The annual Hajj drew near, and from all parts of Arabia pilgrims began to arrive in Mecca. The Prophet(sa) went wherever he found a group of people, expounded to them the idea of One God and told them to give up excesses of all kinds and prepare for the Kingdom of God. Some listened and became interested. Some wished to listen but were sent away by the Meccans. Some who had already made up their minds, stopped to ridicule. The Prophet(sa) was in the valley of Mina when he saw a group of six or seven people. He found that they belonged to the Khazraj tribe, one in alliance with the Jews. He asked them if they would listen to what he had to say. They had heard of him and were interested; so they agreed. The Prophet(sa) spent some time telling them that the Kingdom of God was at hand, that idols were going to disappear, that the idea of One God was due to triumph, and piety and purity were once again going to rule. Would they not, in Medina, welcome the Message? The group became much impressed. They accepted the Message and promised, on their return to Medina, to confer with others and report next year whether Medina would be willing to receive Muslim refugees from Mecca. They returned and conferred with their friends and relations. There were, at the time, two Arab and three Jewish tribes at Medina. The Arab tribes were the Aus and the Khazraj and the Jewish tribes the Banu Quraiza, the Banu Nadir, and the Banu Qainuqa. The Aus and the Khazraj were at war. The Quraiza and the Nadir were in alliance with the Aus and the Qainuqa with the Khazraj. Tired of unending warfare, they were inclined to peace. At last they agreed to acknowledge the Khazraj Chief, Abdullah bin Ubayy bin Salul, as King of Medina. From the Jews, the Aus and the Khazraj had heard of prophecies in the Bible. They had heard Jewish tales of the lost glory of Israel and of the advent of a Prophet(sa) "like unto Mosesas." This advent was near at hand, the Jews used to say. It was to mark the return to power of Israel and the destruction of their enemies. When the people of Medina heard of the Prophet(sa), they became impressed and began to ask if this Meccan Prophet(sa) was not the Prophet(sa) they had heard of from the Jews. Many young men readily believed. At the next Hajj twelve men from Medina came to Mecca to join the Prophet(sa). Ten of these belonged to the Khazraj and two to the Aus tribe. They met the Prophet(sa) in the valley of Mina and, holding the Prophet's(sa) hand, solemnly declared their belief in the Oneness of God and their resolve to abstain from all common evils, from infanticide, and from making false accusations against one another. They also resolved to obey the Prophet(sa) in all good things. When they returned to Medina, they started telling others of their New Faith. Zeal increased. Idols were taken out of their niches and thrown on the streets. Those who used to bow before images began to hold their heads high. They resolved to bow to none except the One God. The Jews wondered. Centuries of friendship, exposition and debate had failed to produce the change which this Meccan Teacher had produced in a few days. The people of Medina would go to the few Muslims in their midst and make inquiries about Islam. But the few Muslims could not cope with the large numbers of inquiries, nor did they know enough. They decided, therefore, to address a request to the Prophet(sa) to send them some one to teach Islam. The Prophet(sa) agreed to send Mus’ab(ra), one of the Muslims who had been in Abyssinia. Mus’ab(ra) was the first missionary of Islam to go out of Mecca. At about this time, the Prophet(sa) had a grand promise from God. He had a vision in which he saw that he was in Jerusalem and Prophets had joined behind him in congregational worship. Jerusalem only meant Medina, which was going to become the centre of the worship of the One God. Other Prophets congregating behind the Prophet(sa) of Islam meant that men following different Prophets would join Islam, and Islam would thus become a universal religion.
Conditions in Mecca had now become most critical. Persecution had assumed the worst possible form. Meccans laughed at this vision and described it as wishful thinking. They did not know that the foundations of the New Jerusalem had been laid. Nations of the East and the West were agog. They wanted to hear the Last Great Message of God. In those very days the Kaiser and the Chosroes of Iran went to war with each other. Chosroes was victorious. Syria and Palestine were overrun by Iranian armies. Jerusalem was destroyed. Egypt and Asia Minor were mastered. At the mouth of the Bosphorus, only ten miles from Constantinople, Iranian Generals were able to pitch their tents. Meccans rejoiced over Iranian victories and said the judgement of God had been delivered—the idol-worshippers of Iran had defeated a People of the Book. At that time, the Holy Prophet(sa) received the following revelation:
The Romans have been defeated in the land nearby, and they, after their defeat, will be victorious in a few years—Allah's is the command before and after that—and on that day will the believers rejoice with the help of Allah. He helps whom He pleases; and He is the Mighty, the Merciful. Allah has made this promise. Allah breaks not His promise, but most men know not (30: 3-7).
The prophecy was fulfilled in a few years. The Romans defeated the Iranians and recovered the territories they had lost to them. The part of the prophecy which said, "On that day the believers shall rejoice with the help of God", was also fulfilled. Islam began to advance. The Meccans believed they had put an end to it by persuading people not to listen to Muslims but to show active hostility instead. Right at this time the Prophet(sa) received in his revelations news of victories for Muslims, and destruction for Meccans. The Prophet(sa) announced the following verses:
And they say, "Why does he not bring us a Sign from his Lord?" Has there not come to them the clear evidence in what is contained in the former books? And if We had destroyed them with a punishment before it, they would have surely said, "Our Lord, wherefore didst Thou not send to us a Messenger that we might have followed Thy commandments before we were humbled and disgraced?" Say, "Each one is waiting; wait ye, therefore, and you will know who are the people of the right path and who follow true guidance" (20: 134-136).
The Meccans complained of lack of Signs. They were told that the prophecies about Islam and the Prophet(sa) recorded in earlier books should be enough. Had Meccans been destroyed before the Message of Islam could be explained to them, they would have complained of lack of chance to consider the Signs. The Meccans must, therefore, wait.
Revelations promising victory for believers and defeat for disbelievers were being received every day. When the Meccans looked at their own power and prosperity and at the powerlessness and poverty of Muslims, and then heard of the promises of divine help and of Muslim victories in the Prophet's(sa) daily revelations, they wondered and wondered. Were they mad or was the Prophet(sa) mad? They were hoping that persecution would compel the Muslims to give up their faith and return to the Meccans, that the Prophet(sa) himself and his closest followers would begin to have doubts about his claims. But instead of this they had to listen to confident affirmations like the following:
Nay, I swear by all that you see, and by all that you see not that it is surely the message brought by an honoured Messenger(sa). And it is not the word of a poet; little is it that you believe; nor is it the utterance of a soothsayer; little is it that you heed. It is a revelation from the Lord of the worlds. And if he had forged any sayings in Our name, We would surely have seized him by the right hand, and then surely would We have severed his life-artery, and not one of you could have held Us off from him. And surely it is an admonition for the God-fearing. And, surely, We know that some of you reject Our Signs. And, surely, it is a source of anguish for the disbelievers. And, surely, it is the true certainty. So glorify the name of thy Lord, the Great (Qur’an 69:39-53).
Meccans were warned that all their fond hopes would be smashed. The Prophet(sa) was neither a poet, nor a soothsayer nor a pretender. The Qur’an was a reading for the pious. True, it had its deniers. But it also had its secret admirers, those who were jealous of its teaching and its truths. The promises and prophecies contained in it would all be fulfilled. The Prophet(sa) was asked to ignore all opposition and go on celebrating his Mighty God.
The third Hajj arrived. Among the pilgrims from Medina was a large party of Muslims. Owing to Meccan opposition these Muslims from Medina wished to see the Prophet(sa) in private. The Prophet's(sa) own thoughts were turning more and more to Medina, as a likely place for migration. He mentioned this to his closest relations but they tried to dissuade him from all thoughts of this kind. They pleaded that though Mecca was full of opposition, it offered the support of several influential relations. The prospects at Medina were all uncertain and, should Medina prove as hostile as Mecca, would the Prophet's(sa) Meccan relations be able to help? The Prophet(sa), however, was convinced that migration to Medina had been decreed. So he rejected the advice of his relations and decided to migrate to Medina.