—that the people of the Age of Ignorance possessed nothing of true guidance. He therefore began to seek the sound religion that agrees with innate human nature. When he heard about the Prophet ﷺ in Mecca, he traveled to meet him and found him keeping his message private in his own home; no one had followed him except a free man and a slave—Abu Bakr and Bilal. No one else had yet embraced his call. This shows that Abu Bakr, may Allah be pleased with him, was the first free man to believe in the Messenger ﷺ, and that the next of the freemen to accept Islam was ʿAli ibn Abi Talib, may Allah be pleased with him.

Part of the Prophet’s ﷺ wisdom was that he said to ʿAmr, “You will not be able to proclaim your Islam today. Rather, leave now, and when you hear that I have gone public, come to me.” So ʿAmr departed and did not return until some thirteen years later, in Medina after the Hijrah. He asked, “Do you recognize me?” The Prophet replied, “Yes,” affirming that he still knew him and had not forgotten him throughout all that time.

The Prophet ﷺ then told him of the duties he owed to Allah and explained that when a person performs ablution and perfects it, his sins depart from every limb; and when he performs the prayer, that prayer expiates his sins. This demonstrates that Allah’s favor is broader than His wrath and that His mercy has preceded His anger. We ask Allah to envelop us and you in His mercy; indeed, He is Most Generous, Most Noble.