ʿAddās the Christian Slave and the Angel of the Mountains
storySpeaker context: Dr. Yasir Qadhi summarizes the Addas encounter as a lesson in identity and da'wah; he also draws extensive lessons from the Angel of Mountains incident about the Prophet's mercy.
❧THE GARDEN OF ʿUTBAH IBN RABĪʿAH
After the stoning and while in a state of shock, the Prophet ﷺ reached Qarn al-Thaʿālib and sat under a tree next to the garden wall of ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah (عُتْبَة بْن رَبِيعَة), a distant second cousin. Many prominent Qurayshīs maintained garden plots in Ṭāʾif because of its remarkable climate: a mountain resort in the middle of the Arabian desert, with abundant rainfall, lush greenery, and fruits (grapes, for example) unavailable elsewhere in the Ḥijāz. ʿUtbah and his brother Shaybah happened to be there and saw the Prophet ﷺ, beaten, bleeding, distressed. Though they were pagans, some basic human compassion moved them to do something for him.
❧ʿADDĀS BRINGS GRAPES
ʿUtbah sent his Christian slave ʿAddās (عَدَّاس), a young man from Ninawā (Nineveh, in present-day Iraq), carrying a cluster of grapes to the Prophet ﷺ.
The Prophet ﷺ, with his blood not yet dried, his wounds still fresh, simply said: "BismiLlāh (بِسْمِ اللَّهِ)." One small Sunnah. Not even obligatory, just a recommended act before eating. He was not hiding his identity. He was not ashamed. He simply practiced his religion as he always did.
ʿAddās was startled: "What did you just say? The people of this land do not say that." The Prophet ﷺ asked: "And what land are you from? What is your religion?" ʿAddās said: "I am a Christian from Ninawā." The Prophet ﷺ said: "From the city of the righteous man Yūnus ibn Mattā (يُونُسُ بْنُ مَتَّى)?" ʿAddās was astonished: "How do you know of Yūnus ibn Mattā?" The Prophet ﷺ said: "Yūnus was my brother, he was a Prophet, and I am a Prophet." ʿAddās was overcome. He embraced the faith of Islam, fell upon the Prophet ﷺ, and kissed his hands, head, and feet.
LESSON, THE BISMILlĀH CONVERSION:
The speaker draws this lesson: Immediately after the most traumatic rejection of his life, with blood still on his skin and sandals, the Prophet ﷺ demonstrated who he was by a single small act, saying BismiLlāh before eating. He was not embarrassed of his religion. He was not in "survival mode," cutting corners. He practiced the Sunnah as normal. And that one act, "BismiLlāh", led to the conversion of ʿAddās. Being firm in your identity even under extreme stress and grief brings about good in this world and the next. As the speaker says: "Even a BismiLlāh can lead to a conversion."
❧SYMBOLISM OF ʿADDĀS FROM IRAQ
Iraq was the furthest known land to the Arabs at that time. The Prophet had been rejected by the nearest people (Ṭāʾif), but even from the furthest corner of the Arab world, a person came and recognized the truth the moment he encountered it. This is Allāh's message: "Even if your own people and Ṭāʾif have rejected you, know that you are upon the truth. A person from the furthest land will recognize it immediately. And the day will come when his people, the people of Iraq, will all accept Islam." History confirmed this: Iraq became one of the greatest centers of Islamic civilization.
❧THE ANGEL OF THE MOUNTAINS (MALAK AL-JIBĀL)
After ʿAddās left, Allāh sent Jibrīl ʿalayhi al-salām to the Prophet ﷺ, along with the Angel of the Mountains (Malak al-Jibāl, مَلَكُ الْجِبَال). Jibrīl said: "Allāh has heard what your people have said to you and how they have rejected you. And so Allāh has sent the Angel of the Mountains to be at your command."
The Angel of the Mountains introduced himself and said: "O Prophet of Allāh! Allāh heard what your people said to you. I am the Angel of the Mountains. My Lord has sent me to you so that you may command me as you wish. If you wish, I will crush them between the two mountains of Makkah [the Akhshabayn, the two flanking mountains]."
The Prophet ﷺ said: "Bal (بَلْ), No! Do not do that. Perhaps Allāh will bring forth from their loins people who will worship Allāh alone without associating any partners with Him."
❧THE REAL MIRACLE
The speaker identifies where the true miracle lies: it is not that Allāh sent the Angel of the Mountains. The real miracle is that the Prophet ﷺ, with the mockery still ringing in his ears ("If you're a Prophet, I might as well tear down the walls of the Kaaba!"), with his blood still soaking his skin, after physical and psychological devastation, still had the mercy in his heart to say "No. Save them." Not even this generation. Perhaps their children.
If this is not Raḥmatan li-l-ʿĀlamīn (رَحْمَةً لِلْعَالَمِينَ), then what is it? As the speaker says: "If somebody says ONE word to me or you, we don't want to speak to them for ten years. Imagine our Prophet ﷺ suffering this, still fresh!, and he still becomes the Raḥmatan li-l-ʿĀlamīn. And he makes duʿāʾ that one day this city will be a Muslim city."
❧THE DUʿĀʾ FULFILLED
The Prophet ﷺ himself, barely ten years after this incident, reconquered Ṭāʾif in the aftermath of the Battle of Ḥunayn (after the Conquest of Makkah). Most of the people of Ṭāʾif alive at the time eventually accepted Islam. And the very spot where he ﷺ was stoned has been made into a Masjid, a place where Allāh Subḥānahu wa Taʿālā is worshipped five times a day. This is, as the speaker says, "What you call Raḥmatan li-l-ʿĀlamīn."