'Don't you...

'Don't you,' he said,' bear witness that there is no god but Allah, Muhammad is His servant and Messenger, His paradise is right, His hell is right, death is right, resurrection day is right, the Hour would undoubtedly be coming, and Allah would raise people from the dead." 'We bear witness to these,' they said,'O Lord! Bear witness,' he said. Then he went on saying,: 'O people! Allah is my Master and I am the master of the faithful and I have a greater claim on them than they have on themselves.

Whoever I have been his master Ali is also his master. O Allah! Befriend every friend of his and be the enemy of every enemy of his. O people! I will depart from you and you will certainly meet me at the Fountain: A Fountain that is wider than the distance between me and San'a' and has two goblets of silver as large as the space in which the stars are swimming.

I will be asking you, when you return to me at the Fountain, about two weighty things: The weightier one is the Book of Allah, the Mighty and Glorified, which has two bonds, one is in the hand of Allah, the Most High, and the other in your hands. So hold tight to it, don't go astray and don't change your faith. The other mighty thing is my progeny, my household.

The Knower of subtleties, the Aware has told me that they will join me at the Fountain as soon as their life on earth expires".(107) Then he came down and offered a two-ruka'h prayer. His caller to prayer summoned the faithful and the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.) led his companions in prayer. Then he sat in his tent and ordered Imam Ali (a.s.) to go to his own tent. He ordered the Muslims to give him their pledge as the successor of the Prophet (s.a.w.).

It was an unavoidable and necessary step on the part of the Prophet (s.a.w.) to enhance the prospects of the Islamic call. THE ARMY OF USAMAH The Messenger (s.a.w.) returned to Madinah to continue the march of construction and change. He was building the state and society and change man to be pious, chaste and benevolent in accordance with the Divine Law.

The utmost priority for the Prophet (s.a.w.), after his return from Mecca, was to fight the Romans once more and he mobilized a tremendous army for this purpose. In the army there were the dignitaries and the celebrated men from the Muhajirin (migrants) and the Ansar (Helpers) including Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman and others. Usamah bin Zaid bin Harithah, the young companion of the Prophet (s.a.w.) was appointed the leader of the army.