The Islamic sources indicate that a group of Muslims migrated to the Christian land of Abyssinia for safe haven when the pagans in Mecca opposed Muhammad and his followers. Muhammad sent them there because he had heard that the Christian king (Najashi [Negus]) was a just and pious ruler who cared for his subjects.

What the readers may not be aware of is that one of Muhammad’s companions ended up becoming a Christian because he saw through the farce of Muhammad and came to the realization that Christianity is the true faith.

That man was Ubaydallah b. Jash, whose widow Muhammad later married:   

Waraqa attached himself to Christianity and studied its scriptures until he had thoroughly mastered them. `Ubaydullah went on searching until Islam came; then he migrated with the Muslims to Abyssinia taking with him his wife who was a Muslim, Umm Habiba, d. Abu Sufyan. When he arrived there he adopted Christianity, parted from Islam, and died a Christian in Abyssinia.

Muhammad b. Ja`far b. al-Zubayr told me that when he had become a Christian `Ubaydullah as he passed the prophet’s companions who were there used to say: ‘We see clearly, but your eyes are only half open,’ i.e. ‘We see, but you are only trying to see and cannot see yet.’ He used the word sa’sa’ because when a puppy tries to open its eyes to see, it only half sees. The other faqqaha means to open the eyes. After his death the apostle married his widow Umm Habiba.…

‘Uthman b. Huwayrith went to the Byzantine emperor and became a Christian. He was given high office there (142). (The Life of Muhammad, A Translation of Ibn Ishaq’s Sirat Rasul Allah, with introduction and notes by Alfred Guillaume [Karachi Oxford University Press, Karachi, Tenth Impression 1995], p. 99; bold emphasis mine)

And:

Then the Messenger of God married Umm Habibah⁸⁹³ bt. Abi Sufyan b. Harb. She was [previously] married to ‘Ubaydallah b. Jahsh b. Ri’ab b. Ya’mur b. Sabirah b. Murrah b. Kabir b. Ghanm b. Dadin b. Asad. Both she and her husband were among the emigrants to Abyssinia. Her husband embraced Christianity and tried to make her follow him, but she refused and maintained her religion. He died as a Christian, so the Messenger of God sent [his marriage proposal] to the Negus. The Negus said to [her husband’s] companions, “Who is more entitled [to take care] of her?” They said, ” Khalid b. Said b. al-‘As.” The Negus said [to Khalid], “Marry her to your Prophet.” He did so and the Negus gave her four hundred dinars as dowry (maher). It is, however, said that the Messenger of God asked ‘Uthman b. ‘Affan for her hand in marriage, and after he allowed [the Prophet] to marry her, the Messenger of God sent to the Negus for her. The latter gave her dowry on behalf of the Messenger of God and sent her back to him.⁸⁹⁴ (The History of al-Tabari: The Last years of the Prophet, translated and annotated by Ismail K. Poonawala [State University of New Your Press [SUNY], Albany, NY 1990], Volume IX (9), pp. 133-134; bold emphasis mine)

Suffice it to say, later Muslim expositors were not happy about Ubaydallah’s conversion to the truth:

Al-Bayhaqi then recounted through Ibn Lahi’a, from Abu al-Aswad, from Urwa, that Ubayd Allah b. Jash died a Christian in Abyssinia. The next to marry Umm Habiba was the Messenger of God; it was Uthman b. ‘Affan who arranged her marriage to him.

I comment that the conversion to Christianity of ‘Ubayd Allah b. Jahsh has been described above. That occurred after he had migrated to Abyssinia with the Muslims. There Satan subverted him and made Christianity seem attractive to him, and he therefore embraced it until he died. May God curse him! He used to mock the Muslims by telling them, “We see clearly; your eyes are still half closed!” Reference to this is made above relating to the migration to Abyssinia.” (Ibn Kathir, The Life of the Prophet Muhammad: Al-Sira Al-Nabawiyya, translated by Professor Trevor Le Gassick, Reviewed by Dr. Muneer Fareed [Garnet Publishing Court, 8 Southern Court, South Street Reading, RGI 4QS 2000], Volume III, pp. 194-195; bold emphasis mine)

It is apparent why Ibn Kathir would hurl maledictions upon a man who had been dead for roughly 700 years.

Ubaydallah’s conversion is a huge embarrassment for Muslims since he was a man who knew Muhammad personally, and was one of the first converts to Islam. And yet once he came to learn of Christianity, he soon realized that Muhammad was a false prophet and that his new found faith was not a revelation from the one true God.

Ubaydallah wasn’t the only Christian that exposed the fraud of Muhammad and his religion:

3421. It is related that Anas said, “There was a Christian man who became Muslim and recited al-Baqara and Ali ‘Imran. He used to act as a scribe for the Prophet. Then he reverted to being a Christian and he used to say, ‘Muhammad only knows what I wrote for him.’ Allah made him die and they buried him. In the morning, the earth had thrown him up. They said, ‘This is the work of Muhammad and his Companions since he fled from them. They dug our companion up and threw him out.’ So they dug a very deep grave and in the morning the earth had thrown him up. They said, ‘This is the work of Muhammad and his Companions since he fled from them. They threw him out.’ So they dug a grave for him as deep as they could and in the morning the earth had thrown him up. So they knew that it was not done by people so they left him [there].” (Aisha Bewley, Sahih Collection of al-Bukhari, Chapter 65. Book of Virtues)

Here’s another version:

Narrated Anas:

There was a Christian who embraced Islam and read Surat-al-Baqara and Al-`Imran, and he used to write (the revelations) for the Prophet. Later on he returned to Christianity again and he used to say: “Muhammad knows nothing but what I have written for him.” Then Allah caused him to die, and the people buried him, but in the morning they saw that the earth had thrown his body out. They said, “This is the act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and took his body out of it because he had run away from them.” They again dug the grave deeply for him, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out. They said, “This is an act of Muhammad and his companions. They dug the grave of our companion and threw his body outside it, for he had run away from them.” They dug the grave for him as deep as they could, but in the morning they again saw that the earth had thrown his body out. So they believed that what had befallen him was not done by human beings and had to leave him thrown (on the ground). (Sahih al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Book 56, Number 814 https://sunnah.com/bukhari:3617)

Apart from the legendary and fanciful details employed for the purpose of damage control, the fact that another Christian apostatized not long after becoming Muslim simply reinforces the point that even during Muhammad’s lifetime there were folks back then who came to see that Islam is nothing more than a hodgepodge of Arab pagan superstitions mixed with heretical forms of Judaism and Christianity.

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