When the Prophet ﷺ was commanded, he began inviting people to Islam. Some believed in him, others expressed their disbelief, until everyone in Makkah knew about it and people were talking about it. The Prophet ﷺ met and taught the new converts in private because the Prophetic Mission was still in a phase of individual cultivation. That is to say, the invitation to Islam was something that happened on a small scale. It was the phase in which individuals, not groups, were invited to Islam. He gave the da’wah to everyone whom he thought was ready to accept him, regardless of age, social class or background. By then there were approximately 40 people; both men and women from different backgrounds and ages who had joined when the Prophet ﷺ was commanded to proclaim the invitation publicly, in other words to direct the da’wah no longer at individuals, but at the broader society.
A number of these 40 people, some young, others older, some wealthy others poor, were as follows:
- Bilal bin Rabah ﵁
- Abu Ubaidah bin Al-Jarrah ﵁
- Abu Salama bin Abdul-Asad ﵁
- Al-Arqam bin Abi Al-Arqam ﵁
- Uthman bin Maz’oun ﵁
- Qudama bin Maz’oun ﵁
- Abdullah bin Maz’oun ﵁
- Ubaidah bin Al-Harith bin Al-Muttalib bin Abd Manaf ﵁
- Sa’id bin Zaid Al-Adawi ﵁
- Fatima bint Al-Khattab ﵂
- Khabbab ibn Al-Arat ﵁
- Abdullah bin Mas’oud Al-Hadhali ﵁
We spoke earlier about the fact that some seerah books refer to the secret phase. Although it is true that certain elements of the da’wah were indeed secret, the da’wah itself was not secret. The da’wah was open from day one. The people of Makkah were aware that the Prophet ﷺ was calling people to a new deen and that a number had accepted Islam. They also knew that the Muslims were trying to conceal their association with the deen. What they did not know, however, was where they gathered or who gathered there.
The Building of Islamic Personalities
What set them apart was not status, strength or position, but their unique Islamic way of thinking. A striking example is the story of sayyidina Bilal ﵁. He grew up as a slave in Makkah and knew nothing other than that Umayya bin Khalaf was his master who decided everything. Until he heard about the message of Islam. He learned that it was not Umayya bin Khalaf who was the rabb, but that Allah ﷻ was the Rabb and that all of mankind were His servants. This realisation transformed him so deeply that when he was later tortured to abandon his faith, his persecutors could not break him.
What exactly is meant by cultivation then? It is easy to explain this by taking an example from agriculture. In agriculture, cultivation is the process of caring for and working the soil to allow plants to grow. If you want a successful harvest, it is not productive to take a random piece of land and start sowing. Our piece of land has the potential to grow crops, but that will not be optimal in its current state. Therefore we care for and work the soil so that we can get the maximum benefit from it. In the same way, we should view the cultivation that the Prophet ﷺ applied to that core group of early converts. Most of us are familiar with the horrors they later faced and how steadfast they were, never giving up. The fact that they were so steadfast is the result of the cultivation of the Prophet ﷺ, who took the time to optimally prepare and ready them for carrying the message of Islam.
Many of us have heard of Dar al-Arqam, the house of Al-Arqam ﵁, and that it became an essential centre of cultivation. But Dar al-Arqam only became a reality some time after the start of the Prophetic Mission. Before this, the Prophet ﷺ and the Companions gathered at various locations in and around Makkah. In the following article we discuss how Dar al-Arqam, the house of the young Al-Arqam ibn Abi al-Arqam ﵁, became the secret centre from which the Prophet ﷺ would shape this cultivation.