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Name: Abdeslam Elhachdani

Professor: Jerome McKeever
English: 1020
July 25/2014
Word Count: 1,976

Prophet Muhammads Missions: Obstacles and Difficulties.
I want to tell you the story of the difficulties that the Prophet Muhammad faced in his
mission to call people to new religion, to build first Islamic state, and to save his life and the life
of his followers; in order to demonstrate his leadership as Prophet, as head of state as
teacheretc. Before Islam the Arab and the people around Mecca were idolaters. They did not
believe in the here-after. They had preserved the rite of the pilgrimage which was performed
every year to the house of Allah (Kaaba which is located in the city of Mecca). It is an institution
set up under divine inspiration by the Prophet Ibrahim (Abraham). The city was a central trade
hub and a spiritual center for polytheism that way the Meccans became rich. They did not
appreciate Muhammads message of rejecting idols, embracing social equality, and sharing
wealth with the poor and needy.
After the first revelation the prophet Muhammad engaged himself in more prayer and
spiritual pursuits. He was commanded to warn people about their evil practices, help the poor
and orphans, and to worship only one God (Allah). He started calling his immediate family and
friend to Islam secretly because he didnt want the leaders of Mecca to know about this new
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religion. His early followers were among the lower classes, slaves, and women. When he
intensified his mission publicly announcing the religion he preached, he won more followers.
Among them his friend Abu Bakr which the prophet Muhammad said: I never invited anyone to
the faith who did not display any hesitation in embracing it except Abu Bakr. When I had offered
Islam, he showed no hesitation at all in accepting it. (Muhammad, Abdul-Muhsin. 12). At the
same times the prophet had to face many challenges from the nobles and leaders of idolaters who
found their position and their religion being threatened and jeopardized. The number of his
followers increased gradually. One of many verses of Quran revealed in Mecca, God
commanded the believers to follow the Prophet: say people I am sent forth to you all by God.
He has sovereignty over the heaven and the earth. There is, no god but Him. He oraains life and
death. Therefore, have faith, in God and His Apostle, the Unlettered Prophet, who believes in
God and His word. Follow him so that you may be rightly guided. (Quran. 7:158). He ordered
his companions to learn the revelations by heart. He took necessary steps to preserve the
revelations by writing it.
The people whom they were attached to their ancestral beliefs increased their opposition
to the prophet Muhammad religion and his companions; this opposition was translated into
physical torture of the prophet and those who had embraced his religion. They were chain and
kept in the middle of the desert under the sun on very hot days. Some of his followers died of
this torture, but none of them renounce his religion. The prophet Muhammad told his
companions to leave their native town and take refuge in Abyssinia, where governs a just ruler,
in whose realm nobody is oppressed. (Aisha: 51). The migrations of Muslims were secret which
result into more persecution of those left behind in Mecca.
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The leaders of kuraish went to Negus the ruler of Abyssinia to bring back the migrated
Muslims. They were demanding the ruler that he should send them back to Mecca, so they could
face execution, torture, and in some cases death. But the ruler of Abyssinia called for a meeting
between his member, migrated Muslims, and the leaders of kuraish about this demand, but every
member of the tribe, Muslim or non-Muslim, rejected the demand of the idolaters. After this
incident the city of Mecca decided to write a document containing a ban on the Banu Hashem
and Banu Al-Mutttalib, these two tribes belong to the prophet tribes; some of them were not
Muslim. They declared that they would not marry the women of these clans or give any in
marriage to them, or sell them any goods or buy anything from them. To give this document
authority the leaders of kuraish hung it inside Kaaba. When this ban started the prophet and his
tribes gathered round Abu Talib who was the prophet uncle and his protector from kuraish, and
joined him in the suburbs of Mecca. This ban was the seventh year of prophet-hood. During
these three years of this ban it was stark misery among the innocent victims which consisting of
children, men and women, the old and the sick. Yet nobody would hand over the prophet to his
persecutors. Kuraish told the merchants, and the pilgrimages not to sell any goods, or to give
anything to the prophet and his tribes. Prices were increased to prevent them from buying even
essentials. The prophet Muhammad continued to call his people to Allah days and nights.
Four or five non-Muslims, fair minded more human than the rest of kuraish proclaimed
publicly their denunciation of the unjust and unhuman boycott. When they went to take off the
proclamation document which was displayed inside Kaaba; they found only the top of the
document which had the words In your name, O Allah. The rest of the paper was eaten by an
insect. Now it was declared invalid. The boycott was lifted which was in the tenth year of the
prophet-hood. Soon after this ban ended, the Prophet Muhammads wife Khadija, and his uncle
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Abu Talib died. The year was known the year of sadness. Without Abu Talibs protection, the
Muslim community experienced increasing harassment which left the prophet Muhammad and
his followers with few choices. The Muslims began looking for a place other than Mecca to
settle. The prophet Muhammad first visited the nearby city called Taif to preach the Oneness of
God and seek asylum from the Meccans oppressors. He was rejected, mocked and run out of the
town.
People of Medina, a small city to the north of Mecca, made an offer to the prophet and
his followers to come settle in their city. They received the Muslim, and they pledged their
assistance. Muslims started leaving Mecca toward the new city under the cover of night. The
Meccans unbelievers tried to stop the immigration but the first group had already migrated to
Medina. The Meccans had feared that the movement to Medina would give the Muslims a new
base to spread Islam. The idolaters responded to this situation by confiscating the property of
those who left. Within two months nearly all Muslims from Mecca, except the Prophet, Abu
Bakr, and few helpless people had migrated. The Meccans then made a plan to assassinate the
prophet Muhammad, but by the help of Allah the Prophet Muhammad and his friend Abu Bakr
left Mecca to join the others in Medina. It was very difficult trip. They were followed by the
Meccans men. They were looking to capture the prophet Muhammad and his friend Abu Bakr,
and bring them back so they could face torture and death. The prophet and his friend arrived
safely to Medina. The Muslim and the Medinan people were very happy to see the prophet. The
city was renamed Medina An-Nabi (the city of the prophet). This migration from Mecca to
Medina was complete in the year 622 C.E., which marks year zero of the Islamic calendar. The
Prophet united the Arabs for the first time in history under the banner of Islam and broke the
hold of tribal bonds as the ultimate links between an Arab and the society around him.
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The Meccans tribes wanted to destroy the Muslims which led to a series of military
battles. The Prophet adopted a patient attitude in response to most of the armed aggression of the
idolaters, but in some battles he chooses the war over the patient. Two years after the migration
(2 A.H/ 624 C.E) the Prophet came out of Medina and did the battle with idolaters at place called
Badr. Even the Muslims were less armed and had less people; they were successful in defending
against the invading army. A year later, after the Meccans army got defeated at Badr, they came
back even stronger. The Muslims lost the battle of Uhud which was also outside of Medina. This
battle taught Muslims an important lesson about over-confidence and greed. On 5 A.H/627C.E
was the battle of the Trench. The Meccans and their alliances decided to join in and attack the
Medina from many directions. In the face of this attack the Prophet and Muslims started digging
a large trench to stop the idolaters army from advancing. The Muslims successfully defended
their new home against this attack. The Prophet demonstrated a practical example of what he
preached: Truly, you have in the Prophet of God an excellent model for him who fears God and
the Last Day and who frequently remembers God. (Quran. 33:22). The Meccans began to
realize that Muslims became powerful force that would not easily be destroyed. The Prophet
Muhammad and the tribes of Mecca began a period of diplomacy in order to ease their relations,
to facilitate the movement of the Meccans and the Medinan people back and forth, and to stop
the war.
After many years of hardship and exile from their home city and after the Islamic
community had become more solidly established (628 C.E), the Prophet Muhammad and
Muslims decided to make the lesser pilgrimage (umrah in Arabic) to Mecca, but the armed
Meccans stopped them outside the city. The Prophet did not want to battle the Meccans, because
he went to perform a religious rite. The both side had a series of negotiations which resulted to
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the treaty of Hudaibiya, a place where Muslims been stopped from entering Mecca. After this
treaty Muslims had some time to spread the message of Islam because there was no threat from
the Idolaters. This break didnt take long for the Meccans to violate the terms of the treaty of
Hudaibiya, by attacking the allies of Muslims. This violation gave the Muslims the right to
march on Mecca. They surprised the idolaters and they entered Mecca without bloodshed. He
directed his followers not to take revenge for the persecution many of them had suffered. He
went directly to Kaaba, where he ordered his Muslims followers to remove all the idols and
restore the original purity of the house of Allah (Kaaba). The Prophet Muhammad then returned
to Medina.
The mercy the Prophet Muhammad showed to the enemy side and the limited casualties
among the enemy in the aftermath of the war are unparalleled. The fact that the people who
fought against him accepted Islam immediately after the war, and the fact that the soldiers
struggling against him later became members of his army; this was one of his greatest victories.
The Prophet Muhammad transferred a corrupt tribal system with a system of law based on
fairness, justice, social equality, generosity and brotherhood. In 632 the Prophet Muhammad
delivered his celebrated farewell sermon in Mecca, and the last verse of the Quran was revealed,
completing the sacred text: This day have I perfect for you your religion and fulfilled My favor
unto you, and it hath been My good pleasure to choose Islam for you as your religion. (Quran.
5:3).


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The work Cited:
Muhammad Abdul-Muhsin. Al Tuwaiji. Prophet Muhammad: A Blessing for Mankind.
International Islamic Publishing House (I.I.P.H). (1998): 12-30. Print.
Begum, Aisha Bewany Wakf. Islam an Introduction. Idaratul-Quran. Krachi. (Pakistan). 1993:
40-70. Print.
Mustafa. Agirman. PhD. The Protection of Civilians in Battles of Prophet Muhammad.
(05/03/2010). Web. 23July. 2014.
Muhammad: the early battles. n. d. Web. 23July. 2014.
Faysal, Burhan. Foreign Policy of Islam: Peace or War? (28 May 2014). Web. 23July, 2014.






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