Recall we discussed the death of Abu Talib after which the protection the prophe

t PBUH enjoyed ceased to exit. Initially Abu Lahab felt obligated to give him th
e same protection but within a week or two he cancelled it. After this Mut'im ib
n Adi offered protection to the prophet PBUH. It was under the protection of Mut
'im the prophet PBUH lived.
However this was a very procerious and akward situation. Why? Because the prophe
t PBUH's own tribe had abandoned him. And the Quraysh were not happy with the si
tuation. Also, Mut'im was a very old man and in fact after the prophet PBUH immi
grated, Mut'im passed away within a year before the battle of Badr. So the proph
et PBUH realises he needs to leave Mecca. He tried Ta'if, but Ta'if had failed h
im. So what does he do?
The prophet PBUH tried presenting himself to the tribes that came for Hajj 'arad
a nafsaho'. And he asked them to sponser him; to transfer alliegance. This was s
omething known but very rare. The arabs had this concept that sometimes someone
changed tribes for a marriage or political reason. But this was rare. Neverthele
ss, the prophet PBUH tried to utilise this concept by approaching the various pe
ople that came for Hajj. We've already mentioned Hajj was a phenomenon that cont
inued from the time of Ibrahim AS. Every country would send representatives and
in Mina the different tribes camped in different zones. So the prophet PBUH woul
d utilise the fact people came to him, and he went to each tribe asking for prot
ection. Before Abu Talib died, he went to the tribes to preach Islam, not adopt
him into their tribe. But this time he went to them to ask for political asylum.
And there are numerous reports and eye witnesses reporting what the prophet PBU
H would say. "I remember a young man coming, and speaking to my father, telling
him to embrace the worship of Allah, leave idolotry, and to accept him into his
tribe. I also saw a elderly man standing behind him, wearing a yemeni cloak, hav
ing two ponytails. When this young man finished and moved to the next tent, this
elderly man came foward and said 'O people do not give up the way of your forth
fathers'." So Rabia says "I asked my father who these two men were. And he told
me 'the first man is the man claiming to be a prohpet, and the elderly man is hi
s uncle Abdul Uzza'. "
In another narration reported in many books the prophet PBUH said "who will take
me so that I may preach the message of Allah because the Quraysh have stopped m
e from doing this". So the prophet PBUH approached many tribes but all of them r
ejected the message, some of them more harshly than others. There are several in
teresting stories with regard to this.
The prophet PBUH approached the chiefton of Kindah. Note, the tribe of Kindah wa
s a tribe that very prestigious a few hundred years back. However, at the curren
t time they lost this though they are still a big tribe. So the prophet PBUH app
roached one of the chiefton of Kindah and he listened very attentively. And the
chiefton said "this is a very interesting message; come with me and I will grand
you an audience with the other cheifs". So the prophet PBUH preached the same m
essage. Then the man who brought him in said "Oh my fellow tribesmen, if we were
to take this matter from this young man (late 40s) from the Quraysh and adopt h
im, we will have a message through which we can conquer the arabs". Notice he is
thinking politically: he wants to regain the tribal kingdom of Kindah. And he r
ealised the power of this message of Islam. He is telling his cheifs "think not
in terms of imaan, think in terms of politics and power". Then he said to the pr
ophet PBUH and said "if we were to follow you, and then Allah gives us victory o
ver your enemies, will you give us control of this affair after you?" Meaning "w
ill we be the ruler after you?" So the prophet PBUH said "the kingdom belogs to
Allah, and Allah gives it to whomever He pleases". Notice the beauty of speech he didn't say 'yes' or 'no'. He is seeing these people want power, not imaan. S
o the cheif said "so you are asking us to follow you, with out necks stuck out b
ehind you, and then after we have spilled our blood, you will take the kingdom?
Go we have no need of this". So the whole point was politics. They did not find

any use in a message that didn't give them power. Look at the wisdom and firmnes
s of the prophet PBUH. The Kindah tribe is one of the heavyweights of the Arabs
and yet the prophet PBUH would never comprimise the message of Allah. He gave up
an opportunity many of us would have no problem comprimising much more than thi
s. But the prophet PBUH realised this group of people wouldn't be true believers
.
Another story is that of the Banu Shayban. Generally the prophet PBUH would go w
ith Abu Bukr to a tribe because Abu Bukr was an expert at tribal knowledge. This
shows us the prophet PBUH took advantage of the people around him. If this is t
he case of our prophet PBUH, where do we stand? This is something many muslim gr
oups find akward. But we keep on seeing the humanity of the prophet PBUH. Indeed
he is the prophet but he dosen't have knowledge of all. So when they go to this
tribe Abu Bukr asks them "who are you?" So they say we are the "Banu Shayban".
Then Abu Bukr leans over and tells the prophet PBUH "the Banu Shayban are of the
most noble, illustrious and intellegant tribes of the Arabs - and they have amo
ngst them X, Y and Z, who are known for their sincerity etc". So Abu Bukr is pre
paring the prophet PBUH and he introduces the prophet PBUH. Then the Banu Shayba
n say "what is the matter? what is the issue you are here with?" Then the prophe
t PBUH spoke. And he said "We have come here to invite you to the worship of All
ah alone, and that you reject the false Gods. And we also ask you to accept us,
take us into your tribe because the Quraysh has been arrogant and evil and preve
nted us from spreading the speech of Allah, and Allah does not need your help."
So the tribal leaders said "is there anything more?" So the prophet PBUH recited
the famous verses of Surah Anfal, that you don't do shirk, be good to your pare
nts, your relatives etc. All about ayats of ethics etc. The cheifs said "anythin
g more?" The prophet PBUH gave a breif khutbah etc. And its been accustomed to u
se the same verses used in jummah.
So the chiefton said "you have indeed come with good, and you have called us to
the best of morals. And the Quraysh has lied against you." Notice even before th
e prophet PBUH has come, the Quraysh came before them. And they are aware of the
phenomenon of a prophet from the Quraysh. Indeed when he presents the message t
hey say the Quraysh have lied and your message is indeed righteous. So the elder
stood up and said "I have heard what you've said, and I feel if we embrace your
ways after a first meeting, this will be a hasty decision and it might cause us
harm. We have also left people behind whose advice we haven't sought. So I thin
k we and I should wait. And I shall return and you shall return." And then this
elder referred to another elder "what do you say?" etc. Notice clearly Abu Bukr
was right when he said they are wise, intellegant and noble people. So the milit
ary cheif said "what our elder has said is true. We will not be hasty. Also ther
e's another matter: we have treaties with other tribes. One with the arabs, two
with the persians. As for the arabs we don't have any fear or worry, but as for
Qisra (persians), we have a deal with him to be neutral in all affairs of the Ar
abs and this matter in yours does not seem to be something the kings would appro
ve of. So if we were to accept it, it would only be on the Arabs side. Not with
our dealings with Qisra". Thus he's basically saying we won't help nor fight you
against the persians. Indeed Qisra is a superpower. The sasanids empire. A migh
ty power; a massive empire. The prophet PBUH said "your response has been fair.
But Allahs religion will only be helped by those who embrace it fully." Indeed i
t dosen't if you're half muslim. So the prophet PBUH left and said "what if I we
re to tell you that this matter of Qisra, Allah will grant you victory over thei
r kingdom? And you will enjoy their land, money and women? Would you accept?" On
e of the younger ones said "Yes of course". But the elders couldn't believe this
.
This is an amazing prediction that even though the prophet PBUH is in a dire sit
uation but he is promising victory over the persians! SUBHANALLAH. Whats amazing
is the prediction was specific: it was for Qisra only. Recall what happened whe
n the prophet PBUH sent the king a letter? The king tore the letter up. And the

prophet PBUH said "as they tore my letter up, Allah will tear their kingdom up".
And for 400 years the Romans could not damage the Persians. Yet the muslims des
troyed it in 2 years. To this day historians are mystified. Completely baffled a
nd astounded. It is literally impossible. If anyone were to predict the persian
empire collapsed, you would be called crazy. If anything the Romans were on the
verge of collapsing. But Allah says "Alif Laam Meem... the Romans have won". And
it was one of the most astounding incidents of history. Just see the images of
their palaces. But this was all conquered by literally a group of bedouins who h
ad no military power etc. With nothing. We all know the story between the muslim
army and the persian emporer. Where the emporer said "what are you doing here?
Like really what do you want? You have nothing. We're going to kill you. Just go
back home! Have you gone crazy? Go back and we'll forget about all this." And t
he response was brave and its amazing within two years the entire sasanid empire
collapsed and became just history. All of the lands, iraq, iran, afghanistan, s
yria, damascus were all under islamic control. This is exactly what the prophet
PBUH predicted. And literally the same people he spoke to were the ones who shar
ed in the conquer of the Persians.
The main story of course is the story of a small group who come from a city, Yat
hrib, the prophet PBUH was not too familiar with, even though he had visited it
once or twice as he had relatives there. Before we reach there we will discuss t
he city as it was.
The city of Yathrib was composed of three main groups of people. Two of whom wer
e Arab, and one large group of Jews. The Arab tribes were the Aws and the Khazra
j. And the Jews we will discuss in more detail: Banu Nadir, Banu Qaynuqa the Ban
u Quraytha. The city had been a flourishing city; relatively modern. And it had
one of the only areas in the entire Arab world where there were Jews. So the yea
r that Abu Talib died, the 10th of the dawah, the prophet PBUH met the first gro
up of the people of Yathrib whom would convert to Islam. The main thing that fac
ilitated this conversion was the Battle of Bu'ath. This battle was a civil war b
etween the Aws and the Khazraj. Small things happened between each other and thi
s built up more and more until finally there was a major battle, the Battle of B
u'ath. This battle took place around 4-5 years before the Hijrah, around 3 years
before the meeting with the prophet PBUH. Aisha RA said "the day of Bu'ath was
a gift by Allah. It was because of Bu'ath their unity had been destroyed; the ba
ttle killed the senior members of the Aws and Khazraj. And those that were left
were the younger generation who had seen 10 years of blood and war and they are
sick of it. So they are wanting something new and something that will give the m
eaning, purpose and life." Indeed youngsters are easier to change whereas elders
are stuck on their ways. There was one senior member left after the battle, Abd
ullah ibn Ubay ibn Salool. And it was his seniority that gave him arrogance. In
terms of rank he was the undisputed leader of Madinah, were it not for Islam. Ev
entually of course he became the leader of the munaafiqs.
Before the prophet PBUH met these people, there are indications that the message
of Islam had reached Yathrib/Madinah. Of them is the story of Suab ibn Saumit.
He was the poet of the Khazraj. He heard there was this magician/poet of the Qur
aysh. Before the battle of Ba'rath, in the earlier stages of Islam when the prop
het PBUH was doing peaceful dawah, he hunted the prophet PBUH down. And he says
"I have heard you have eloquent speech - I have something similar to you ". The
prophet PBUH said "what do you have? Let me listen to it". Clearly its at advanc
ed level, typical classical pre Islam poetry. The prophet PBUH says "what you ha
ve is good, but what I have is better". Indeed you cannot compete the Quran. So
Suad said "let me hear". And the prophet PBUH began reciting the Quran and Suad
was dumbstruck. And he said "let me think about this". This is deep. Suad return
ed to Yathrib and it was in that year he died in the battle. Later on the people
of Aws said "we are certain he died a muslim".
There are also other references of a young man of the Khazraj who almost convert

ed were it not for the cheif saying "what are you doing - get away from this man
". He also died in the battle and its reported as he was dying he began reciting
tasbeeh, tahmeed and takbir. This is again before sadjah, salah etc. So there a
re references to Islam having reached Yathrib before anything happening.
The main conversion takes place in the 10th year of the dawah, the same year Abu
Talib dies. Abu Talib dies around Ramadan or Shawwal, therefore the next month,
say Dhul Hijjah, the prophet PBUH is making his rounds in Minah looking for hel
p and protection. Of course he is concentrating on the big tribes (Banu Kinah, B
anu Hanifah). And note its clear the prophet PBUH is interested in the heavyweig
hts. Its common sense! So he is going onto the major tribes and he sees a small
tribe near Akaba' (place where the stones are thrown). They said "we are from th
e Khazraj". So the prophet PBUH thinks "which Khazraj?" And here Abu Bukr is not
there to help him out. And he asks them "are you the neighbors of the Jews from
Yathrib?" And they said "yes". And then the prophet PBUH said "may I speak with
you?" And they said "yes". So the prophet PBUH sat down and explained to them t
he teachings of Islam, recited the Quran, explained tawheed, warned against shir
k etc all with the same passion and zeal as if he was speaking to a massive trib
e like the Banu Hanifah, even though they were but six people without a tent. Th
is isn't a rich tribe! And note the Khazraj were a more poorer tribe anyway. The
y consisted more of farmers and labourers while the the Aws were moreso the busi
nessmen. And he moved on.
SubhanAllah Allah had willed that Islam would be helped by this obscure tribe th
e prophet PBUH hardly recognised. This shows us we are never meant to trivialise
any opportunity that presents itself. Never ever. Indeed the prophet PBUH is co
ncentrating on the elite but he dosen't ignore the others. When he passed by the
Khazraj he gave them the same dawah with the same zeal. As these six people con
vert to Islam.
Why did this happen?
1. Firstly Allah allowed it to happen.
2. The Khazraj were the only Arabs that had knowledge of a monotheistic religion
as they interacted with the jews. So they understand the concept of tawheed, pr
ophets, laws and ethics, prayer, a scripture from God etc. The Arabs however had
no idea about these things. The Arabs have never seen a prophet, let alone a re
velation. But the Khazraj understood all of these things. The jews could read an
d write, places of worship but the Khazraj and Aws didn't - and because of this
they felt inferior. And indeed the jews flouted this "we have a book etc" and of
course you can't become a jew if you wanted to. So basically for generations th
e jews used to flout of superiority claiming they were superior. However now the
Khazraj have an opportunity to experiance a civilisation with law, order, worsh
ip etc with Islam.
3. Additonally the jews boasted against the Arabs in a way that Allah references
indirectly in the Quran. The jews would say to the Aws and Khazraj whenever the
civil wars took place that "its only a matter of time before we win over you an
d massacare you down to the last person; because we are waiting for a prophet wh
o is about to come and as soon as he does it'll be all over". They would say the
y will win over the pagans when this 'prophet' comes. But Allah says when the pr
ophet came "they rejected it". So this boasting backfired. The Aws and Khazraj o
n the other hand saw an opportunity to embrace a religion, book and faith they w
ere deprived of. So the six people converted to Islam and returned back home spr
eading the message.
Of the six were some of the famour Ansar: Uqbah ibn Amir, Jabir ibn Abd Allah, A
s'ad bin Zurara. And they converted and went back and spread the message until i
n the next few months everybody in the city of Yathrib had heard of the new mess

age and knew some of their had reverted. Whats really amazing about this story i
s that the prophet PBUH was being equally sincere to all the tribes. And he's li
terally just planting seeds - and Allah knows where the fruit will come from. Th
e prophet PBUH himself said Allah showed him that he will be accepted by other t
ribe. And he saw a land of greenery so he thought it would be Yemen, but in real
ity it was Yathrib. The point is the prophet PBUH did not expect it to be Yathri
b but he gave his full attention to Yathrib. In the same way we should never tri
vialise any good, dawah or anything that might benefit us. Indeed this initial s
eed gave so much fruit. The next year double the amount of people came back to M
ecca. The next year 10x the amount and by the third year they demanded the proph
et PBUH must come to them with Yathrib where they promised to sacrifice their li
ves for him. Indeed Allah provides but we won't know from where and this is what
happened with the prophet PBUH. We'll see how within just 2.5 years an entire c
ity demanded the prophet PBUH to be their leader.