered so it was impossible for the prophet PBUH to know such a thing. S
o the prophet PBUH Allah has told me this. Abu Talib said "your Lord has told yo
u this? Ok. I will stake my whole case on this". The prophet PBUH said "Yes stak
e it on this". And so Abu Talib for the first time since the enacment of the tre
aty marched to the cities with a group of (non muslim) fellow tribesman. Note, t
his again shows the strength of jaheleya kinship that even though they weren't a
ll muslim, the whole Banu Hashim tried suffered through this boycott in defence
for the prophet PBUH. Except one coward, Abu Lahab, who basically said publicall
y aloud "I don't have anything to do with the Banu Hashim". So the prophet PBUH
told this, and Abu Talib went to the Haram for the first time and said "Oh my pe
ople let's forget about everything and lets bring out this treaty and see if we
can come to a deal". So they became happy that maybe he will hand over the proph

et PBUH. So they took out the treaty from the ka'bah in its cloth. And Abu Talib
said "my nephew has told me his Lord has told him the treaty is no longer in ex
istance; and everything has been eatan except 'in the name of Allah'. So my chal
lenge to you is, if that's the case, let us be and we will return to Mecca. And
if its not, I will hand him over to you". So they said "of course!" and so they
opened up the cloth and there was no treaty except 'in the name of Allah'. Subha
nAllah. And this is what nullified the treaty and the Banu Hashim returned to Me
cca.
To recap: the boycott the Quraysh imposed was economic. The Quraysh said we will
not buy or sell with the Banu Hashim, all marriages will be cut off and there w
ill be no assoication etc with the Banu Hashim. Out of self righteous anger Abu
Talib said we will just leave Mecca. So the entire Banu Hashim except Abu Lahab
left and lived in the valleys which they owned. They eeked out an existance with
help of some soft hearted Qurayshis such as Mut'im, until finally Allah willed
that they returned 2-3 years later. Note, during this time, Abu Talib wrote what
is considered to be the most elequent arabic poetry in existance. It's around 1
00 lines of poetry and universally known as the pinnacle of poetry of that era.
Ibn Kathir says this one poem beats all of the seven hanging poems in Mecca at t
he time. In its style, content and rhythm. Its absolutely powerful. But its so a
dvanced and beatuiful that its near impossible now to even understand it.
Some of the benefits we gain from the boycott is that its amazing to see the kin
ship between tribes. Indeed many people in Banu Hashim weren't muslim, but they
underwent the hardship of the Boycott for the sake of the prophet PBUH. Also, ev
ery nation has some people that are mean and are nice. And we take the good when
people offer it and we use it against the bad. Indeed this is what the prophet
PBUH did. He took the good of Mut'im and the like to help them during the boycot
t. We should reach out to those who want to reach freedom and are open minded. S
o the prophet PBUH and sahaba returned back after ~2.5 years of the boycott duri
ng around the 10th year of the dawah when the prophet PBUH was roughly 49 years
old. Unfortunately Allah tested them with the most difficult and traumatic tests
. The death of Abu Talib, Khadija and then Taif. This was the lowest period of t
he seerah of the prophet PBUH. And it was all a pre-cursor of the Hijrah to Madi
nah.