The Path of the Prophet

Unswerving Obedience Towards the end of the Prophet’s life, the fertile regions bordering pre-Islamic Arabia were controlled by the two great imperial powers of the day—the Sassanians and the Byzantines. To the north lay the emirates of Basra and Ghasasina and the Roman province of Petraea, ruled by Arab chieftains. Roman influence there had led most of the inhabitants to embrace Christianity. To the south and northeast were the emirates of Bahrayn, Yamamah, Yemen and Oman, the last known as the Mazun province. These states were under the Persian (Sassanian) Empire, and the religion of their Persian masters—Zoroastrianism—had spread among their peoples. In A.H. 6 (A.D. 628), the Prophet made a ten-year truce with the Quraysh at Hudaybiyyah. Then, with peace on the home front, he sent letters to the rulers of the territories surrounding Arabia, inviting them to accept Islam. The Prophet’s envoy took one such letter, Shuja’ ibn Wahb al-Asadi, to al-Harith ibn Abu Shimr of Ghasasina. The words in the letter, “have faith in God; you will retain your sovereignty”, incensed the Arab chieftain. He threw the letter aside, saying: “Who can take away my kingdom?” The ruler of Basra, Shurahbil ibn ‘Amr Ghassani, proved even more contemptuous. The Prophet sent Harith ibn ‘Umayr with a letter to this Roman governor. On the Syrian border, he entered the town of Mu’tah and was killed there by an Arab, acting at the governor’s behest.