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towards their provocations puzzled him. Such an attitude was quite unfamiliar to the Bani Quraish, who
were themselves known to be strong and challenging.
If doubts of the greatness and truth of Muhammad could steal into anyone's heart, they would have
never stolen into Hamzah's heart, because he was the best one to know Muhammad from his early
childhood to his youth, then to his proud, honest manhood. Hamzah knew Muhammad as he knew
himself and maybe more. Since they had come into life together, grown up together, and attained full
strength together, Muhammad's life had been as pure and clear as the sunlight. It never occurred to
Hamzah that Muhammad could make an error or a doubtful act in his life. He never saw Muhammad
angry, hopeless , greedy, careless, or unstable. Hamzah was not only physically strong, but was also wise
and strong-willed. Therefore, it was natural for him to follow a man in whose honesty and truthfuIness he
wholeheartedly believed. Thus he kept a secret in his heart that was soon going to be disclosed.
Then came the day. Hamzah went out of his house towards the desert carrying his bow to practice
his favorite sport of hunting (in which he was very skilled). He spent most of his day there. On his way
home he passed by the Ka'bah as usual, to circumambulate it.
Near the Ka'bah, a female servant of `Abd Allah lbn Jud'aan saw him and said, "O Abu `Umaarah!
You haven't seen what happened to your nephew at the hands of Abu Al-Hakam lbn Hishaam. When he
saw Muhammad sitting there, he hurt him and called him bad names and treated him in a way that he
hated." She went on to explain what Abu Jahl had done to the Prophet of Allah. Hamzah listened to her
carefully and paused for a while, then with his right hand he picked up his bow and put it on his shoulder.
He walked with fast, steady steps towards the Ka'bah, hoping to meet Abu Jahl there. He decided that if
he did not find him, he would search for him everywhere till he did.
As soon as he reached the Ka'bah he glanced at Abu Jahl sitting in the yard in the middle of the
Quraishi noblemen. Hamzah advanced very calmly towards Abu Jahl and hit him with his bow on the
head till it broke the skin and bled. To everybody's surprise, Hamzah shouted, "You dare to insult
Muhammad while I follow his religion and I say what he says? Come and retaliate upon me. Hit me if
you can." In a moment they all forgot how their leader Abu Jahl had been insulted and they were all
thunderstruck by the news that Hamzah had converted to Muhammad's religion and that he saw what
Muhammad saw and said what he said. Could Hamzah really have converted to Islam when he was the
strongest and most dignified Quraishi young man?
Such was the overwhelming disaster to which the Quraish were helpless, because Hamzah's
conversion would attract others from the elite to do the same. Thus Muhammad's call would be
supported, and he would find enough solidarity that the Quraish might wake up one day to find their
idols being pulled down.
Indeed, Hamzah had converted, and he announced what he had kept secret in his heart for so long.
Again Hamzah picked up his bow, put it on his shoulder, and with steady steps and full strength left
the place with everyone looking disappointed and Abu Jahl licking the blood flowing from his wounded
head.
Hamzah possessed a sharp sight and dear consciousness. He went home, and after he had relaxed
from the day's exhaustion he sat down to think over what had happened. He had announced it in a
moment of indignation and rage. He hated to see his nephew getting insulted and suffering injustice with
no one to help him. Such racial zeal for the honor of Bani Haashim's talk had made him hit Abu Jahl on
the head and shout declaring his Islam. But was that the ideal way for anyone to change the religion of
his parents and ancestors and to embrace a new religion whose teachings he had not yet become familiar
with and whose true reality he had not acquired sufficient knowledge of? It was true that Hamzah had
never had any doubts about Muhammad's integrity, but could anybody embrace a new religion with all
its responsibilities just in a moment of rage as Hamzah had done?