Reports indicate that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was known also as Abū Kabshah. For Abū Kabshah Wajz ibn Ghālib Khuzāʿī had abandoned idolatry and criticized those given to it. He reproached idolaters. While equating the Prophet’s denunciation of idolatry with Abū Kabshah’s earlier criticism, the Quraysh drew a parallel between the two. Abū Kabshah, it is worth-noting, was the maternal grandfather of the Prophet’s maternal grandfather. Some other reports state otherwise. However, the above account is authentic.39 According to Baghadādī, many persons of the day were known as Abū Kabshah.
It was the Ḥanīf movement, practised by the followers of the Ḥanīf faith who owed their allegiance to their progenitor, Prophet Abraham, in that he was a Muslim and Ḥanīf.40 According to Ibn Isḥāq, the Quraysh celebrated their annual religious festival near some idol, which they venerated. They would prostrate before it, go around it and offer animal sacrifice to it. Once as the Quraysh assembled for the same purpose, four persons dissociated themselves from them and after mutual consultation declared that their community had turned irreligious for having deserted the Abrahamic faith. The idols were lifeless objects, unable to hear or to see and could not benefit or harm anyone. They resolved to make the quest for true faith. They moved to different places for this purpose of ascertaining the Abrahamic faith. Baghdādī has provided their brief account, stating that they used to keep away from jāhiliyyah practices.41 Some reports put their number at six. It is not, however, confirmed. What is, nonetheless, certain is that a reaction was in the offing against the distorted faith of the day. It manifested their sound beliefs, which were cherished by the Makkans and Quraysh. By the time of the Prophet’s advent, the movement had grown strong. There were critics of idolatry in every age. Of them, Abū Kabshah was the most prominent among them. Those opposing idolatry were given the same title. The appellation of the same title on the Prophet (peace be upon him) adduces the point.
Ibn Isḥāq identifies the following allies of the Quraysh and others who made the quest for truth: i) Waraqah ibn Nawfal, ii) ʿUbaidullāh ibn al-Jaḥsh al-Asdī al-Qurashī iii) ʿUthmān Asadī Qurayshī and iv) Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl. Ibn Qutaybah has identified six such persons.
It emerges from the works of Ibn Saʿd and others that some Arab tribes felt uneasy about their ancestral faith. Prior to accepting Islam and during the jāhiliyyah period Abū Dharr al-Ghifārī had turned into a monotheist. He did not indulge in idolatry.42 The early Muslims belonging to Arab tribes abandoned their ancestral faith. On his acceptance of Islam, ʿAmr ibn ʿAbasah of Banū Salīm said that even during his jāhiliyyah phase he regarded others as in error and idolatry as something vain.43 Another report relates at length his disillusion with his earlier faith, affirming as it does his quest for truth. The same had prompted him to draw closer to the Prophet.44
In their quest for truth some followed the Abrahamic faith while others opted for other faiths. The Quraysh Ḥunafā’ followed the best practices of the Abrahamic faith and adhered firmly to monotheism. Their knowledge about other aspects of faith was little. They acted on their conscience. For example, they meditated, focussed on worship and retired to caves. The significant part, however, of their quest was their abandoning their ancestral faith, particularly idolatry. As Ibn Isḥāq reports, among the four Aḥnāf only Zayd ibn ʿAmr ibn Nufayl stuck to his original faith and died a little before the Prophet’s advent. The Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke of him as a community unto himself, for he believed in monotheism, resented dead meat, blood and offerings to idols, opposed child sacrifice and worshipped the Lord of Prophet Abraham.45 Influenced by his father, Saʿīd ibn Zayd was among the first to embrace Islam.
The other three, namely, Waraqah ibn Nawfal, ʿUthmān ibn Ḥuwayrith and ʿUbaydullāh ibn Jaḥsh opted for Christianity. They found it closer to the truth than their ancestral faith. ʿUthmān settled in the Caesar’s court and died there. He wad held in esteem by the Caesar, particularly on account of his Christian faith. The other two accepted Islam later. Waraqah ibn Nawfal turned into a Christian scholar well versed in the Scriptures who wrote books in the Hebrew language. He was familiar with the Bible hence he turned into a supporter of the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him). In view of his endorsement of his Messengership and his pledge to help the cause of Islam, the Prophet (peace be upon him) branded him as a Muslim and monotheist. ʿUbaydullāh accepted Islam. However, on going to Abyssinia he reverted to Christianity and died in the same faith, which was regrettable.46
Christianity in Makkah
Apart from the Ḥunafā’ and adherents of ancestral faith there were Christians too, in Makkah, though few in number. Their presence lent pluralism to local life and society. Some were Christians by birth and followed the same as the faith of their forefathers while some had accepted it as a result of their quest for truth. The latter comprised several members of various Arab tribes and Quraysh families. Among Arab Christians, mention is already made of Waraqah ibn Nawfal, ʿUthmān ibn Ḥuwayrith and ʿUbaydullāh ibn Jaḥsh. Many Abyssinians have also been referred to above.47
Little mention was made in Makkah of Christian dogma. Regarding Waraqah ibn Nawfal there is the oft-quoted report that he identified the revelation sent down to the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) as the one with which Prophet Moses (peace be upon him) was blessed earlier. He affirmed that the Prophet (peace be upon him) was a genuine Messenger on the ground that his advent is foretold in the Gospels and the Torah. He mentioned in particular the two signs: i) The Prophet (peace be upon him), like every other Messenger, would be forced into emigrating by his own people and ii) as the last resort and by Allah’s leave he would have to wage jihād. Bukhārī has cited the above points on the authority of Waraqah ibn Nawfal.48Both of these prophecies were very significant. For emigration coupled with jihād and fighting signified the spread of Islam and extirpation of the Quraysh. Balādhurī’s report clarifies that Waraqah had stated that the Prophet’s advent was foretold by Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him). He was mentioned pointedly in the Gospels. Waraqah had affirmed also that the Prophet (peace be upon him) would be blessed with Sūrah al-Fātiḥah.
The report about ʿAddās mentions the Prophet Jonah as the Messenger of God. ʿAddās added that at the time of his departure from Ninevah few people recognized the Prophet Jonah. The Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him), however, knew him thanks to the divine revelation to him. He therefore equated the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) with the Prophet Jonah (peace be upon him) as a genuine Messenger of God who must be obeyed. The above explains why ʿAddās had readily recognized the Prophet as a Messenger of God and professed faith in him.49
Balādhurī recounts a report on the Christian dogma about Gabriel that after Gabriel’s visit to the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) Khadījah enquired two Christian scholars in Makkah. Waraqah ibn Nawfal readily affirmed that Gabriel is God’s angel who calls on the Messengers. If he had visited the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him), the latter should be taken as God’s Messenger. He expressed his wish to serve the Prophet (peace be upon him). When Khadījah asked ʿAddās about Gabriel, he was astonished. For in a town reeling under idolatry none discussed Gabriel, God’s angel who visited only the Messengers.50 The above report is endorsed also by the report which states that Waraqah had drawn a parallelism between the angel visiting him and the Prophet Moses (peace be upon him).51
The popular Christian belief about the Prophet Jesus (peace be upon him) is that he is, God forbid, the son of God. However, genuine Christians regarded him no more than as the word of God and His spirit, as is borne out by the debate on this issue in Negus’s court.
According to Imām Bukhārī’s report, Umm Ḥabībah and Umm Salamah had seen a church with images during their stay in Abyssinia. When they recounted it to the Prophet (peace be upon him), he explained that when a pious Christian died, they erected the place of worship at his grave and engraved his image. Such would be reckoned as Allah’s worst creatures
