The Prophet placed his hand on 'Ali's shoulder and said...

The Prophet placed his hand on 'Ali's shoulder and said, "This is my brother, the executor of my will and my successor among you. Listen to what he says and obey him."2 One day the Prophet went up on to Mount Safa and called the people around him. He said, "If I told you that an enemy was going to fall on you this morning or this evening, would you trust me?" All together they replied, "Yes!" He said, "I warn you of a severe 1 At-Tabari; Ta'rfkh, vol. 3, p. 1159; Ibn Hisham, Sirah, vol. 1, p.

240-245. 2 At-Tabari, Ta'rikh, vol. 3, p. 1171-1173. torment that is soon to fall on you." Out of fear that the speech of Muhammad (s.a.w.) would take effect in the hearts of those present, Abu Lahab broke the silence and said to him, "Did we assemble here just to listen to this nonsense?" The Prophet of Islam started his call with the slogan of tawhid and the worship of one God, and established tawhid as the basis of all other beliefs.

He made known to men Allah, who is nearer to man than man himself; he abolished all forms of idol-worshipping, revolutionized the atmosphere of Mecca, and drew people to his religion.

Meanwhile, the Quraysh (the most powerful tribe in Mecca to which the Prophet belonged) were becoming ill at ease with the progress he was making and tried hard to stop his preaching, even once trying to kill him; but with the help and protection of God all their tortures, persecutions and schemes were without effect and came to nothing. Day by day the call to Islam, and also the acceptance by people, spread, even to those who came from outside Mecca.

People rose up with their souls in answer to this Divine invitation. In the eleventh year of the prophethood, some people from the tribe of Khazraj of Medina came to Mecca to perform the pilgrimage. The Prophet invited them to Islam and they accepted, with the promise that when they went back to Medina they would call the people to Muhammad's religion. They went to Medina and spread the invitation of the Prophet.

The next year, twelve Medinese accepted the faith of the Prophet of Islam at Aqaba and resolved: not to associate anything with Allah, not to steal, not to fornicate, not to indulge in infanticide, not to bring malicious accusations against anyone, not to disobey the Prophet in any thing which he indicated. Then the Prophet sent a man by the name of Mus'ab bin "Umayr with them to teach the Qur'an, and thus a large group in Medina pledged their faith in the Prophet. 4.