THE EMIGRATION TO Abyssinia gave the impression that there were fewer Muslims in Makkah than their actual number. This helped to avert any all-out aggression the hard-liners of the Quraysh in Makkah might have been contemplating. Support for such an action would not be readily forthcoming if the problem was made to appear much smaller.
The emigration, however, made those who were left behind much more vulnerable. There would be many more tormentors for every Muslim left in Makkah. In that tribal society, where personal and tribal influence counted for much more than physical or numerical strength, the balance could be restored easily if people of the right calibre came forward. It was in recognition of this fact that the Prophet used to pray God in those days to support Islam by making either ʿAmr ibn Hishām, most famous for his nickname, Abū Jahl, or ʿUmar ibn al-Khaṭṭāb join the ranks of the Muslims.
The latter were very hostile to Islam. Abū Jahl was the archenemy. ʿUmar betrayed no soft feelings towards the Muslims. Indeed, he tortured a slave woman in an attempt to make her renounce Islam. It speaks volumes for the Prophet’s confidence in the truth of what he was preaching that he should hope for a change of heart by either one of these two men.
It was in the nature of things that ʿUmar should be the first to want to bring the conflict in Makkah between the Quraysh and Islam to a final end. Perhaps the easiest and surest way to achieve that was to kill Muhammad, a feat which was certain to kill his message too. ʿUmar was not a man who shrank from a difficult task or pretended not to know what he could or should do. If Muhammad was to be killed, then he would be the one to kill him. He therefore went out carrying his sword in search of Muhammad.
He was soon met by a man called Nuʿaym ibn ʿAbdullāh who, like many others, hoped to escape trouble by keeping secret the fact that he was a Muslim. Nuʿaym asked ʿUmar where he was going. Unhesitatingly, ʿUmar declared his purpose. Nuʿaym then said: “Your strength has certainly fooled you. Do you imagine that the ʿAbd Manāf clan [to which the Prophet belonged] would leave you to walk these roads when you have killed Muhammad? You would be better advised if you went back to your own household and put them on the right course.” ʿUmar asked: “What do you mean, and who of my household?” Nuʿaym replied: “Your cousin and brother-in-law Saʿīd ibn Zayd and your sister, Fāṭimah, have both followed Muhammad and become Muslims.” Obviously Nuʿaym’s purpose was to divert ʿUmar’s attention. If ʿUmar was preoccupied with his own household, the Prophet would be in no imminent danger from that quarter.
Saʿīd and his wife Fāṭimah also kept secret the fact that they were Muslims. When ʿUmar approached their home, they were studying the Qur’ān with a fellow Muslim called Khabbāb. When they realized that ʿUmar was approaching, Khabbāb sought somewhere to hide, while Fāṭimah hid the sheet they were reading. In his fury, ʿUmar asked as he entered about the voices he overheard. Receiving an unsatisfactory answer from his sister, he assaulted his brother-in-law making it clear that he knew their secret. His sister rushed to push him away from her husband but he struck her, causing blood to gush from her face. She then said, with a boldness and determination which surprised ʿUmar himself: “Yes indeed, we are Muslims; we believe in God and His Messenger. You may do as you please.”
The sight of blood on his sister’s face made ʿUmar feel sorry for her. He said in a rather conciliatory tone: “Give me what you have been reading. Let me see what Muhammad teaches.” When she hesitated, expressing her fear that he might destroy the sheet, he swore by his idols to give it back to her after he had read it. The sheet contained the opening verses of Sūrah 20, entitled Ṭā Hā. The meaning of these opening verses may be rendered as follows:
We have not bestowed the Qur’ān on you from on high to make you unhappy, but only as an exhortation to all who stand in awe [of God]: a revelation from Him Who has created the earth and the high heavens, the Merciful, the One established on the throne of His almightiness. To Him belongs all that is in the heavens and all that is on earth, as well as all that is between them and all that is beneath the sod. And if you say anything aloud, well, He indeed knows even the secret thoughts as well as that which is hidden even more deeply. God, there is no deity other than Him; His alone are the attributes of perfection. (1-8)
Softening of a Hard Heart
Impressed, ʿUmar read on, and then he read the whole sheet again. He felt the powerful verses striking their notes on the strings of his heart. He looked at the floor for a moment as he repeated verse 13: “For certain, I – I alone – am God; there is no deity other than Me. Hence, worship Me alone and be constant in prayer, so as to remember Me.” He then raised his head and said: “How beautiful and how noble.” At this point Khabbāb came out and told ʿUmar about the Prophet’s prayer for fresh support to Islam, saying: “I sincerely hope that you will come forward in answer to the Prophet’s prayers.”1
ʿUmar then declared that he wanted to be a Muslim and asked to be taken to the Prophet to declare his submission to God and his belief in the message of Muhammad. ʿUmar did not need much persuasion to tackle such a step. Indeed nobody tried to persuade him, not even his injured sister. Everybody was aware of ʿUmar’s enmity towards Islam which was so fierce that no one close to him would have imagined such a change was at all possible.
Some may wonder whether ʿUmar’s sense of guilt, which must have been very acute as he saw the blood gushing from his sister’s face when he hit her, was the main factor in bringing about such a change. What is known of ʿUmar’s personality, before and after his conversion to Islam, lends no support to this argument. What happened was that the sight of blood awakened ʿUmar’s sense of justice. He decided to listen to the case of the other side. Hence he asked to look at the sheet his sister was studying. When he read it, he was overwhelmed by the power of the argument and submitted to the truth.
Although ʿUmar asked to be taken to the Prophet, it was judged that it would be better if he went alone with his sword tied to his side. He went to the house which served as a school and a hideout for the new Muslims. Someone looked through a little hole in the door when he knocked. Alarmed at the sight of ʿUmar carrying his sword, he went hurriedly to tell the Prophet. Everyone in Makkah was aware of ʿUmar’s strength and courage. Ḥamzah, the Prophet’s uncle and a very powerful warrior in his own right, said to the Prophet: “Shall we let him in? If he has come for something good, we will grant him that. If his motive is evil, we will kill him with his own sword.”
The door was opened. ʿUmar came in. The Prophet went up to him, took him by the collar and pulled him hard and said: “What brings you here, ʿUmar? It looks to me as if you will not mend your ways until a calamity has befallen you.” ʿUmar replied humbly: “Messenger of God! I have come to you to declare that I believe in God and His Messenger and accept what God has revealed.” The Prophet said: “God is supreme.” Everybody in the house realized that ʿUmar had joined the Islamic camp. They were so delighted because, with him, the Muslims had become infinitely stronger.2
It may seem illogical that one man should make such a difference, but the peculiarities of the Arabian tribal society confirm this difference. Two things ʿUmar did immediately after adopting his new religion would provide an insight into the nature of that society.
ʿUmar said: “The night when I became a Muslim I sat up thinking who was the hardest opponent of the Prophet. Abū Jahl was undoubtedly the one. So I went to his house in the morning. He welcomed me heartily and asked what I wanted. I said: ‘I have come to tell you that I have embraced Islam and that I now believe in God and His Messenger, Muhammad.’ Furious, Abū Jahl slammed the door in my face, saying: ‘Confound you and what you have come here for.’” This incident acquires more significance when one realizes that ʿUmar’s mother was Abū Jahl’s own sister.3
That morning, ʿUmar also made the fact of his conversion known to Jamīl ibn Maʿmar, who made it his business to spread every piece of news around Makkah. Immediately, Jamīl was doing his act, telling everybody. ʿUmar was near at hand, confirming the fact with a challenging attitude. A number of men went up to him and he fought them single-handed for an hour or so. Worn out, he sat down and said: “You may do as you like. Had we been three hundred in number, I swear we would have fought it out with you to the bitter end.” At that moment, a wise old man from the Quraysh came along. He reprimanded the men, reminding them that the ʿAdiy clan, to which ʿUmar belonged, would not hesitate to avenge him if he came to any harm. So they left him alone.4
These two incidents show the sort of strength ʿUmar brought with him to the Muslim camp; a strength which was honest, open and bold. This was to remain the character of ʿUmar’s contribution to the cause of Islam throughout his life.
A Show of Strength
It did not take ʿUmar long to grasp the true nature of Islam. He was a man of keen native intelligence. Moreover, he fully appreciated what was needed to grant the small Muslim community in Makkah some sort of status. He wanted to throw a challenge to the Quraysh. Therefore, he suggested to the Prophet that Muslims should go out from their secret school to pray at the Kaʿbah as a group. He defended his view by asking rhetorically: “Are we not following the truth?” The Prophet affirmed that the Muslims were. ʿUmar then asked: “Are they [the Quraysh] not following false beliefs?” Again the Prophet answered in the affirmative. ʿUmar then asked: “Why then should we be the ones who accept humility when it comes to the question of faith?”
The Prophet himself was not against the idea of launching a demonstration of power. He chose forty of his companions who walked in double file from the house of al-Arqam to the Kaʿbah, with his uncle Ḥamzah at the head of one file and ʿUmar at the head of the other. They offered a congregational prayer at the Kaʿbah and dispersed.
That demonstration gave the Quraysh a clear signal that Islam was there to stay. Its followers might be few in number, particularly after many of them had left for Abyssinia, but they had strength of character and powerful new converts. The conflict might be prolonged, unless something was done about it quickly. Any thought of a total war against the Muslims was abandoned, at least for the time being, because the shrewd move of emigration to Abyssinia, which served as a method of thinning out the Muslim forces, ensured that such suggestions would not be met with approval, because the Muslims did not represent an imminent danger to the existing set-up in Makkah. The elders of the tribes recognized that they had a problem to solve, but final solutions were not yet called for. The idea for containment through temptation, which was started by ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah as reported in Chapter 9, seemed to offer the best chance of achieving some sort of accommodation. Hence a delegation from the Quraysh went to meet the Prophet, headed by two men known for their ‘diplomatic talent’, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah and al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wā’il. The delegation made what in any circumstances could be considered a very attractive offer: “We will make you the wealthiest of us all, and we will give you the prettiest of our virgin daughters to marry. We will ask of you nothing in return except to stop abusing our gods and ridiculing our practices.”
The poor Quraysh! They could not understand that they were dealing with a man of principle. Their offer did not go beyond what was sure to satisfy any person of ambition. All they came up with was wealth and women. In their small world, there could be nothing more attractive. Besides, they did not ask for anything much in return. They simply wanted Muhammad to accept the principle of compromise and to ‘live and let live’. Muhammad should simply leave them alone and not criticize their beliefs or their practices.
Perhaps it is important to point out here that although the Quraysh delegation referred in their offer to a pledge by the Prophet not to ‘abuse our gods or ridicule our practices’, the Prophet never used any foul or obscene language, even when he criticized idolatrous practices most strongly. His manners were too refined to allow any usage of vulgar or obscene language. Moreover, Muslims are not allowed to refer in such terms to the idols or deities of the polytheists: “Do not revile those beings whom they invoke instead of God lest they revile God out of spite, and in ignorance.” (6: 108) The Prophet simply stressed the fact that those false gods had no power to bring benefit or cause harm to anyone. He also criticized ignorant practices, calling for a fundamental change in beliefs, concepts, behaviour and social traditions so as to bring them in line with the basic principle of God’s oneness.
Tempting Offers
Deep at heart the chiefs of the Quraysh recognized the strength of the Prophet’s argument and the truthfulness of his message. They realized that their own beliefs had no solid foundation and feared that the social structure which brought them all those privileges they enjoyed would soon collapse, as it could not be expected to resist the message of Muhammad for long. Hence, they came up with the proposal of coexistence, coupled with the temptation of wealth and women, which they were ready to provide for Muhammad. God’s Messenger, however, made it clear to them that he wanted nothing for himself and would not compromise any principle of his message. He meant to go on preaching it, unhindered by any opposition, hoping to save mankind from tyrannical beliefs and offer them the freedom which is enjoyed only by those who worship God alone.
That should have brought this round of negotiations to a halt, since it was clear that the Prophet was not in a compromising mood. Indeed, he never was. To compromise any principle of his faith never entered his mind, no matter what attractions were on offer. The Quraysh, however, had a genuine desire to contain the problem. They changed direction and abandoned offers of personal temptation to make a proposal which may be described in human terms as demonstrating an exceptional degree of fairness. They offered to extend full recognition to Muhammad and his message, asking in return only that Muhammad should extend the same treatment to them. Their proposal was simply: “We will worship your God one day and you worship our gods the following day.”5
Had Muhammad been after any material gain, or had he been a politician or a party leader, he would have jumped at this offer. The Quraysh were not making a simple offer of recognition of the rights and aspirations of their opponents, they were offering full partnership in the government of Makkah, and perhaps Arabia as a whole. One can see in this offer something similar to a grand coalition between two major parties in the political arena in modern times. But the Prophet was an advocate of the truth. He could not simply accept half the truth and sacrifice the other half. Such a sacrifice meant acceptance of half the falsehood. That was not something which could be done by a Prophet, let alone Muhammad, the last of God’s messengers to mankind. He was commanded to reply to this offer in the following terms, set out in the Qur’ān: “Say: Disbelievers, I do not worship what you worship, nor do you worship what I worship. I shall never worship what you worship, neither will you worship what I worship. You have your own religion and I have mine.” (109: 1-6) Thus this round of negotiations ended like previous ones with the Prophet maintaining his ground, stating that he wanted nothing except a chance to convey his message to people, so that they might accept it if they so wished.
The strained relations between the Prophet and his people continued as he went about fulfilling his task, calling on people to abandon idolatrous beliefs and practices and to worship God alone. There were new converts, but no major breakthrough was to be expected with the sort of determined opposition shown by the Quraysh. However, the hopes of arriving at some sort of accommodation was never far from the minds of at least some of the chiefs. One day, a large group of them met after sunset at the Kaʿbah: famous people like ʿUtbah and Shaybah, the two sons of Rabīʿah, Abū Sufyān ibn Ḥarb, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith, Abū al-Bakhtarī ibn Hishām, al-Aswad ibn al-Muṭṭalib, Zimʿah ibn al-Aswad, al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, Abū Jahl ibn Hishām, ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah, al-ʿĀṣ ibn Wā’il, Umayyah ibn Khalaf and Nabīh and Munbbih, the two sons of al-Ḥajjāj. Inevitably, their discussion drifted to the problem presented by the message preached by the Prophet. Some of them felt that since so many of the chiefs of Makkah were present, an attempt to achieve a compromise with Muhammad could be fruitful. They sent a messenger to tell Muhammad that the leaders of his people wished to speak to him. He came quickly, hoping that they might have started to realize the truthfulness of Islam.
Absurdity Knows No Limits
Nothing would have given him greater pleasure, since he loved his people and cared for their well-being. As he listened to their spokesman, however, he realized that he was in for another futile discussion. The spokesman started with an appraisal of the situation in Makkah and a repetition of an old offer:
No man in the history of the Arab nation has ever caused his community a problem like the one you have caused: you have insulted our forefathers, criticized our beliefs, reviled our gods, ridiculed our sages and caused division within our community. Indeed, you have been the cause of every bad thing in the relationship between you and us. Nevertheless, we have the following offer to make to you: if you have started this matter of yours in order to become rich, we will pay you from our own money until you are the wealthiest among us. If it is honour that you are seeking, we are prepared to make you our leader and if you seek a kingdom, we will make you our king. On the other hand, if what you experience is some sort of evil spirit which you cannot control, we will seek medical treatment for you and will pay for that whatever is required of us until you have been cured or until we have done everything we can.6
One may observe here that these offers were more of a test than a realistic or practical offer. The chiefs of Makkah were simply hoping for the slightest indication from Muhammad that he was after some material gain. That would have given them all the justification they needed to resort to the most violent means in order to suppress his call. He, however, was clear about his priorities and objectives. He said to them:
I am not after your money, and I do not seek a position or a crown. God has made me His messenger and revealed to me a book and instructed me to give you a message of good tidings and a warning. I have conveyed God’s message to you as best as I could and I have given you good counsel. If you accept it from me, it will be good for you in this life and in the life to come. If you turn it down, I will continue to preach it until God settles the issue between us.7
Perhaps that should have been the end of the matter, since it was apparent that no change of attitude was possible. But the Quraysh had not brought all its chiefs, hard-liners and moderates alike, just to reiterate old attitudes. Therefore, the elders proceeded to confront Muhammad with impossible demands, making their realization a proof of the truthfulness of his message. How ill-advised and short-sighted! Their spokesman put their demands in the following terms:
You know that our country is so hard to live in: water is scarce and we are very poor. Pray your Lord Who sent you to us, then, and ask Him to move away these mountains surrounding us and make our land an open plain with rivers similar to those in Syria and Iraq flowing through it. Ask Him also to raise for us a few of our forefathers who should include Quṣayy ibn Kilāb,8 who was a man of his word, so that we may ask them about what you say and whether it is true or false. If you do that and if they testify for you, we will recognize your high position with God and will believe that you are His messenger.9
The line of argument, then, had nothing to do with the subject matter of the conflict between the Quraysh and the Prophet. They said nothing about the oneness of God, the basic principle the Prophet advocated. They did not defend their idols either. They simply wanted mountains to be moved and rivers to flow. Such are the demands of the weak who cannot address the main issue. It is worth commenting here about the request they made that Muhammad should resurrect some of their forefathers, including Quṣayy ibn Kilāb, the one they described as ‘a man of his word’. None of them ever met Quṣayy, because he died long before their time. They asked for him specifically because he had earned the reputation of being truthful. Little did they reflect that they had known Muhammad himself for close on 50 years and they had never accused him of telling even the smallest of lies. They knew from their personal experience that he never told a lie. If they could not believe the man whom they knew to tell the truth would they have believed Quṣayy, about whom they had heard from their fathers and grandfathers that he was a man of his word? What if Quṣayy told them what they did not want to hear: that Muhammad was telling the truth? Would they not have turned against him in the same way as they turned against Muhammad when he told them that he was God’s messenger?
The Prophet paid no attention to their demands, but simply said to them: “This is not what I was sent to you for. I have conveyed to you the message with which God has entrusted me. If you accept it, you benefit yourselves here and in the life to come. If you deny it, I will await God’s judgement between us.”10
Apparently, the Quraysh chiefs had planned in advance what line they would follow in their discussions with the Prophet and they were determined not to deviate from this predetermined line. They continued to demand acts of a miraculous nature, challenging the Prophet to prove his superiority: “Since you decline that, why do you not get something for yourself? Ask your Lord to send you an angel to endorse what you say and argue your case with us. Ask Him further to give you a palace and a garden and a great amount of gold and silver so that you do not need to work for your living. We will then realize that you are favoured by God, and we would know that your claim to be His messenger is true.”11
In this request, the Quraysh chiefs betrayed their naïvety and ignorance. They knew Muhammad to be a man of great integrity. Before he preached his message, they always expressed their admiration for his good manners and his moral values. All that was heightened after he received his message, but all these qualities were not equal in their view to material wealth, such as a palace, a garden, and an amount of gold and silver. This, however, did not deter the Prophet from making the proper answer: “I would not ask Him anything of the sort. I am simply sent to deliver good tidings and a warning. If you accept, you benefit yourselves. If you refuse, I will await God’s judgement.”
All these demands were made by way of trying to exact a price before the Quraysh chiefs changed their view of the message of Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Such attempts to set a price in return for conversion to Islam is often made. It betrays, however, complete ignorance and perfect delusion. Man thinks himself more important than the whole universe. Hence, if he supports an idea, then that idea is indebted to him. If he believes in a particular religion, it is the good fortune of that religion that won him as a believer! Wise human beings tend to examine the issue under discussion and make an objective judgement. This was far from the approach of the Quraysh chiefs in that meeting with the Prophet. They continued their challenge, asking the Prophet now to bring about their doom: “Make the sky break up then, and let it fall over us as you claim your Lord is capable of doing. We will not believe in you unless you do this.” How misguided! God tells us in the Qur’ān that on another occasion the Quraysh prayed: “Our Lord, if this be the truth which has come from You, then rain down on us stones from the skies or inflict some other grievous suffering on us!” (8: 32) Indeed, the stupidity of disbelievers is limitless. They ask God to pour over them stones from the skies if Islam be the truth, when they should have prayed God to guide them to the truth, whatever it is.
At this point, the Prophet’s answer was very simple and to the point: “That is up to God. If He decides to do that He will.” By now, the mood of the Quraysh was that of someone who has deliberately turned a deaf ear to any answer that might be given. They interpreted Muhammad’s attitude to their demands as an indication of weakness and powerlessness. Therefore, they said to him: “Muhammad! Was not your Lord aware that we would be meeting you and putting to you these requests and demands? Why has He not told you what answer you should give us or what He will do to us since we have rejected your message?”
Apparently, the meeting degenerated at this point into complete chaos, with each one of those chiefs saying whatever occurred to him without discipline and with a total lack of coherence. Everyone shouted as loud as he could in order to emphasize his opposition to the Prophet. One of them said: “We shall not believe in you until you have brought us God and the angels marshalled in ranks.” Another said: “We worship the angels, who are God’s daughters.” A third said: “We have heard that all this you have been preaching has been taught you by a man from Yamāmah called Raḥmān. We will never believe in this Raḥmān, whatever happens.” Yet another said: “By God, we shall not leave you alone after you have done all this to us. We shall fight you until we have destroyed you or you have destroyed us.” More voices were heard, a greater lack of coherence, more chaos. The Prophet stood up and walked away, sad and overwhelmed with grief that his people deliberately rejected what they knew to be the truth.
As the Prophet walked away, a cousin of his (the son of his paternal aunt), ʿAbdullāh ibn Abī Umayyah walked by his side, not to console him but to express thoughts that proved that he was an unrivalled lunatic and an uncompromising fool. He said to the Prophet:
Muhammad, your people made you practical proposals, but you refused them. They asked you to bring them some favours by which they would recognize your high position with God as you claim, but you refused. You even refused to take for yourself things that would prove that you enjoy a position of favour with God. By God, I shall never believe in you until you have stretched a ladder to the sky and climbed up that ladder in front of my eyes until you have reached the sky. You then come back here with four angels testifying to the truthfulness of what you say. By God, even if you do all this, I do not think that I will believe in you.
Absurdity knows no limits. A man specifies his own conditions but then says that he would not budge even if his conditions were met.
Was this truly an attempt to achieve compromise or an attempt to force the Prophet into a corner which offered no escape except by admission of defeat? One sees in the offers of the Quraysh only a series of demands which would prove nothing even if they were met. What difference would it have made had the Prophet been given palaces, gardens and enormous wealth, or had the valley of Makkah been transformed into a fertile expanse overnight? The real question was one of faith, which could be based only on conviction. Had the chiefs of Makkah really wanted to know whether Muhammad was a messenger of God, they only needed to look at what he was preaching and study it objectively. That would have been sufficient to reassure them that what he said could not have been invented by a human being. The Prophet tried to persuade them to do that by sticking to his argument that no worldly offer or demand was worth consideration: he was simply a messenger conveying God’s message to people. Any person, in whatever station he is, should have the chance to make up his mind whether to accept or reject it.
An Opportunity for Escalation
When the discussion degenerated into the sort of chaos related, the hardliners seized their opportunity with both hands. Abū Jahl, who had said nothing throughout the exchange, tried to capitalize on the anger that was widespread among the chiefs of Makkah. He put to them the solution for which he had longed:
People of Quraysh! You realize that Muhammad has refused to change his way of ridiculing our religion, insulting our forefathers and abusing our deities. I pledge to the Supreme Deity that I will wait for him tomorrow with a heavy rock which I can hardly carry. When he prostrates himself in his prayer, I will throw that rock over his head. It is up to you then to give me up to his clan or to protect me. Let the people of ʿAbd Manāf then do what they will.12
Considering the mood of gloom which prevailed over the meeting, Abū Jahl’s suggestion held the prospect of an end to the conflict. Even those who would have argued against assassination in normal circumstances could not raise any objection. The chiefs of Makkah gave Abū Jahl the firm pledge of protection, encouraging him to carry out his plan.
The following day, Abū Jahl sat in ambush to carry out his assassination plot. He had his big rock with him. The Prophet came to the Kaʿbah to offer his prayers, as was his custom. Many disbelievers also came to the Kaʿbah and took up their usual positions, chatting as they habitually did but with a spreading air of expectation.
When the Prophet was fully occupied with his prayers and had prostrated himself, putting his forehead on the ground, Abū Jahl drew near with his rock. As he poised over the Prophet’s head, his colour changed and his hands were struck motionless. He walked back, absolutely terrified, and threw his rock to the ground. His friends went up to him and asked what was the matter. He said: “You saw me going up to him, resolved to carry out my plan which I explained to you yesterday. When I drew near him, I saw a huge camel standing between me and him. Never in my life had I seen such a camel with such a big head and such big sharp teeth. Had I moved one step nearer, he would have eaten me.”13
Thus the assassination attempt was foiled and Muhammad was protected by God from the schemes of his enemies. He was guaranteed this protection so that he would be able to convey God’s final message to mankind in its entirety. God says in the Qur’ān: “Prophet, announce what is revealed to you from your Lord. If you do not, you will surely have failed to convey His message. God will protect you from all men.” (5: 67) It was therefore essential that Muhammad should enjoy such protection. This did not give the Prophet any status apart from the fact that he was God’s Messenger and had a role to fulfil. It is God alone who determines how to provide this protection.
Whether the camel Abū Jahl saw was a real camel, or an angel in the shape of a camel, and how it came there and how it then disappeared if it was a real camel are matters of secondary importance. The incident gives us an example of how God accomplishes what He wills in His own way, without interference from anyone. When the Prophet was told of what Abū Jahl said, he commented: “That was Gabriel (peace be to him). Had he drawn nearer, he would have taken him away.”14
The clouds of despair thickened over the Quraysh as they saw all their attempts to contain the message of Islam rendered futile. No temptation was strong enough to make Muhammad moderate his stand, and no threats could be used against him. Moreover, the Quraysh recognized that they would not be able to assassinate Muhammad, even if they attempted to do so time after time. At no time did the moderates or hardliners of the Quraysh ask themselves what motivated Muhammad into his unshakeable resolve to carry on with his message, or why he should prefer the hard option to that of compromise, with all its promise of wealth, power and pleasure. The only question to which the Quraysh wanted an immediate answer was: how can we prevent Muhammad from exploiting our failure to win new recruits to his religion? That was the main preoccupation of the Quraysh chiefs. To achieve their purpose, they adopted a dual strategy.
More Pressure, More Torture
The Quraysh lost no time in escalating its ruthless campaign of repression. As always, the slaves, the allies and those who lacked influential support among their clans had to bear the brunt of this wicked campaign. The rest of the Muslims were not immune. Even the strongest among them were subjected to great pressure, both physical and mental. In addition, torture of intense severity was inflicted on the weak and the vulnerable.
ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, the Prophet’s cousin who achieved high scholarly renown, was once asked: “Did disbelievers in Makkah inflict on the companions of the Prophet torture intense enough to justify the latter’s turning away from Islam?’ He answered:
Yes, indeed. They used to beat their victims very badly, and allow them nothing to eat or drink, until they could not even sit up. They inflicted so much pain that the victim would give or say anything he was asked just to win a short rest. The situation of some of those victims was so bad that they would answer any questions put to them by their tormentors in the way acceptable to them. The disbelievers would ask: “Are al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā [two major idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs] your gods?” or “Is this cockroach your lord whom you worship?” In their unbearable plight, the believers might answer these questions in the affirmative.15
In fact, God permitted those afflicted people and others who might have found, or may find, themselves in similar situations to give in verbally to their tormentors. They may say what they are asked to say, provided they remain, deep at heart, faithful to their religion. God says in the Qur’ān: “Those who are forced to recant while their hearts remain loyal to the faith shall be absolved; but those who deny God after professing Islam and open their bosoms to unbelief shall incur the wrath of God and be sternly punished.” (16: 106)
The other half of this strategy was adopted in another meeting of the Quraysh elders, but this time the Prophet was not present. A man called al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqamah took the floor. By modern standards, al-Naḍr may be described as an intellectual. He had visited Persia, one of the great empires of the day, where he studied history and learnt a great deal about the lives and times of ancient and recent kings and emperors. Al-Naḍr outlined the Quraysh’s predicament in this way:
People of Quraysh, you are confronted with a problem for which you have not been able to find a solution. When Muhammad was still a young man living among you, he won general admiration because he always spoke the truth and his honesty could not be faulted. When he had grown grey, and started to preach whatever he is preaching to you, you began to allege that he was a sorcerer. By God, he is no sorcerer. We have seen magicians and their tricks in the past. You also accused him of being a fortune-teller. By God, he is not one, for we have seen fortune-tellers and how they repeat their rhyming phrases. You also claimed that he was a poet. Again I say that, by God, he is not a poet, for we have seen poets and listened to all types of poetry. You claimed that he was also a madman, but he is far from being so. We have seen what madness has done to people, and how it causes them to say incoherent things. I say, people of Quraysh, you have to look at this question very carefully, for you have a big problem on your hands.16
That was indeed a very accurate description of what the Quraysh considered to be a disaster that it had to face. It was they who called Muhammad ‘Al-Amīn’ or ‘the trustworthy’ when he was a young man because he was, as al-Naḍr himself said, generally admired. He always spoke the truth and displayed a high standard of honesty. Would such an honest young man start lying when he grows old? And would he choose for his lying and fabrications none other than God Himself? But if one were to ask the Quraysh elders why they were so determined to oppose Muhammad when they knew that he spoke the truth, one only betrays naïvety. The Quraysh did not want to know whether Muhammad was truthful or not; they realized that he was telling the truth, as he always did. They simply wanted to find the best means to oppose him and defeat his message.
This situation was to repeat itself time after time, whenever the call to Islam found itself on a collision course with those who wielded power in the land. In history there are many incidents when special committees were formed and study groups were organized for no reason other than mapping a strategy to silence the message of Islam. Every time, those committees and study groups came out with the same results: the advocates of Islam are the best of people, most patriotic, demonstrating great resolve in resisting temptation and corruption. Every time the line to be followed was that of total liquidation.
On this particular occasion, the Quraysh decided to send two people, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, to Yathrib where they would meet the Jewish rabbis and enquire from them about Muhammad and the truthfulness of his message. Without waiting for his visit, al-Naḍr started his own campaign against Islam. He set up for himself a special position in the mosque. Whenever the Prophet addressed a group of people, al-Naḍr would wait until he had left. Then al-Naḍr would say to those people: “I have something better to say to you. Come and listen to a better discourse than his.” He would relate to them some of the history of ancient kings. He would then ask them: “What has Muhammad got to say that is better than what I say?” Indeed, it was al-Naḍr who used to describe the Qur’ān as ‘tales of the ancients’. The Qur’ān refers to him whenever this is mentioned. The reference is also to him in the verse which speaks of a person who claims: “I shall send down something similar to that which God had sent down.”
This attempt by al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith was perhaps the first propaganda campaign against Islam. It was to be followed by numerous, similar campaigns which were to employ better tactics and far-reaching tools as means of communication developed. The message of Islam has always been able to counter such propaganda campaigns with the truth it declares.
When the two-man delegation prepared to set out from Makkah to Yathrib to ask the Jewish rabbis about the Prophet, their terms of reference were outlined to them. The Quraysh elders told al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ to ask the Jewish rabbis about Muhammad, describing him in detail and reporting truthfully what he said. “The Jews”, said the Quraysh elders, “are the people of early scriptures and they have a wealth of knowledge about prophets which is not available to us.”
In Yathrib the two Quraysh men put their questions to the rabbis and solicited their honest opinion about Muhammad. The rabbis told them to ask Muhammad three questions. “If he gives you satisfactory answers, then he is a Prophet and a messenger of God. If he has no answer to give, then he is fabricating whatever he says. You may do what you like with him. Ask him about a group of young people who had a strange story in ancient times, and let him tell you what happened to them. Ask him also about a man who travelled all over the place and went to the far east and far west. The third question you should ask him is to tell you about the spirit.” One report suggests that the Jewish rabbis told the two Quraysh men that if Muhammad were to give them a detailed answer about the spirit, then they should not believe him. If he refrained from answering this question, then that would confirm that he was a Prophet.
The Quraysh were happy with the results of this mission and wasted no time in putting those three questions to the Prophet. When he heard their questions, the Prophet told them that he would answer them the following day. Apparently he did not qualify this promise by saying: “God willing”, as he should have done and as Muslims should always do. As a result, nothing was revealed to him for 15 days. Some reports suggest that it was only a three-day lull before the Angel Gabriel came down with the revelation of Sūrah 18, entitled The Cave or Al-Kahf. The sūrah opens with a statement of praise to God which confirms that it was He who revealed the Qur’ān to His servant and Messenger Muhammad. In other words, this is an answer to the questions the Quraysh put to the Jews. The opening also outlines the role of the messenger: giving a stern warning against Divine punishment and happy news for those who believe and do good works. It refutes the claims of the Quraysh and other disbelievers who ascribe children to God or describe the angels as daughters of God. It states categorically that all such claims are lies. It then tells the Prophet not to grieve too much for his people if they refuse to listen to him. These opening verses may be rendered in English as follows:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent.
All praise is due to God, who has bestowed on His servant this revelation from on high and has not allowed any deviousness to obscure its meaning. It is [a revelation] that is unerringly straight, meant to warn of a severe punishment from Him, and to give to the believers who do good works the glad tidings that theirs shall be a goodly reward – [a state of bliss] which they shall enjoy for ever. Furthermore, [this revelation is meant] to warn all those who assert that God has taken to Himself a son. No knowledge whatever have they of Him, and neither had their forefathers: dreadful is this saying that comes out of their mouths, and nothing but falsehood do they utter. Would you, perhaps, torment yourself to death with grief over them if they are not willing to believe in this message. We have willed that all beauty on earth be a means by which We put men to a test [showing] which of them are best in conduct; and indeed We shall in time reduce all that is on it to barren dust. (18: 1-8)17
The sūrah goes on to give a detailed account of the young men whom it calls ‘people of the cave.’ The details it gives of what happened to those young men could never have been learnt by the Prophet from a book or a scholar. These details could be provided only by God, who knows everything. This account is outlined in verses 9-26 of the sūrah, which then proceeds to speak of other matters before it answers the second question suggested by the Jewish rabbis. Verses 83-98 provide a detailed account of the man named in the sūrah as Dhul-Qarnayn and his three trips. There is no shortage of suggestions as to the identity of this man, but perhaps Mawlānā Mawdūdī’s view that the man was no other than the Persian king, Cyrus, carries most weight.
As for the third question, there is a short reference to it in verse 85 of Sūrah 17, entitled The Night Journey or al-Isrā’. This verse may be rendered in translation as follows: “They ask you about the Spirit. Say: [Knowledge of] the Spirit belongs to my Lord and you have been granted very little of real knowledge.”
More Hostility, More Defiance
What change would these answers to the questions suggested by the Jews and put to the Prophet by the unbelievers bring about? Certainly not much. Al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith continued with his propaganda campaign, and the Quraysh continued with its persecution of the believers, and the two camps were as far apart as ever. Something new had to be worked out. Something had to happen soon, either to break the deadlock or to pull the two parties further apart. In the particular circumstances of Makkah at that time, further polarization was more likely.
The Muslims in Makkah felt that they could not allow the Quraysh to continue their persecution campaign without asserting their own presence. They started to be more open with their challenge to the unbelievers. Some of them even prayed in congregation at the Kaʿbah. Moreover, with ʿUmar and Ḥamzah in the ranks of the Muslims, more and more people were joining the new religion.
By now the unbelievers realized that there could be no meeting-ground between them and the Muslims. They were also aware that the tactics they employed to check the tide of Islam were of no great use. A conference was therefore called early in the seventh year of Muhammad’s prophethood to find some more effective methods for achieving that ungodly objective.
A Total Boycott
The hard-liners held sway in that conference. They advocated a total boycott of the Muslims and their supporters. Keen to see their plan implemented, they persuaded the other participants to make their resolutions binding on everyone in Makkah. Hence, they wrote down their resolutions on a scroll and posted it inside the Kaʿbah. This added an air of solemnity to those resolutions which made it much harder for anyone who cared for the Muslims or wished them well to contravene them.
The terms of the boycott were so strict as to rule out any intermarriages or trade transactions between the Hāshimite clan as a whole and the rest of the Quraysh. The Hāshimites were defiant; they joined ranks. The Muslims and the unbelievers among them were unanimous in their support of their leader, Abū Ṭālib, who, in turn, did not waver in his wholehearted support of his nephew. One exception, however, was Abū Ṭālib’s own brother, Abū Lahab.
Abū Lahab was hostile to Islam right from the beginning. He could not bring his tribal loyalties in line with the rest of the Hāshimite clan. He therefore broke off relations with his own clan and joined the boycott. Although his action was so obviously out of line with the traditions of Makkan society, the Quraysh were very happy with his decision to join them, since it showed that opposition to Muhammad was so widespread that even his own kinsfolk wanted to get rid of him. Perhaps one should add here that the terms of the boycott spelled out the conditions for its termination: that the Hāshimites must give up Muhammad to the Quraysh, whereupon he would be killed.
All the Hāshimite clan, including the non-Muslims among them, along with Muslims of other tribes suffered a great deal as a result of the boycott. If a tradesman or a farmer brought some goods or provisions to sell in Makkah, he was offered much more than his asking price on condition that he would not sell anything to the Hāshimites, who were confined to their quarters. The situation became very grave indeed as month after month went by with no flicker of hope for a quick end to this harsh boycott. Starvation was the order of the day for the Muslims and the Hāshimites. Their children cried themselves to sleep every night. Occasionally there was some relief as some kind-hearted person, moved by the cries of hungry children, would smuggle relief supplies through to the Hāshimite quarters under cover of darkness.
Such very welcome relief was bound to be temporary. The hardship continued for nearly three years. While the non-Muslims among the Hāshimites suffered from the boycott, the Muslims in general were subjected to much more persecution. That, however, did not weaken their resolve to hold fast to their new religion and to try to propagate it to their fellow citizens. They continued to do so patiently and tirelessly, under the supervision of the Prophet, the perfect example of a man of perseverance and confidence that his cause was sure to triumph.
In practical terms, the boycott imposed by the Quraysh meant a great deal of hardship which was equally endured by men, women and children. For three years, the Hāshimites were practically prevented from buying anything on the open market, even food for their families. The following report by Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ provides a glimpse of the suffering of the Muslims in this period: “I went out one night to relieve myself. [The Arabs did not have toilets in their homes at that time.] The urine fell over something which crackled. I picked it up. It was a piece of camel skin which had dried. I washed it well before burning it and mixing it thoroughly with water. It was my food for three days.”
Humanitarian Feelings Aroused
This moved some kind people to act to relieve the hardship of the boycotted people a little. A man called Hishām ibn ʿAmr did more than anybody else to help the Hāshimites. Hishām enjoyed a position of respect among his people. His help started by smuggling food and clothes to the Hāshimites in their quarter. He would load a camel with provisions or material and take it, under cover of darkness, to the entrance of the Hāshimite quarter, where he would release it so that it went in.
Meanwhile, God caused the writing which spelled out the covenant of boycott to disappear. He informed the Prophet of what had happened to that scroll posted inside the Kaʿbah. Moths had eaten all the writing which contributed to the injustice suffered by the Hāshimites. Whenever God’s name was mentioned, it remained as it was. The Prophet informed his uncle Abū Ṭālib, who, in turn, informed his brothers. They went out together to the Kaʿbah, where Abū Ṭālib said to the chiefs of Makkah: “My nephew, who has never told a lie to me, has informed me that God has caused moths to eat up everything that contained injustice or boycott of kinsfolk in your covenant. The only thing that has remained is God’s name. Let us go together and find out whether my nephew has told the truth. If what he says is true, then you give in and stop your injustice. If he has told a lie, I will give him up to you, and you may kill or spare him.”
They agreed to his suggestion and said that it was fair. They sent someone to look at the covenant and it was exactly as the Prophet had described. They were at a loss and regretted their agreeing to Abū Ṭālib’s suggestion. They made it clear that they would continue with their boycott. Abū Ṭālib asked them: “What have we done to deserve this state of siege imposed on us, when everything has been made clear?” He and his companions went straight to the Kaʿbah and entered between its robes and its walls.18
They pleaded: “Our Lord, give us victory over those who have dealt unjustly with us, severed our ties and done away with what they had no title to take from us.”
Abū Ṭālib and his brothers then went back to their quarters. The scene was witnessed by many a person in the Quraysh who was unhappy with the boycott. They felt that they could not just sit idle while their kinsfolk, with their women and children, suffered deprivation and hunger. Hishām ibn ʿAmr was the first to recognize that whatever help he could give by smuggling supplies into the quarters of the Hāshimite clan could do very little to help them. He felt that he could not do much on his own. He needed to work out a plan which could foil any attempt by Abū Jahl to continue with the boycott.
So he went to Zuhayr ibn Abī Umayyah who belonged to the Makhzūm clan, to which Abū Jahl also belonged. Zuhayr’s mother was the Prophet’s own aunt. Hishām’s approach was to arouse Zuhayr’s feelings of loyalty. He said:
Are you happy to sit back, enjoying your food, wearing whatever clothes you fancy, able to marry as you wish, while your uncles are confined in their quarters: no one buys from them or sells anything to them, and no one accepts any marriage contracts with them. I swear by God that had they been the uncles of Abū al-Ḥakam ibn Hishām [Abū Jahl’s original name] and you made an approach to him to boycott them in the same way as he asked you to boycott your own uncles, he would never have consented to join in.
Zuhayr was overwhelmed by the strength of the argument, but said: “What can I do on my own, Hishām? If I have one man to support me, I would do all I can until I see that covenant of boycott abrogated.” Hishām assured him of his own support but Zuhayr suggested that they should first try to get another man to support them.
Hishām then went to al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdiy, who belonged to the clan of ʿAbd Manāf from which the Hāshimites branched out. Al-Muṭʿim was a man who enjoyed a position of honour and respect among the Quraysh. Hishām appealed to his values of justice and integrity: “Are you happy to see two clans [Hāshim and ʿAbd al-Muṭṭalib] of ʿAbd Manāf starve to death before your own eyes? Do you not realize that if you remain quiet, the rest of the Quraysh will press on and get away with it?”
Al-Muṭʿim also protested his inability to do much on his own. Hishām told him of the support he could offer along with Zuhayr. Al-Muṭʿim suggested that yet more support was required. Hishām then secured the support of two others, Abū al-Bakhtarī ibn Hishām and Zamʿah ibn al-Aswad.
The five met and agreed their plan of action. The following morning, at the appointed time, Zuhayr came to the Kaʿbah wearing one of his best garments. He walked round the Kaʿbah seven times, performing the ṭawāf, before addressing the people there in these words: “Fellow Makkans! Are we to go on enjoying our food, and wearing the best clothes, while the Hāshimites are starving; no one dare buy from them or sell to them? By God, I shall not sit until this oppressive covenant of boycott is torn to pieces.” Abū Jahl, who was sitting in a corner, said: “You are a liar. By God, no one will touch it.” Zamʿah then said to Abū Jahl: “You are a worse liar! We did not approve of it when it was written.” Abū al-Bakhtarī then came to his support, saying: “Zamʿah is right. We do not sanction its terms.”
Further support came from al-Muṭʿim, who said: “You are right and whoever disputes what you say is a liar. We disclaim it in front of God.” Hishām, who engineered the whole plan, also declared his support.
Abū Jahl was confounded. He simply said: “This has been planned somewhere else. It could not have come on the spur of the moment.”
Al-Muṭʿim then rose and went to the Kaʿbah to pull the covenant out and tear it. He found that nothing of its writing remained, with the exception of the expression: ‘In Your name, Our Lord.’19
Thus ended a period of excessive hardship which the Prophet and his companions endured with patience, confident that their cause would come out of it much stronger.
By now Muhammad had been preaching the message of Islam for close on ten years, but the overall situation could not be described as promising. The Quraysh were successful in the attempt to confine Islam to Makkah itself. Even in Makkah, Muslims were still a minority. Apart from the distant base in Abyssinia, Islam was virtually unknown outside Makkah. There seemed to be no great prospect for the final Divine message. But God accomplishes His purposes through a variety of methods some of which may be totally unexpected by human beings.
NOTES
1. Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Dār al-Qalam, Beirut, Vol. 1, pp. 367-370.
2. Ibid., pp. 370-371.
3. Ibid., p. 375.
4. Ibid., pp. 373-374.
5. Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, ʿUyūn al-Athar, Dār al-Turāth, Madinah, 1996, p. 197.
6. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 315-316.
7. Ibid., p. 316.
8. Although Quṣayy was an ancestor of the Prophet, a seventh generation grandfather, he was in the same relationship to many of the Prophet’s interlocutors. He was the one who established the Quraysh’s position in Makkah.
9. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 316.
10. Ibid., pp. 316-317.
11. Ibid., pp. 317-318.
12. Ibid., pp. 318-319.
13. Ibid., pp. 319-320.
14. Ibid., p. 320.
15. Ibid., pp. 342-343.
16. Ibid., p. 320.
17. Ibid., pp. 321-323.
18. The Kaʿbah has always had cloth coverings, normally black. If one goes underneath this covering, that is, its robes, one’s action signifies a more earnest supplication. The practice is not Islamic. A person in fear may hold the robes of the Kaʿbah to imply that he earnestly seeks God’s protection.
19. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 375-380. Also, Ibn Sayyid al-Nās, op.cit., pp. 222-225.