65reached the door, the occupants were afraid because Umar was still carry-
ing his sword in his belt. But the Prophet told th em to let him in, and
Urnar immediatdy announced his intention of becoming a Muslim. The
Pro phet exclaimed, ':Alltlhu akbarl" (God is the Most Great) and received
this conversion as an answer to his prayer.
The Prophet knew he had n o power over hearts. In the face of perse-
cution, in great difficulty, he had turned to God, hoping that He would
guide one or the other of those twO men who he knew possessed the
human qualities as well as the power necessary to reverse the o rder o f
things. The Prophet of co urse knew that God alone has the power to
guide hearts. For some individuals, conversion was a long process that
required years of questioning, doubt, and steps forward and backward,
while for others conversion was instantaneous, immediately following the
reading of a text o r responding to a particular gesture or behavior. T his
cannot be explained. T he conversions that took longest were n o t neces-
sarily the mOSt solid, and the reverse was not true either: when it comes
to conversion, th e heart's dispositions, faith, and love, there is no logic, and
all that remains is the excrnordinary po\'Jer of the divine. Umar had gone
Out of his home determined to kill the Prophet, blind ed by his absolute
negation of the One God; thete he was, a few ho urs later, changed, trans-
formed, as the result of a conversion induced by a text and th e meaning
of God. H e was to become one of the most faithful Companions of the
man he had wished dead. Nobody among the Muslims could have imag-
ined that Umar would recognize the message of I slam, so fo rcefully had
he expressed his hatred fo r it. This heart's revolution was a sign, and it car-
ried a t\l,'ofold teaching: that nothing is impossible for God, and that o ne
should not pronounce final jud gments o n anything or anybody. This was
a new reminder of the need fo r humility in all circumstances: for a human
being, remembering God's infinite power should mean healthy self-doubt
as to oneself and suspending one's judgment as [Q others. Thus, the more
he moved fonvard with G o d, every day becoming more of a model for
his Companions and for eternity, the more the Prophet was attaining
humility and modesty as expressed in being, knowledge, and judgment.
Umar, with his spirit and coura&>'e, had decided to make his conversion
public. He immediately went to Abu Jahl to tell him the news, and he sug-
gested to the Prophet that they should pray publicly at the Kaba.^5 T his
certainly involved risks, but it was also a maner of showing the Quraysh
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