Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 95 - The Year of Delegations - Part 2 ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 5th Nov 2014
Seerah of Prophet Muhammad 95 - The Year of Delegations - Part 2 ~ Dr. Yasir Qadhi | 5th Nov 2014
We were doing the Year of Delegations. And we said all the delegations happened between 5 to 9 AH. But, when the delegations came from the 5th to the 9th year, why do we only call the 9th year the Year of Delegations ('Am al-Wufud)? Because, most of them came in the 9th year. And as we mentioned we will continue this topic for maybe two more episodes because again we skipped over a lot of the delegations throughout the seerah in favor of discussing the main events and battles. Even ibn Ishaq and others mention a lot of delegations that came in the 7th-8th year, but they compiled them and put them in the 9th because it's convenient. We too have to go back and forth chronologically, but thematic wise discussing them all now makes sense.
Banu Daws, the Tribe of Abu Hurairah RA:
The Story of Tufayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi
We now go back to 7th/8th year of the Hijrah and discuss the delegation of the tribe of Daws. The tribe of Daws is a Yemeni tribe, and the chieftain is Tufayl ibn Amr al-Dawsi. His story we briefly mentioned in the Makkan era - Tufayl ibn Amr is the leader of Daws, and he came to perform Umrah in Makkah when the Prophet PBUH was being persecuted. This was roughly the 7th year of the dawah when the persecution hadn't reached the level of assassination, but it was very uncomfortable and untenable. The Quraysh made it a policy that hujjaj that came would be warned against the Prophet PBUH. So when Tufayl arrived, the Quraysh were very happy. They welcomed him, and then said, "Careful, one of our sons has become a magician. And he's able to break the bonds between father and son, and brother and brother simply by listening to his speech." And Tufayl said, "They kept on telling me until I became terrified. So much so when I would go to the Ka'bah to present in front of the idols I would stuff my ears with cotton so I don't hear anything from the Prophet PBUH."
One day he did this, and lo and behold the Prophet PBUH was praying salah and reciting Qur'an. So Tufayl said, "Even though I had the cotton in my ears, I could still hear the Prophet PBUH," and he has never heard anything like it. "So I began reprimanding myself, 'Why can't you listen to him? What's the big deal? If there's good accept it, if not reject it.'" So he took the cotton off and said, "Ya Muhammad your people have warned me against you, so for a few days I haven't come to you. But I heard you recite and I want to hear what you have to say if it's good or bad." So the Prophet PBUH sat him down, invited him to Islam, recited the Qur'an and after all this Tufayl embraced Islam on the spot. In fact it's said the Prophet PBUH only recited Surah al-Ikhlas, al-Falaq and al-Nas (last three surahs). And Tufayl was so mesmerized and impressed he accepted immediately. He said to the Prophet PBUH, "I'll go back to my tribe and invite them to Islam, make du'a for me." So the Prophet PBUH made du'a for him and his tribe (in Bukhari). Note some say this du'a was made in Madinah; others say Makkah. In any case he told Tufayl to be gentle with his people.
So Tufayl went back to his people, and it's said on the same day he returned, his father, wife, brother, etc. all embraced Islam. He was beloved to his people so his entire family, and slowly but surely more and more embraced Islam until it's said over 80 families had embraced Islam at his hands from the tribe of Daws. And Tufayl made an offer to the Prophet PBUH that, "Come to my protective fortress," i.e. emigrate to Yemen. But it's clear Allah did not give him that permission because the Prophet PBUH was looking to emigrate to somewhere. So here was an offer but the Prophet PBUH did not take it - clearly Allah did not give him permission. And of course Allah didn't because He willed the Prophet PBUH to go to Yathrib i.e. Madinah. So he didn't go to Daws but still it is significant that Tufayl offered his protection, i.e. this is the status of Tufayl ibn Amr. Later on Tufayl decided to immigrate to Madinah. So he came to Madinah not just as a delegate but actually as an immigrant. He wants to reside in Madinah permanently. And he decided to give up being the chieftain to leave his tribe and become a Muhajir. Imagine this: Here is Tufayl, he's not being persecuted from his land, he is the chieftain of his tribe, he has the status, honor, lineage, and land, etc. But to decide to give all this up shows his Iman. So he arrived in Madinah according to some reports at the Battle of Khaybar (other reports say after).
One of the reasons why this story is so interesting is that here is Tufayl from whom one person converted at his hand from his tribe, who is to become one of the greatest legacies of our ummah. From the tribe of Daws: And that is Abu Hurairah. Abd al-Rahman ibn Sakhr ad Dawsi. When Tufayl immigrated to Madinah, with him came Abu Hurairah. So Abu Hurairah is a part of this batch who immigrated near the end - in fact most likely it was mid-8th year of the Hijrah. So he only stayed with the Prophet PBUH for literally 2 years. But as we know he is called the preserver of the sunnah. Nobody narrated the quantity of ahadith like him. Why? He himself explained: "I had given up everything, marriage, food, sustenance, etc. and stayed in the masjid just to be with the Prophet PBUH." He would say that, "Sometimes I was so hungry I would ask a sahabi a question walking outside the masjid having no need of the answer as I know better than him, but just hoping the answer would take me all the way to his house. Then when I'm at the door he will offer me something." And it's said Abu Hurairah narrated more than 5500 hadith. A few come close i.e. Aisha RA, Jabir who come to 4000+, but Abu Hurairah is number one on the list. And subhan'Allah it's amazing that all of the blessings of Abu Hurairah, he will get the reward but also Tufayl ibn Amr. And that's why we should never trivialize any good deed we do because we don't know what may come of it.
_______________
The Delegation of Wa'il ibn Hujr:
What Goes Around Comes Around
Another interesting delegation is the delegation of Wa'il ibn Hujr. This is happening in the 9th year. He is from the town of Hadhramaut, in Yemen - as we said before, Yemen had mini kingdoms in Arabia. Lots of little kingdoms. Yemen was not as tribal. Wa'il ibn Hujr's great grandfather was one of those kings. So he is of royal blood. In the 9th year, before he came to Madinah, the Prophet PBUH announced to the sahaba that, "There shall come to you Wa'il ibn Hujr, one of the 'princes of Yemen.' And he is coming wanting to embrace Islam without pressure." So when Wa'il ibn Hujr came, it was 3 days after the Prophet PBUH predicted he would be coming. And when Wa'il came the Prophet PBUH honored him like none before. It's narrated he did something that he did for no one else. He actually brought him up to the mimbar with him; this is a huge honor that alongside the Prophet PBUH is Wa'il on the mimbar. And he made his sit on his own cloak which was an honor of the Arabs at the time. And the Prophet PBUH made du'a for Wa'il and the children of Wa'il. And Wa'il complained that his family had taken away his right to the throne (as is always the case). What did the Prophet PBUH say?, "I will promise you better than that," i.e. Jannah through Islam. So literally we can say, Islam will give you more than being a king. We know this from the explicit hadith of the Prophet PBUH: The lowest person of Jannah, Allah will say to him, 'Go ahead and wish and wish and wish,' and as much as he wishes Allah will say, 'You have all the riches of this world and 10x like it.' No king of this world has even 1/10th of the riches. So this is a beautiful hadith, the Prophet PBUH is saying, "Don't worry, I'll give you something better than a kingdom."
There's an interesting tidbit mentioned: Wa'il embraced Islam, and the Prophet PBUH gave him the governorship of a small area in Yemen. And the Prophet PBUH sent with him Muawiyah ibn Abu Sufyan as an escort. So Muawiyah, whom we all know will be the khalifa after about 40 years; right now he's barely 18 years old. So Muawiyah is sent with Wa'il, and Wa'il is on his camel and Muawiyah is walking. So he asks Wa'il, "Can I ride with you?" And Wa'il is just a brand new convert still on his own ways, he says, "It's not befitting someone like you rides with kings." So then Muawiyah who at the time was dirt poor, said, "At least let me wear your shoes because the stones are hot." But Wa'il says, "It's not befitting the shoes of the king are given to you." So Muawiyah complains, "But the pebbles are hot!" So Wa'il says, "Take comfort from the shadow of my camel." So he's a Muslim but he doesn't have the akhlaq right now.
Now, who does Muawiyah become? The king, the first king of Islam - he starts a dynasty. And by the qadr of Allah, Wa'il also lives a long life. And Wa'il is sent as a delegate to Muawiyah; so he enters into Muawiyah and now Muawiyah is on the throne. See how Allah changes things around. This is the wisdom Allah knows. Muawiyah now is a 60 year old man, and he reminds Wa'il of that day, that, "Do you remember on that day when you didn't even give me your shoes?" And Wa'il says, "How I wish I had done that." So this again shows us, we should never be selfish. Who could have ever imagined that at that point in time, it was inconceivable that the family of Abu Sufyan would somehow become the khalifa; remember Abu Sufyan was a late convert at the last minute after the conquest. No one would imagine Muawiyah would become the king at the end of the day. So Wa'il ibn Hujr eventually decided to join the side of Ali ibn Abi Talib during the civil war. Also generally speaking the people of Yemen sided with Ali.
______________
Banu Thaqif
The big story of the day which is the most significant in the 9th year is the delegation of Ta'if:
Refreshing Memory: Who is Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi?
The Siege of Ta'if and Battle of Hunayn was fought against them; this is the same tribe that rejected and rebelled. Out of the entire province the only tribe still on paganism is Thaqif. So remember when the Prophet PBUH left them and said, "Let them be they'll come to us." The sahaba said, "No, let's fight," but they kept on losing so they let them be. One incident made the tribe of Ta'if very scared to negotiate. This took place in the 8th year. When the Prophet PBUH encircled them in the 8th year and put a siege on them, a certain member of the tribe embraced Islam. In fact it was one of their most respected leaders, Urwah ibn Mas'ud al-Thaqafi. He has a central story in the seerah.
What did he say that was SO famous? Urwah ibn Mas'ud was one of the most senior members of the tribe of Thaqif. When Hudaybiyyah took place, he happened to be in Makkah for Umrah or business. And when he saw the anger and the back and forth, he felt hurt because of the tensions between the Muslims and the Quraysh, who are of the same tribe. So he said to the Quraysh, "Don't you trust me, aren't I a son for you, didn't I do such and such..." Then he said, "Let me go and bring some reconciliation." The big guys, Safwan ibn Umayyah, Abu Sufyan, etc. allowed him to go represent the Quraysh in the negotiations. So the Quraysh are allowing a Thaqafi to represent them. So the final person from the non-Quraysh was Urwah ibn Mas'ud - and he told the Prophet PBUH, "You have two choices: Either you win and you kill them all and I don't know of any person who has destroyed his own people. Or they come and fight you, and I don't see anyone here worthy of a fight." From his perspective what is he seeing? Poor people, slaves, different tribal people. The main thing for Urwah is, "What's combining these people?! Nothing." He doesn't see the bond of Islam and is thinking in the tribal sense. Urwah then said about the sahaba he is looking at, "As soon as they see their enemy, they will abandon you," - of course in his mind the only banner is Jahiliyyah and tribalism. This is when Abu Bakr RA gave an extremely vulgar curse to Urwah.
What else happened at Hudaybiyyah? He stroked the beard of the Prophet PBUH, and his own nephew Mughira ibn Shu'ba smacked him on the hand and said, "Get your hand away." And Urwah said, "Who is that?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "Don't you know, it's your own nephew." Recall Mughira did a crime and murdered before Islam, and he brought this money to the Prophet PBUH. And the Prophet PBUH said, "As for your Islam I accept, but as for your money I reject." So his uncle said, "O traitor, we are still cleansing the problems you've left behind."
When Urwah went back to the Quraysh, that was when he said the famous paragraph that is the height of eloquence, "I've visited the kings of Caesar and Kisra and Najashi, etc." - note it shows how senior he is, he's been on delegations to these kings, "And I've not seen anyone more respected by his people than the people of Muhammad. Wallahi he never spat except that they caught it. He never did wudu except that they caught his water remnants. They were sitting as if they have birds on their heads (meaning complete respect and looking down and not directly at the Prophet PBUH). When he says something they would race to see who was the first to fulfill it." This is VERY interesting. Why? The sahaba never described themselves like this. It's from an external perspective. Of course the sahaba would never praise themselves. So this is that Urwah ibn Mas'ud.
Further, Urwah is referenced in the Qur'an directly. And that is in the Qur'an, "They said why isn't this Qur'an revealed to one of the two great men in the two great cities?" That is, Makkah and Ta'if. And the two men are al-Walid ibn al-Mughira, and Urwah ibn Mas'ud. So al-Walid ibn al-Mughira from the Banu Makhzum was the one who said this. So Allah quoted him in the Qur'an. And then He said, "Are they the ones to decide where Allah's mercy goes down?" The point is it shows the level and status of Urwah ibn Mas'ud. He's also mentioned in the hadith of Bukhari and Muslim. The Prophet PBUH said he saw all the prophets, "And Musa AS looks like a person from the tribe of Shanu'ah." They are known for their sharp features (i.e. pointed noises) and their skin color is brownish. And he said, "I saw Isa AS and the one who resembles him the most is Urwah ibn Mas'ud a-Thaqafi. And I saw Ibrahim and the one who resembles him the most is me." So... what does Urwah look like?! Of course the sahaba could see Urwah and then deduce what Isa AS looked like. But we can't of course. The Prophet PBUH described Isa AS as having broad shoulders with glistening hair, as if he's come out of a shower, and he is on the lighter complexion. Of course in the movies they portray Isa AS as a white man which is ridiculous. Isa AS is a middle eastern, he is Bani Israel, even they know this. In the same hadith he said, "I saw Jibril AS and he looks like Dihyah al-Kalbi." And Dihyah was considered to be the most handsome man in Madinah.
The Islam of Urwah ibn Mas'ud & His Death
In any case, after the siege of Ta'if in Hunayn, in Dhu al-Qa'dah of the 8th year, when the Muslims and the Prophet PBUH were going back to Madinah, Urwah ibn Mas'ud left the city and caught up with him. And he embraced Islam en route. And the Prophet PBUH told him to immigrate to Madinah but he said, "O messenger of Allah, let me go back to Ta'if and call them to Islam." The Prophet PBUH said, "I am scared they may kill you." Urwah said, "They love me more than their own daughters; if they found me asleep they wouldn't even wake me up." Wallahi this was true before Islam - he is their leader.
So he arrived back at Maghrib time. His people did not know he embraced Islam. When he came they all greeted him and so he tells them, "I have embraced Islam and I encourage you to also follow me." This was right after the siege. So what happened? They flipped immediately. And they cursed him and so on. He was distressed and distraught; he got on the roof of his house at Fajr time. And he gave the adhan on the roof of his house. When he reached 'ash'hadu an la ilaha illaLlah, wa ash'hadu anna Muhammadan Rasulullah,' an arrow came from the dark and struck him. So his own people executed/killed him. And he fell down and injured himself, and he was fatally wounded. His immediate family said, "What do we do about revenge and blood money?" He said, "Nothing, this is a gift Allah has gifted me. Allah has chosen me to be a shaheed which Allah has honored me with. And you'll bury me with the shuhada of Hunayn." Subhan'Allah. He's not buried with the family plot or locals; he is being buried with the shuhada. When the news reached the Prophet PBUH he said the famous phrase, "This was a man who with his people as like the person of Ya-Sin with his people." And we all know the person in Surah Ya-Sin was the one who was rejected by his people for calling them to Allah.
Now we need to understand this is something extremely vulgar that they did. It's not just any murder. It goes against everything they stand for. They didn't just kill one of their own - they killed THE Urwah ibn Mas'ud, who is, one of the most respected leaders. Also isn't it amazing the Prophet PBUH knew better than Urwah about his own people? Of course this is because the Prophet PBUH is the Prophet PBUH. But also - when you're involved in a situation, you are blinded by it. You don't see clearly; Urwah, because it's his people and nation. He thought, "There's no way they would do this." The Prophet PBUH who is a third party can examine it in an objective and fair manner. So he told Urwah, "I'm scared your people will kill you." But Urwah thought, "No way," but subhan'Allah, he was wrong.
So the people of Ta'if were in fact terrified. This blood is on their hands, their guilty conscious is eating them up anyway, and in this state of mind they go to the Prophet PBUH. Ibn Ishaq mentions a long conversation between various people. Each one says, "I'm not going to go to Madinah," i.e. they are terrified to go as a delegation of Thaqif because they might be called to task for the death of Urwah. Until they decided that ALL the leaders would go together. It wasn't just one leader, it was 6 or 7 of the leaders of the Ta'if along with their entourage.
The Delegation of Thaqif Comes to Embrace Islam & Their Unique Negotiations
So this delegation came to Madinah and this took place in Ramadan of the 9th year of the Hijrah. When they reached Madinah, either they contacted their relative Mughira ibn Shu'ba, or he just happened to see them - Mughira begins rejoicing that his tribe is coming to embrace Islam. And they tell him, "We will only embrace with conditions. We will make sure we're satisfied." And he literally runs back to the masjid. On the way Abu Bakr sees him and says, "What's going on?" Mughira says, "The tribe of Thaqif has come and I want to give the bashara (good news) to the Prophet PBUH." And Abu Bakr says, "I ask you by Allah, let ME give it." And so Mughira allowed. This shows us how eager the sahaba were to gain the favor of the Prophet PBUH. Because when you give someone good news you bring happiness to the person. So every sahaba wanted to be that person who brought happiness to the Prophet PBUH. Abu Bakr rushed back and said, "The tribe of Thaqif is here to embrace Islam." The Prophet PBUH is overjoyed and asked the tribe to enter.
Mughira rushed to his tribe and taught them the protocol: "This is what you do, this is how you say salam, you address him by...." etc. This shows us as well, the sahaba taught the delegations. But the tribe of Thaqif completely ignored this. Basically you can tell they did not come with the submission of other delegates. They greeted him by the greeting of Jahiliyyah, they addressed him by his first name, etc. This demonstrates Iman is not in their heart. And the Prophet PBUH ignored all of this; even though it is the height of disrespect. They ignored all the proper Islamic protocols and did what they liked. But the Prophet PBUH literally ignored everything; rather, he treated them as if they were honorable guests. And he in fact ordered that a special guest tent be built inside the masjid just for them. So it was double shelter and then began a series of negotiations that lasted at least 10 days. Obviously we don't have all the details.
Of what we do have: One of the senior members of the Quraysh, a distant cousin of the Prophet PBUH, Khalid ibn Sa'id was chosen to be the emissary. The way the Jahiliyyah Arabs did it was that there was a lower level dialogue through an emissary. So Khalid ibn Sa'id was the middle man; it's said the tribe of Thaqif was so worried about their status they thought the food was poisoned so they didn't eat until Khalid ate. So they are paranoid because they have such a guilty conscience. Yet the Prophet PBUH treated them so generously. So the negotiations began by them asking, "Can we have a treaty or not?" The Prophet PBUH said, "Yes if you embrace Islam." So they HAD to embrace Islam, otherwise there is no treaty. The ultimatum is given. So back and forth. They ask the Prophet PBUH, "We have heard interest (riba) is not allowed." The Prophet PBUH said, "Allah has forbidden riba," and he quoted the Qur'an. The Prophet PBUH said, "You get back your principal (the original amount)." Then they asked, "How about zina? We have to travel a lot and we are merchants, etc. and we need to do zina." So the response comes back that, "Allah has forbidden it." So they talk and discuss. Then the third question, "What about alcohol (khamr)?" They said, "You HAVE TO let us drink khamr. We can't give that up!" Because firstly Ta'if was known for its grapes i.e. its wine. So they said, "Our culture is to drink. And it's a cool climate." So they were saying, "You have to at least make an exception for khamr." So the Prophet PBUH sends back the Quranic verse which forbids khamr. So they conferred with one another and one of them said, "Wallahi, we will not go back and tell our people riba, zina, and khamr has been prohibited. There's no way they will accept it." And indeed when there is no Iman how can you give up these things?
So one of their leaders said, "Our people won't accept this." Another said, "But what is the alternative? For wallahi if he goes back and he sends an army we will be finished in a month." So the tribe of Thaqif didn't embrace willingly: They effectively had NO option other than to leave Arabia. To console them he said, "Look at his companions, didn't they give this all up?" This shows us the psychology of having a good strong ummah. He is saying, "If they can do it, so can we." So they negotiate and agree to give these three up.
However, they forget to ask about the single biggest matter: Shirk. Idol worship. Who was their idol? al-Lat. So after all the negotiations, then they ask, "How about our idol?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "It shall be destroyed." There's just no question about this. So they said, "Okay... give us three years." Three years! The Prophet PBUH said, "No. You don't get anything." So they said, "Okay, two years." The Prophet PBUH said no. So they said, "Okay, one year." The Prophet PBUH said, "No!" And they said 12 months, 11 months... all the way down to a single month. They negotiate that, "We want some time." Why is this a big deal? Because to them al-Lat was the most prestigious God, and it was the second most prestigious God of Arabia. And it's a source of pride for them. So the emissary is going back and forth - until they say, "Fine, but we cannot destroy it." The Prophet PBUH said, "Fine, you don't have to do, we'll do it." So they agreed - and later on the Prophet PBUH sent Mughira ibn Shu'ba, their nephew to destroy it.
Then they were told to pray and fast, etc. i.e. the pillars of Islam. And they began negotiating with that. And they said, "We cannot bow our backs down because of the cold weather; and so can you forgive us for the salah?" And the Prophet PBUH said, "There is no good in any religion without salah." Subhan'Allah. And with regards to the aqidah issue of what is the ruling of the status of salah? This hadith shows there is no religion without salah. Prayer is the essence of being a Muslim. So then they said, "Okay, forgive us from wudu because Ta'if gets very cold." But once again the Prophet PBUH did not allow this and indeed he cannot.
On Being Lenient to New Converts
Here is where an interesting bit comes and it's a huge fiqh issue. They then said, "Okay, forgive us from zakat and jihad." What did the Prophet PBUH say? He said, "Okay, you are forgiven from these." But when they left a few days later the Prophet PBUH said, "They SHALL give zakat and do jihad." Now, this is a huge discussion. What exactly happened here? We know there is NO compromise on tawhid or salah. But what is the understanding of saying, "Okay, no jihad or zakat," and then later the Prophet PBUH says, "They shall give zakat and jihad." Two interpretations:
1) The Prophet PBUH said this knowing that when Iman enters their heart, they will automatically pay zakat and do jihad. Thus what the Prophet PBUH is doing is only special to him. Because he KNOWS they will eventually do these two things. So maybe this was a prediction of the future. That at that time the Prophet PBUH gave an exception but it's a one-off, he knew they will pay zakat and do jihad.
2) However the second interpretation is that the imam or the leader has the right to accept incorrect conditions for new Muslims for a temporary period of time, and then LATER ON enforce the correct Islam. Do we understand this particular incident as being something theological or legal? If it's the former, Allah told the Prophet PBUH so it's a one-off. If it's legal i.e. if it's a precedent, then suppose in a legit Islamic state a group comes and says, 'We shall embrace but with a condition.' And that condition goes against Islam - does then the leader have the right to accept this condition? This is a fiqh issue. The scholars differ on this. Some scholars say it's okay because at the end of the day, eventually everyone who embraces Islam will live a true Islamic lifestyle from the heart. In other words because Islam is the truth it's okay to bribe people with incentives because eventually true Iman will come into their heart.
Practically in the west when a non-Muslim comes and expresses and interest in Islam, and he or she says or does things un-Islamic, we should be ULTRA lenient. And emphasize that which is most important, and overlook anything haram or bad. Why? Because Iman is very weak. You want to let Iman grow in the heart. By being harsh and strict you will turn the person away. We have to bring them into the religion, and then when Iman grows, they themselves will leave all the haram or sin. Even if they don't leave all their sinning, for them to be a Muslim while sinning is infinitely better than to be a kafir while sinning. There is even a position that if a non-Muslim lady converts to Islam, the marriage is still halal because she didn't begin the nikah as a Muslim.
Or another issue might be people don't completely have the correct theology. He might believe the story of Adam and Hawa AS is a fable. Let him believe it - let him first embrace Islam properly and then come back to the issue. In other words a little bit of compromise is fine, insha'Allah when Iman comes they will do it.
First Day of Fasting
Ibn Ishaq mentions they stayed in Madinah for 15 days. Probably the 10th day they embraced Islam. Recall it's Ramadan, and so they actually fasted with the Prophet PBUH for the remaining 5 days. And they had iftar and suhur with the Muslims; Bilal RA would bring them suhur and they said, "We can't eat the sun has risen." But Bilal said, "I've just come and the Prophet PBUH is eating." And when they brought the iftar they said, "No not yet the sun hasn't set." And Bilal said, "I have come to you only after the Prophet PBUH has broke his fast." Meaning what? The Prophet PBUH would delay his suhur and rapidly break his fast. These new Muslims are trying to be extra cautious; an interesting first day fast.
The Most Eager to Study Islam
It's also known the youngest member of the congregation was Uthman ibn Abu al-As - and he would spend most of his time outside the tent; the seniors were in the tent but he would sit with the Prophet PBUH memorizing Qur'an, he sat with Abu Bakr studying Islam and he was the most eager. When they were about to leave, Abu Bakr suggested, "Why don't you make Uthman their leader?" and the Prophet PBUH accepted. Subhan'Allah it shows us just because he knew some Qur'an and fiqh he was raised in ranks to become the leader.
Destroying al-Lat
Final point: The tribe returns and tell their people, "We have to embrace Islam." The Prophet PBUH sends Mughira ibn Shu'ba and Abu Sufyan to destroy al-Lat. This story is not in Ibn Ishaq, but al-Mughira seems to be a bit of a joker. So he says to Abu Sufyan, "Shall we play a joke on them?" Abu Sufyan says, "Yeah sure." So, now imagine, he is going to destroy the idol. What are the people thinking? Something bad will happen. So all the people are gathered around and they are tense. Of course they know it has to happen but they are still tense and upset. So Mughira takes his axe, hits the idol, but as soon as he does this he yells and falls down on his face. And the tribe goes WILD with happiness. "Look what happened didn't we tell you al-Lat is the best?!" And Mughira jumps up and says, "You fools! I did this to show you how foolish you are." And he told them, "I just wanted to mock you," and he destroyed it in front of their eyes one hit after the other.
The guy in charge of the idol (shaman?) got so angry he said, "When you get to the base of the idol, you'll see the earth will swallow you up." Realize these people genuinely believe in the idol. So Mughira says, "Just to show you, I won't stop until I destroy down to the ground." And Mughira continued to destroy down to the dust of idol. And the Prophet PBUH told Uthman ibn Abu al-As to build a masjid where al-Lat stood. And all of the treasures of the sanctuary were taken and given to the Bayt al-Mal and the Prophet PBUH distributed it to the weak and poor.
Eventually Islam Entered Their Heart
And eventually the tribe of Thaqif accepted Islam wholeheartedly with no conditions; and they also paid zakat and engaged in jihad.