The Imam again told him to wait and then turning to one of his friends asked...

The Imam again told him to wait and then turning to one of his friends asked, "How much money is with you?" The man searched his pockets and produced nearly twenty Dirhams which he gave to the beggar at the order of the Imam. The beggar thanking God for the third time said, "Thanks are exclusively to God. O God! Thou art the Bestower of the good, and thou hast no companion'." On hearing these words, the Imam took off his garment and gave it to the beggar.

Now, the beggar changed his tone and spoke a few words of thanks to the Imam himself. Then the Imam did not give him anything and he went away. His friends and companions who were present there said, "We thought that had the beggar conti- nued thanking God in the same manner as before, the Imam would have continued giving him more and more. But when he cnanged his talk and praised 7 2 and thanked the Imam himself, the Imam did not continue his help.

73 The Protection That Was Revoked Muslims had migrated to Abyssinia because of the torture and persecution by Quraish, but al- ways anxiously waited for some news from their homeland. Those stand-bearers of Unity and justice of God (though an insignificant minority in com- parison to the swarms of idolators who were bent upon maintaining statuesque in religion and social system) were confident that everyday their suppor- ters were increasing and the rank of their adversa- ries was decreasing.

They even hoped that soon the curtain of ignorance would be removed from the eyes of the non believers and the whole tribe of Quraish would embrace Islam, casting away their idols. By chance a rumour took wings in their local- ity in Abyssinia that the whole Quraish had been converted to Islam.

Though the news was not con firmed, but the refugees deep faith in their religion, and their strong expectation and hope in the ulti- 7 4 mate victory of Islam led a group of them to return to Mecca without waiting for the confirmation of the news from reliable sources. One of them was Othman bin Madh'un, the well-known companion of the Prophet who was extra-ordinarily attached to the Holy Prophet, and was greatly respected by all Muslims.

When he reached near Mecca, he realis- ed that the news was not correct; on the contrary, Quraish had intensified the torture and oppression of the Muslims. He was in a bad fix: He could not return to Abyssinia as it was far off; and if he en- tered Mecca,he would immediately become a target of the Quraish's torture.