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Tufayl's tribe resided outside Mecca, he was a poet of high renown and as such had earned great respect from not only his own tribe but also that of others. It became necessary for Tufayl to journey to Mecca, so he set out on his journey to the City.
As he neared Mecca he was stopped by a party of the Koraysh blocking the road. The Koraysh warned Tufayl about the Prophet, whom they now described as being, amongst other things, a sorcerer. The frightening things the Koraysh said disturbed him to the extent that upon reaching Mecca he plugged his ears tightly with cotton to protect and prevent him from hearing anything. When he reached Mecca, the familiar sounds of passersby and the market place were now silenced on account of the cotton placed firmly in his ears and he felt at ease. For many years it had been Tufayl's custom to visit the Ka'ba and circumambulate it before attending to business. As he entered the precincts of Ka'ba he noticed a lone figure standing near the Black Stone offering his prayer. It was never the practice of the Prophet (sa) to offer his prayer in a loud manner, and this prayer was no exception, yet Allah, allowed his quiet recitation to penetrate the cotton with which Tufayl had plugged his ears. Tufayl knew well the intricacies of the Arabic language and was captivated by the compelling beauty and rhythm of the verses. He had heard many poets recite most excellent poetry, but the composition and arrangement of these words with their message was quite the most beautiful and certainly unique. He had never heard anything that could be remotely compared to the verses he now heard. Suddenly, he remembered the warning, but Allah caused reason to prevail. Tufayl knew he was able to distinguish between right and wrong and realized that what he had just heard was anything but evil. After the Prophet (sa) finished offering his prayer, Tufayl followed him to his home and entered. He told the Prophet how the Koraysh warned against him and how he had plugged his ears tightly with cotton so that he would be unable to hear him, yet, he had heard his beautiful recitation. Tufayl asked the Prophet (sa) to tell him more about his message, whereupon the Prophet (sa) told him that the verses he recited were not his own composition, rather, they were from the Holy Koran sent to him from Allah via the Angel Gabriel. The Prophet (sa) to the great pleasure of Tufayl, proceeded to recite several more verses. As soon as the recitation had finished Tufayl could no longer restrain himself and converted to Islam, then returned home with the instruction to tell others in his tribe about Islam. Upon his return, Tufayl recited verses from the Koran and spoke about Islam to his family and tribesmen, but only his father and wife came into its fold. Tufayl was both very disappointed and angry that so few had accepted the invitation so he returned to the Prophet (sa) in Mecca to ask him to curse those who refused to follow. The Prophet (sa) spoke kindly to Tufayl, but rather than cursing his tribe he supplicated to Allah for their guidance and told him to return home, continue preaching and to be patient with their shortcomings. Tufayl obeyed the Prophet (sa) and in the years to come many families in his tribe accepted Islam under his patient guidance. |
