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Mus`ab stood before his mother, the people, and the nobles of Makkah who assembled around him,
telling them the irrefutable truth and reciting the Qur'aan with which the Prophet (PBUH) cleansed their
hearts and filled them with honor, wisdom, justice, and piety. His mother aimed a heavy blow at him, but
the hand which was meant as an arrow soon succumbed to the powerful light which increased the
radiance of his face with innocent glory because it demanded respect with its quiet confidence. However,
his mother, under the pressure of her motherliness, spared him the beating and the pain, although it was
within her power to avenge her gods whom he had abandoned. Instead she took him to a rough corner of
her house and shut him in it. She put shackles on him and imprisoned him there until he heard the news
of the emigration (hijab) of some of the believers to Abyssinia. He thought to himself and was able to
delude his mother and his guards, and so escaped to Abyssinia.
There he stayed in Abyssinia with his fellow emigrants and then returned with them to Makkah. He
also emigrated to Abyssinia for the second time with the Companions whom the Prophet (PBUH)
advised to emigrate and they obeyed. But whether Mus`ab was in Abyssinia or Makkah, the experience
of his faith proclaimed itself in all places and at all times.
Musa became confident that his life had become good enough to be offered as a sacrifice to the
Supreme Originator and great Creator. He went out one day to some Muslims while they were sitting
around the Prophet (PBUH) , and no sooner did they see him than they lowered their heads and shed
some tears because they saw him wearing worn out garments. They were accustomed to his former
appearance before he had become a Muslim, when his clothes had been like garden flowers, elegant and
fragrant.
The Prophet (PBUH) saw him with the eyes of wisdom, thankful and loving, and his lips smiled
gracefully as he said, "I saw Mus`ab here, and there was no youth in Makkah more petted by his parents
than he. Then he abandoned all that for the love of Allah and His Prophet!"
His mother had withheld from him all the luxury he had been overwhelmed by, when she could not
return him to her religion. She refused to let anyone who had abandoned their gods eat of her food, even
if he was her son. Her last connection with him was when she tried to imprison him for a second time
after his return from Abyssinia, and he swore that if she did that, he would kill all those who came to her
aid to lock him up. She knew the truth of his determination when he was intent and decided to do
something, and so she bade him good bye weeping.
The parting moment revealed a strange adherence to infidelity on the part of his mother, and the
greater adherence to faith on the part of her son. When she said to him, while turning him out of her
house, "Go away, I am no longer your mother," he went close to her and said, "O mother, I am advising
you and my heart is with you, please bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is
His servant and messenger." She replied to him, angrily raging, "By the stars, I will never enter your
religion, to degrade my status and weaken my senses!"
So Mus`ab left the great luxury in which he had been living. He became satisfied with a hard life he
had never seen before, wearing the roughest clothes, eating one day and going hungry another. This
spirit, which was grounded in the strongest faith, adorned with the light of Allah, made him another man,
one who appeals to the eyes of other great souls.
While he was in this state, the Prophet (PBUH) commissioned him with the greatest mission of his
life, which was to be his envoy to Al-Madiinah. His mission was to instruct the Ansaar who believed in
the Prophet (PBUH) and had pledged their allegiance to him at `Aqabah, to call others to Islam, and to
prepare Al-Madiinah for the day of the great Hijrah. There were among the Companions of the Prophet
(PBUH) at that time others who were older than Mus`ab and more prominent and nearer to the Prophet
(PBUH) by family relations. But the Prophet (PBUH) chose Mus`ab the Good, knowing that he was
entrusting to him the most important task of that time, putting into his hands the destiny of Islam at Al-
Madiinah. The radiant city of Al-Madiinah was destined to be the home of Hijrah, the springboard of
Islamic preachers and the liberators of the future. Mus`ab was equal to the task and trust which Allah had
given him and he was equipped with an excellent mind and noble character. He won the hearts of the