00:00Abu Sufyan bin Harb informed me that Heraclius had sent a messenger to him while he had been
00:07accompanying a caravan from Quraysh. They were merchants doing business in Sham, Syria, Palestine,
00:14Lebanon, and Jordan, at the time when Allah's messenger, Sallallahu Alaihi Wasallam, had truce
00:19with Abu Sufyan and Quraysh infidels. So Abu Sufyan and his companions went to Heraclius
00:25at Iliah, Jerusalem. Heraclius called them in the court, and he had all the senior Roman dignitaries
00:32around him. He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius' question, sent to them,
00:37Who amongst you is closely related to that man who claims to be a prophet? Abu Sufyan replied,
00:43I am the nearest relative to him, amongst the group. Heraclius said, Bring him Abu Sufyan close
00:49to me and make his companions stand behind him. Abu Sufyan added, Heraclius told his
00:55translator to tell my companions that he wanted to put some questions to me regarding that man,
01:00the prophet, and that if I told a lie, they, my companions, should contradict me. Abu Sufyan
01:05added, By Allah, had I not been afraid of my companions labeling me a liar, I would not have
01:10spoken the truth about the prophet. The first question he asked me about him was, What is his
01:15family status amongst you? I replied, He belongs to a good, noble family amongst us. Heraclius further
01:23asked, Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same, i.e. to be a prophet, before him? I replied,
01:30No. He said, Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king? I replied, No. Heraclius asked, Do the nobles
01:38or the poor follow him? I replied, It is the poor who follow him. He said, Are his followers increasing,
01:45decreasing day by day? I replied, They are increasing. He then asked, Does anybody amongst those who embrace
01:52his religion become displeased and renounce the religion afterwards? I replied, No. Heraclius
01:58said, Have you ever accused him of telling lies before his claim to be a prophet? I replied, No.
02:04Heraclius said, Does he break his promises? I replied, No. We are at truce with him, but we do
02:11not know what he will do in it. I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that.
02:17Heraclius asked, Have you ever had a war with him? I replied, Yes. Then he said, What was the outcome
02:23of the battles? I replied, Sometimes he was victorious, and sometimes we. Heraclius said,
02:29What does he order you to do? I said, He tells us to worship Allah and Allah alone, and not
02:35to worship
02:35anything along with him, and to renounce all that our ancestors had said. He orders us to pray,
02:41to speak the truth, to be chaste, and to keep good relations with our kith and kin. Heraclius
02:47asked the translator to convey to me the following. I asked you about his family, and your reply was
02:52that he belonged to a very noble family. In fact, all the apostles come from noble families amongst
02:57their respective peoples. I questioned you whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing.
03:02Your reply was in the negative. If the answer had been in the affirmative, I would have thought
03:07that this man was following the previous man's statement. Then I asked you whether any one of
03:12his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the negative. And if it had been in the affirmative,
03:17I would have thought that this man wanted to take back his ancestral kingdom. I further asked whether
03:22he was ever accused of telling lies before he said what he said, and your reply was in the negative.
03:28So I wondered how a person who does not tell a lie about others could ever tell a lie about
03:33Allah.
03:33Allah. I then asked you whether the rich people followed him or the poor. You replied that it
03:39was the poor who followed him. And in fact, all the apostles have been followed by this very class
03:44of people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or decreasing. You replied that they
03:49were increasing, and in fact, this is the way of true faith till it is complete in all respects.
03:55I further asked you whether there was anybody who, after embracing his religion,
03:59became displeased and discarded his religion. Your reply was in the negative, and in fact,
04:05this is the sign of true faith, when its delight enters the hearts and mixes with them completely.
04:10I asked you whether he had ever betrayed. You replied in the negative, and likewise,
04:15the apostles never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered you to do. You replied that he ordered you
04:20to worship Allah and Allah alone, and not to worship anything along with him, and forbade you to
04:26worship idols, and ordered you to pray, to speak the truth, and to be chaste. If what you have said
04:31is true, he will very soon occupy this place underneath my feet. And I knew it, from the
04:36scriptures, that he was going to appear, but I did not know that he would be from you. And if
04:41I could
04:41reach him definitely, I would go immediately to meet him, and if I were with him, I would certainly
04:46wash his feet. Heraclius then asked for the letter, addressed by Allah's apostle, which was delivered
04:51by Dithya to the governor of Busra, who forwarded it to Heraclius to read. The contents of the letter
04:57were as follows. In the name of Allah, the beneficent, the merciful. This letter is from
05:03Muhammad, the slave of Allah, and his apostle, to Heraclius, the ruler of Byzantine. Peace be upon
05:09him, who follows the right path. Furthermore, I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim,
05:15you will be safe, and Allah will double your reward. And if you reject this invitation of Islam,
05:20you will be committing a sin of Orisian, tillers, farmers, i.e. your people. And Allah's statement,
05:27O people of the scripture, come to a word common to you and us, that we worship none but Allah,
05:32and that we associate nothing in worship with him, and that none of us shall take others as
05:36lords beside Allah. Then, if they turn away, say, bear witness that we are Muslims, those who have
05:42surrendered to Allah. Abu Sufyan then added, when Heraclius had finished his speech, and had read the
05:48letter, there was a great hue and cry in the royal court. So we were turned out of the court.
05:55I told my companions that the question of Ibn Abi Qabshah, the Prophet peace be upon him Muhammad,
06:00has become so prominent, that even the king of Bani al-Asfar, Byzantine, is afraid of him.
06:06Then I started to become sure that he, the Prophet, would be the conqueror in the near future,
06:11till I embraced Islam, i.e. Allah guided me to it. The sub-narrator adds,
06:18Ibn An-Natur was the governor of Ilya, Jerusalem, and Heraclius was the head of the Christians of
06:23Shem. Ibn An-Natur narrates that once while Heraclius was visiting Ilya, Jerusalem, he got up
06:30in the morning with a sad mood. Some of his priests asked him why he was in that mood.
06:36Heraclius was a foreteller and an astrologer. He replied,
06:39At night when I looked at the stars, I saw that the leader of those who practice circumcision had
06:44appeared. Become the conqueror. Who are they who practice circumcision?
06:48The people replied, Except the Jews nobody practices circumcision,
06:52so you should not be afraid of them, Jews. Just issue orders to kill every Jew present in the
06:58country. While they were discussing it, a messenger sent by the king of Ghassan,
07:02to convey the news of Allah's messenger, peace be upon him, to Heraclius was brought in.
07:07Having heard the news, he, Heraclius, ordered the people to go and see whether the messenger of Ghassan
07:13was circumcised. The people, after seeing him, told Heraclius that he was circumcised.
07:19Heraclius then asked him about the Arabs. The messenger replied, Arabs also practice circumcision.
07:25After hearing that, Heraclius remarked that sovereignty of the Arabs had appeared.
07:30Heraclius then wrote a letter to his friend in Rome, who was as good as Heraclius in knowledge.
07:36Heraclius then left for Homs, a town in Syria, and stayed there till he received the reply of
07:41his letter from his friend, who agreed with him in his opinion about the emergence of the prophet,
07:46peace be upon him, and the fact that he was a prophet. On that Heraclius invited all the heads
07:51of the Byzantines to assemble at his palace at Homs. When they assembled, he ordered that all the
07:56doors of his palace be closed. Then he came out and said, O Byzantines, if success is your desire,
08:02and if you seek right guidance, and want your empire to remain, then give a pledge of allegiance
08:07to this prophet, i.e. embrace Islam. On hearing the views of Heraclius, the people ran towards the
08:13gates of the palace like onagers, but found the doors closed. Heraclius realized their hatred towards
08:19Islam, and when he lost the hope of their embracing Islam, he ordered that they should be brought back in
08:24audience. When they returned, he said, what I already said was just to test the strength of
08:29your conviction, and I have seen it. The people prostrated before him, and became pleased with
08:34him. And this was the end of Heraclius' story, in connection with his faith.
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