God Arises
The Challenge of The Qur’an
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come from the nobility, they were destined to
become just as helpless as the Prophet was.
The Islamic mission went on, however, irrespective
of the obstacles placed in its path. But a time came
when circumstances became so critical that the
Prophet and his companions were forced to leave
their home town, Makkah. These neo-converts were
already defenceless and almost without resources,
but their situation became even worse when they
emigrated to Madinah, for whatever their meagre
possessions, they had all to be left behind in
Makkah. The helpless state in which they reached
Madinah can be imagined form the fact that some of
the emigrants did not even have so much as a roof
over their heads. They had to live out in the open
with only a curtain stretched above their heads to
make a kind of shed. Because of this they were
known as ‘the companions of the shed.’ The
number of those who lived in this shed from time to
time has been placed at four hundred. Abu Huraira,
one of their members said he had seen seventy of
them together. All they owned was one piece of
coarse cloth, which they wore from neck to knee.
He himself was reduced to a pitiable state during
