THE CHALLENGE OF THE QUR’AN

The Challenge of The Qur’an ~ 293 ~ come from the nobility, they were destined to become just as helpless as the Prophet was. The Islamic mission went on, however, irrespective of the obstacles placed in its path. But a time came when circumstances became so critical that the Prophet and his companions were forced to leave their home town, Makkah. These neo-converts were already defenceless and almost without resources, but their situation became even worse when they emigrated to Madinah, for whatever their meagre possessions, they had all to be left behind in Makkah. The helpless state in which they reached Madinah can be imagined form the fact that some of the emigrants did not even have so much as a roof over their heads. They had to live out in the open with only a curtain stretched above their heads to make a kind of shed. Because of this they were known as ‘the companions of the shed.’ The number of those who lived in this shed from time to time has been placed at four hundred. Abu Huraira, one of their members said he had seen seventy of them together. All they owned was one piece of coarse cloth, which they wore from neck to knee. He himself was reduced to a pitiable state during