The Prophets Of Allah

Torture To The Prophet And Abyssinia

When the sahaba reached around 20/30 - the prophet PBUH realised he need a place to congregate. Alot of muslims were secret - they hadnt informed their relatives or friends, or especially their masters. There was no 'mosque' they could pray in. Masjid-al-Kuba was the first mosque in Islam (mentioned by Allah). So the prophet PBUH decided to choose the house of Al-Arqam ibn-abil-Arqam. So Darul-Arqam became the place where the sahaba met. This happened a few months after the dawah went public. Racall after 3 years the dawah went public. After 3 years the persecution began so the prophet PBUH shortly after this chooses a meeting place.

1. Al-Arqam was from the tribe of Banu Makhzum. So by choosing someone from the Banu Makhzum automatically no one expects a makhzumi will help a hashami because there is huge rivalry. So the prophet PBUH chose someone from a completely rival tribe as no one would have expected it.

2. He was of the first 10 people to accept Islam. So he can be completely trusted.

3. He was a young man that inherited this property from his father. This adds to the disguise that nobody would think an 18 year old would risk it all to help the prophet PBUH.

4. He did not announce his Islam - so this was an added cover of secrecy.

5. The house of Al-Arqam was located behind the mountain of Saffat. And this mountain was in the center of Mecca. And why would you want a secret meeting place smack in the middle of Mecca? Traffic. Everybody has to go to Mecca in that area every single say. So people walking to and fro in this area is the most natural thing in the world. Its right under their noses - the house is right next to the ka'bah. And so when they walk in people will think they are walking into the haram. When they walk out people will think they are walking out of the haram. Its a location that it would be very easy to explain why you are walking to and from that direction. They probably ensured they went to the haram for a while and came back so no suspicion arose.

6. His house must have been large because we had at least 40 people congregating in the house. So this clearly means the house of Al-Arqam must have been large. This is where Ammar ibn Yasir accepted Islam, Suhayb Ar-Rumi accepted Islam, Umar RA accepted Islam; where Khabbab brought Umar RA after Umar RA repented and changed his mind for trying to kill his own sister. Then Al-Arqam said "who have you brought? How can you bring Umar al Khattab have you lost your mind?". So he is bringing Umar RA to the house of the Al-Arqam. So Umar RA accepts Islam. So this was the central station for the muslims. (We will see Umars story later)

The next major incident was the first immigration to Abyssinia. When these tactics of torture and humiliation continued, the prophet PBUH suggested to the sahaba that "this land has become too constricted - why don't you immigrate to the christian land of Abyssinia for those who want to? The king there is a just king who will let you worship without trouble". And this was said in Rajab in the fifth year of the dawah. And so after 3 years dawah went public; less than 1.5 years after this the prophet PBUH makes this announcement so we can imagine the hardship that happened in these 1.5 years. It got so difficult, the prophet PBUH allows the sahaba to immigrate. Most of us will never understand the hardship involved with immigrating from land to land. Uprooting yourself completely in Jaheleya Mecca was unheard of. As a qurayshi you had to be linked to Mecca. If you went anywhere else, you have no honour or protection because there is no law or government or civilisation. You become a 2nd/3rd class citizen. This is Arabia - imagine going to a foriegn land. On top of that, there is no bank transfer. Your property is your property. And you can't sell it because you can't tell anyone you are leaving. So it will just be taken over by other people after you're gone. When they performed Hijra to Medina, the sahaba suffered immense finanicial loss. And so, when you're making Hijra, you are entering in a world with no honour, protection and you are at the mercy of those around you. To make matters worse, its a land in Africa, people don't even speak Arabic. The culture is completely different. So this underscores how difficult Mecca was for them to prefer going to Abyssinia over staying in Mecca.