The Incident of Ta’if – Part 2

وَبَرَكَاتُهُ اللهِ وَرَحْمَةُ عَلَيْكُمْ السَّلاَمُ

Further into the return journey to Mecca from Ta’if, Muhammad ﷺ and his adopted son Zayd (RA) camped in the valley of Nakhla and the prophet began to pray his tahajut. Note: his wounds had not yet healed, he was in the middle of a long, arduous journey after being harshly stoned and expelled by the people of Ta’if, it was the middle of the night in a cold, dark desert and yet the prophet Muhammad ﷺ still did not give up his tahajut. And to think that many of us modern Muslims can barely keep up with our fardh. And then, what happened next Allah Himself tells us in Surah Al-Ahqaf, as no man could have witnessed it:

وَإِذْ صَرَفْنَا إِلَيْكَ نَفَرًا مِّنَ الْجِنِّ يَسْتَمِعُونَ الْقُرْآنَ فَلَمَّا حَضَرُوهُ قَالُوا أَنصِتُوا ۖ فَلَمَّا قُضِيَ وَلَّوْا .30 إِلَىٰ قَوْمِهِم مُّنذِرِينَ

And when we caused a group of Jinn to pass by you, listening to the

Qur’an. And when they were in your presence they said, “Quiet! Listen.” And when you finished, they went back to their people as warners.

قَالُوا يَا قَوْمَنَا إِنَّا سَمِعْنَا كِتَابًا أُنزِلَ مِن بَعْدِ مُوسَىٰ مُصَدِّقًا لِّمَا بَيْنَ يَدَيْهِ يَهْدِي إِلَى الْحَقِّ وَإِلَىٰ .31 طَرِيقٍ مُّسْتَقِيمٍ 

They said, “O our people, we have heard of a book revealed after Moses confirming that before it and guiding towards the truth and the straight path.

 

 يَا قَوْمَنَا أَجِيبُوا دَاعِيَ اللَّـهِ وَآمِنُوا بِهِ يَغْفِرْ لَكُم مِّن ذُنُوبِكُمْ وَيُجِرْكُم مِّنْ عَذَابٍ أَلِيمٍ .32 

They said, “O our people, we have heard of a book revealed after Moses confirming that before it and guiding towards the truth and the straight path.

 

As we can see, Allah caused a group of Jinn to pass by the prophet when he was doing tahajut. And when the world of men rejected him and his message, the world of the unseen, the world of the Jinn stopped dead in its tracks and became silent to listen to him. And when he was finished, not only did those Jinn become Muslim, but they also became warners, showing that they were like messengers to their own people bringing the news of Islam back with them. And their response shows us that in fact they used to be Jewish Jinn, showing that the Jinns also follow the religions of men. And so these conversions, alongside the conversion of Adaas the slave from Iraq, are a huge item of symbolism from Allah to the prophet, showing him that even if those who are near have rejected him, those who are from the furthest corner would accept him. And even if the world of men had abandoned him, then the world beyond would take up his message.

These were the first batch of Jinn converts, and they went back to their people and converted them to Islam. And then those very same Jinn returned to the prophet when he was in Mecca in order to learn Islam from him, and that day is known as the Laylat Al-Jinn (Night of the Jinn).

But the question arises: how did the prophet return to Mecca. When he left the city for the 10 day journey to Ta’if and back, it signified to the Quraish that he had turned his back on them and essentially accepted his fate as being exiled. And so if the prophet returned now, he would have no protection like he did, and so would be at the mercy of all of his enemies in the Quraish. So Zayd (RA) asked him, ‘O Rasulallah, how are we going to enter Mecca now that you have been expelled from it?’

And the prophet replied, ‘O Zayd, Allah will make a way out for us, and Allah will help his prophet and make his message supreme.’

From here he began to send messages to a few members of the Quraish he felt would be somewhat sympathetic to his situation, in order to gain their protection. And the first of these was Al-Akhnas ibn Shurayq – one of the leaders of the sub-tribes – however he sent a response back saying he was not in a position to provide protection to him. The next person was Suhail ibn Amr, who also responded with a weak excuse essentially refusing the prophet protection. However the third person that the prophet contacted was Mut’im ibn ‘Adi, and as we know he was the leader of the Banu Nawfal. Now Mut’im didn’t just send a messenger back; he went to his four sons and told them to arm themselves. And he told them go to the prophet and provide an armed escort for his entrance back into Mecca, and to bring him straight back to himself. And he met the prophet at the Kahbah, and allowed him to do tawaf (as he knew the prophet began everything with tawaf), and when he was done he stood up and declared, ‘O people of Mecca, I have given my protection to Muhammad.’

On hearing this, Abu Sufyan stood up and asked, ‘Are you giving your protection as his follower or are you just giving him protection?’ And when Mut’im replied that he was simply giving protection, Abu Sufyan ruled, ‘In that case we shall accept it.’ And so the prophet was allowed to enter back into Mecca through Mut’im ibn ‘Adi and the mercy of Allah.

 

Dr.Yasir Qadhi’s Seerah of The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) 020

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o_LsNYWbdpdk