ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Islam The Pioneer Groups in Acceptance of Islam Among the social groups of those days, two groups pioneered in accepting Islam: A) The youth A cursory look at the list of the early Muslims indicates that most of them were youth. Elderly people were conservative; idolatry was deeply rooted in them. Due to their bright minds, the youth were more ready to accept the new faith—a fact applying to religious revelations.

On the basis of a historical report, during the early days of the secret invitation to Islam, there were groups of youth and destitute people who joined Islam.[^37] When the Holy Prophet started his public invitation and when his followers increased in number, people of Quraysh complained to Abu-talib about Muhammad, saying, “We have come to you several times to ask you to ask your nephew to stop cursing our ancestors and idols and seducing our children, men, women, and servants into the new faith...”[^38] On the Holy Prophet's journey to ta’if for the propagation of Islam, the noblemen refused to accept Islam for fear that their youth might follow Muhammad.[^39] After the migration to Abyssinia, representatives of Quraysh went to the royal court of the Abyssinian king, al-Najashi, to force these Muslims to return home.

In that court, there were some complaints regarding the spread of Islam among the youth of Mecca.[^40] A man from the Hudhayl tribe entered Mecca and the Holy Prophet invited him to Islam. Abu-Jahl warned him, saying, “Never listen to Muhammad; this man considers us stupid and says that our dead parents would go to hell.

Besides, he utters nonsense.” The man asked, “How come you don’t expel him from your city?” Abu-Jahl replied, “If he is expelled, our youth will go after him and listen to his flowery speech and then they will attack us.”[^41] `Utbah, a dignitary of Quraysh, complained to Asad ibn Zurarah, a nobleman from the Khazraj tribe in Yathrib, about the inclinations of the youth towards the Holy Prophet.[^42] An investigation of the list of the early Muslims shows that most of them were under thirty years of age.