his Prophet, Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullāh. All five, together with Abū Bakr, were among the ten persons to whom the Prophet gave, towards the end of his blessed life, the happy news that they were sure of admission into heaven. The other four were ʿAlī, his cousin, whom we mentioned as the first boy to become a Muslim after the Prophet, ʿUmar, who became a Muslim several years later, Abū ʿUbaydah ʿAmir ibn al-Jarrāḥ and Saʿīd ibn Zayd. These last two also became Muslims in the very early days of Islam. Abū ʿUbaydah was later to be given by the Prophet the title of ‘the trusted one’ of the nation of Islam. Saʿīd was the son of Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl, who was mentioned earlier as travelling in search of the truth and following the religion of Abraham. We also mentioned that the Prophet said that on the Day of Judgement, Zayd “would be resurrected as a nation on his own”. Saʿīd, his son, was among the first people who accepted Islam in its early days.
Others followed, such as Abū Salamah, ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbd al-Asad, al-Arqam ibn Abī al-Arqam, ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn and his two brothers Qudāmah and ʿAbdullāh, ʿUbaydah ibn al-Ḥārith, Asmā’ and ʿĀ’ishah, the two daughters of Abū Bakr, Khabbāb ibn al-Aratt, ʿUmayr ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Saʿd’s brother, and ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd and Masʿūd ibn al-Qārī. Biographers of the Prophet also mention, among the people who accepted Islam in those early days, Salīṭ ibn ʿAmr, ʿAyyāsh ibn Abī Rabīʿah and his wife, Asmā’ bint Salamah, Khulayṣ ibn Hudhāfah, ʿĀmir ibn Abī Rabīʿah, ʿAbdullāh and Abū Aḥmad, the two sons of Jaḥsh ibn Dhi’āb; Jaʿfar ibn Abī Ṭālib and his wife, Asmā’ bint ʿUmays, Ḥāṭib ibn al-Ḥārith and his brothers Khaṭṭāb and Muʿammar, as well as the wives of the first two, al-Sā’ib ibn ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn, al-Muṭṭalib ibn Azhar and his wife Ramlah, Naʿīm ibn ʿAbdullāh, ʿĀmir ibn Fuhayrah, a servant of Abū Bakr, Khālid ibn Saʿīd and his wife, Āminah bint Khalaf, Ḥāṭib ibn ʿAmr, Abū Ḥudhayfah Mahsham ibn ʿUtbah, Wāqid ibn ʿAbdullāh, Khālid ibn al-Bakīr ibn ʿAbd Yālīl and his three brothers ʿĀmir, ʿĀqīl and Iyās, ʿAmmār ibn Yāsir and Suhayb ibn Sinān.7
That makes about 40 people altogether who accepted Islam in a period of three years when the Prophet was preaching his message in secret. However, what the early converts to Islam lacked in numbers, they compensated for in calibre. Most of these people possessed qualities of leadership and vision which distinguished them and made the new call stronger than the mere number of its advocates suggests.
When one looks closely at those people who accepted the call of Islam, one finds that many of them were still very young – many were not yet 20 years old. A new message which advocates a total change in the social order often attracts young people whose vision of a better life gives them a strong motive to work hard for their beliefs. Among those in their teens were al-Zubayr ibn al-ʿAwwām, Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, Ṭalḥah ibn ʿUbaydellāh, ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn ʿAwf, al-Arqam, ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd and Saʿīd ibn Zayd. But it is a mistake to think that the idealism of youth was the only motive for such people to become Muslims. Islam has a simple message which appeals directly to the human mind and strongly appeals to human nature. Many of these young people were of excellent character.
ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd first learnt about Islam when he was tending his sheep, since he worked as a shepherd. The Prophet and Abū Bakr saw him as they were crossing over to some place outside Makkah. They were thirsty, so the Prophet asked ʿAbdullāh ibn Masʿūd: “Have you got any milk?” ʿAbdullāh said; “Yes, but I am in a position of trust.” The Prophet asked him: “Have you a female sheep which has not yet mated?” ʿAbdullāh brought a sheep whose breasts had not yet appeared. The Prophet rubbed her at the position of the breast and soon she had breasts full of milk. ʿAbdullāh brought a piece of rock which looked like a bowl. The Prophet milked the sheep and gave Abū Bakr and ʿAbdullāh milk, then he drank. He then said to the breast: “Return to your position”, and it did. When he saw this, ʿAbdullāh wondered and asked questions. The Prophet told him about Islam and he accepted it. He reports: “I said, ‘Messenger of God, teach me.’ He went with his hand over my head and said: ‘May God bless you, you are an educated fellow.’ Later, I went to meet the Prophet and as we were with him, over the mount of Ḥirā’, the sūrah entitled al-Mursalāt was revealed to him and I learnt it as he was reciting it for the first time. I learnt twenty sūrahs direct from him over the years. The rest of the Qur’ān I learnt from some of his companions.”8
There were others who were not so young, like ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān and Abū ʿUbaydah, who were in their late twenties. Such people were normally of temperate character and sound intellect. ʿUthmān ibn Maẓʿūn was probably in his early thirties when he became a Muslim. Before Islam, he declared that he would never drink intoxicants. Alcoholic drinks were very much a part of the social life of Makkah. His sound judgement, however, led him to feel that a drink which caused a man to lose his ability to think properly and judge things accurately was unbecoming of any self-respecting man.
There were others in this group of early Muslims who were a little older. The best example was Abū Bakr, who was of the same age as the Prophet, or a year or two younger. These were mostly people who knew the Prophet closely. They knew his integrity and his noble character. Therefore, they were absolutely certain that he told the truth. They followed him as a logical consequence of their conviction.
One thing to be stressed about the composition of this distinguished community is the fact that those early Muslims did not belong to any single clan or tribe or social class. They came from all strata of Makkan society at the time. They included people of distinction who commanded high esteem in their community, such as ʿUthmān and Abū ʿUbaydah. Among them there were some former slaves, like Ṣuhayb, who was probably not even an Arab. Indeed, some were still in the bonds of slavery. As Muslims, however, they all enjoyed equality and a brotherhood that was so real that it eclipsed all blood relationships. Hence the universality of Islam was established and practised right from the outset.
Those early Muslims formed the nucleus of the community of believers which was soon to create the most noble society humanity had ever known in its long history. As headquarters they used the house of one of their number, al-Arqam, in a central position close to the hill known as al-Ṣafā. It became the first Islamic school where the followers of the new religion received their instruction in the principles of their faith directly from the Prophet.9 Indeed, al-Arqam’s house was a mosque, a school and a meeting-place where the new community discussed its affairs. The Prophet spent a considerable amount of time in that house looking after his companions, educating them and guiding them in their new mission.10
In those early days, the Muslims were instructed by God to attend to their prayers. The Angel Gabriel taught the Prophet Muhammad the form of prayer which was to become the mark of all Muslims. There are varying reports on the number and length of prayers the Muslims were asked to offer in those days. What is certain is that these were not five obligatory prayers every day. Probably these were only two, one in the morning and one at dusk. They were to be increased later. A report exists by a man called ʿAfīf al-Kindī, who was a friend of al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib, the Prophet’s uncle. Al-ʿAbbās used to visit him in Yemen when he went on his trade missions. ʿAfīf also visited him in Makkah. He reports:
When I was at al-ʿAbbās’s place in Minā, a respectable man came along and had his ablution and stood up to pray. A woman followed him and had her ablution and joined him in prayer. Then a boy close to adolescence did his ablution and stood next to the man praying. I said: “ʿAbbās, what is this religion?” He replied: “This is the faith of Muhammad ibn ʿAbdullāh, my nephew, who claims that God has sent him as a Messenger. This boy is my nephew, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib, who has followed his faith and this woman is his wife Khadījah, who also believes in his religion.
Many years later, after he became a firm believer in Islam, ʿAfīf said: “I wish I was fourth of that little group.”11
