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The Prophet marries Saudah and then Aishah
About one month after the death of Khadeejah , the 
Prophet married Saudah bint Zam’a in the month of Shawwal. 
Saudah had been married to her cousin, Sakran bin Amr . The 

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couple had been among the early Muslims who had migrated to 
Abyssinia. After returning to Makkah, Saudah’s husband died. At 
the end of her period of mourning, the Prophet married her.
A year later the Prophet married Aishah , in the month 
of Shawwal. This marriage was also solemnised in Makkah. At the 
time Aishah , was only six years old. However, she was sent as a 
bride to the Prophet when she was nine. She was the most 
beloved wife of the Prophet and the greatest female scholar of 
Islam. The relationship between the Prophet and her has given 
Muslims an insight into the Prophet’s role as a husband and the 
deep love he inspired in her. The camaraderie between them, the 
painful episode of slander against Aishah , and the confidences 
he divulged to her all give us insights into their rich, complex and 
profound relationship. 
The Prophet journeys to Ta’if 
Soon the Prophet felt that it was time to take the message 
of Islam to neighbouring tribes. He made his way on foot to Ta’if, 
about thrity miles east of Makkah, travelling with his former slave, 
Zayd bin Haritha . 
Along the way to Ta’if, the Prophet invited each tribe he 
encountered to embrace Islam. Finally, he reached Ta’if and met 
three brothers, all chieftains of the Thaqif tribe. He invited them 
to Islam and asked them to help him spread his message, but they 
responded with hostility. 
The Prophet left the chieftains and looked for others to 
talk with about Islam. For the next few days he continued his 
search to find anyone who would open his heart to Allah’s word, 
but no one was interested. Each cheiftain he met proved arrogant 
and unfriendly when he explained his mission and requested help. 
Instead of accepting his call to Islam, they asked him to leave 
Ta’if and return from whence he came. They even stirred up 
children, slaves and the whole rabble against him. As the Prophet 
made his way out of the township, a rag tag band ran after him, 

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abusing him and throwing stones at him until even his feet 
dripped with blood. 
Zayd tried to protect the Prophet from their blows, and in 
doing so suffered several cuts on his head. The Prophet and 
Zayd escaped and sought refuge three miles away in an orchard 
belonging to Utbah and Sheba, the sons of Rabi’a. 
There the Prophet sat down in the shade of a wall covered 
with grapevines and prayed to Allah in a supplication known as 
Du’aa Al-Mustad’afeen (the Prayer of the Oppressed): 
“O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness and humiliation 
before the people. You are the Most Merciful, the Lord of the 
weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me? To one 
who does not care for me? Or have you appointed my enemiy as 
master of my affairs? So long as You are not angry with me, I care 
not. Your favour is abundant for me. I seek refuge in the light of 
Your Face, by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of 
this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your 
displeasure descend upon me. I desire Your pleasure and 
satisfaction. There is no power and no might except in You.” 
The sons of Rabi’a, who saw the Prophet taking refuge in 
their orchard, were moved by the sight of a weary traveller with a 
long road ahead of him, and sent their slave Addas to him with a 
bunch of grapes. The Prophet took the grapes, and only after 
saying Bismillah (in the name of Allah) did he begin to eat. Addas 
was surprised to hear the Prophet invoke Allah’s name before 
eating. 
“The people around this area never utter such phrases,” he 
told the Prophet . The Prophet asked Addas, “Where are you 
from, and what is your religion?” “I am a Christian and belong to 
Ninevah,” replied Addas. “Are you from the village of the pious 
man, Yunus bin Mati?” the Prophet asked. “How do you know 
him?” Addas asked. “He is my brother,” the Prophet responded. 
“He was a prophet and so am I.” 

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The Prophet then recited some verses from the Quran 
referring to the Prophet Yunus (Jonah). Addas was so impressed 
that he accepted the Prophet’s call to Islam. 
The Prophet resumed his journey back to Makkah, and 
dejection set in. At Qarn Al-Manazil, a cloud bearing the angel 
Jibreel appeared before the Prophet . With him was another 
angel. “Allah has sent you the angel of the mountains,” Jibreel 
said, “He is at your command.” The angel of the mountain said. 
“O Muhammad , I am here to do as you say. The choice is 
yours: I can crush the people of Ta’if between the two hills, if that 
is your wish.” 
The Prophet , however, was not looking for revenge. “No. 
I hope Allah will bring forth from their loins people who will 
worship Allah alone without associating any partners with Him.” 
Jibreel’s visit lifted the Prophet’s spirits. He no longer felt 
forsaken, and a heavy weight was removed from his heart. He 
continued his journey, and after some time, he halted at Nakhlah, 
where he stayed a couple of days. It was at Nakhlah that a strange 
event occurred. Even the Prophet did not kow of it until it was 
revealed in the Qur’an. 
The Prophet was praying the Fajr prayer when a band of 
jinn (spirits, from which the English word “gene” is derived) 
heard him reciting the Qur’an. They listened with great interest, 
and when the Prophet finished, they returned to their 
companions and warned them of a great chastisement for those 
who disbelieved in the Prophet’s message. Although they did not 
come into contact with the Prophet directly, the jinn who had 
listened to the Prophet that morning embraced islam. The 
Prophet only became aware of what had happened when Allah 
revealed the story in the Qur’an in two different chapters, Surah 
Al-Ahqaf and Surah Al-Jinn.  
A few days later the Prophet left Nakhlah and headed 
toward Makkah. As he drew near Makkah, he began to make 

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preparations, for he did not want to enter Makkah defenseless as 
he had done in Ta’af. He paused at Hira and sent a man to Akhtas 
bin Shariq to ask for protection. Akhtas, however, apologised and 
pointed out that since he was and ally of the Quraysh, he could 
not protect the Prophet. The Prophet then sent the same 
message to Suhayl bin Amr. 
Even Suhayl refused to extend protection to the Prophet
because he belonged to Banu Amir bin Luayy, which had also 
declared the Prophet an enemy. The Prophet then sent his 
message to Mut’im bin Adiy. Mut’im’s grandfather, Naufal, was 
the brother of Hashim bin Abud Manaf, one of the Prophet’s 
ancestors, and the clan of Abu Manaf was one of the most 
revered branches of the Quraysh. 
Mut’im respecting the ties that bound him to the Prophet , 
agreed to protect his kinsman. He and his sons armed themselves 
and then sent for the Prophet . The Prophet went directly to 
the Ka’bah and circumambulated it, performed a short prayer, and 
then went home. During the entire time Mut’im bin Adiy and his 
sons kept watch. Mit’im then announced that he had extended 
protection to Muhammad .