At Homf, Ot'ff Thm^191
The time for pilgrimage (h'!iJ) was drawing near, and Muhammad asked
Abu Bakr to take the pilgrims to Mecca.^21 They set out during the follow-
ing weeks, and while they were on the road, the Prophet received an
important Revelation about :Mecca and particularly the rites near the
Kaba. H e sent Ali to catc h up with tbe pilgrims and convey the message,
which consisted of the first verses of surah 9 (the only chapter in the
Quran that does not begin with the ritual formula " In the name of G od,
the 1Iost Gracious, the j\ 1 ost MercifuJ',).22 First, th e verses announced
most clearly that the rites fo r merly performed around the Kaba (where
some pilgrims went naked) would no longer be tolerated and that idol
worshipers would be allowed fo ur months to make a choice about their
future-whether to cease performing the rites near th e Kaba, leave the
area altogether, or accept Islam. After this period the i\"lustims would be
free to fight them, apart from those who had either drawn up a pact
(whose terms would of course be respected) o r expressly asked for pro-
[eccion (which would then be g ranted to them).
The m essage was fir m and established that the Kaba, the sacred
mosque, was now exclusively devoted to the worship of the One, and that
only Muslims could enter ir.2J T he verse reads, 'The mosques of God
shall only be visited and maintained by those who believe in God and the
Last Day, establish regular prayers, pay takat, and fear none but God. For
those, it may be that they are of the rightlr guided."24 Most of the Com-
panions, and most scholars after them, understood this prohibition to
apply only t o the sacred perimeter in r..·[ecca, n o t to other mosques that
could receive women and men who were not Muslims.^25 What the mes-
sage conveyed was tbe dear establishment of th e wo rship o f the One,
lau1Jid, as the only possible worship in the center, ncar the House of God,
toward which to.lusiims turned from all over.IbrahimDUring the tenth year of hijroh, young Ibrahim, who was then about a year
and a half old, fell seriously ill. At th e very time when the religion of the
One was being established all over the Peninsula, with adversity constant-
ly d iminishing and the number of conversions continuing to grow, the
Prophet saw his only son about to leave life and to leave him. I-Ie visited