The story of Heraclius’ encounter with Islam

All perfect praise is due to Allaah; I testify that there is none
worthy of worship except Allaah and thatMuhammadis His Slave and
Messenger;as well as his family and all his companions.
'Abdullaah ibn 'Abbaas,narrated:"Abu Sufyaan ibn Harb informed me that
Heraclius had sent a messenger to him while he had been accompanying a
caravan from Quraysh. He was part of a delegation of merchants doing
business in Sham )i.e., Syria, Palestine, Lebanon and Jordan( at the
time, and this was when Allaah's Apostle had a ceasefire with Abu
Sufyaan and the rest of the Qurayshi infidels. So Abu Sufyaan and his
companions went to Heraclius at Jerusalem. Heraclius called them into
his court while having all the senior Roman dignitaries around him...
Note: Heraclius had received a message from the
Prophetsallallaahu'alayhi wa sallaminviting him to Islam, and so he
wanted to ask his own people about him.
... He called for his translator who, translating Heraclius's
question, said to them: 'Who amongst you is closely related to the man
who claims to be a Prophet?' Abu Sufyaan replied: 'I am the nearest
relative to him )in the group(.' Heraclius said: 'Bring him )i.e., Abu
Sufyaan( close to me and make his companions stand behind him.' Abu
Sufyaan added: 'Heraclius told his translator to tell my companions
that he wanted to ask me some questions regarding that man )i.e., the
Prophet( and that if I told a lie they )my companions( should oppose
me.'
This meant that ifAbuSufyaanlied, his companions would have
immediately indicated so.
AbuSufyaanadded: 'I swear by Allaah! Had I not been afraid of my
companions labelling me as a liar, I would not have spoken the truth
about the Prophet. The first question he asked me about him was: 'What
is his family status amongst you?'
I replied: 'He belongs to a noble family amongst us.'
Heracliusasked: 'Has anybody amongst you ever claimed the same )i.e.
to be a Prophet( before him?'
I replied: 'No.'
He asked: 'Was anybody amongst his ancestors a king?'
I replied: 'No.'
Heracliusasked: 'Do the nobles or the poor follow him?'
I replied: 'It is the poor who follow him.'
He asked: 'Are his followers increasing or decreasing )day by day(?'
I replied: 'They are increasing.'
He then asked: 'Does anybody amongst those who embrace his religion
become displeased and renounce the religion?'
I replied: 'No.'
Heracliusasked: 'Have you ever accused him of lying before his claim
)to be a Prophet(?'
I replied: 'No. '
Heracliusasked: 'Does he break his promises?'
I replied: 'No. We have a treaty with him but we do not know what he
will do during it.'
He was referring to theHudaybiyyahtreaty.
I added: 'I could not find opportunity to say anything against him except that.'
Note:AbuSufyaanwas looking for the opportunity to say anything evil
about the Prophetsallallaahu'alayhi wa sallambut could not find any,
and so this was the only thing he could have said in a negative
manner.
Heracliusasked: 'Have you ever been at war with him?'
I replied: 'Yes.'
Then, he asked: 'What was the outcome of the battles?'
I replied: 'Sometimes he was victorious, while at other times it was us.'
Heracliusasked: 'What does he order you to do?'
I replied: 'He tells us to worship Allaah alone and not to worship
anything along with Him, and to renounce all that our ancestors have
said. He orders us to pray, to pay alms, to speak the truth, to be
chaste and to keep good relations with our kith and kin.'
Heracliusasked the translator to convey to me the following: 'I asked
you about his family and your reply was that he belonged to a very
noble family. The fact is that all messengers )of Allaah( come from
noble families amongst their respective peoples. I questioned you
whether anybody else amongst you claimed such a thing )i.e.,
prophethood(, your reply was in the negative. Had the answer been in
the affirmative, I would have thought that this man )i.e., the
Prophet( was following the previous man's statements. Then I asked you
whether anyone of his ancestors was a king. Your reply was in the
negative; had it been in the affirmative, I would have thought that
this man wished to regain his ancestral kingdom.
I further asked whether he was ever accused of telling lies before he
said what he is now saying, and your reply was in the negative. I
therefore came to the conclusion that he would not refrain from lying
to people and then tell lies about Allaah. I then asked you whether
the rich or poor follow him, and you replied that it is the poor; in
fact, all the messengers have been followed by this very class of
people. Then I asked you whether his followers were increasing or
decreasing, and your reply was that they were increasing, and this is
the characteristic of true faith, until it is complete in all
respects. I further asked you whether there was anybody, who, after
embracing his religion, became displeased and discarded it. Your reply
was in the negative, and in fact this is the sign of true faith when
its delight enters the hearts and blends completely in them. I asked
you whether he has ever betrayed. You replied in the negative, and
likewise, messengers never betray. Then I asked you what he ordered
you to do. You replied that he ordered you to worship Allaah alone and
not worship anything along with Him, and that he forbade you from
worshipping idols, and that he also ordered you to pray, to speak the
truth and to be chaste. If what you have said is true, he will very
soon occupy this territory beneath my feet. I knew it )from my
readings of the scriptures( that he was going to appear, but I did not
know that he would be from you, and if I could reach him for sure then
I would go immediately to meet him; and if I were with him, I would
certainly wash his feet.' Heraclius then asked for the letter that was
sent to him by the Prophetand delivered by Dihyah to the Governor of
Busraa, who forwarded it to Heraclius to read. The contents of the
letter were as follows:"In the name of Allaah the Beneficent, the
Merciful )This letter is( from Muhammad the slave of Allaah and His
Messenger to Heraclius the ruler of Byzantine.who follows the right
path. Furthermore, I invite you to Islam, and if you become a Muslim
you will be safe, and Allaah will double your reward, but if you
reject this invitation to Islam, you will be committing a sin by
misguiding your Arisiyeen )i.e., peasants(.)then hequoted Allaah's
saying(which means:"…O people of the scripture! Come to a word that is
equitable between us and you – that we will not worship except Allaah
and not associate anything with Him and not take one another as lords
instead of Allaah. But if they turn away, then say: 'Bear witness that
we are Muslims ]submitting to Him.['"]Quran 3: 64[
AbuSufyaanthen added: 'When Heraclius had finished his speech and had
read the letter, there was a great cry in the Royal Court. So we were
turned out of the court. I told my companions that the question of Ibn
Abu Kabshah )i.e., Prophet Muhammad( had become so prominent that even
the King of Al-Asfar )Byzantine( was afraid of him. Then I began being
certain that he )i.e. the Prophet( would be a victorious conqueror in
the near future, until I embraced Islam )i.e. Allaah guided me to
it(."
A sub-narrator added:"Ibn An-Naathoor was the governor of Jerusalem
and Heraclius was the head of the Christians of Shaam; both of them
were Christian scholars who were well learned regarding their
religion. Ibn An-Naathoor narrated that once, while Heraclius was
visiting Jerusalem, he woke up one morning depressed and in a bad
mood. Some of his priests asked him why he was in such a mood.
Heraclius was a foreteller and an astrologer; he replied: 'At night,
when I looked at the stars, I saw that the leader of those who
practice circumcision had appeared )i.e., become conquerors(. Who are
these people who practice circumcision?' The priests replied: 'Nobody
except the Jews practice circumcision, so you should not be afraid of
them )the Jews(. Just issue orders to kill every Jew present in the
country.'
While they were discussing this, a messenger sent by the king of
Ghassaan to convey the news of Allaah's messenger to Heraclius was
brought in. Having heard the news, he )i.e. Heraclius( ordered the
people to go and see whether the messenger sent by Ghassaan was
circumcised. The people, after seeing him, told Heraclius that he was
indeed circumcised. Heraclius then asked him about the Arabs in
general. The messenger replied: 'The Arabs also practice
circumcision.'
After hearing this, Heraclius remarked that sovereignty of the Arabs
had appeared. Heraclius then wrote a letter to his friend in Rome who
was as knowledgeable as Heraclius. Heraclius then left, heading
towards Hims )a town in Syria( and stayed there until he received the
reply to a letter that he had sent to one of his friends inquiring
about the emergence of the Prophet – his friend agreed with him that
this was indeed the emergence of a true Prophet. With that, Heraclius
invited all the heads of the Byzantines to assemble in his palace at
Hims. When they assembled, he ordered that all the doors of his palace
be closed. Then, he emerged and said: 'O Byzantines! If success is
your desire and you seek the correct guidance, and wish for your
empire to remain, then give a pledge of allegiance to this Prophet
)i.e. embrace Islam(.'
)On hearing the views of Heraclius( the people ran towards the gates
of the palace like wild beasts, but found the doors closed. Heraclius
then realised their hatred of Islam, and when he lost hope of their
embracing Islam, he ordered that they be brought back to him. )When
they returned( he said: 'What I said was only to test the strength of
your conviction about your religion, and I have seen it.' The people
then prostrated before him and were delighted by him, and so this was
the end of Heraclius's story )regarding his faith.("]Al-Bukhaari[
This story was also reported byImaam Muslim, At-Tirmithi, Abu
DaawoodandAhmad,with a few variations that clarify certain matters in
the message sent from the Prophetsallallaahu'alayhi wa sallamto
Heraclius.
The variations in some of these narrations state that the Prophetgave
Heraclius three choices, which the latter conveyed to his priests and
army leaders:"This man is a messenger and he has sent a letter giving
you three choices: To follow his religion; or to agree to pay him
taxes in return for him allowing you to remain upon your faith; or, to
prepare for war against him".His people angrily shouted:"We will never
follow him and leave the religion of our forefathers; nor will we pay
him any taxes, but instead we will fight him."After this, Heraclius
requested to be sent a man who knew Arabic, so a man by the man ofIbn
Al-Khaythamwas sent to him. Heraclius sent him with a reply to the
Messenger.The Prophetinvited the messenger of Heraclius to Islam, but
he refused to leave the religion of his people; upon hearing this from
him, the Prophetsmiled and recited the verse which means:"Indeed, ]O
Muhammad[, you do not guide whom you like, but Allaah guides whom He
wills…"]Quran 28: 56[ This messenger of Heraclius had gone to the
Prophetwhilst he was inTabook¸so the Prophetsaid to him:"You are our
guest, but you have come to us while we are out without anything to
offer you.")This was because they were travelling and had nothing to
offer him.('Uthmaan,said:"I will gift him a garment of two pieces )of
cloth(."Another man from theAnsaaroffered to give him some food.
The story has more details which were reported byImaam Al-Haakimas was
mentioned byImaam Ibn Katheer,in the interpretation of the saying of
Allaah which means:"Those who follow the Messenger, the unlettered
prophet, whom they find written ]i.e., mentioned[ in what they have of
the Torah and the Gospel, who enjoins upon them what is right and
forbids them what is wrong …"]Quran 7: 157[ He said:Hishaam
Al-Amawi,narrated:"I was sent with another man to Heraclius to call
him to Islam. We headed out until we reached an area called
Al-Ghootuh, in which lived Jabalah, which was one of the sections of
the Ghassaan Christian tribe, who were allies of the Romans. Their
leader sent his messenger to talk to us and inquire about what we
wanted, but we refused to talk to him and said: 'We swear by Allaah!
We will never talk to a messenger, we were sent to talk to the king of
Ghassaan himself, and if the king refuses to talk to us then we will
return to our land.' The messenger of the leader returned to him and
informed him of our request, so he granted us our wish. When we
entered into the presence of the leader, he said: 'Talk' so Hishaam
spoke to him and invited him to Islam. Hishaam had a black garment on;
the leader asked him about the garment )which looked old( to which
Hishaam answered: 'This is a garment which I swore never to take off
until we )Muslims( expel you from Shaam )i.e., ancient Syria(. I swear
by Allaah! We will )Allaah willing( expel you from your position and
from your land, and will overpower the kingdom of Ghassaan; we were
informed that we would do this by our Messenger, Muhammad.' Then he
added: 'You will not be able to face them )i.e. the Muslims( for they
fast during the days and pray during the nights." The leader then
inquired about the way they fast and so he informed him. Upon hearing
the answer, his face turned black and he was enraged, then he told us
to leave, and sent a man with us to take us to the king of the
Ghassaan tribe. When we approached the city, the messenger who was
sent with us told us that we were not allowed to enter it riding our
own animals and that we had to ride with them, but we refused and told
him that we would never enter except riding our own animals. The
messenger sent a message to the king seeking permission for us, and he
approved. We entered wearing our swords until we reached the hall in
which the king was, then we tied our animals in the courtyard of the
hall whilst he was watching us, and then we shouted: 'Laa Ilaaha
Illallaah, Allaahu Akbar )i.e., none has the right to be worshipped
except Allaah, Allaah is the Greatest(.' I swear by Allaah that the
entire hall began shaking like a branch of a tree on a windy day'. The
king then sent a man telling us that we had no right to proclaim our
religion in his land. After that, he allowed us entry, and when we
entered we saw that he was wearing a red garment, and that he was
surrounded by Roman priests - and everything in the hall was red in
colour. When we came close to him, he laughed and said: 'Why don't you
greet me the way you greet each other?' So we said: 'It is prohibited
for us to greet you with the greeting we use amongst ourselves, and it
is also prohibited for us to answer you using the greeting you use
amongst yourselves.' He then asked us about the greeting we use
amongst ourselves, and we informed him that it was 'As-Salaamu
'Alaykum.' Then he asked us: 'How do you greet your king )i.e., the
Prophet(?' We told him that we say the same to him, and then he asked
us: 'How does he answer you?'We told him that we use the same greeting
to answer him as he does to us. He remarked: 'How wonderful are your
words!' Upon hearing this, we again shouted:'Laa Ilaaha Illallaah,
Allaahu Akbar )i.e., none has the right to be worshipped except
Allaah, Allaah is The Greatest(' I swear by Allaah that the entire
hall began shaking again. He raised his head and then addressed us
saying: 'These words that you just uttered, to which the entire hall
shook… do they shake your rooms when you say them in your land?' We
replied: 'No! The first time we have seen this happen is in your
palace."He asked this question because it was a clear indication of
the prophethood of the Prophet.
The following are some of many benefits that can be derived from the
abovementioned story:
1.The necessity of assuring authenticity of what one hears by means of
asking around, just as Heraclius requested the friends accompanyingAbu
Sufyaanabout the Prophet.
2.Truthfulness was a praiseworthy quality even during the pre-Islamic era.
3.The weak and poor are usually the followers of the truth.
4.The outcome of the wars and conflicts between the truth and
falsehood alternate in defeat and victory for the believers.
5.The Prophetsallallaahu'alayhi wa sallamwas known for his
truthfulness, and even his most vicious enemies testified to this.
6.The people of the Book recognise the Prophetby his characteristics
which they find in their books, and they know that he is the awaited
messenger from Allaah.
7.Arrogance and the keenness to maintain their worldly positions
prevented the people of the Book from adhering to the truth and
accepting the message of the Prophetsallallaahu'alayhi wa sallam.
8.Allaah grants guidance to whomever He wills.
9.As a sign of prophethood, Allaah made the Prophetaware of some of
the matters of the unknown and unseen.
10.Being hospitable is a part of the teachings of theSunnah.
11.A Muslim must display might and pride regarding his religion,
especially whilst inviting disbelievers to Islam.
12.It is not permissible to greet disbelievers withSalaam.
13.Allaah supports the righteous withKaraamaat)i.e. supernatural
abilities or occurrences(, such as that which happened to the hall
which shook when the companionsshouted:"Laa Ilaaha Illallaah, Allaahu
Akbar )i.e., none has the right to be worshipped except Allaah, Allaah
is The Greatest(."