The First Believers

A Very Small Circle

The message began in the quiet of homes. Khadijah was the first to stand by the Prophet ﷺ. Others followed, one by one.

Ammar ibn Yasir remembered those days. “I saw the Messenger of Allah ﷺ,” he said, “and there was nobody with him except five slaves, two women and Abu Bakr.” Bukhari 3857 Think about that: the religion that now has nearly two billion followers began with a handful of people, most of them poor or enslaved.

Sahabah is the name for these believers, the Companions of the Prophet ﷺ.

Abu Bakr

Abu Bakr was a successful merchant and a lifelong friend. When the Prophet ﷺ told him about the revelation, he believed him at once. Years later, when others had quarrelled with Abu Bakr, the Prophet ﷺ defended him: “Allah sent me to you, and you said, ‘You are lying,’ but Abu Bakr said, ‘He has told the truth,’ and he supported me with himself and his wealth.” Bukhari 3661

Abu Bakr used his wealth to free believers who were enslaved and being tortured for their faith. One of them was Bilal. Umar ibn al-Khattab would later say: “Abu Bakr is our master, and he freed our master,” meaning Bilal. Bukhari 3754 A slave who had been beaten in the streets of Makkah was called “our master” by the man who would become the second Caliph.

Ali and Zayd

Two boys grew up in the Prophet's ﷺ household. One was his young cousin Ali ibn Abi Talib, whom he had taken in to help his uncle Abu Talib. Ali was among the very first to believe; the Companion Zayd ibn Arqam even said he was the first. Others said Abu Bakr was first, and scholars have reconciled the two: Abu Bakr was the first grown man, and Ali the first child. Tirmidhi 3735

The other was Zayd ibn Harithah, who had been brought to Makkah as a slave. The Prophet ﷺ freed him and treated him as a son, so people called him “Zayd ibn Muhammad”, until a later verse of the Qur'an taught that adopted children should be called by their real fathers' names. Bukhari 4782Qur'an 33:5 He was not the Zayd ibn Amr you met in Chapter 3.

“I Am a Prophet”

News travelled with the caravans. A man named Amr ibn Abasah, who had already decided that idol-worship was wrong, heard of a man in Makkah giving news from heaven. He rode to Makkah and found the Prophet ﷺ keeping out of sight, because his people were making life hard for him.

“What are you?” Amr asked.

“I am a prophet.”

“What is a prophet?”

“Allah has sent me.”

“With what has He sent you?”

“To join the ties of kinship, to break the idols, and that Allah alone is worshipped, with nothing joined to Him.” Muslim 832

“Who is with you in this?” Amr asked. “A free man and a slave,” came the answer: Abu Bakr and Bilal were with him. Amr wanted to stay, but the Prophet ﷺ told him it was too dangerous now: he should go home to his people and come back when he heard the message had become strong. Amr did exactly that, and years later he came to Madinah. Muslim 832

The Traveller Who Was Afraid to Ask

Abu Dharr, from the desert tribe of Ghifar, also heard the news. He sent his brother to find out more. His brother came back and said the man in Makkah taught good character and recited words that were not poetry. That was not enough for Abu Dharr. He packed food and water and went himself. Bukhari 3861

In Makkah he did not know who the Prophet ﷺ was, and he was afraid to ask, because people were hostile. He slept in the mosque. Ali saw the stranger and quietly took him home as a guest, without asking him anything. This happened for three days. Finally Ali asked why he had come. Abu Dharr made him promise to keep it secret, then explained. Ali said: “It is true, and he is the Messenger of Allah ﷺ. Follow me in the morning. If I see anything dangerous, I will stop as if I am relieving myself. If I keep walking, follow me.” Bukhari 3861

Abu Dharr followed Ali in, heard the Prophet ﷺ and accepted Islam on the spot. The Prophet ﷺ told him to go home and keep quiet until he heard more. But Abu Dharr could not keep it in. He went straight to the Ka'bah and announced at the top of his voice that there is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Messenger. The crowd beat him to the ground, until al-Abbas, the Prophet's ﷺ uncle, threw himself over him: “Don't you know he is from Ghifar, on your trade road to Syria?” Bukhari 3861

The Call from Safa

Then Allah commanded: “Warn your nearest relatives.”Qur'an 26:214 The time for secrecy was over.

The Prophet ﷺ climbed the hill of Safa, near the Ka'bah, and called out the names of the clans of Quraysh until they gathered. Anyone who could not come sent someone to see what was going on. Then he asked them a question:

If I told you that there were horsemen in the valley about to attack you, would you believe me?

“Yes,” they said. “We have only ever known you to tell the truth.”

“Then I am a warner to you, before a severe punishment.” Bukhari 4770

He had chosen his words wisely. He began with the one thing they all agreed on: he never lied. Then he gave them the message.

Faith Is Not Inherited

His own uncle, Abu Lahab, shouted back: “May you perish! Is this what you gathered us for?” Bukhari 4971 Allah answered with a surah: “May the hands of Abu Lahab perish, and may he perish. His wealth and what he has earned will not help him.”Qur'an 111:1–2

The Prophet ﷺ made it clear that family ties could not save anyone. He called out to the clans, to his aunt Safiyyah and to his own daughter: “Fatimah, daughter of Muhammad, ask me for whatever you want of my wealth, but I cannot save you from Allah.” Bukhari 2753 Every person stands before Allah for their own choices.