The Life of the Prophet ﷺ: The First Revelations (Continued)

The first person to hear of Muhammad’s [ﷺ] prophethood and accept it was Khadijah, who can be said to have converted immediately upon his return from the cave. He [ﷺ] soon began to invite those closest to him to this new religion. His closest companion, Abu Bakr, his young cousin, ‘Ali, and his house-servant, Zayd, all respected and trusted Muhammad, and thus immediately accepted him as a Prophet. They began to inform those closest to them, and slowly the number of people who accepted Muhammad began to grow. The first attempts at proselytising were covert. Makkah was, after all, a polytheistic society, and the idea of one God replacing the numerous idols in the Ka’ba would no double be seen as a threat. Thus, the early months and years of Islam were marked by the development of a secret, hidden group, fearful of society’s reaction to them, but submitting to the ideas of this new religion. they were called Muslims, meaning “submitters”, The word Islam itself, form which Muslim derives, denotes submission to God and His will.

At the same time the core ideas of Islam began to take shape through continuinG revelations, which would be shared throughout the community. Strict monotheism, far different from the prevailing religion of Makkah, was the core theme. According to Muhammad [ﷺ], there was only one God. The idols worshipped by the Makkans were nothing more than useless statues of stone and wood, and were incapable of bringing benefit or harm to anyone. The verses also warned of a Day of Reckoning, when all souls would be brought before God to account for their deeds. Those who believed in Allah and did good deeds would enter an eternal Heaven as a reward, Tho who did not would have a place in Hell and would be eternally tormented.