Contents
I
II
III
IV
V
VI
VII
VIII
IX
X
XI
XII
XIII
XIV
XV
XVI
XVII
XVIII
XIX
XX
XXI
XXII
XXIII
XXIV
XXV
XXVI
XXVII
XXVIII
XXIX
XXX
XXXI
XXXII
XXXIII
XXXIV
XXXV
XXXVI
XXXVII
XXXVIII
XXXIX
XL
XLI
XLII
XLIII
XLIV
The House of God
A Great Loss
Quraysh of the Hollow
The Recovery of a Loss
The Vow to Sacrifice a Son
The Need for a Prophet
The Year of the Elephant
The Desert
Two Bereavements
Bahira the Monk
A Pact of Chivalry
Questions of Marriage
The Household
The Rebuilding of the Ka'bah
The First Revelations
Worship
"Warn Thy Family"
Quraysh Take Action
Aws and Khazraj
Abu Jahl and Harnzah
Quraysh Make Offers and Demands
Leaders of Quraysh
Wonderment and Hope
Family Divisions
The Hour
Three Questions
Abyssinia
'Umar
The Ban and its Annulment
Paradise and Eternity
The Year of Sadness
"The Light of Thy Countenance"
After the Year of Sadness
Yathrib Responsive
Many Emigrations
A Conspiracy
The Hijrah
The Entry into Medina
Harmony and Discord
The New Household
The Threshold of War
The March to Badr
The Battle of Badr
The Return of the Vanquished
page I
4
6
10
12
IS
19
23
27
29
3I
33
37
41
43
46
50
52
56
58
60
64
67
70
75
77
81
85
88
93
96
101
105
108
II3
II6
II8
123
125
132
135
13 8
146
153
VIII Contents
XLV XLVI XLVII XLVIII XLIX
L
LI LII LIII LIV LV LVI LVII LVIII LIX LX LXI LXII LXIII LXIV LXV LXVI LXVII LXVIII LXIX LXX LXXI LXXII LXXIII LXXIV LXXV LXXVI LXXVII LXXVIII LXXIX LXXX LXXXI
LXXXII
LXXXIII
LXXXIV
LXXXV
The Captives Bani Qaynuqa' Deaths and Marriages The People of the Bench Desultory Warfare Preparations for Battle The March to Uhud The Battle of Uhud Revenge The Burial of the Martyrs AfterUhud Victims of Revenge Bani Nadir Peace and War The Trench The Siege Bani Qurayzah After the Siege The Hypocrites The Necklace The Lie The Dilemma of Quraysh "A Clear Victory" After Hudaybiyah Khaybar "Whom Lovest Thou Most?" After Khaybar The Lesser Pilgrimage and its Aftermath Deaths and the Promise of a Birth A Breach of the Armistice The Conquest of Mecca The Battle of Hunayn and the Siege of Ta'if Reconciliations After the Victory Tabuk After Tabuk The Degrees The Future The Farewell Pilgrimage The Choice The Succession and the Burial
Map ofArabia (by Steven W. Johnson) Qurayshofthe Hollow(genealogicaltree) Note on Pronunciation ofArabic Names Key to References Index page ISS
160 163 167 170
172. 177 180 189 191 195 199
2.0 3
2.06
2.15
2.2.0
2.2.9 234
2.37
2.40
2.43
2.47
2.52.
2.57
2.63
2.70
2.74
2.80
2.86
2.9 1
2.97 304 308
313 317
32.0
32.6
32.9
332. 337
342.
346 347 348 349 350
The House of God
HE Book of Genesis tells us that Abraham was ch.ildless, without hope of children, and that one night God summoned him out of his tent and said to him: "Look now towards heaven, and count the stars if thou art able to number them." And as Abraham gazed up at the stars he heard the voice say: "So shall thy seed be."'
Abraham's wife Sarah was then seventy-six years old, he being eightyfive; and she gave him her handmaid Hagar, an Egyptian, that he might take her as his second wife. But bitterness of feeling arose between the mistress and the handmaid, and Hagar fled from the anger of Sarah and cried out to God in her distress. And He sent to her an Angel with the message: "I will multiply thy seed exceedingly, that it shall not be numbered for multitude." The Angel also said to her: "Behold, thou art with child, and shalt bear a son, and shalt call his name Ishmael; because the Lord hath heard thy affliction."2Then Hagar returned to Abraham and Sarah and told them what the Angel had said; and when the birth took place, Abraham named his son Ishmael, which means "God shall hear".
When the boy reached the age of thirteen, Abraham was in his hundredth year, and Sarah was ninety years old; and God spoke again to Abraham and promised him that Sarah also should bear him a son who must be called Isaac. Fearing that his elder son might thereby lose favour in the sight of God, Abraham prayed: "0 that Ishmael might live before Thee!" And God said to him: "As for Ishmael, I have heard thee. Behold, I have blessed him . .. and I will make him a great nation. But My covenant will I establish with Isaac, which Sarah shall bear unto thee at this set time in the next year. 3
Sarah gave birth to Isaac and it was she herself who suckled him; and when he was weaned she told Abraham that Hagar and her son must no longer remain in their household. And Abraham was deeply grieved at this, on account of his love for Ishmael; but again God spoke to him, and told him to follow the counsel of Sarah, and not to grieve; and again He promised him that Ishmael should be blessed.
Not one but two great nations were to look back to Abraham as their father -two great nations, that is, two guided powers, two instruments to work the Will of Heaven, for God does not promise as a blessing that which is profane, nor is there any greatness before God except greatness in the Spirit. Abraham was thus the fountain-head of two spiritual streams,
I 15: 5. 2 16: IO-II. J 17: 2.0-1.
2 Muhammad
which must not flow together, but each in its own course; and he entrusted Hagar and Ishmael to the blessing of God and the care of His Angels in the certainty that all would be well with them.
Two spiritual streams, two religions, two worlds for God; two circles, therefore two centres. A place is never holy through the choice of man, but because it has been chosen in Heaven. There were two holy centres within the orbit of Abraham: one of these was at hand, the other perhaps he did not y~t know; and it was to the other that Hagar and Ishmael were guided, in a barren valley of Arabia, some forty camel days south of Canaan. The valley was named Becca, some say on account of its narrowness: hills surround it on all sides except for three passes, one to the north, one to the south, and one opening towards the Red Sea which is fifty miles to the west. The Books do not tell us how Hagar and her son reached Becca; perhaps some travellers took care of them, for the valley was on one of the great caravan routes, sometimes called "the incense route", because perfumes and incense and such wares were brought that way from South Arabia to the Mediterranean; and no doubt Hagar was guided to leave the caravan, once the place was reached. It was not long before both mother and son were overcome by thirst, to the point that Hagar feared Ishmael was dying. According to the traditions of their descendants, he cried out to God from where he lay in the sand, and his mother stood on a rock at the foot ofanearbyeminencetoseeifanyhelpwasinsight.Seeingnoone,she hastened to another point of vantage, but from there likewise not a soul was to be seen. Half distraught, she passed seven times in all between the two points, until at the end of her seventh course, as she sat for rest on the further rock, the Angel spoke to her. Inthe words of Genesis:
And God heard the voice of the lad; and the angel of God called to Hagaroutofheavenandsaidtoher: Whataileththee, Hagar?Fearnot, for God hath heard the voice ofthe lad where he is. Arise and lift up the lad and hold him in thy hand, for I will make him a great nation. And God opened her eyes, and she saw a well ofwater,'
The water was a spring which God caused to well up from the sand at the touch of Ishmael's heel; and thereafter the valley soon became a halt for caravans by reason of the excellence and abundance of the water; and the well was named Zamzam.
As to Genesis, it is the book of Isaac and his descendants, not of Abraham's other line. Of Ishmael it tells us: And God was with the lad; and he grew and dwelt in the wilderness and became an archer? After that it scarcely mentions his name; except to inform us that the two brothers Isaac and Ishmael together buried their father in Hebron, and that some years later Esau married his cousin, the daughter of Ishmael. But there is indirect praise of Ishmael and his mother in the Psalm which opens How amiable are Thy tabernacles, 0 Lord of hosts, and which tells of the miracle of Zamzam as having been caused by their passing through the valley: Blessed is the man whose strength is in Thee; inuihose heart are the ways ofthem who passing through the valley ofBaca make it a well:'
I :1.1: 17-20 • 2 ibid. 3 Psalm 84: 5-6.