In the early days, the dawah was not a 'secret' dawah.

The better word to use is

that it was a private dawah. Private means you kept it to yourself but it was a
n open secret. When he started preaching Islam, rumours spread and the people he
ard about it - this is proven from the fact that Amar came all the way from Yeme
n. And of course we know when he went to Mecca, the prophet PBUH said "its too e
arly - don't accept Islam now. When you hear I am victorious then come back to m
e". Thus in the early stages teh prophet PBUH only preached privately. Thus ther
e can be no public oppisiton. Therefore for three years, the prophet PBUH did no
t preach to the masses. He didn't preach to the pilgrims, or the visitors of Mec
ca, or even his own relatives. So i.e. Abu Lahab, Abu Jahal were not approached.
So for three years the dawah is private. Of course Abu Lahab, Abu Jahal etc hea
rd about this new theology that is being preached but they couldn't do anything
because the prophet PBUH is not doing it in public. He isn't affecting the trade
of Mecca, nor standing and preaching aloud. This in these 3 years there was no
oppisition. So, why was this dawah private? There were several reasons and wisdo
ms.
The central reason was that this private dawah did not result in any conflicts b
etween the muslims and the Quraysh. No toture, ridicule etc. If someone reverts
to Islam, its not a public announcement - just his own business. So these first
three years, no persecution etc. In fact, this is what prepared them to face the
toture later on. It also shows, in some circumstances its permissable to give d
awah in private. If the political stance is one of fear, you don't have to be pu
blic. Many cases i.e. when communism took over, they would kill people who say t
hey were muslim. Our Islam does not demand you be public if there is a fear of p
ersecution.
Also notice every single revert at this early stage becomes a leader and figureh
ead. Note the bulk of the sahaba we don't even know their name - there are certa
inly over 100,000 and we only know around 5000. And of these its only a handful
we have their full stories, and most of them were the early converts or the ansa
r. This shows the early converts iman were so powerful they went on to become gr
eat.
Most of the converts at this early stage were from the lower class - Amar ibn Ya
sir, Bilal RA etc. This is the general rule. It is so much of a rule that Heracu
lus, the first time the prophet PBUH wrote him a letter; he quizzed Abu Suffyan
10 questions - one of those questions was "who are his converts? the rich or the
weak?". He said "the poor". Heraclius then said "this is the sign of the true f
aith - it dosent appeal to the rich or elite whereas the poor accept and underst
and the message". We even see this for the people of Musa - in the beginning the
y were lower class but in the end they become victorious. Indeed the Bani Isreal
, they eventually became the leaders even though they were persecuted.
So the early stage of dawah there was no persecution, it was a stage to allow im
an to build, allow a brotherhood a form and thus there was no conflicts. Also, a
t this stage there was prayer and wudu (though this was optional). Jibraeel AS t
aught hte prophet PBUH how to do wudu and how to pray though at this stage it wa
s optional - it was made compulsary on the night journey when the five prayers w
ere set. Also in this early stage all the prayers were two raka'at.
The stages of dawah are five, each is a legitimate stage for any muslim communit
y:
1. Private dawah - let the public status quo remain. This was the first 3 years.
2. Just preaching with the toungue and no military action. Even if they harm you
, the command was not to retalitate. This was 10 years of dawah for the prophet
PBUH. To the extent of multiple killings and multiple assasination attempts. Eve
n if they kill one of us, we cannot touch one of theirs.

3. Dawah with the toungue along with physical fighting. The muslims thus fought
only the Quraysh of Mecca - no other tribe. This happened for the first 6 years
after the hijrah. So open dawah along with military confrontation.
4. Open dawah to all with honour - you have political power but you only attack
in defence if you need to. You don't utilise it for military power. This happene
d in the Madinah stage after the treaty of Hudaibiyah after the conquest of Mecc
a. One of the conditions was no fighting - even though he had the power and army
. This was one of the biggest victory of Islam as Allah says "We have given you
the biggest victory". Of course Umar RA didn't understand but later he saw with
his own eyes.
5. Open dawah along with physical confrontation to anyone who opposes Islam. Thi
s was stage the prophet PBUH passed away upon. That he was sending out armies to
i.e. the Romans etc. And the sahaba continued on this stage which is why they t
ook over nearly the whole world. They conquered Persia, most of the Roman empire
, Egypt, North Africa. The Ummayads continued and conquered Afghanistan, Pakista
n etc and they went all the way to China. Until finally in the mid stage of the
Abbas empire, they decided to go back to the fourth stage. For the bulk of the u
mmah when there was a khalifah, we were on the fourth stage. Thus military polic
y wasn't apart of Islam - we just utilised in the best way possible. In these ti
mes, we just preach the dawah using the best of speech - no military or physical
action.
We move on now to the second stage which is open preaching with no public confli
ct from muslim side. So open preaching without any command for warfare. This ope
n preaching took place three years after Iqra came down. Allah revelaed many ver
ses which commanded the prophet PBUH to preach openly. Surah Hijr verse 94 "Dont
hide, go forth and proclaim what We have commanded you, and turn away from the
ignorant people". Then a verse came down even more explicit: "And warn your clos
e relatives (thus this referred to the Quraysh and all those people of Mecca who
were his kinship thus the prophet PBUH realised he needed to go public)"
So after recieving this revelation, the first thing the prophet PBUH did was pre
ach to his own subtribe, the Banu Hashim. Recall the people of Mecca were all Qu
raysh. So the prophet PBUH invited his immediate tribe - his immediate uncles an
d aunts, and he invited them to his own house and told Ali ibn Abu Talib to prep
are food and soup and invited over 40 of the adults, and the narrator says "even
though the food was in one plate, all 40 ate to there full as if they ate from
the plate themselves. And they drank soup to the full as if they drank from the
one cup alone". And Abu Lahab was scared the prophet PBUH would make public what
was now private. So before they finished eating, Abu Lahab gave an excuse and s
aid he needs to leave - of course he was a senior, so when he left, it destoryed
the aura that was being created and a number of others also left with him. The
prophet PBUH understood this was a tactic of Abu Lahab. And he did this again a
few days later when the prophet PBUH invited him again. Eventually the prophet P
BUH got the audience and he said "Oh my fellow tribesman, I do not know of any a
rab before me who is coming to his people with a message that is better than wha
t I am coming to you with. I am coming as a messenger from Allah that if you lea
ve idols, Allah will give you all the good of this world and the Jannah in the n
ext etc". This was the first time he preached aloud publically. This was the fir
st time it reached them - Abu Lahab became irratated at this and said to the peo
ple around the prophet PBUH "this seems to be an unworthy message, we have our w
ay of our forefathers and who does this young man think he is to oppose our ways
". Abu Lahab was the only one that was harsh, and Ali RA stood up and said "I wi
ll help you". And of course there is no suprise in Ali RA being this brave. At t
his point, his immediate relatives did not accept or reject.
A few days/weeks later, soon after this, this was when the prophet PBUH went pub

lic to the whole city of Mecca. Reported in Bukhari: the prophet PBUH climbed th
e mountain of Saffat which was the closest mountain to the ka'bah. And it was mu
ch taller than it is now. So for a person in Mecca to climb to the top of Saffat
this was the equivalent of "I have an announcement to make". So the prophet PBU
H climbed all the way to the top of Saffat and he began calling the people. WE h
ave to realise Mecca only had arouind 1000 people - there were small small house
s and villages. So when the prophet PBUH was calling all the tribes, everyone ca
me. People stopped doing what they were doing and they came and listened. The pr
ophet PBUH waited for everyone to assemble and then he said "If I were to inform
you about something, do you trust me?" And they said "we know nothing of good o
f you, you never lie etc". And the prophet PBUH said "If I were to tell you ther
e was an army coming to attack, would you believe me without any checking just w
ith my word?" And they said "Yes, we never heard you ever say a lie". So here is
when the prophet PBUH said "Know therefore I am a warener sent by Allah, to pro
claim the coming of a severe punishment on the day of Judgement except if turn t
o Allah and leave your idols. Oh tribe of Ka'ab, save yourself from the fire of
hell etc." He began with the furthest tribe that were related to him, and got cl
oser and closer to his tribe "Oh Banu Hashim" and then he began mentioning his u
ncles by name. "Oh Humza ibn Adbul Muttalib" etc. And he concluded with the pers
on the most "you need to save yourselves, I cannot benefit you or save you from
day of Judgement". And with Fatimah he added "except that in this world I will g
ive what you want, but in the hereafter I cannot save you". So when the prophet
PBUH finished this very emotional message, this is when Abu Lahab stood up, pick
ed up some sand and through it in the direction of the prophet PBUH. This is a t
radition to show vulgarity and say "what is this - it's not even worth this sand
I am throwing". Its a sign of great arrogance and he and said "may you be curse
d O Muhammad - is this why you called us here?". And this is when Allah revealed
in Quran surah 110. Abu Lahab was the first person to publically oppose and rid
icule the message, that in the house of the prophet PBUH he wasn't that rude. Bu
t now in public, because of his arrogance and rudeness he publically opposed the
prophet PBUH in a vulgar manner. And thus Allah revealed surah 110. This is of
course the sunnah of the prophets - never has a messenger been sent except he ha
s to face many struggles and harships that their own people reject them.
Of the benefits we gain here is that every single person needs to be responsible
for his immediate family, and then mankind at large. Indeed, initially the prop
het PBUH is told preach to your relatives. So much so when a yemeni comes to him
he refuses him. So the responsibility of a da'ee is much more for his immediate
family than anyone else. Indeed the prophet PBUH told his closest relatives, th
en Banu Hashim, then the people of Mecca etc. After this event, the prophet PBUH
started preaching everywhere. In public venues, in front of the ka'bah, when vi
sitors came to Mecca - the prophet PBUH would be waiting for them. He spoke to p
eople in the marketplace etc. How did the people oppose this message? In many wa
ys. Note these aren't necesserily cronological.
The first thing is that they tried to appeal to the highest authority which was
Abu Talib. Recall there is no one ruler in Mecca. They were too arrogant to appo
int one ruler - what they did have was a darun-najwa. A group of senior people n
one of whom was in charge but had a big say in the matters of the community. Who
were these people? They were the representatives of each of the subtribes of Me
cca. The Banu Hashim has a ruler, the Banu Makhzum, Banu Abd Manaf etc. The affa
irs of that one tribe will be in accordance with what each chiefton said. The le
ader of Banu Hashim was of course Abu Talib. Its the way of the arabs the leader
of each tribe is never opposed, disobeyed etc. He is given the utmost respect a
nd further when he dies, one of his sons took over (just like when Abdul Muttali
b died, Abu Talib took over). So when the prophet PBUH started preaching they we
nt to Abu Talib, gently, and said "Oh Abu Talib this is your nephew cursing our
idols, preaching a new message, surely you cannot let this happen?". Abu Talib d
id not want confrontation, he gave them some gentle words and let them go their
away. He simply side tracked hoping the matter would go away. But it didn't. As

more and more people convert to Islam, as more and more visitors go away knowing
about the prophet PBUH, they increase the pressure on Abu Talib. They try to th
reatan and bribe him "we cannot take this anymore - your nephew is insulting our
forefathers". This is ridiculous - the prophet PBUH never cursed their forefath
ers. He is preaching tawheed, but they make a true statement and exemplify it tw
enty times. The prophet PBUH never cursed their idols, Allah says "do not curse
their false idols" and yet the accused him of doing this. So they go back to Abu
Talib and told him "your nephew is doing this and that etc... we cannot bear th
is anymore - you stop him from preaching or you hand him over to us". And Abu Ta
lib had never been confronted by his people in this manner. Realise, every leade
r is outwardely powerful but inside weak - because every leader has to appease h
is people. Even if you are a tyrant you have to have a core group of people that
you give them anything they want and overlook any small mishaps. It's only Alla
h who is truly the King. Every other king is dependant on people around them. So
when your own people opposes you, Abu Talib never experianced this. Once again,
they could not harm on their own tribesmen unless the chief allows it - this is
the law of the arabs; if they did not obey it, they would face shame and ridicu
le. So as long as Abu Talib did not hand over the prophet PBUH they could not do
anything. So they go to Abu Talib and demand one of those two things.
This is when he went to the prophet PBUH and said to him "Oh my nephew, my peopl
e have come to me and said such and such, so be merciful for yourself and also m
e, do not place me on a situation I cannot bear". This is emotional blackmail at
its best - this was on the most difficult encounters for the prophet PBUH. Abu
Talib loved the prophet PBUH so much, more than his own children, and remember A
bu Talib is the prophet PBUH's real blood uncle - and the prophet PBUH had the s
ame type of love for Abu Talib, like a father. And hear Abu Talib is begging and
pleading with the prophet PBUH - that "have some mercy on me, I am an old man,
how much can I bear?" Here is when the prophet PBUH said "Oh my uncle, by Allah
even if they me give the sun in my right hand, and the moon in my left hand, I c
annot give up this message until I succeed what I am doing or die in this path".
In another version he said to his uncle "do you see the sun? By Allah I cannot
stop preaching this message no more than you can light your stick with the sun".
Here the prophet PBUH is saying the light of Islam is greater than the sun and
moon. Further the prophet PBUH is saying even if they were to give me something
beyond this world, I cannot stop what I am doing. When Abu Talib saw this persis
tance and saw the sincerity, he said "By Allah I will not come back here and sto
p you - continue preaching this message".
When the people heard that he tried and failed, they went back to Abu Talib, but
this time with the whole delegation of the Quraysh. So not just Banu Hashim but
all the tribes. This is the stepping stone - the next step of course is the boy
cott. So for now they say to him "we have a propisition - we have chosen the mos
t noble young man, the son of Al Waleed ibn Mughira, and one son for one son. We
'll have over Al Umara to you, and he will become your son, and in return you ha
nd over your nephew to us". At this Abu Talib became very angry and said "What a
evil, treahorous bargain - what kind of foolish bargain is this? I take care of
yours and you kill mine?" At this Mut'im ibn 'Adi stood up and said "Oh Abu Tal
ib I think your people has done as much as they humanly can. You must accept one
of their offers". This is the senior most person who is the most reserved speak
ing now - he was the one recall that prevented the bloodshed in the ka'bah by su
ggesting the solution to the black stone (i.e. whoever walks in first). This is
that senior most person, the least hostile and the most sense. So for him to tak
e sides, this was a big deal. Now it's literally the whole of Mecca against Abu
Talib. He said "what more do you expect him to do?" The prophet PBUH later on sa
id about Mut'im one of the highest praises to a pagan after the battle of Badr:
"If Mut'im ibn 'Adi were alive right now, and he said to be one word about these
72 prisoners, I would have freed them all for his sake". Notice Mut'im ibn 'Adi
did alot for Islam even though he wasn't muslim. Even though he is taking sides
now, this is probably the worst thing he did - over the next 10 years we'll see

he did alot of positives for the muslims. And because

praised him. This shows us there are some kaafirs that
ood heart. So you don't treat all non muslims the same
ims who stand for human rights etc. We should help and
het PBUH did about Mut'im ibn 'Adi.

of this the prophet PBUH

every good with alot of g
- there are many non musl
praise them like the prop

So Mut'im ibn 'Adi told Abu Talib "take one of these options and come on, move o
n - what else do you want us to do?" This was again literally Abu Talib vs the w
hole of Mecca. The next stage is one of two things - they would have told Abu Ta
lib you are no longer our leader; which is the first time a tribal leader had ev
er been replaced in the history. This is unheard of in the arabs because this is
your senior most blood relative. So Abu Talib takes on a bravery that is unbeli
evable. He says to Mut'im ibn 'Adi directly "Oh Mut'im this is a plot that you h
ave hatched, to stand up at this time and publicaly take sides, you had this pla
nned from before". Then he says "do as you please, I will not budge from my posi
tion". This was genuine bravery. He had no support whatsoever - its literally hi
s honour and prestigue against the whole of Mecca. He also wrote some poetry; no
te Abu Talib was one of the greatest poets of the Quraysh. And his poetry is abs
olutely phenomenal. In fact, Ibn Hajir and many others say his poetry was more p
rofound and even better than the 7 'hanging poems' in the ka'bah. And so he comp
osed a series of poems chastising his own relatives. And accusing them of being
traiters to their own way of lives. And Allah willed that the Quraysh backed dow
n even though Abu Talib had literally no power on his side. But it was the sense
of dignity and sincerity and the strength of conviction that allowed him to win
. In this one incident, we open up the window to see the wisdom of Abu Talib. In
deed, the prophet PBUH did not love anyone more than Abu Talib. And yet he did n
ot convert to Islam. When the prophet PBUH begged and pleaded with him... even o
n his deathbed when the prophet PBUH was 53 years old. The prophet PBUH begs wit
h him "I beg you say one khalima and I will be able to argue in front of Allah t
o save you". And Abu Talib was about to say it because in his heart he knew this
was true. He had seen too many signs and miracles, and he knew the prophet PBUH
too well that he couldn't tell a lie. But there was one thing more precious tha
n his nephew, and that was his father. The lineage and prestigue "you are the so
n of Abdul Muttalib". This lineage which was everything for the arabs - he happe
ned to be the son of the most famous arabs of the generation, this giant of a fi
gure. And Abu Talib was just about to say the khalima when Abu Jahal said "are y
ou going to leave the religion of your father?". Thats when the angel of Death c
ame and took his soul away - but the prophet PBUH was so emotionally moved, he s
aid "I will ask Allah to forgive you even if I don't permission". Realise for a
prophet, you cannot do anything without permission of Allah - thats everything,
and so the prophet PBUH would not do anything unless Allah told him. But here hi
s emotions were so high, the prophet PBUH continued to ask forgiveness without p
ermission for his uncle until Allah revealed mutlitple verses in the Quran. One
such is "It's not befitting for a prophet and his believers to ask forgiveness f
or a pagan even if they are close relatives". And "You are not able to guide tho
se whom you love, but Allah guides those whom He pleases".
This is the phenomenan of Abu Talib. Why? This is the prophet PBUH - the one who
Abu Talib loves more than anyone else. So much so, when the muslims conquered M
ecca when Abu Bukr comes to the prophet PBUH with his own father being carried b
y the people, and his father Abu Qahafa is a pagan and enemy to Islam, finally a
s an old man of 80 years old he accepts Islam. And Abu Qahafa puts his hand on t
he prophet PBUH's and recites the khalma. But even still Abu Bukr says "By Allah
what I would give even my fathers hand if I could see the hand of Abu Talib in
your hand to accept Islam" - he is willing to give up his own fathers hand. He k
new how much the prophet PBUH loves Abu Talib. So why? Why didnt Allah allow it?
! We see the wisdom because the one person who could have protected him HAD to r
emain a pagan. IF he converted immediately he would have lose the leadership, st
atus and protection he offered. So Allah knows best. The prophet PBUH needed Abu
Talib - and his one claim to power and fame was that he was the son of Abdul Mu

ttalib. It was only after the death of Abu Talib when Abu Lahab took charge that
the prophet PBUH left Mecca. And also the wisdom here is that nobody can dictat
e to Allah not even the prophet PBUH. This is clear indication that the prophet
PBUH is just a human - he does not control the lives of anyone, including his ow
n uncle. Allah says "You cannot guide someone just because you want, We guide wh
o We choose". Even in his first khutbah the prophet PBUH told his own daughter h
e won't be able to protect here.
Notice aswell we see the four uncles of the prophet PBUH - all of them children
of Abdul Muttalib. And notice how each of them occupies such a different level.
All of them direct uncles:
1. The highest of them is Humza - the leader of the Shuhada.
2. Abbas, the father of Abdullah ibn Abbas - a great muslim who convrted later o
n but he cannot be compared to Humza in the slightest.
3. Abu Talib - the highest person ever amongst the non muslims. No non muslim oc
cupies a rank higher than him. And Al Abbas asked the prophet PBUH "Oh messenger
, you uncle benefited you so much weren't you able to benefit him back?" And the
prophet PBUH said "yes, because of my dua for him, Abu Talib has been removed t
o one of the outlying perimeters of the hell". In another version we read Abu Ta
lib has the least punishment in Hell, but he did not get to Jannah because he is
an idol worshipper.
4. Abu Lahab - for whom Allah revealed a surah just for him. The one person who
is cursed by name. No other name of enemies of Islam at that time. The one, dire
ct reference is the uncle of the prophet PBUH, Abu Lahab.
Four people, all sons of the same father, and all uncles of the greatest to live
. All of this to show your fathers and uncles and sons will not help you. This i
s the basic message the prophet PBUH said "nobody can help you against the punis
hment of Allah - you must save yourself".