AT-TUFAYL IBN AMR, a man of great virtue and intellect, was chief of his people, the tribe of Daws.
He narrates his story about his visit to Makkah, unaware of the battle between truth and falsehood intensifying there.
‘I approached Makkah. As soon as the Quraysh leaders saw me, they came up to me, gave me a most hearty welcome and accommodated me in a grand house. Their leaders and notables then gathered and said:
“O Tufayl, you have come to our town. This man who claims that he is a Prophet has ruined our authority and shattered our community. We are afraid that he would succeed in undermining you and your authority among your people just as he has done with us. Don’t speak to the man. On no account listen to anything he has to say. He has the speech of a magician, causing division between father and son, between brother and brother and between husband and wife.”
They went on telling me the most fantastic stories and scared me by recounting tales of his incredible deeds. I made up my mind then not to approach this man, speak to him or listen to anything he had to say.
The following morning I went to the Sacred Masjid to make tawaf around the Kabah as an act of worship to the idols that we made pilgrimage to and glorified. I put cotton in my ears out of fear that something of the speech of Muhammad would reach my ears. As soon as I entered the Haram, I saw him standing near the Kabah. He was praying in a fashion which was different from our prayer. His whole manner of worship was different. The scene captivated me. His worship made me tremble and I felt drawn to him, despite myself, until I was quite close to him.
Despite the cotton, Allah willed that some of what he was saying should reach my hearing and I heard a speech that was so beautiful that I said to myself: ‘What are you doing, Tufayl? You are an intelligent person. You can distinguish between the good and the bad. What prevents you from listening to what this man is saying? If what comes from him is good, accept it, and if it is bad, reject it.’
I remained there until the Prophet left for his home. I followed him as he entered his house, and I entered also and said: ‘O Muhammad, your people have said certain things to me about you. By Allah, they kept on frightening me away from your message so I even blocked my ears to keep out your words. Despite this, Allah caused me to hear something of it and I found it good. So tell me more about your mission.’
The Prophet ﷺ did and recited to me surah al-Iklaas and surah al-Falaq. I swear by Allah, I had never heard such beautiful words before. Neither was a more noble or just mission ever described to me. Thereupon, I stretched out my hand to him in allegiance and testified that there was no god but Allah and that Muhammad was the messenger of Allah. This is how I entered Islam.
I stayed on for some time in Makkah learning the teachings of Islam and memorizing parts of the Quran. When I decided to return to my people, I said: “O Rasulullah. I am a man who is obeyed in his tribe. I am going back to them and I shall invite them to Islam…”‘
The parallels with what we are witnessing today are remarkable.
At-Tufayl could be any person in the world today. The Qurayshi leaders of old are the governments, rulers and mainstream media of now who feed the people constant lies about Islam and what is happening in Palestine, trying to put the wool in their ears. Yet despite this wall of lies, some of the truth is getting through that cotton wool due to the efforts of the Palestinians and the Muslim ummah through social media. And that truth is making people the world over question the narrative that they have been fed so far. It is asking them to use their intelligence just like at-Tufayl did to discern the truth from the falsehood. It is making many support Islam and the Palestinians and even causing some to revert back to Islam.
وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ ٱللَّهُ ۖ وَٱللَّهُ خَيْرُ ٱلْمَـٰكِرِينَ
They planned, but Allah also planned. And Allah is the best of planners. (al-Anfal 30)
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