Challenges

When the Prophet (PBUH) called the people to the way of Allah, not many people listened to his call. Most of them were members of his family and from the low class society. Among them were Khadijah, Ali, Zayd and Bilal. When he intensified his mission (da'wah: Call to Islam) by publicly announcing the religion he preached, he won more followers but at the same time had to face many challenges from the nobles and leaders who found their position being threatened and jeopardized. They stood together, under the pretext of defending the religion of their ancestors, to fight the new religion. The morale of the few people who embraced Islam was heightened when a small group of the respected people of Makkah joined the religion. Notable among them were `Uthman bin `Affan, Zubair bin Al-`Awwam, `Abd Ar-Rehman bin `Awf, Talhah bin `Ubaydullah, Sa'd bin Abi Waqqas, Arqam bin Abi Arqam, `Ubaydullah bin Harith, Sa'id bin Zayd, `Amr bin Nufail, Fatimah (the wife of Nufail), Asma binti Abu Bakr, `Abdullah bin Mas'ud, Ja'far bin Abi Thalib (May Allah be pleased with them) and many others. Before this group, Abu Bakr was the first among the earlier followers that impressed the Prophet (PBUH) very much. The Prophet (PBUH) said about him: "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." As the result of these challenges from the Makkan unbelievers, some Muslims were subjected to torture, persecutions, isolations and boycotts. The Prophet (PBUH) had to be patient and had to look for the protection of Muslims. He asked Negus, King of Ethiopia to allow Muslims to migrate to his country. Negus welcomed the Muslims emigrants in his territory and refused to hand them over to the Makkan unbeliever rulers.