History of Hijrah:

teen hundred followers were able to demand access to the .a’bah during negotiations with the Meccans. This was a milestone in the history of the Muslims. Just a short time before, Muhammad had to leave the city of his birth in fear of his life. Now he was being treated by his former enemies as a leader in his own right. A year later, in 62 , he reentered and, in effect, conquered Mecca without bloodshed and in a spirit of tolerance which established an ideal for future conquests. He also destroyed the idols in the .a’bah, to put an end forever to pagan practices there. At the same time, Muhammad won the allegiance of ‘Amr ibn al-’As, the future conqueror of (gypt, and .halid ibn al-Walid, the future “Sword of God,” both of whom embraced Islam and joined Muhammad . Their conversion was especially noteworthy because these men had been among Muhammad’s bitterest opponents only a short time before. In one sense Muhammad’s return to Mecca was the climax of his mission. In 632, just three years later, he was suddenly taken ill and on June 8 of that year, with his third wife ‘Aishah in attendance, the Messenger of God “died with the heat of noon.” The death of Muhammad was a profound loss. To his followers this simple man from Mecca was far more than a beloved friend, far more than a gifted administrator, far more than the revered leader who had forged a new state from clusters of warring tribes. Muhammad was also the exemplar of the teachings he had brought them from God: the teachings of the Quran, which, for centuries, have guided the thought and action, the faith and conduct, of innumerable men and women, and which ushered in a distinctive era in the history of mankind. His death, nevertheless, had little effect on the dynamic society he had created in Arabia, and no effect at all on his central mission: to transmit the Quran to the world. As Abu Bakr put it: “Whoever worshipped Muhammad , let him know that Muhammad is dead, but whoever worshipped God, let him know that God lives and dies not.” This article has been incorporated from “ARAMCO and Its World: Arabia And The Middle (ast”, (dited by Ismail I. Nawwab, Peter C. Speers & Paul F. Hoye