The Prophet in Makkah

THE PROPHET IN MAKKAH they asked the Prophet what he wanted from them. “Just one thing,” the Prophet replied. “If you accept it, you will become lords over the Arabs. Even the non-Arabs will capitulate to you.”105 Monotheism is more than just a doctrine. It is the secret of all forms of human success. To believe in one God is to give true expression to human nature. That is why this faith lodges itself in the depths of the human psyche. It even finds a place in the hearts of one’s enemies. Khalid ibn al-Walid became a Muslim just before the conquest of Makkah, but he had been conscious for quite sometime before that of the truth of the message of Islam. Later, he told of his early conviction that Muhammad, not the Quraysh, was in the right and that he should join forces with the Prophet of Islam. “I participated in every battle against Muhammad,” he said. “But there was not one battle from which I did not go away with the feeling that I was fighting on the wrong side.”106 Many people are reported to have had inclinations towards Islam long before they accepted the faith. Some even had dreams about Islam. One such person was Khalid ibn Sa’id ibn al-’As. Finally, he saw himself in a dream standing on the edge of an enormous fire pit. Someone was trying to push him in. Then the Prophet Muhammad came and rescued him from the pit of doom. Difficult though it may be to see the economic connection in missionary work, there is an indirect link of the