....When Hazrat Muhammad answered, "I do not know how to read", Angel Gabriel repeated the same phrase three times.
....In the end, he revealed (read) to Muhammad the first five verses of the Chapter, The Clot (Alaq), which begins as following: "Read in the name of the Lord, who created."
....Thus the first verses were revealed to Hazrat Muhammad, and the period of the prophethood began. However, he had not yet been asked to carry out the mission of communication of the divine prescriptions and summoning people to Islam.
....After this event, for nearly three years Hazrat Gabriel did not return to the Prophet. By the order of Allah Almighty, some other angels came to Hazrat Muhammad, and taught him how he should worship, and prepared him for the difficult times to come.

....THE BEGINNING OF THE MISSION OF
....TABLIGH (PROPAGATION)
....Hazrat Muhammad fell into rapture (jazba) as a result of this spiritual event and began to shake, covering himself with a blanket; his wife Khadija was with him.
....By the divine command Gabriel came and revealed to him the following verses:
...."O thou enveloped in thy cloak, arise and warn! Thy Lord magnify," (Al-Muddaththir, 1-3)
....When Hazrat Gabriel read the verses, "O thou enveloped in thy cloak, arise and warn!" Hazrat Muhammad stood up immediately. And when Gabriel read

the verse "Thy Lord, magnify" Muhammad magnified God by saying "Allahu Akbar (Allah is the Greatest)."
....Of course, Hazrat Khadîja could not see Hazrat Gabriel and could not hear the revealed verses. However, her pure heart was moved, and she felt that something was happening. When her husband said "Allahu Akbar," she joined her husband and began to watch him.
....After Hazrat Gabriel left, Hazrat Muhammad said to his wife: "My lord has commanded me to begin to communicate His message immediately. Thus I begin by communicating to you. I want you to believe that there is no god but Allah and that I am God's servant and messenger. I want you to utter the Shahadah (the phrase of witnessing) and become the first Muslim woman."
....Hazrat Khadija, who had waited for this moment impatiently, immediately uttered the Shahadah, became a Muslim, making ablution and performed her prayers with two units (rakah). When Hazrat Abu Bakr among men, and freed slave Hazrat Zayd, and Ali among children became Muslim, Hazrat Muhammad had four companions.
....Hazrat Abu Bakr, who found peace in Islam, was satisfied in spiritual terms, and he wanted to share his happiness with his friends. So he summoned his friends Uthmân b. Affan, Adurrahmân b. Awf, Sa'd b. Abî Wakkâs, Zubayr b. Awwâm, and Talha b. Ubaydallâh to Islam, and took them to Hazrat Muhammad.
....These five men, whose hearts found peace and who were moved upon hearing the speech of our beloved Prophet, immediately uttered the Shahadah and became

Muslims, then they performed ritual prayers with two rakahs together with our Prophet.
....Then others became Muslim. These were Abu Ubayda, Abu Salama, Habbâb, Sa'd b. Zayd and his wife Fâtima, Arkam b. Arkam, Qudâma, Uthmân b. Maz'ûn, Ubayda b. Hârith, Abdullah b. Mas'ûd, Bilâl Habashî, Suhayb Rûmî, Yâsir, his wife Sumayya, and his son Ammâr. Thus, the number of Muslims began to increase.
....May Allah be pleased with them all.
....Hazrat Muhammad used to secretly communicate the message of Islam to people. Allah Almighty commanded: ...."So proclaim that which thou art commanded." (Hijr, 94)
....Thus Hazrat Muhammad began summoning people to Islam publicly, and this public summoning caused Muslims to undergo difficult times.
....When our beloved Prophet went to places where the polytheists gathered and summoned them to Islam, announcing to them that the idols they had made with their hands and erected in various places were no different from any other stone, and that therefore they should not revere them by prostration or respectful postures, that they should not associate them with God, and that they should be servants of only one God, these polytheists, who could not accept that there is no deity other than God and that their idols were useless, began to insult the Prophet and react aggressively.
....Their primary targets of the unbelievers were slaves, and poor, defenseless people. They aimed to change their religious conviction through force and thus frighten the others who were inclined to welcome Islam.

....They tortured Hazrat Habbab by making him lie down on a fire. And they had Hazrat Bilal run through the streets of Mecca with a rope around his neck, after they had tortured him for many days.
....The polytheists, who took Hazrat Yâsir and his wife Hazrat Sumayya out of Mecca to the desert, tortured them for many days, and then martyred them brutally.
....They also tortured their son Hazrat Ammâr by burying him naked in the hot sand of the desert.
....When some Muslims, exhausted from the tortures of the polytheists, asked the Prophet for permission to emigrate, our beloved Prophet indicated the direction of Abyssinia with his sacred finger and said, "Go there, the king of that country (Ashame) is just." The first emigration in Muslim history was to Abyssinia.
....While those Muslims, who had left their country for Abyssinia to enjoy freedom of life, experienced homesickness in a foreign land and the lack of the blessing of the Prophet's conversation, those Muslims, who stayed in Mecca, endured various kinds of oppression and tortures at the hands of the polytheists. They did not compromise their beliefs and carried out their ritual prayers in secret.
....Yet, just as any person who was been saved from under the debris and who is relieved to experience air and light does not want to find themselves under the debris again, so being saved from a morass of association and unbelief, the Muslims, who had received Islam and its spiritual enlightenment, refused to go back to the swamp of association and unbelief. This attitude, however, enraged the polytheists.

....Despite all the pressure and brutalities inflicted by the Meccan polytheists, one Muslim left Islam. To the contrary, the number of Muslims increased, not only among the people of Mecca, but also among the tribes outside Mecca.
....Hazrat Muhammad made contact with people who came to Mecca during the season of pilgrimage and summoned them to Islam. In the 11th year of his prophethood, he met with 6 people from Medina in the vicinity of the Kabaa, called Aqaba.
....He asked them, "Could you sit down? Can we talk a bit?" They accepted and sat down.
....Our beloved Prophet read some verses of the Qur'an to them first. Then he gave a blessed talk. He stated that he was the last Prophet, and invited them to embrace Islam.
....The people of Medina, who were greatly affected by the talk, looked at each other. After a short time of confusion, they talked among themselves and then following Hazrat Muhammad they uttered the Shahadah, and thus became Muslims.
....The first among the people of Medina to embrace Islam were:
....As'ad b. Zurâra, Râfi b. Mâlik, Awf b. Hâris, Qutba b. Âmir, Utba b. Âmir and Hâris b. Abdullâh.
....May Allah be pleased with them.
....These six people, who returned home after performing the pilgrimage, began to strive to introduce Islam among the people of Medina.
....The following year, they returned to Mecca as a group of twelve under the leadership of As'ad b. Zurâra, and they met Hazrat Muhammad in Aqaba again and listened to his talk.

....Hazrat Muhammad took their oath (biat) on certain issues. They asked the Prophet to send somebody to Medina to teach the Qur'an and Islam.
....Our beloved Prophet sent Mus'âb b. Umayr to them. Hazrat Mus'ab was very moved when he arrived in Medina as he realized that the number of Muslims in Medina had increased to 40, and he wept.
....By the extraordinary efforts of Hazrat Mus'ab and other Muslims in Medina, Islam quickly spread in Medina and the number of Muslims increased with each passing day.
....When Sa'd b. Mu'az, the leader of the Aws tribe and the most prominent person in Medina became a Muslim, there was nothing left to stop Islam.
....Then Hazrat Mus'ab began performing ritual prayers in the community of Muslims and preaching Islam publicly.
....In Medina there were two tribes, the Aws and Hazraj, which were engaged in a constant struggle against each other. During these nonsensical wars, many brave men died, many women were widowed, and many children were left as orphans. Fathers and mothers constantly wept over the calamities that befell their children.
....When the people of these two tribes became Muslims and performed ritual prayers side by side in the community, they stopped these meaningless battles, which had been going on for years. The enmity between these two tribes turned into brotherhood, and an atmosphere of festival emerged.
....The following year, i.e., in the 13th year of the prophethood, a group of 75 people, two of whom were women, came to Mecca under the leadership of Hazrat Mus'âb. They met Hazrat Muhammad in Aqaba as usual.

....During this meeting people coming from Medina swore to the Prophet on that they would protect Muhammad against his enemies as they protected themselves, their children, and their wives. They invited Hazrat Muhammad to Medina.
....After this meeting, Hazrat Muhammad allowed the Muslims of Mecca to immigrate to Medina. But he stayed in Mecca, waiting for God's command concerning this matter.
....After the Muslims began to immigrate to Medina secretly as small groups, Hazrat Abû Bakr asked the Prophet for permission to immigrate to Medina. The Prophet said to him: "Wait for a while, if it is Allah's will, we shall go together."
....Those Muslims who emigrated from Mecca to Medina are called the muhajirûn (one who migrates), and Muslims of Medina who helped immigrants from Mecca are called the ansâr (the helpers).
....The Muslims of Mecca, who migrated to Medina, leaving their homes and land, were welcomed by the Muslims of Medina, their brothers in religion.
....The Muslims of Medina protected the Muslims who had emigrated from Mecca. They provided shelter for them, and they shared their possessions with the Muslims of Mecca. They showed a unique attitude which is the best example of support on the basis of brotherhood in religion.
....However, both the helpers (ansar) and the immigrants of Mecca (muhajirun) were sad, sorrowful, and weeping.
....The reason for this was that Hazrat Muhammad, whom they loved more than themselves, was still in Mecca, living among his enemies.