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Now this belief in the Oneness of God

was not only new,

but also threatened the lifestyle of many of the most powerful people in Makkah.

They all made money from the thousands of people

who came to worship all the idols around the Ka'aba.

So they started to pick on people who believed in One God,

and bullied them

and tried to fight them.

But the trouble with this new religion

was that it was hard to fight against,

because it was an idea,

a way of thinking about the world and our place in it,

and ideas are free to everyone.

No-one can actually stop anyone from thinking anything,

because when it comes down to it nobody knows what anyone else is thinking,

even a slave

they are always free to think

And this new religion told of justice

and reward for those who lived through

the trials of earthly life in a certain way,

a way of good behaviour

And because it was a way of restraint,

it was a way that all could follow,

rich or poor, slave or master.

And in a time when girls were considered so worthless

that they could be buried alive at birth,

and wives could be owned by their husbands

and passed on to brothers or sons,

there was much relief to be had from

submission to the All-Merciful,

and knowing that

in the end justice will be done.

So women felt

free to follow the Messenger's understanding of the world,

even when their husbands might be against it.

The first woman to embrace Islam after Khadija

was Umm al-Fadl,

married to the merchant Abbas,

and she soon brought three of her sisters to declare their Islam,

Maymuna, Salma and Asma.

and Salma married Hamza,

and Asma married Jafar.

But of the Messenger's six full aunts,

five said they could not make up their own minds about it,

and only Safiyyah had the courage of her convictions

and chose to follow the Messenger

along with her son Zubayr.

And then there was Umm Ayman,

of whom the Messenger said she was like a woman of the people of paradise,

and she married Zayd, the Messenger's adopted son,

And they had a son, Usamah,

who was raised as the grandson of the Messenger,

who dearly loved him.

So the poor and the weak could not be kept from embracing Islam,

while those with more to lose would deny what was happening,

that God was speaking to them through the Messenger,

though strange happenings would seem to be supporting what he was saying.

Would a never ending meal be enough to persuade the family?