He drove him towards a watercourse where Jibra'il stamped on the ground with his foot. A spring immediately gushed forth, and setting the example, the angel taught Mohammad the rites of Purification by means of ablutions preceding all prayers. He then went through the prayers, with the bowing, prostrations and sentences of which they should be comprised; and the Prophet prayed with him, guided by the angel's movements and words.
Mohammad felt his body relieved from a weighty burden by the purification, and his soul brightened by the benefits of these prayers. Then it was that, thrilling with the faith of belief, Mohammad was about to return home to his wife when Jibra'il appearing once more, said to him: 'Teach Khadijah salvation by Islam!' That is to say, by voluntary resignation to all the Creator's commands. He obeyed and spoke thus: 'O Khadijah! Jibra'il ordereth me to teach thee salvation by Islam.' And Khadijah answered: 'Allah is Salvation; from Him cometh Salvation, and let Salvation be on Jibra'il.'
Thus it came about that, of all living beings, Khadijah was Islam's first convert. The Prophet took her at once to the miraculous spring, where he taught her what he had just learnt. Copying her husband, she purified herself by the ablutions and recited the prayers. Ever since that day, Allah made use of this admirable woman to mitigate the sorrows and pains of His Prophet in all the ordeals he had to undergo. Khadijah's devotion endowed Mohammad with deep contempt for mortals' wickedness, and his wife's firm faith served to comfort him when he was looked upon as an impostor.
One of the first of the Prophet's companions to believe in his mission was Ali, son of Abu Talib, only about ten years old just then, and who Mohammad had adopted during a period of famine, so as to relieve his uncle, at the head of a very large family.
Noticing that Mohammad and Khadijah kept aloof and became absorbed in prayer, he marvelled greatly at seeing no object of worship set up in front of them and he put this question to the Prophet: 'What rites were ye both performing just now?'—'We were saying the prayers of the pure religion that Allah hath just chosen for Himself and for which He hath chosen me to be the Prophet,' he replied. 'O Ali! I do invite thee to join with me. I invite thee to worship the Only Allah that hath no partners and I call upon thee to renounce the idols Lat and Uzza who can neither benefit nor harm their worshippers.'
'Say then: "He is one Allah: * Allah the everlasting! * If He begetteth not, and He is not begotten; * And there is none like unto him. * He is Allah beside whom there is no god. He knoweth things visible and invisible. He is the Compassionate, the Merciful! * And when He decreeth a thing, He only saith to it, 'Be,' and it is. * There is no Allah but He; the Living, the Self-subsisting. Neither slumber seizeth Him, nor sleep. * No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision: and He is the Subtile, the All-informed! It is He who causeth to laugh and to weep * He causeth to die and maketh alive * He bringeth forth the living out of the dead and the dead out of the living: He quickeneth the earth after its death; thus it is that ye too shall be brought forth. * The East and the West is Allah's: therefore, whichever way ye turn, there is the Face of Allah: truly Allah is Omnipresent and Omniscient ... * This is Allah, your Lord. All power is His, But gods whom ye call on beside Him have no power over the husk of a date-stone!" (The Qur'an, cxii, 1, 4. lix, 22. ii, iii, 256. vi, 103. liii, 44, 45. xxx, 18. ii, 109. xxxv, 14.)
'Never until this day,' Ali replied, 'have I hearkened unto such words and I wish to consult Abu Talib, my father.'—'Do nothing of the sort!' the Prophet hastened to tell him, for Mohammad feared lest the news of his Mission should be noised abroad before the hour arrived to divulge it in open day. 'If thou dost come to Islam, O Ali! thou must keep the secret.'
Greatly troubled in his mind by all he had just heard, Ali passed a sleepless night, but Allah (Glory be to Him!) guided him on the Road to Salvation. Early in the morning, he went to Mohammad and professed the religion of Islam with all his heart. From that day onwards, when came the hour of prayer, Ali followed Mohammad to the ravine to pray with him, unbeknown to the boy's father and uncles.
But one day, when they were both praying at the place called, "Nakhlat-al-Mahal," Abu Talib caught them unawares and questioned the Prophet, saying: 'O son of my brother, what is this religion of which thou dost follow the rites in thy prayers?'—'It is the religion of Allah, of his Angels and His Prophets—the religion of our ancestor Ibrahim. Allah hath sent me to preach it to all men; and thou, the most worthy and the nearest of my relatives, I invite thee to tread the Road to Salvation.'—'I cannot give up the religion and the tradition of my fathers,' Abu Talib declared; 'and yet I hold thee to be so sincere that I believe in the truth of what thou sayest. Continue, however, to fufill thy Mission without anxiety, for no harm shall come to thee so long as I live.' Turning towards his son, he added: 'Thou mayest hearken to Mohammad, and follow him as obediently as thou canst, for he will never guide thy footsteps except in the path of righteousness.'
Zayd ibn Harith, a captive, freed and adopted by Mohammad, and who had so much affection for his liberator that he refused to go away with his father when he came to pay the ransom, soon followed All's example and became a convert to Islam. Next followed one of the most noted men of Makkah, Abdul-Ka'bah, son of Abu Quhafah, whom we shall call henceforward Abu Bakr, being the name he assumed later and caused to become celebrated.