Abū Ṭālib died, and a few weeks later, Khadījah also died. Thus, the Prophet was deprived of the care and support he received from his uncle in his public life and from his wife at home. The situation was becoming even more difficult for him.
The Prophet thought of taking his message to new areas. He travelled to Taif, a mountainous town approximately forty-five miles away, where the major tribe of Thaqīf lived. He spoke to its chiefs and to the public, but he experienced a very hostile reception. The chiefs of the Thaqīf set their slaves to chase him out of their town, and they hurled stones and other objects against him, so that his feet were bleeding as he finally took refuge in a garden belonging to two brothers, ʿUtbah and Shaybah, who were chiefs of the ʿAbd Shams clan of Quraysh. These brothers were unbelievers, but they were sympathetic to their tribesman, sending him a plate of grapes with a slave of theirs. When the chase was over, the Prophet moved away from Taif, returning to Makkah, but he felt he could not enter the city unprotected. He sent word to some of its chiefs, and al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdiyy, a distant uncle, provided him with protected entry. Before reaching Makkah, the Prophet sat down to reflect on his situation. He appealed most passionately for God’s support:
To You, My Lord, I complain of my weakness, lack of support and the humiliation I am made to receive.
Most Compassionate and Merciful! You are the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. To whom do You leave me? To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom You have given power over me?
If You are not displeased with me, I do not care what I face. I would, however, be much happier with Your mercy.
I seek refuge in the light of Your face by which all darkness is dispelled and both this life and the life to come are put on their right courses against incurring Your wrath or being the subject of Your anger. To You I submit, until I earn Your pleasure. Everything is powerless without Your support.2
At that point, the angel Gabriel came to tell him that God had granted his appeal: “Here with me is the angel in charge of mountains to take your instructions.” The angel of the mountains greeted him and said: “I am at your service. If you wish I can close the two mountains over their valley.” The Prophet said: “No. I hope that there will be among their offspring people who worship God alone, associating no partners with Him.” Some years later, the Prophet remarked that this episode of the trip to Taif was the hardest he had ever to face.
Back home in Makkah, the Quraysh felt that Muhammad was now vulnerable to their abuse. They compounded verbal abuse with physical assault by throwing dirt on him while he was engaged in his worship in the Grand Mosque. They challenged him with absurd demands. They stopped at nothing in trying to hurt him.
The year 620 was to witness the beginning of a transformation in the fortunes of Islam and its Prophet. First, he was taken on a night journey, when the angel Gabriel came to him, bringing a heavenly steed that travelled at high speed. Gabriel took the Prophet to Jerusalem, where he met all the earlier Prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. He led a congregational prayer, and they all joined in. This was a symbol of the unity of God’s messages, brought to their fullness by the message of the Qur’ān. From Jerusalem, the angel took him up to heaven, where he was shown some of what those who are destined to hell will suffer and the great rewards for those who will be admitted to heaven. The prayer duty was amended to five prayers each day for all Muslims, throughout the year. The Prophet was then brought back to Makkah. This all happened within a few hours, and he returned at the time of the dawn prayer.
Some Muslim scholars maintain that this was a spiritual journey, and others say that it was all a very vivid dream. There is no need to say that this journey did not actually occur, because God is certainly able to accomplish whatever He wills. If he decides to take the Prophet, or anyone else, on a miraculous journey, He does so. This is just as easy for God as sending rain or wind, or making the earth suitable for human life, or giving a child the faculties of hearing and speech. People may say that these are natural laws, but it is God who has made them and set them in operation. The miraculous only seems so because it is unfamiliar to us. In fact, every aspect of life is a miracle and everything in the universe is miraculous: these things are all easy for God.
The Prophet’s willingness to report his night journey, given his hostile audience, was a mark of his strengthened and well-founded confidence in the truth of his message. He continued to preach with fresh zeal. By the time the next pilgrimage season approached, the Prophet was more determined than ever to carry his message to people outside Makkah, despite the growing difficulties he was facing. The pilgrimage season of 620 brought him a breath of hope and fresh air, as he met six pilgrims from Yathrib (later to be called Madinah). The Arab community in Yathrib was largely a farming community, and they lived side by side with a large Jewish community. The Jews used to boast of their monotheistic religion, telling the Arabs that they anticipated the emergence of a new Prophet who would be permitted to fight and use arms against his opponents. When trouble emerged between Arabs and Jews, the latter would threaten the Arabs, saying that they would follow the new Prophet and cause the Arabs to suffer a crushing defeat. Those six Arabs from Yathrib sat with the Prophet and listened to his exposition of his message and to his recitation of the Qur’ān. They were highly impressed and declared their acceptance of Islam. The Arabs of Yathrib belonged to two main tribes, the Aws and the Khazraj, who were often in war with each other. Those six told the Prophet: “We have left our people in a terrible state of division and enmity. If God brings about their unity through you, no one will be more honourable than you.” They promised to explain their new faith to their fellow tribesmen and to meet the Prophet again in the next pilgrimage season.
They kept their promise, bringing with them six others. In this second meeting, all twelve pledged themselves as firm believers in Islam. The terms of the pledge were: “We believe in God and associate no partner with Him. We shall not steal, commit adultery, kill our children, assert a falsehood with regard to the parenthood of our children, or disobey the Prophet in anything reasonable.” In this meeting, there was a discussion of the needs of the new Muslim community in Yathrib. The Prophet sent one of his most learned Companions, Muṣʿab ibn Umayr, with them to teach new Muslims the principles of Islam and the Qur’ān. Muṣʿab was also to organize the efforts of advocacy of Islam among the people of Yathrib. His mission was very successful, and Islam spread rapidly in Yathrib, with whole clans converting to the new faith. On his return to Makkah ten months later, Muṣʿab reported to the Prophet that the city offered a good base for Islam.
The pilgrimage season of the following year (622 CE), which was the thirteenth since the start of Islam, witnessed an unprecedented step in Arabia. The Prophet met with seventy-three men and two women from Yathrib, who were all Muslims. They were part of the pilgrimage contingent from the city. Under the cover of the night, they came out stealthily from their camp in Mina to meet the Prophet. They pledged to support him and declared themselves ready to make whatever sacrifices they would need to make. They asserted that they would fight anyone who would oppose him, and that they welcomed all Muslims in Makkah to come over to Yathrib, where they would share with them all they have. They agreed that together they would form a community separate from others, with the bond of Islam making them all a single nation (an ummah). Their only condition was that this new alliance would come into force once the Prophet had arrived in Yathrib.
Over the next three months all Muslims who could do so immigrated from Makkah to Yathrib. They travelled in small groups, taking with them only some small items they could carry. They abandoned their homes and businesses, and deserted their clans. Only those who were physically prevented from travelling stayed behind. The Prophet remained in Makkah with Abū Bakr and ʿAlī, his cousin, until he received instructions to travel. In the meantime, the Quraysh realized what was going on and feared the worst. In an emergency meeting, the chiefs of the clans considered all options and decided to move immediately to kill the Prophet. The plot was to choose a brave young man from each clan so as to share in the responsibility for the assassination. This method was agreed upon so that the Hāshimites would realize that they could not fight the rest of the Quraysh on their own. They would then accept blood money in compensation.
The Prophet managed to escape his would-be assassins and took every precaution to mislead them. He arrived in Madinah after two