The quiet years in the house of al-Arqam

For roughly three years the call stayed out of sight. The believers met in the house of a young man called al-Arqam, at the foot of Ṣafā — a place nobody would suspect, since his family was of Makhzūm, the clan of Abū Jahl. There they learned the newly revealed sūrahs, prayed together, and were taught before they were exposed.

The numbers stayed small — a few dozen — and most were young, poor or without clan protection. Nothing dramatic is recorded for this year, and that is itself the lesson: the community that would later hold Madinah together was built slowly, in a room, on memorised revelation and prayer.

If you are following the class year by year, this is the year to learn what the early Makkan sūrahs actually argue, because the people in that house were being made ready for the persecution that begins next year.