The End of the Boycott and the Onset of Aam-ul-Huzn
After the parchment of the unjust boycott was found eaten away — with only the blessed Name of Almighty Allah remaining upon it — Banu Hashim emerged from the valley of Shi’b Abi Talib worn by hunger and hardship, yet unshakeable in their loyalty to the Holy Prophet Muhammad (Sallallaho Alaihi Wa Aalihi Wasallam). Barely a short time had passed after this deliverance when the blessed household was visited by two most grievous losses within the same blessed year — a year afterwards known in the sacred history of Islam as Aam-ul-Huzn, the Year of Sorrow.
The Demise of Hadrat Abu Talib (Alaihi Salam)
First to depart from this world was the noble uncle and lifelong protector of the Holy Prophet (SAWAW), Hadrat Abu Talib (Alaihi Salam). For more than forty blessed years he had stood as an unshakeable shield around his beloved nephew — raising him from childhood with a love greater than that of his own children, defending him against the hostility of Quraish, enduring with him the years of the boycott in Shi’b Abi Talib, and never for a single moment allowing any harm to approach the blessed personality of the Final Prophet (SAWAW). His demise removed from Makkah the mighty outward shelter under which the sacred mission had been able to proceed openly, and the chieftains of Quraish grew emboldened in their hostility.
The Demise of Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra (Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha)
Only a short while thereafter, the blessed household was afflicted by an even deeper wound with the demise of Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra (Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) — the first of all creation to affirm faith in the blessed prophethood, the loving companion of every blessed hour, the noble mother of Hadrat Syeda Fatima-tuz-Zahrah (SA), and the purest support of the sacred mission in its earliest and hardest years. Her generosity of wealth, her steadfastness of heart, and her unmatched love had been an ocean of comfort to the Holy Prophet (SAWAW). With her departure, the blessed home itself seemed to fall silent, and the sorrow of these two losses together gave to that entire year its blessed name — Aam-ul-Huzn. When the demise of Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) was nearing, her beloved daughter Huzoor Syeda Fatima-tu-Zahrah(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) was sitting near her Holy Mother together with the Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) and both were mourning with heavily dropping tears on her likely demise. For the time being, Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) humbly requested the Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) for privacy so that she could talk to her beloved daughter alone. The Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) went out of home to perform Tawaf-e-Kaaba. Behind in the holy home, Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) desired her beloved daughter to advocate for her by asking the Holy Prophet(SAWAW) to grant her his used Kurta of cloth and place on her body at her demise. The Knower of unseen things of the whole universes Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW), on this mere desire of his beloved wife, felt more gloomy and immediately reached home. Almighty Allah could not see dropping tears of His beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) on knowing the desire of his beloved wife who stood by him in all miseries and became a source of encouragement. Almighty Allah ordered Jibreel-e-Ameen to take a especially important cloth of Kafan from Jannah and present the same to His beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) for his beloved wife. On receiving Kafan from Jibreel-e-Ameen, the Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) wondered at a mere desire ever raised by his beloved wife before her demise even that with the mean of her beloved Daughter, and gave a good news to his beloved wife Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) stating that in the eye of Almighty Allah she deserves to be greatly blessed with Kafan from Jannah and not with a Kurta of Allah’s beloved Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW). On hearing these words from the Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW), eyes of Hadrat Syeda Khadija-tul-Kubra(Salam Allah-Ho Alaiha) started dropping tears with gratefully thanking Almighty Allah to shower His blessings on her at her ending moments by sending Kafan from Jannah. Thus, on her demise, her holy body was covered with Kafan of Jannah. Subhan Allah
The Blessed Journey to Ta’if
With the hostility of Quraish in Makkah reaching a new intensity, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) set out towards the town of Ta’if, hoping that its people — the tribe of Thaqeef — might accept the sacred message and offer refuge to the emerging Deen. Yet the chiefs of Thaqeef not only turned away his blessed invitation but stirred up their foolish youth and slaves to pelt him with stones as he departed. So severe was the persecution that the blessed shoes of the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) were stained with the sacred blood flowing from his blessed body.
Wounded and weary, he took shelter in the shade of a garden and turned his blessed heart in humble supplication to Almighty Allah — a supplication whose every word breathes patience, hope and utter reliance upon his Lord. Even in that hour of pain, when the angel of the mountains was sent with permission to crush the people of Ta’if between the two hills, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) refused, and prayed instead that from their progeny Almighty Allah might raise those who would worship Him alone — a blessed prayer that in later years was fulfilled beyond all measure.
The Blessed Isra — The Night Journey from Makkah to Bait-ul-Muqaddas
In the blessed period that followed, Almighty Allah honoured His Beloved Prophet (SAWAW) with a unique and incomparable gift — the sacred night journey known as Al-Isra. From Masjid-ul-Haram in Makkah, mounted upon the blessed steed Buraq, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) was carried in a single part of the night to Masjid-ul-Aqsa in the blessed city of Bait-ul-Muqaddas (Jerusalem). There he led the noble company of all the Ambiya (Alaihimus Salam) — from Hadrat Adam (AS) to Hadrat Isa (AS) — in Salah as their Imam, a blessed sign of his rank as the Master of all the Prophets, Sayyid-ul-Ambiya.
The Blessed Mi’raj — The Ascension through the Heavens
From Bait-ul-Muqaddas, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) was ascended through the seven heavens — the blessed Mi’raj — meeting upon each heaven the noble Ambiya, among them Hadrat Adam, Hadrat Yahya and Hadrat Isa, Hadrat Yusuf, Hadrat Idris, Hadrat Harun, Hadrat Musa, and Hadrat Ibraheem (Alaihimus Salam). He beheld the blessed Bait-ul-Ma’moor, the Sidrat-ul-Muntaha, and rose to a station of nearness — Qaba Qausain Au Adna — where none of the creation had ever reached, neither Prophet nor angel, and where his blessed eye did not swerve nor exceed the limit.
Upon this most blessed of nights, the gift of the five daily prayers (Salah) was bestowed upon the Ummah — a sacred rope of connection between the servant and his Lord. The Holy Prophet (SAWAW) returned to Makkah the same blessed night. When he related this journey to the people, the disbelievers of Quraish mocked and denied — yet Hadrat Abu Bakr As-Siddique (RA) at once affirmed its truth without the least hesitation, earning by that blessed affirmation his title As-Siddique, the Great Truthful One.
The Pledges of Aqabah with the People of Yathrib
In the seasons of Hajj that followed, Almighty Allah opened the hearts of the noble tribes of Aws and Khazraj from the blessed city of Yathrib (later honoured as Madina-tul-Munawwarah). A small group of them met the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) at Aqabah near Mina, accepted the sacred message, and returned to their city carrying the light of Islam. Through their blessed efforts, and through the da’wah of Hadrat Mus’ab ibn Umair (RA) who was sent to teach them, hardly a house of the Ansar remained in which the Name of Almighty Allah and of His Messenger (SAWAW) was not honoured.
The following year, twelve men of Yathrib pledged themselves to the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) at Aqabah — the First Pledge of Aqabah — undertaking Tauheed, obedience and righteousness. A year later, at the Second Pledge of Aqabah, seventy-three men and two blessed women of the Ansar pledged to protect the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) as they would protect their own selves, their women and their children, and invited him with open hearts to their blessed city.
The Plot of Quraish and the Command to Migrate
As the message of Islam took root in Yathrib and small groups of the earliest believers began to migrate quietly towards it, the chieftains of Quraish grew alarmed and gathered in Dar-un-Nadwah to devise a final plot. It was agreed that a young man drawn from every tribe of Quraish would together strike the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) in his own blessed home, so that the responsibility of the blessed blood might be divided and no single clan could be held answerable.
Almighty Allah, however, made their plot known to His Beloved (SAWAW), and commanded him to migrate — the sacred Hijrah towards the blessed city of Yathrib, which by the honour of his blessed arrival was to become forever Madina-tul-Munawwarah, the Illuminated City.
The Blessed Night of the Bed — Hadrat Ali (Karram Allah-Ho Wajhahul Kareem)
On the blessed night appointed for the sacred journey, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) directed his noble cousin Hadrat Ali ibn Abi Talib (Karram Allah-Ho Wajhahul Kareem) to lie upon his blessed bed, wrapped in his blessed cloak, so that the waiting assassins of Quraish might believe him to be still at rest within. With utmost readiness and love, Hadrat Ali (Karram Allah-Ho Wajhahul Kareem) took the place of the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) upon the blessed bed — offering his own life as a shield — and it was in this blessed act that the noble verse was revealed praising the servant who sells his very self seeking the pleasure of Almighty Allah. He was further entrusted with the return of the deposits which the people of Makkah — even those who were plotting against the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) — had left in his blessed keeping on account of his unmatched trustworthiness.
The Departure from Makkah with Hadrat Abu Bakr (RA)
Under the cover of that blessed night, and by the special protection of Almighty Allah, the Holy Prophet (SAWAW) departed from his blessed home in the company of his faithful companion Hadrat Abu Bakr As-Siddique (RA). They made their way first to the cave of Thaur, south of Makkah, where they took shelter for three blessed nights while the search parties of Quraish scoured the roads. At the mouth of the cave, by the will of Almighty Allah, a spider wove its web and a dove nested — signs so complete that the pursuers turned back convinced that no one had entered. Within the cave, when Hadrat Abu Bakr (RA) trembled for the safety of the Holy Prophet (SAWAW), came the blessed consolation preserved in the Holy Qur’an: “Grieve not, indeed Allah is with us.”
From the cave of Thaur, the blessed caravan set out along a lesser-travelled route towards Yathrib, and after a journey of many days entered the outskirts of the blessed city — where the Ansaar, awaiting his arrival day after day, welcomed the Holy Prophet Muhammad(SAWAW) with such joy and honour that the whole city echoed with words of praise and gratitude to Almighty Allah. With this blessed arrival, the sacred Hijrah was completed, and Yathrib was honoured forever as Madina-tul-Munawwarah — the Illuminated City of the Final Prophet (SAWAW).