Al-HEGIRA-THE FLIGHT TO MADINA

The oasis of Yathrib, now called 'al-Madina,' i.e. 'the city of the Prophet,' is located some two hundred and fifty miles north of Mecca on the ancient caravan route that connected Mecca with Syria. In old times, Meccan Arabs used to travel to this distant land to sell what they had in their land and to buy all of the essential commodities they found in Syria.

The settlements of Yathrib differed fundamentally from the township of Mecca. The latter possessed only a few shallow wells in a dry watercourse; the water was frequently insufficient even for drinking purposes. It possessed no vegetation, and agriculture was impossible. This little settlement, enclosed by bare, rocky mountains, shimmered beneath a scorching sun. There was nothing in Mecca to live on; its people earned their bread by servicing pilgrims who came to Mecca to pay homage to their idol gods. Others were compelled to seek their livelihood elsewhere, by trade to the Yemen, Egypt, Syria and Persia. Mecca was the base, from which all caravans set out on their long journeys, and to which they returned with precious commodities, including foodstuff that they procured in those distant lands.

The economic condition of Yathrib was entirely different. An ample supply of water and a wide valley between the mountains gave full scope to agriculture. The whole valley was pleasantly verdant with crops with well-planted gardens of date palms.

The inhabitants of the Yathrib oasis lived principally on agriculture, and on a limited number of domestic animals. The population maintained its tribal character. Each small tribe owned its owns area of cultivation, in the center of which it had built a fortified village. The valley, therefore, appeared green and refreshing, dotted here and there with small villages, which presented a peaceful and serene scene.

In the era we are writing about here, five small tribes inhabited Yathrib, with the members of each tribe being, perhaps, very small. Three of those tribes, known as Bani Qainuqa, Bani Nadheer and Bani Quraidha, professed the Jewish faith. No record exists to tell us whether those people were the descendents of the tribe of Judah from Jerusalem, or whether they were ethnically Arabs who had been converted to Judaism, as were the Jews of the Yemen.

Those Jews outwardly resembled the Arabs and spoke Arabic like their other contemporaries. Practicing a relatively enlightened religion, the judaistic tribes worked as artisans in various crafts and were much richer than their pagan neighbors. They were also moneylenders, a business with which they are identified even today.

The Jewish tribes had schools, where rabbis gave lessons on Torah and other Jewish Scriptures. Presumably all or nearly all of their men were able to read and write. Those Jews also believed and preached the coming of a redeemer in a very foreseeable future. They were, as such, mentally prepared to welcome him, when he appeared in their midst.

The other tribes of the Yathrib were the Aus and the Khazraj, who practiced the popular paganism of Arabia. As required by their religion, they sent large convoys of worshippers every year on pilgrimage to Ka'aba  - - the shrine of idols in Mecca.

The Aus and Khazraj tribes were generally poor. They borrowed money from their Jewish neighbors and remained heavily indebted to them most of the time. It is said that only one set of bridal clothing and ornaments existed in the whole oasis. When a pagan girl was to be married, the necessary finery had to be rented from a Jew. Because of their economic affluence and superiority, the Jews were not much liked by their poor pagan debtors. For the same reason, Muhammad, after living among them for some time, had developed a severe dislike for them. The extent of his animosity toward the Jews is described in the Quran. Through it, he prohibited payment of interest on loans in order to punish the Jews, and to provide relief to his poor and indebted converts.

Possibly in 616 A.D., a member of the Aus tribe gave his protection to a Bedouin who was then visiting the oasis. In retaliation, a member of the Khazraj tribe paid a Jew to smack the face of the Bedouin. His protector took steps to defend his protégé and killed the Jew who had, in the meantime, struck the Bedouin. The Khazrajites, failing to nab the Jew's killer, killed, instead, another man of the Ausite; thus giving birth to a bloody feud that was destined to last for as long as it was necessary for both tribes to avenge the deaths. Consequently, a series of battles took place between the Aus and Khazraj, culminating in the victory of the Aus over its enemy after a long period of time.

Because of the circumstances described, life in Yathrib continued to be precarious, for all the warring tribes lived quite close to each other. In the battles that ensued between the Aus and Khazraj, the chief of the latter tribe, Abdullah Ibn Ubay, held moderate views and a peaceful temperament. He not only had refused to take part in the feud; he also used all his efforts to end the fratricidal strife between the warring factions. Of him, we shall eventually learn more as our narrative progresses.

A distant away from Yathrib, Muhammad, deprived of the benefaction of his wife Khudeija and the protection of his uncle Abu Talib, was finding his fortunes, in his native land, dwindling to the bottom.  He was finding himself constrained in all aspects of his life. He was feeling frustrated with the pace of conversions among the Meccan infidels, a reality that convinced him that the pagans were never going to accept his religion. The debacle of Taif reminded him how difficult it would be for him to walk into a city, and seek help.

Deciding that to continue his mission with the Meccans would bear him no fruits, he discontinued his preaching in Mecca. Instead, he started paying attention, for quite a while, to those nomadic tribesmen and strangers who visited Mecca on pilgrimage or on trade. Eventually, this diversion also proved to be unsatisfactory, for, in spite of his best efforts, he had failed to elicit positive responses from those pilgrims whom he approached for quite some time. He was in a dilemma, knowing not what would be the result of his next step. The more he thought about his predicaments, the more constrained he felt. After a lot of thoughts, he concluded that he needed to find a place whose inhabitants were willing to receive him as an honored guest and bestow on him the privileges that would allow him to propagate his faith without any obstruction. Abyssinia, in this context, was out of question, because it was a pre-dominantly Christian country. He aspired for a different place. In order to let his desire come true, he decided to wait.

It was, perhaps, in the year 620 A.D. that Muhammad noticed the arrival of some pilgrims from Yathrib and took the opportunity to engage them in a conversation. A group of seven or eight persons belonging to both the tribes of Aus and Khazraj was impressed by what he had told it about the Oneness of God and the futility of paganism. The Khazrajites thought he was the same Messiah whom the Jews of Yathrib were expecting, while others considered the possibility of using him as a mediator or peacemaker in their volatile oasis. Both groups of those people were, however, of the identical impression that they should use the man and his abilities to further their neglected causes. They returned to Yathrib, exploring and debating all possibilities.

The following year, a group of twelve men, including those of the previous year, came back to Mecca to perform their hajj. Muhammad met them in a little valley of the mountains and read them some of the verses he told them he received from God. All the twelve Yathribis declared themselves convinced, and made a final profession of faith. Since the converts were the most influential among the members of an otherwise powerful tribe, Muhammad sought their protection and proposed to accompany them on their return. The converts informed him of their deadly feud with the tribe of Aus, and asked him to defer his arrival in Yathrib to a time that would suite him and his hosts. They, however, suggested that he send a man along with them to instruct and strengthen the faith of those Yathribis who, under their influence, had converted to Islam a year ago. Muhammad agreed and sent Musab Ibn Omar, one of the most learned and able of his disciples, not only to teach the neo-Muslims the tenets of Islam, but also to propagate it among other Yathribis, who practiced paganism, Judaism and Christianity. In this way, the seed of Islam began to sprout in the oasis of Yathrib.

Musab Ibn Omar often faced threats to his life, yet he persisted in his preaching. His tenacity paid off and he succeeded in converting some of the city's principal inhabitants. Among them were Saad Ibn Maad, a chief of the Ausites, and Osaid Ibn Hedheir, a man of great authority. During this period of time, some Muslims of Mecca, driven out by the pagan harassment and hunger, also arrived and took refuge in Yathrib. They joined Musab and helped him in taking the propaganda of Islam to the footsteps of almost all inhabitants of Yathrib. A large number of the city's inhabitants saw their economic emancipation in Islam and felt inclined to embrace its doctrines for their own good. Thus, in a short period of two years, those people achieved in Yathrib what Muhammad, in Mecca, could not achieve over a period of almost thirteen years.

Muhammad as well as those who promised him sanctuary had been keeping a watchful eye on the changing situation of the city. When they felt confident of giving Muhammad shelter, more than seventy of them, led by Musab Ibn Omar, accompanied the hajj delegation to Mecca in the holy month of 622 A.D. for the purpose of inviting Muhammad to take up his residence in Yathrib.

To keep the matter confidential, the emissaries from Yathrib arranged a midnight meeting with Muhammad in the company of his uncle al-Abbas. They met on the hill of Aqaba, where they pledged to support Muhammad upon his migration to their city. This pledge is known as the pledge of Aqaba or the "pledge of women" because it involved a promise of loyalty, but no obligation to fight.

Other terms of the pledge included a promise on the part of the Yathribis to abjure idolatry and to worship the one true God, openly and fearlessly. To safeguard himself, Muhammad exacted unflinching obedience in weal or woe; and for those of the disciples who might accompany him, protection. All terms decided, he committed himself to take up residence in their midst and to remain with them, to be friends of their friends, and the enemy of their enemies. "But, should we perish in your cause," they asked, "what will be our reward?" "Paradise!" Muhammad assured them.

After concluding the agreement as aforesaid, the emissaries placed their hands in the hands of Muhammad and swore to abide by the compact. He then singled out twelve persons from among them and designated them as his apostles; following, we suppose, the example of Jesus Christ. But as the allegiance was being sworn, they heard a voice coming from the summit of the hill, which not only denounced them as apostates; it also threatened them with punishment.  In the darkness and the solitude of the night, the voice appeared awesome to the emissaries and they blanched. "It is the voice of the fiend Iblis," said Muhammad scornfully. "He is the foe of God: fear him not."

In reality, it was the voice of a Quraishite spy; for, the very next morning, they exhibited knowledge of what had transpired between Muhammad and the Yathribis emissaries during the night and threatened the new confederates with great harshness as they departed from the city. The holiness of the month had restrained the Quraishites from becoming violent; otherwise the Yathribis would have suffered great harm to their persons.

After the departure of the Yathribis and soon after the expiration of the holy month, the pagans revived their opposition of Muhammad and his religious doctrines with an increased vitality. Sensing a crisis at hand and being resolved to leave the city himself, he ordered his adherents to leave Mecca and to proceed to Yathrib in order to avoid being broiled into unproductive arguments with their enemies.

They heeded the order and took to Yathrib. In a short time the pagans discovered that the whole Muslim colony of Mecca had disappeared, leaving the streets barren. The Yathribis, henceforth known as Ansars or Helpers, received the immigrants, whom they called Muhajirs, with love and sympathy and shared with them all that that they had. Some of the Ansars even gave away their additional wives to their brethren from Mecca in order to mitigate their sexual deprivation. Muhammad recognized his hosts' spirit and great sacrifices. To compensate for what they had done for the Muhajirs, he gave the Ansars, upon his arrival in Yathrib, the assurance of receiving great rewards from him as well as from God.

By the time the aforesaid exodus took place, Abu Sofian had become the ruler of Mecca. When the disquieting news reached him, he summoned a meeting of the city council to decide on the course of action, which the Meccans thought they should take to tackle a situation that was likely to be created by the mass migration of the Muslims to Yathrib. They recognized that the situation was grave and that they were likely to face serious challenges from them in near future.  They realized that the fugitive Muslims were going to bind themselves into a strong community in Yathrib and that they would be doing anything and everything, to the detriment of the Meccans' interests, to support their lives.  They also realized the inevitable: Muslims would intercept their caravans which needed to pass through Yathrib while en route to, or returning from Syria, not only to plunder them, but also to disrupt the trade that supported all of the Meccans' lives. They, therefore, needed to take preventive measures to safeguard their lives and properties.

The council held a meeting, with its members' opinions remaining divided. Finally, Abu Sofian declared that the only effectual check on the growing evil was to prevent Muhammad from leaving Mecca at all costs. Suggested preventive measures included his confinement, or death, if the first measure failed. To implement the decision, a representative from each Meccan tribe was selected with the understanding that should it become necessary, each one of them would plunge their swords into Muhammad's body, if he resisted the confinement. This arrangement was necessary in order to avoid tribal vengeance that normally followed a death at the hand of a man from another tribe.

Someone, however, tipped off Muhammad on the decision that Abu Sofian and his council had made. He decided to elude the Meccans with the help of his protégé Ali, before they could lay their hands on his person.

The pagan's group charged with apprehending Muhammad arrived at the door of his house. Through a crevice, they saw him wrapped in a mantle and sleeping on his bed. The would-be apprehenders paused at the door for a while and then rushed toward the sleeping person. The sleeper got up but, instead of Muhammad, it was Ali who stood before them. Puzzled, they realized that Muhammad had escaped from his house before they could arrive. His escape enraged them so bad that the Quraishites felt no hesitation in declaring a reward of one hundred camels to anyone who brought him to them, dead or alive.

We hear diverse accounts of Muhammad's mode of escape from the house after faithful Ali had wrapped himself in the would-be victim's mantle, and taken his place on the bed. A miraculous account has it that Muhammad opened the door of his house silently and threw a handful of dust in the air, casting such blindness upon his enemies that he walked away through their midst without being perceived. The erudite view on the episode, however, is that he clambered over the rear wall of the house with the help of a slave who lent him his back to step upon, thereby enabling him to negotiate the height of the wall for his escape.

Having escaped apprehension or murder, Muhammad immediately went to the house of Abu Bakr and they arranged an instant flight. They decided that they should take refuge in a cave of Mount Thor, about an hour's distance from Mecca, and wait there until they could proceed safely to Yathrib. In the meantime, the children of Abu Bakr would secretly bring them food and water. In keeping with the decision, they left Mecca while it was dark and reached the foot of Mount Thor by daybreak. Hardly were they inside the cave when they heard the sound of pursuit. Abu Bakr quacked with fear, but Muhammad pacified him with the assurance of God's help.

Here, a miracle is supposed to have taken place, which is dear to the hearts of all true believers. By the time, Muslims believe, the pursuing Quraishites reached the mouth of the cavern; an acacia tree had sprung up before it. In its spreading branches, a pigeon had woven its nest and laid eggs. Over the mouth of the cave, a spider spread its web. When the pursuers saw those signs of undisturbed peace, they concluded that no one could have entered the cavern and they turned away from it in another direction in search of the fugitive. This, Muslims say, was a manner in which God saved the lives of Muhammad and his companion Abu Bakr from their enemies. In like-wise manner, Muslims insist, God saves the life of all true believers!
In reality, the so-called miracle was conjured up by the later-day Muslims to bolster Muhammad's credibility at the expense of his enemies. A man, who was about to emerge a deceiver and a murderer, could not possibly have the power to cause miracles; it would, however, be a different matter if he used illusion to deceive his friends and victims in order to enhance his apostolic image that he made use of to achieve some of his sinister designs.

The fugitives remained for three days undiscovered in the cave while Asama, one of the daughters of Abu Bakr, brought them food and water every day from her house. On the fourth day, they set out for Yathrib on camels brought to them by a servant of Abu Bakr. Their journey remained generally undisturbed till they reached Quba, about two miles from their final destination. Quba was a favorite resort for the inhabitants of the city, and a place to which they sent their sick and infirm, for the air here was pure and salubrious. On arrival here, Al Qaswa - - Muhammad's camel - -crouched on her knees and refused to go farther. He interpreted this as being a good omen and decided to halt there for some time and prepare for entering the city. He remained at this place for four days, residing in the house of an Ausite named Kulthum Ibn Hathem. Salman al Parsi, a renowned Persian proselyte who, in later years, rose to power and great fame, joined Muhammad here.

Salman al Parsi was a Persian, and professed the faith of Zoroastrianism. He was well versed with the doctrines of his religion. After Persia's victory over the Romans, he traveled to Medina. Told of Muhammad's impending arrival, he developed a curiosity to meet him before he returned to his homeland. In the first meeting, he impressed Muhammad, who asked him to stay on in Medina so that he could consult him on Zoroastrian faith and its principles. Hoping to earn fame and a better living for himself, he agreed, and after converting to Islam, spent the rest of his life in Medina.
While incorporating various Judaistic doctrines and dogmas into Islam, Muhammad consulted Salman to find out if his religion had anything that he could make part of his new faith. Salman told him all about Zoroastrianism, including the details of a debate that had supposedly taken place, in 6th B.C., between Zoroaster Spitama, the founder of Zoroastrianism, and King Kavi Vishtaspa, who ruled Bactria, and lived in Balkh, followed by his interrogation by his court's Wise Men, Priests and Magicians. He narrated:

Declaring himself the Prophet of the One Wise Lord, Zoroaster asked the King to turn his heart from vain and evil idols towards the glory of the True and Wise and Eternal Lord.

"What sign have you to offer that your words are true?" the King asked.

"I teach the word of Truth against the word of Falsehood. If you or your wise men wish to question me, I shall answer and prove ways of Idol-worship to be wrong and shadowed with the darkness of night; and the way of the One Wise Lord, Ahura Mazda, to be good and bright as the light of the day," answered the Prophet.

"Wise men, Priests, and Magicians!" the King addressed his men, "question this stranger on his teachings, and I shall sit in judgment and decide who is right and who is wrong!"

"If you find my words to be true," said Zoroaster to the King, "promise that you will abandon the dark ways of Idol-worship and follow the shinning road of the Wise Lord."

"I promise!" said the King.

Then the debate between Zoroaster and the King's Wise Men, Priests and Magicians began.

"What is this new religion that you teach, and how is it different from the religion of your forefathers?" the Chief Priest asked Zoroaster angrily.

"I have come not to teach a new religion, but to improve the old," Zoroaster replied.

"What I teach is the Truth of the Creator, and therefore good. Your Idol-worship is not true, and therefore it is evil."

"Do you mean that our gods, the Sun, the Fire, the Mountains, and the Stars are false gods?" the Chief Priest asked.

"No," Zoroaster replied, " they are not false gods. They are not gods at all. If a man makes a house, would you call the house the man? Even so the sun, moon and mountains are not gods, but the works of the Creator."

"Who is that Creator?" one of the magicians asked.

"Ahura Mazda, Lord of Wisdom, Supreme Ruler of the World!" Zoroaster replied.

"And you say that he created everything in the world?" one of the Wise Men asked.
"He created everything that is good in the world. For God is Good."

"And who created the evil of the world?"

"Angra Manyu, the Evil Spirit, created all that is evil in the world," replied Zoroaster.

"Then there is more than one god in the world!" the Chief Priest shouted triumphantly.

"Yes," Zoroaster replied. "There are two Creators. In the beginning there were two spirits: one Good and one evil. And the Good Spirit said to the Evil Spirit, 'Your ways are not my ways, your thoughts are not my thoughts, your words are not my words, and your deeds are not my deeds. Let us separate!' Then the Good Spirit created all the good in the world, and the Evil Spirit made all the evil in the world."

"Then why do you say we should follow the Good Spirit? Why not follow the Evil Spirit who is just as great as the Good Spirit?" the Wise Man asked again.

"Because Good will win over Evil in the end."

"How do you know that?" a magician asked.

"Because Evil has no foresight!" Zoroaster replied slowly. "The Wise Lord remembers the past and understands the future. But the Evil  spirit does not know the past nor the future. Evil lives only for the profits of the present. That is why the Wise One will win the battle over Evil in the end."

"And who created Man?" a wise men asked.

"Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, created man," Zoroaster replied.

"You said that the Good Spirit can do only good and create only good things. Then how is it that Man, created by the Good Spirit, is following the ways of the Evil Spirit?

"That is because Man was created with the free will to choose between good and evil," Zoroaster replied. "But all the thoughts a man thinks and all the words a man speaks and all the deeds a man does each day of his life are written down in the Book of life. The good thoughts, words and deeds are written down on one side, and the bad thoughts, words and deeds are written down on the other side. When a man dies his soul comes up to the Keeper of the Book of Life. If his good thoughts, words and deeds are greater than his evil thoughts, words and deeds, then the soul goes to Heaven. Otherwise the soul must go down to the tortures of Hell."

"And will this go on forever?" the King asked.

"No, Your Majesty!" Zoroaster replied. "for the Day of Judgment is nigh. And on that Day of Days the Wise Lord will triumph over the Evil Spirits. Good will triumph over Evil. Then all dead will come to life again. The god souls and the bad souls will be tried. Thy will pass through a flow of molten metal. To the good it will seem like passing through warm milk. But the evil will burn everlastingly. And then the God Lord will banish the Evil Spirit and keep them there forever. And on that Day of Days the good and happy world without evil will begin and last forever!"

All the men in the throne-room were silent, for they had never heard such strange words before. And the King asked the men:

"Have you no other questions to ask this man?"

"What ought one to do to follow the ways of the Wise Lord?" asked one wise man.

"Humata, Hakkata, Hvarshta! Good thoughts, good words, and good deeds!" This is the Way to the Wise Lord!" (For the dialogue, see Joseph Gaer's How the Great Religions Began, pp. 219 to 223). "

Salman's learned discourse brought back to Muhammad's mind what he had learned from Waraqa ibn Nofal and Monk Adas before the commencement of his mission.  Deeply impressed, he contemplated seriously on Zoroaster's concepts of Free Will, Judgment Day and Resurrection etc. Finding them as effective tools for threatening the pagans with the unknown future, he incorporated those concepts into what he claimed were teachings from God, having come to him, through angel Gabriel, in the form of revelations. His plan yielded great results; the extreme fear of being punished on the Day of Judgment not only influenced the great majority of the polytheists to convert to Islam, its influence, even toady, rules the minds of all Muslims who, after reading the Quran, can be observed seeking, against those threats, immediate refuge in Al-Mighty God's kindness and generosity.

It is our considered opinion that had Muhammad not used the threat of punishment in the world hereafter to wear the resistance of the gullible pagans down, his mission would not have achieved as much success as it did during his own lifetime, nor our world would have as many Muslims as it has today.

The Muslims of Mecca, who had arrived and taken refuge some time before in Yathrib, hearing that Muhammad was at Quba, came out to meet him there. The Ansars, who had made their compact with him in the preceding year, also came forward to greet him and to renew their pledge of fidelity.

Having obtained from his converts a confirmed report of the Yathribis favorable disposition towards him, Muhammad entered Yathrib on Friday, the twenty-second of September in the Christian era of 622. From the time Muhammad entered Yathrib, his disciples renamed it as Madinat al Nabi, the city of the Prophet, abbreviated to Madina, a name by which we shall refer to it in future.

On entering the city, and to his pleasant surprise, Muhammad found himself at the head of a numerous and powerful sect, composed partly of the seventy of his disciples who had fled Mecca before him and partly of the inhabitants of the place who were converted to Islam by Muhammad, as well as by the Meccan immigrants who lived in their midst for some time. Most of the local proselytes belonged to the tribes of Ausites and Khazrajites. They were the descendents of two brothers, al Aus and al Khazraj.

n spite of having the same blood flowing through their veins, those two tribes had disrupted Madina by their inveterate and mortal feuds, until the time they had became united in the bonds of their new faith. With those tribes whose members had not yet converted to his faith, Muhammad made the covenants of co-existence. And it was this unity between the two formerly warring tribes and the pact of co-existence with those tribes who were expected to cause him trouble that had provided Muhammad with the much sought-after strength, which he lacked in Mecca.

Contrary to what is generally believed to have helped Muhammad in setting himself as the ruler of Madina, we are of the view that it was the unity of the two pagan tribes, brought about through the lure of Islam, and his political sagacity that had helped him in achieving all of his later-day successes.  If he had failed to achieve either of those elements in Madina, we believe, Muhammad would have faced the same fate here, as he did in Mecca, during the entire length of his apostolic career there. His failure in Madina would have strangled Islam forever.

Prior to Muhammad's migration to Madina, the tribe of Khazraj was very much under the sway of their chief named Abdullah Ibn Ubay, whom we have briefly mentioned earlier. He was about to be crowned the king (Ibn Ishaq, op. cit, p. 278) when the arrival of Muhammad in Madina and the excitement caused by his doctrines gave the popular sentiment a twist, which shattered his dream of becoming a ruler into pieces. Whatever little we know of him now tells us that Abdullah was a stately person, possessing a graceful demeanor with a ready and eloquent tongue. He was a man who had many qualities of a good politician. He also knew how to disguise his displeasure and sentiments. In keeping with his political shrewdness, he exhibited the profession of a great friendship for Muhammad and attended many of his meetings along with many of his companions. Covertly, Muslims claim, Abdullah harbored a grudge against him on account his ascension to power having been disrupted by the latter's arrival in Madina. Still he maintained a pleasant relationship with his nemesis who, being captivated by his personal appearance, plausible conversation and his apparent deference to him, did not, at first, suspect any abnormality in their social intercourse. But as time passed, and the frequency of their encounters increased, Muhammad found out that Abdullah was not only jealous of his popularity, he also cherished a secret animosity against him. He also found out that Abdullah's companions were equally false in their pretended friendship towards him, hence he stamped them with the name of "The Hypocrites," an appellation under which he delivered a whole Sura for the benefit of his followers. In spite of his supposedly dubious nature, however, Abdullah Ubay is not known to have caused Muhammad any serious problems, the stories of his alleged betrayal notwithstanding.