Court of King Najashi

Two persons stand out in offering sacrifices of their wealth for the cause of Islam. One of them is Khadija and the other is Abu Bakkar (RA). Before Islam, both of them were amongst the rich people of Makka but when they left this world, they both were practically penniless because they had spent their riches for the cause of Islam. When Omar (RA) Bin Khetab embraced Islam he invited his family members and his tribesmen towards Islam. Many people of his tribe Bani Aadi also embraced Islam. When Quraish saw the Muslims increasing in numbers they got worried. They also knew that Hamza and Omar now support Mohammad more than anything else and they cannot harm him as they had been doing in the past. Keeping this scene in view they decided to boycott Muslims socially to make their life more difficult and miserable for them. They prohibited any dealing with Muslims. Nobody was allowed to buy or sell anything to Muslims. They also disallowed marriages with the Muslim families. Makka was the place where trading was the main profession of the people this ban amounted to paralyze the life of Muslims. And. the people who had embraced Islam found it difficult to survive so the Holy Prophet decided to send them to another country. Abyssinia, King of that country was quite accommodating for the people having different faiths. He believed in religious tolerance and everyone was free to have the faith of his choice. The Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia included: -

Jaffar Bin Abi Talib and his wife Asma. Abu Talib had two sons one of them was Ali who was reared by Mohammad and the other was Jaffar who was brought up by Abbas: an uncle of the Holy Prophet.

Usman (RA) Bin Uf’wan the son-in-law of the Holy Prophet, He was married to Ruquia the daughter of the Prophet. When Abu Lahub's son divorced her, she was married to Usman (RA).

Zubair Bin Alawam. Abdullah Bin Masood. Abdur Reham Bin Auf, Abu Huzaifa, Sehla daughter of Sohail Bin Omar. Aamir Bin Rabia and his wife Laila Bint-e-Abu Khaisa, Hatib Bin Omar, Ahu Muselmah and his wife Um-e-Salma Bint-e-Umiya and Usman tam Bin Mazoon.

They all assembled near the seashore after coming out of Makka in small groups and boarded a boat to go to Abyssinia. This was the first contingent of Muslims that migrated to Abyssinia.

When the Muslims reached the capital of Abyssinia, on the very first day of their arrival Asma gave birth to a child and on the very same day the ruler of Abyssinia, Najashi was also blessed with a child. Asma volunteered to foster the King's baby thus according to the Arab traditions, Jaffar Bin Abi Talib and the prince became foster brothers to each other. After the first group of Muslims migrated and settled there, other Muslims also started migrating and 109 Muslims gathered in Abyssinia.

When the people of Quraish realized that Muslims were getting out of their hands they sent an emissary comprising of Umro Bin Alaas and Amara Bin Waleed, to convince Najashi to disallow the stay of Muslims in his country and to order to handover the Muslims to them.

The emissary after reaching the court said to King. "O King, the people who enjoy asylum in your country have left the faith of their ancestors and they criticize our ancestors and say that their religion was false and they followed a false religion. These will definitely change the religion of your people as well: it is therefore, in your own interest to hand them over to us so that we could take them back to Makka."

The King summoned the Muslims to his court and told them that those two men had come from Makka and told them that they had absconded so those men wanted to take them back as their families wanted them back.

Upon hearing this Jaffar Bin Abi Talib said. "O' King, we worshipped idols; we never felt ashamed even when we did wrong. We used to oppress the weak. We were groping in the dark. Then, we were blessed with the Messenger of God. Mohammad Bin Abdullah and he showed us the way to worship the One and the Only One God. He taught us not to worship the man-made idols of stone, be relentful of past deeds and should not oppress and humiliate the weak. We believed him and accepted what he said. O' King! These people call their own crafted idols gods and worship them, they torture the feeble and weak and they do not desist from torturing our Prophet. They stone him and abuse him to humiliate him."

After having the knowledge of the factual position, the king Najashi ordered to return the gifts, which Umro Bin Alaas and Amara Bin Waleed had brought for him and the emissary had to return unsuccessfully.

Najashi inquired more about the teachings of the Holy Prophet. Jaffar recited the verses of Sura Marium before all the courtiers and the King was so moved to listen that divine statement that tears started rolling down his cheeks and all the courtiers also felt the same effect of the Holy Scripture. Najashi said. "Your Prophet is a great and true man. You may live in my country as long as you may wish; nobody will ever turn you out of this country."