[MAM ABU AL-FIDA' ISMA~L IBN KATH~R 131idea of not facing my hack to this building, so I prayed towards it. My friends
opposed me in this, causing me concern. What do you think?"
"'"You already had a qibla, a direction for prayer, and should have kept to it,"
he replied.
"'And so al-Bars' reverted to the prayer direction adopted by the Messenger
of God (SAAS), and so prayed along with us towards Syria."'
The account concludes, "But his family claim that he continued his prayers
towards the ka'ba until he died. But it was not as they said; we know better than
they about it."Ka'b h. Mdik stated, "We then left on the pilgrimage, having made an agree-
ment to meet the Messenger of God (SAAS) at d-'Aqaba in the middle of the
tashriq period. When we had finished the pilgrimage the night arrived for which
we had an appointment with the Messenger of God (SAAS). We had kept our
purpose unknown to those of our people who were polytheists, hut there with us
was 'Ahd Allah b. 'Amr b. Haran Abii Jabir, one of our leaders. To him we
spoke, telling him, 'Aha Jzhir, you are one of our noble leaders, and we would
lie you to give up your practices; otherwise one day you will end up as fuel for
hell-fire.' We then invited him into Islam, and told him of our rendezvous with
the Messenger of God (SAAS) at alLCAqaba. He did accept Islam, was present at
d-'Aqaba and became a naqib, a leader."
Al-Bukhari stated, "Ibrnhim related to me, quoting Hisham, that Ibn Jurayj
told them, from 'A@', that Jnhir said, 'I, my father and my two maternal uncles
were present at d-'Aqaha.' 'Abd All& h. Muhammad stated, 'Ihn Wyayna said,
"One of these two men was al-Bar2 h. Macmiir."' 'Ali d-Madini related to us,
quoting Sufym, '(Amr used to say, "I heard Jabir b. 'Abd Allah state, 'My two
maternal uncles were present at alLCAqaba with me."""The Imm Ahmad stated, "'Abd al-Razzaq related to us, quoting Macmar, from
Ihn Khuthaym, from Aba al-Zuhayr, that Jabir said, 'The Messenger of God
(SAAS) remained for ten years in Mecca following people to their homes, going
to 'Uke and Majanna during the festivals asking, "Who will give me refuge?
Whoever will help me until I can fulfil the mission of my Lord will attain para-
dise." But he found no one to shelter or aid him. So much so that someone from
Yemen or the Mudar would appear and respond favourably to this plea, only to
have his relatives and friends tell hi, L'Watch out that that man of Quraysh
doesn't corrupt you!" And if the Messenger of God (SAAS) were to pass
through their encampments, they would point their fingers at hi.
"'This went on until God sent us from Yathrib (Medina) to him and we gave
him refuge and believed in him. Our people would go off, believe in him, have
the Qur'an recited to them and then return to their own folk who would then
accept Islam as they had. Eventually no anjar home was devoid of Muslims dis-
playing their faith in Islam.