Life-of-Muhammad

128Life of Muhammad saexplained that the agreement had laid down anexception about men, not about women; so he refused toreturn this woman.PROPHET'S sa LETTERS TO VARIOUS KINGSAfter settling down in Medina on return fromHudaibiya, the Prophet sa instituted another plan for thespread of his Message. When he mentioned this to theCompanions, some of them who were acquainted withthe customs and forms observed in the courts of kingstold the Prophet sa that kings did not entertain letterswhich did not bear the seals of the senders. Accordinglythe Prophet sa had a seal made on which were engravedthe words, Muhammad Rasulullah sa .Out of reverence, Allah was put at the top, beneath itRasul and lastly Muhammad sa .In Muharram 628, envoys went to different capitals,each with a letter from the Prophet sa , inviting the rulersto accept Islam. Envoys went to Heraclius, the RomanEmperor, the Kings of Iran, Egypt (the King of Egypt wasthen a vassal of the Kaiser) and Abyssinia. They went toother kings and rulers also. The letter addressed to theKaiser was taken by Dihya Kalbi ra who was instructed tocall first on the Governor of Busra. When Dihya ra sawthe Governor, the great Kaiser himself was in Syria on atour of the Empire. The Governor readily passed Dihya raon to the Kaiser. When Dihya ra entered the court, hewas told that whoever was received in audience by theKaiser must prostrate himself before him. Dihya rarefused to do this, saying that Muslims did not bowbefore any human being. Dihya ra , therefore, sat beforethe Kaiser without making the prescribed obeisances.The Kaiser had the letter read by an interpreter andasked if an Arab caravan was in the town. He said hedesired to interrogate an Arab about this ArabianProphet sa who had sent him an invitation to acceptIslam. It so happened that Abu Sufyan ra was in the town