| The Second Year After the Migration |
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| Aspects of His Life - Detailed Biography | |
| Written by infinitelight.org | |
| Monday, 27 February 2006 | |
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In Medina there were now three communities, Muslims, People of the Book and unbelievers. The Jews, Nazarenes and Christians of whom their were a handful, or People of the Book as the Koran refers to them, offered their prayers in a common direction, which was Jerusalem, as it was there that many Prophets had preached. The unbelievers on the other hand would turn themselves toward their many idols housed within the confines of Ka'ba in Mecca. Sixteen months had now passed since the Prophet's migration and during this time he had offered his prayers in the direction of Jerusalem rather than the direction of Ka'ba. However, his heart was far from being settled about the matter. Instinctively, he wished to offer his prayer facing the direction of Ka'ba, the House his ancestors, Prophets Abraham and Ishmael rebuilt so many centuries before, but the fact that there were so many idols in and around it prevented him from doing so. The matter weighed heavily upon his heart, then Allah directed him in the following verses that were sent down at the time of the mid-day prayer on a Tuesday, sometime in the middle of the month of Shaban.
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From that time onward the Prophet (sa) and his followers offered their prayers facing the direction of the Ka'ba in Mecca. The Mosque in which the verses were sent down was known from then onwards as "The Mosque of the Two Kiblas" - kibla meaning direction of prayer. Before the advent of the Nazarenes and Christians the Jews directed their prayers towards Jerusalem and prided themselves that the Nazarenes and Christians, and up until now, the Muslims had done the same, thereby acknowledging their importance through its religious significance. Without doubt, Islam acknowledges the significance of Jerusalem as a very Holy site and the changing of the direction of prayer was by no means to demean it. But to the Jews, Jerusalem was not just a Holy place, it had become an important status symbol which served to enhance their self proclaimed superiority. For many years, the unbelievers respected the Jews, admiring the adeptness and business acumen. Such was their admiration that when faced by the death of a child they would often take a vow that if the child was spared they would have him raised as a Jew. When Allah changed the direction of prayer to Ka'ba, the Jews were very displeased, as they perceived it to be an outright rejection of their social status and this caused further resentment. The Muslims had not in fact rejected its religious significance at all, but the Ka'ba, the House which Abraham had built, the first House of Allah on earth, had been the direction chosen by Allah for Muslims to face during prayer. Soon after, the Jews dormant resentment of the Prophet (sa) and the Message given to him by Allah began to surface. False accusations that he pursued a policy of opposition against them were common, for many of the verses in the recently revealed sections of the Cow chapter exposed the concealed corruption of their ancestors and revealed their present day contempt. Their pride prevented them from acknowledging that some of their ancestors had clearly wronged themselves and that they themselves would follow parts of the Torah that were acceptable to them whilst neglecting or rejecting other parts. Their contention that they were the chosen ones of Allah, despite the fact that they defied, killed and rejected many of their prophets including their last prophet, Jesus, the Messiah, the son of Mary, who warned them that if they did not reform, the covenant would be taken away from them. Among the Muslims were some whose faith was yet to mature, they also questioned the changing of the Kibla to the Ka'ba, forgetting that the order was not the decision of the Prophet (sa) but that of Allah who warned that the Jews and unbelievers would question the redirection:
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