Sword Of Allah (P4)

In this way, the noble Prophet SI invited his close relations to embrace Islam three years after the

first revelation. Khalid was not present in the assembly. His father was there. He narrated to

Khalid in a mocking tone that 'Abdul Muttalib's grandson Muhammad had announced that he

was Allah's chosen prophet.

"We agree that Abdul Muttalib was a chief of Quraish," commented Al Wali'd to his son. "No

doubt, Muhammad's family enjoys a high status, but why on earth should a member of that

family claim prophethood? By Allah, by the idols of Hubal and 'Uzza! Our family is in no way

inferior to others. Can any of the families supersede us just by claiming prophethood?"

"What did you reply to him?" Khalid asked politely.

"First we were silent, then we started laughing," Al Wali'd said. "However, Muhammad's cousin

All bin Abu Talib has declared faith in Muhammad's prophethood."

Khalid had not forgotten his father's jeer as he reported this.

As Khalid lay on his back in an oasis on the way from Makkah to Madinah, the memory kept

him riveted. Though the chiefs of Quraish had not accepted Allah's Prophet's prophethood, other

people were embracing it. Most of them were youths. Some poor people too had embraced it.

This had put a new life in the resolve of the holy Prophet si. He accelerated the pace of

invitations towards Islam. He was opposed to idolatry and he and his Muslim followers used to

make fun of the 360 powerless idols kept inside and outside the holy Ka'bah.

Before the dawn of Islam, the Arabs believed One God to be the Almighty, All-Knowing, yet

they worshipped those idols. They called them deities and considered them sons and daughters of

Allah. They were prone to swear by Allah for every major and minor issue.

When Quraish observed that Muhammad's is Din which they had mocked at was growing

popular day by day, they made a front against his preaching activities. They made the life

difficult for Muslims. Khalid remembered that he had seen Allah's Prophet gathering people in

lanes and markets, to invite them towards Islam. He would say that the idols can neither benefit

nor harm them and that only Allah is worthy of worship, Who is One, without a partner.

The front opposing Allah's Prophet was led by four prominent Quraish chiefs. One of them was

Khalid's father Al Wali'd, the second was the noble Prophet's own uncle Abu Lahab, the third

was Abii Sufyan, and the fourth Abul Hakam, who was also a cousin of Khalid. This fourth man

had carried out the most inhuman cruelties and oppressions of the Muslims. His malice and

hostility towards Islam reached the level of ignorant savages. Because of this, Muslims used to

call him Abii Jahl, the father of ignorance. This epithet became so popular that the people almost

forgot his original name. History too has remembered this short-height, squinted and iron-like

sturdy man as Abii Jahl.