As it became apparent that Muslims would undergo both rise and fall, it was imperative that relevant laws for these two stages be in place. The same distinction pervades the Makkan and Madīnan sūrahsin terms of their rulings and teachings. Makkan commands and exhortations are the guidelines for Muslim minorities while Madīnan ones cater for the powerful Muslim community. The Qur’ān exhorts man to reflect and act insightfully. In line with this it emerges that the division between Makkan and Madīnan phases is premised on the same wisdom, emanating from laws of nature. For, it was not beyond Allah’s power to bless Muslims with power in the Makkan phase itself. The Makkan Quraysh would have pledged subservience. However, Allah intended that the Muslim community should face both the situations. Accordingly, ascendancy was granted only in the Madīnan phase.
The distinct difference between the two phases was sharpened by divine revelation and hence it was perceived by the Prophet (peace be upon him). The leading Companions and their followers too, appreciated this important point. The Quraysh chiefs who were gifted with far-sightedness and a balanced approach to things did discern this philosophy of ascendancy and subservience and of majority and minority, to some extent. As guided by Allah, the Prophet (peace be upon him) devised his strategy in the Makkan phase while the Quraysh chiefs acted in their own ways. The Makkan model was formulated in the light of Makkan sūrahs and other divine commands. For thirteen years Muslims were trained how to live as a minority and how to construct their society for achieving progress and success. It enabled them to do well in the Madīnan phase and helped produce a blue print for Muslim minorities, providing them with a way of life and of constructing their society.
The Prophet’s Career: Rationale behind Makkan and Madīnan Phases
Generally speaking, traditional biographers of the Prophet (peace be upon him), who abide by Oriental values, do not analyze vigorously the Makkan phase of the Prophet’s career. They faithfully follow primary sources. They are so much swayed by Ibn Isḥāq’s and Ibn Hishām’s work, Al-Sīrah al-Nabawīyah, that they blindly follow in their footsteps. They betray sheer ignorance of the factors and phases of the evolution of the Prophet’s career. So doing, they keep the readers in the dark. Generally their practice is to describe the thirteen long years of the Prophet’s Makkan phase from 610 CE to 623 CE in terms of providing an account of the ills of the Jāhiliyyah period and relating the Prophet’s ancestors and his assuming the office of messengership. They strictly follow the line adopted by the classical masters, Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Hishām. Then they offer a traditional overview of the sending down of revelation, the gradual revelation of the Qur’ān, the divine command for making a call to Islam, early Muslims’ acceptance of Islam, the preaching of Islam in both secret and public and other familiar events. Their treatment of the Islamic commands and Qur’ānic teachings does not advance understanding. By mentioning only the beliefs and some other religious commands they fail to present a complete picture of Islam. This is on account of the lack of a detailed analysis. As a result, they fall short of projecting how the Muslim community was constituted in the Makkan phase.
The truth of the matter is much more complex, varied and multi-layered. The Prophet had adopted a particular strategy for this phase of subjugation. He had devised it with reference to the Qur’ānic directives and other divine instructions. His main objective was to erect the Muslim community. It is clear from some Qur’ānic passages and aḥādīth that at times, the Muslim community comprised a single individual. For example, the Qur’ān brands the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) as a community unto himself. In a similar vein, the Prophet (peace be upon him) spoke of Zayd ibn Nufayl as a single community. A single votary of Allah thus constitutes unto himself a community. Another note-worthy point is that a single person has the potential to blossom into an entire community. Presently it is only in its potential form. However it can grow into a full-fledged community. This potential has existed since the days of the Prophet Adam (peace be upon him) and passed on to his progeny. It pervades man’s primordial covenant and also the community embodied by the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). Being his successor and the seal of Messengers, the Prophet Muḥammad (peace be upon him) was a community unto himself.
Viewed against this background when the Prophet (peace be upon him) embraced Islam in preference to the Quraysh’s ancestral faith, the Qur’ān branded him as the first of believers and Muslims. It is worth-reiterating that Muslims did not exist then. Yet in view of the vast potentials the Qur’ān conferred upon him the above honour. His acceptance of Islam established the principle that everyone is free to choose his faith. The Qur’ān, other Scriptures and traditions of all communities recognize this basic right.
Right to Choose Faith
It is borne out by the jāhiliyyah practices of the Makkan Quraysh and of later history that every member of Makkan society enjoyed the freedom to choose their faith. This explains why there were Christians, Jews, idolators, pagans, Ḥunafā’ and followers of the Abrahamic faith in Makkah. No one ever challenged their right to profess the faith of their choice. When the Quraysh chiefs learnt about the Prophet’s new faith, they accepted it as an instance of his choice. This is endorsed by several reports.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) professed the Abrahamic faith in its original form and this was accepted by his elders and Quraysh chiefs. When Abū Ṭālib ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib ibn Hāshim, the Prophet’s patron and head of Banū Hāshim, saw the Prophet (peace be upon him) praying, he enquired about his faith. The latter clarified that it was the faith handed down by the Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him). The former did not deter him from doing so. Rather, he accepted it. He allowed his own young son, ʿAlī ibn Abī Ṭālib to accept the new faith.2 This incident is reported at length by Ibn Isḥāq and Ibn Hishām. For example, in response to Abū Ṭālib’s query about the new faith, the Prophet (peace be upon him) introduced it as the faith approved by Allah hence it is the faith of angels, messengers, and of the patriarch Prophet Abraham (peace be upon him) with which he was sent down for mankind. Abū Ṭālib not only let him and ʿAlī profess the faith of their choice, he pledged to lend them all help and support.3 Regarding ʿAfīf al-Kindī’s acceptance of Islam it is stated that al-ʿAbbās ibn ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib al-Hāshimī had granted him this right. Al-ʿAbbās was the Prophet’s uncle and a leading member of Banū Hāshim and Quraysh.
This point comes out more sharply in the context of ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb’s acceptance of Islam. When some Quraysh leaders took to beating ʿUmar for his crime of embracing Islam, Al-ʿĀṣibn Wā’il al-Sahmī, a prominent leader of Makkah and the Quraysh dissuaded them from it saying that they had no business as ʿUmar had exercised his right to choose a faith. He asked them to leave ʿUmar alone.4 Ibn Isḥāq, Ibn Hishām, Ibn Saʿd and other biographers inform that the Prophet (peace be upon him) made a call to Islam both openly and secretly and people responded positively to it yet the Quraysh did not stop it. However, when the Prophet (peace be upon him) criticized their idols, they took to opposing him.5
Ibn Saʿd’s additional report is that some young persons and members of the weaker sections accepted Islam. As a result, the number of Muslims increased. Yet the unbelieving Quraysh did not object.6
The above account is reinforced by reports about the acceptance of Islam by many persons. It is clear that the Quraysh never contested as to why they had embraced the new faith. This applies to both the young of the Quraysh elite and the poor Muslims. In accordance with Quraysh norms everyone was free to profess a faith of his choice. Muslims availed themselves of the same. There was no element of compulsion in these conversions. It was widely accepted that the excellent teachings of Islam, the miraculous features of the Qur’ān, the Prophet’s unblemished conduct and ideal character had paved the way for Islam. In addition, the following two factors were at work: i) Islam was the natural way, as is asserted in the Qur’ān and ḥadīth. Man is attracted by faith which was the ancestral faith of the Makkans. Even the Quraysh chiefs could not dare