Turning Towards Mecca

The two lights that met on Mount Nur had left one another having promised to meet often, and the Messenger of Allah had directed himself towards Mecca with the news he had been given. He was bent in two with the heavy mission he had taken on and was excited to the point of rapture with the union he had experienced in Hira. His whole body was taken over by the weight of revelation. He then heard a voice echo in the heavens: “O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel!”

When he lifted his gracious head up at the sky he could see Gabriel in all his majesty and he was repeating the same thing: “O Muhammad! You are the Messenger of Allah, and I am Gabriel!”

It seemed as if the Messenger of Allah was nailed down to where he was; he could neither put a step forward, nor could he return. After waiting for a while in that position, he started to move his head. What did he see? Wherever he turned he saw the same thing! Gabriel had enveloped the whole sky.

In the meantime, Khadija was worried because his return was delayed and she had sent his men after him to bring her his news. Because they knew that he went to MountHira, that’s where they went, but they could not find him there.

Then the long hours of surprise and worry came to an end and the Messenger of Allah turned towards Mecca. As he walked, he heard voices on the way saying: “Let the peace of Allah be upon you O Messenger of Allah.”

He turned to where these voices were coming from but he could not see anyone. Before long, he understood that the trees and the rocks that he came upon were saluting him and bearing witness to his Prophethood.

He returned home in excitement and said: “Cover me, cover me!” asking his devoted wife to cover him.

He then put his blessed head on the knees of our mother Khadija. She was watching the events unfold and she said affectionately:

“O Abu’l-Qasim (O Father of Qasim)! Where were you? I swear I sent my men after you, they did not leave a stone unturned in Mecca, but they could not return with news of you!” thus making her affection known to him. The Pride of Humankind said: “I am afraid of myself Khadija! I am afraid of harm,” and his wife once again took word to soothe him: “Never fear or despair! Allah will not abandon you, He will keep you,” she said first, and then added: “For you always care about your relatives, hold the hand of the afflicted and clothe those in need. You always have guests at your house, with all your actions you are always after Truth and you are someone who has devoted himself completely to the path of good.”

How could He leave alone someone who was doing His job of filling the moral vacuum that might appear in a society! With this attitude, Khadija was presenting a stance that can be a model for all Muslim women; she was presenting a model that put good deeds above everything else. How could He leave alone those who had persevered themselves in difficult days?

Before long, the Messenger of Allah told her what had happened first. Khadija, a woman of experience, resoluteness and patience would confer all her worries and deeds to Allah and so she was very calm. She knew that a trustworthy person such as her husband, whom everyone sought advice from, was not himself without a protector. She presented the resoluteness that was expected of her and supported the Great Stature with whom the universe is proud, by saying: “Rejoice, O son of my uncle! Be resolute and steadfast where you are! I swear by He who holds Khadija’s life in His hand that you are the Messenger that this people wait for.”

For her, this was the expected conclusion, and so with faith she bore witness to the truth of what he had come with right there! Then she covered the Messenger of Allah and left him alone in their house with the Gracious Lord, to go knock on another wise door.