The Prophet said...

The Prophet said: “I notify you of this fact that ‘Ali ibn Abu-Talib will be my successor after my death”[^1] It is memorable to be said that their paternal relation (Muhammad and ‘Ali) was not the reason in accepting the new law by ‘Ali (as). Many other relatives were persistently faithful to their ancestral customs like Aqil, ‘Ali's elder brother, who was with the enemies in the first war between the Muslims and the unbelievers of Quraysh (Badr battle).

But ‘Ali ibn Abu-Talib on account of his natural genius, which he was gifted with by God, his education acquired from the Prophet (S) at the early part of his life and because of the influence of the Prophet's manner and behavior, all these factors, made him to meditate on the subject and believe in God.

After this meeting, the heathens, for the sake of safekeeping their position among people and their estates and also for stopping the development of Islam, made many troubles for the Muslims many times. All the devilish forces became armed to suppress this heavenly mission. Not only the believers were put to torture, but also the Prophet himself was not accepted. It was mentioned that the Prophet had said: “No Prophet has ever got hurt so much as I got”.

In spite of many sufferings and restrictions, the Prophet would gradually gain power over the people by moral injunctions of the Holy Qur’an with his high- toned eloquence, his good humor and his laudable qualities. The idolaters tried hard to dispense and dispirit the believers around the Prophet by force but their efforts were of no avail and the Muslims were regularly increasing.

Now the heathens' harshness got to that extent that many Muslims, by the permission of the Prophet, determined on emigrating towards Abyssinia to live in safety under the care of the king Negus. Although the heathens did their best to dissuade the king from supporting the Muslims, they came to nothing. Now thirteen years passed away in this manner until the notables of Mecca put their heads together to slay the Prophet because they denied Islam to be true.

Forty persons of their great men gathered in a place and decided that one person should be selected from each tribe and that men should, altogether, attack the Prophet. In this way the Hashemites (the Prophet's family) would not be able to face all the tribes and the matter would be settled down with payment of blood money and at the end they would get rid of this trouble.