In the sixth year after the hijrah, the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ), may
the blessings of God be on him, decided to expand the scope of his mission. He sent eight letters
to rulers in the Arabian peninsula and surrounding areas inviting them to Islam. One of these
rulers was Thumamah ibn Uthal.
Thumamah was one of the most powerful Arab rulers in pre-Qur'anic times. This is not surprising
since he was a chieftain of the Banu Hanifah and one of the rulers of al- Yamamah whose word
no one dared to challenge or disobey.
When Thumamah received the Holy Prophet's ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) letter, he
was consumed by anger and rejected it. He refused to listen to the invitation of Truth and
goodness. More than that, he felt a strong desire to go and kill the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace
and Blessings upon him ) and bury his mission with him.
Thumamah waited and waited for a convenient time to carry out his design against the Holy
Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) until eventually forgetfulness caused him to
lose interest. One of his uncles, however, reminded him of his plan, praising what he intended to
do.
In the pursuit of his evil design against the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him
), Thumamah met and killed a group of the Holy Prophet's ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon
him ) companions. The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) thereupon
declared him a wanted man who could lawfully be killed on sight.
Not long afterwards, Thumamah decided to perform Umrah. He wanted to perform tawaf around
the Ka'bah and sacrifice to the idols there. So he left al-Yamamah for Makkah. As he was passing
near Madinah, an incident took place which he had not anticipated.
Groups of Muslims were patrolling the districts of Madinah and outlying areas on the lookout for
any strangers or anyone intent on causing trouble. One of these groups came upon Thumamah
and apprehended him but they did not know who he was. They took him to Madinah and tied him
to one of the columns in the mosque. They waited for the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and
Blessings upon him ) himself to question the man and decide what should be done with him.
When the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) was about to enter the mosque,
he saw Thumamah and asked his companions, "Do you know whom you have taken?"
"No, Messenger of God," they replied.
"This is Thumamah ibn Uthal al-Hanafi," he said. "You have done well in capturing him."
The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) then returned home to his family and
said, "Get what food you can and send it to Thumamah ibn Uthal." He then ordered his camel to
be milked for him. All this was done before he met Thumamah or had spoken to him.
The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) then approached Thumamah hoping
to encourage him to become a Muslim. "What do you have to say for yourself " he asked.
"If you want to kill in reprisal," Thumamah replied, "you can have someone of noble blood to kill. If, out of your bounty, you want to forgive, I shall be grateful. If you want money in
compensation, I shall give you whatever amount you ask."
The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) then left him for two days, but still
personally sent him food and drink and milk from his camel. The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace
and Blessings upon him ) went back to him and asked, "What do you have to say for yourself7"
Thumamah repeated what he had said the day before. The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and
Blessings upon him ) then left and came back to him the following day. "What do you have to say
for yourself?" he asked again and Thumamah repeated what he had said once more. Then the
Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) turned to his companions and said, "Set
him free."
Thumamah left the mosque of the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) and
rode until he came to a palm grove on the outskirts of Madinah near al-Baqi' (a place of luxuriant
vegetation which later became a cemetery for many of the Holy Prophet's ( Allah's Peace and
Blessings upon him ) companions). He watered his camel and washed himself well. Then he
turned back and made his way to the Holy Prophet's ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him )
mosque. There, he stood before a congregation of Muslims and said:
"I bear witness that there is no god but Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is His servant
and His messenger( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him )." He then went to the Holy Prophet (
Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ), and said:
"O Muhammad, by God, there was never on this earth a face more detestable than yours. Now,
yours is the dearest face of all to me."
"I have killed some of your men," he continued, "I am at your mercy. What will you have done to
me?"
"There is now no blame on you, Thumamah," replied the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and
Blessings upon him ). "Becoming a Muslim obliterates past actions and marks a new beginning."
Hazrat Thumamah was greatly relieved. His face showed his surprise and joy and he vowed, "By
God, I shall place my whole self, my sword, and whoever is with me at your service and at the
service of your religion."
"O Rasulullah," he went on, "when your horsemen captured me I was on my way to perform
umrah. What do you think I should do now?"
"Go ahead and perform your umrah," replied the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings
upon him ), "but perform it according to the laws of God and His messenger." The Holy Prophet (
Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) then taught him how to perform umrah according to
Islamic rules.
Hazrat Thumamah left to fulfil his intention. When he reached the valley of Makkah, he began
shouting in a loud, resonant voice: "Labbayk Allakumma labbayk. Labbayka laa shareeka laka
labbayk. Innal hamda wa-n ni'mata laka wa-l mulk Laa shareeka lak.
(Here I am at Your command O Lord, Here I am. Here I am. No partner have You. Here I am.
Praise, bounty and Dominion belong to You. No partner have You.")

He was thus the first Muslim on the face of the earth to enter Makkah reciting the Talbeyah.
The Quraysh heard the sound of the talbiyah and felt both anger and alarm. With drawn swords,
they set out towards the voice to punish the one who had thus assaulted their preserve. As they
came closer to him, Hazrat Thumamah raised his voice even higher while reciting the talbiyah
and looked upon them with pride and defiance. One of the Quraysh young men was particularly
incensed and was about to shoot Hazrat Thumamah with an arrow when the others grabbed his
hand and shouted:
"Woe to you! Do you know who this is? He is Thumamah ibn Uthal, ruler of al-Yamamah. By
God, if you should harm him, his people would cut our supplies, with dire consequences for us."
Swords were replaced in their scabbards as the Quraysh went up to Hazrat Thumamah and said:
"What's wrong with you, Thumamah? Have you given in and abandoned your religion and the
religion of your forefathers?"
"I have not given in," he replied, "but I have decided to follow the best religion. I follow the
religion of Muhammad ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ). "
He then went on:
"I swear to you by the Lord of this House that after my return to al-Yamamah, no grain of wheat
or any of its produce shall reach you until you follow Muhammad ( Allah's Peace and Blessings
upon him )."
Under the watchful eyes of the Quraysh, Hazrat Thumamah performed umrah as the Holy
Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) had instructed him. He dedicated his sacrifice
to God alone.
Hazrat Thumamah returned to his land and ordered his people to withhold supplies from the
Quraysh. The boycott gradually began to have effect and became more and more stringent. Prices
began to rise. Hunger began to bite and there was even fear of death among the Quraysh.
Thereupon, they wrote to the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ), saying:
"Our agreement with you (the treaty of Hudaybiyyah) is that you should maintain the bonds of
kinship but you have gone against that. You have cut the bonds of kinship. You have killed and
caused death through hunger. Thumamah ibn Uthal has cut our supplies and inflicted harm on us.
Perhaps you would see fit to instruct him to resume sending us what we need."
The Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) immediately sent a messenger
instructing Hazrat Thumamah to lift the boycott and resume supplies to the Quraysh. This Hazrat
Thumamah did.
Hazrat Thumamah spent the rest of his life in the service of his religion, abiding by the
undertaking he had given to the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ). When
the Holy Prophet ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) died, many Arabs began leaving the
religion of God in great numbers. Musaylamah, the imposter, began calling the Banu Hanifah to
believe in him as a prophet . Hazrat Thumamah confronted him and said to his people:

"O Banu Hanifah, beware of this grievous matter. There is no light or guidance in it. By God, it
will only bring distress and suffering to whoever joins this movement and misfortune even to
those who do not join.
"O Banu Hanifah, Prophets do not come at the same time and there shall be no prophet after
Muhammad ( Allah's Peace and Blessings upon him ) and no prophet to share in his mission."
He then read out to them the following verses of the Qur'an:
"Ha Mim. The revelation of this Book is from God the Almighty, the Knowing. He forgives sins
and accepts repentance. He is severe in punishment and has a long reach. There is no god except
Him. To Him is the journey's end." (Surah Ghafir; verses 1-3).
"Can you compare these words of God with the utterings of Musaylamah?" he asked.
He then gathered together all those who had remained in Islam and began to wage a jihad against
the apostates and to make the words of God supreme. The loyal Muslims of Banu Hanifah needed
additional help to stand against the armies of Musaylamah. Their arduous task was completed by
the forces despatched by Hazrat Abu Bakr Siddique ( Radiyallahu Anhu ) but at the cost of many
a Muslim life.