Battle Between the truth and falsehood

The crisis

The public proclamation of Islam by the Holy Prophet led to a great crisis. The people were not prepared to accept any change in their age-long beliefs, and the Holy Prophet was not inclined to relax or spare any effort in the fulfillment of the great mission that had been entrusted to him by God. Thus began a battle between truth and falsehood. It was an extraordinary battle in the annals of mankind. In this battle waged under the command of the Holy Prophet, Ali was the right hand man of the Holy Prophet and was always in the forefront of the struggle. As in the subsequent battles fought between the Muslims and the pagans in the conventional style, Ali proved to be a warrior of extraordinary valor whose sword put hundreds of the unbelievers to death. It appears that at this stage during the second decade of seventh century when the stage was set for a conflict between truth and falsehood, Ali received some sort of military training which stood him in great stead in the following years of his life, marked by open warfare between the Muslims and the pagans.

The Muslim Community

In spite of the fact that at the feast held by the Holy Prophet in the honor of the men belonging to the house of Banu Hashim. No one had responded to his call, some members of the family were attracted to the new faith. These included Jafar, his wife Asma, and Hamza Jafar was a brother of Ali, and Hamza was an uncle of the Holy Prophet and Ali. It appears that Ali played an important part in the conversion of Jafar and his wife who were particularly attached to Ali. When the Holy Prophet gave the call at Mt. Safa, and invited the people to the new faith, they had refused to listen to him. In spite of that, some persons were attracted by the new faith, and they offered allegiance to the Holy Prophet regardless of what the other people said. By 615 C.E. in spite of untoward circumstances and unfavorable conditions about one hundred persons, men and women had joined the fold of Islam and the Muslim community had come to acquire particular identity of their own.

The Quraish in action

The growing strength of the Muslim community stirred the Quraish to action. They launched a vilification campaign against the Holy Prophet, Islam and the Muslims. In uncouth verses the Quraish poets ridiculed the Holy Prophet and his faith. Ali was a poet and it appears that he composed some verses highlighting the truth about Islam. The Quraish made a crude and undignified attempt towards the character assassination of the Holy Prophet. Some said that he had gone mad and had lost his senses. Some said that he was the victim of some hallucination. There were others who said that he was a wizard or a "Kahin." Some said that he was the victim of some "Jinn". When all attempts of vilification and character assassination failed, the Quraish made preposterous demands as a proof for the veracity of the Holy Prophet. They said that if the angel appeared to him, he should show them the angel. They said that if he was the beloved of God he should ask God to turn the rocks of Makkah into gold. They wanted that he should show them some miracle. He should get the desert of Arabia converted into an oasis. Some said that if he was a prophet, and knew of things not known to others, he should show them the spots where treasure was buried under the earth. The Holy Prophet maintained that the Holy Quran was his miracle, and he challenged the unbelievers to produce anything like that. When all the tactics of the Quraish proved abortive, they resorted to physical force. They persecuted the Muslims and subjected them to great hardships. When the persecutions of the Quraish became unbearable the Holy Prophet ordered his followers to migrate to Abyssinia. About eighty Muslims including women migrated to Abyssinia. About two dozen Muslims, including Abu Bakr and Ali, were left in Makkah, and this included the Holy Prophet and the members of his family. Thus to all intents and purposes, the Muslims evacuated Makkah.

Migration to Abyssinia

The source books that have come down to us do not throw sufficient light on the wisdom of migration to Abyssinia. It was the year 615 C.E. and by this time Ali had come of age. Ali was an embodiment of courage and bravery. When the Quraish subjected the poorer sections of the Muslims to hardship, Ali asked the permission of the Holy Prophet to retaliate, and fight against the Quraish who used force against the Muslims. There were some other young men among the Muslims who were of the same view as Ali, and who were prepared to fight against the Quraish, and die for the defense of Islam. The Holy Prophet felt that with such a meager number of Muslims, any headlong-armed conflict between the Muslims and the Quraish was likely to be against their interests. The migration to Abyssinia was undertaken not because of the fear of the Quraish, it was undertaken to restraining the Muslims from open war with the Quraish. The Holy Prophet also felt that if the Muslims established a settlement outside Arabia that would help in the promotion of Islam in other parts of the world. A Muslim settlement along the borders of Arabia was likely to be a source of strength to the Muslims in Arabia. The Muslims who migrated to Abyssinia were likely to have better opportunities for economic betterment and that would work to the advantage of the Muslim community as a whole. That would also help the Muslims in Arabia strengthen their trade relations with Abyssinia. The Quraish were alive to these advantages that were likely to accrue to them as a trestle of the migration of a batch of the Muslims to Abyssinia. Accordingly the Quraish sent a delegation to Abyssinia to prevail on the Negus of Abyssinia to expel the Muslims from his country. The Negus invited the Muslims to his court and asked them to explain what was the faith they had adopted. Jafar, the brother of Ali, acting as the spokesman of the Muslims presented such a splendid picture of Islam that the Negus was much impressed, and he refused to oblige the Quraish.

The discomfiture of the Quraish mission to Abyssinia gave a great setback to the cause of the Quraish. They had failed to convince the Negus of the genuineness of their cause. On the other hand, the Muslims had succeeded in impressing the Negus and he had agreed to patronize them. Thus in the first round of the battle between the truth and falsehood, falsehood suffered defeat while the truth scored a victory. Although we are not very definite as to what role Ali played in the battle, but there are strong grounds to believe that he played an important part in winning the battle.