Day: January 18, 2021

The Quraish approach Hazrat Abu Talib Radiallahu anhoo

Ibn Ishaq said. “Some men among the notables of the Quraish went top Hazrat Abu Talib. They said: “O Abu Talib! Your nephew curses our gods; finds faults with our way of life, mocks at our religion and degrades our forefathers; either you must stop him, or you must let us get at him. For you are in the same opposition as we are in opposition to him; and we will rid you of him.” Hazrat Abu Talib tried to calm them down by giving a polite reply. The Prophetﷺ however, continued on his way of preaching Allâh’s religion and calling to it. The Quraish could not be patient for very long while they witnessed his work in inviting others to Allâh. The more he worked the more they talked about the problem.

The Quraish Pressure Hazrat Abu Talib Radiallahu anhoo

The Quraish notables came to Hazrat Abu Talib and insisted that he put a stop to his nephew’s activities. Such activities if allowed unchecked, they said, would draw him into severe hostility. Hazrat Abu Talib was deeply distressed at this open threat of his people and their enmity, but he could not afford to desert the Messenger & too. He sent for his nephew and told him what the people had said. “Spare me and yourself and put not burden on me that I can’t bear.” Upon this the Prophet a thought that his uncle would let him down and would no longer support him, so he replied:

“O my unclel by Allâh if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on condition that I abandon this course, I would not abandon it until Allâh has made me

victorious or I perish therein.” The Prophet ﷺ got up, and as he turned away, his uncle called him and said, “Come back, my nephew,” and when he came back, he said, “Go and preach what you please, for by Allâh, I will never forsake you.” He then recited two lines of verse with significant meanings of full support to the Prophetﷺ and absolute gratification by the course that his nephew had chalked out in Arabia. “”)

The Quraish Confront Hazrat Abu Talib a Second Time

Quraish, seeing that Allâh’s Messenger sehen was still intent on his Call, realized that Hazrat Abu Talib would never forsake his nephew even if this incurred their enmity. Some of them then went to see him once more taking with them a youth called ‘Umarah bin Al-Walid bin Al-Mughirah, and said, “O Abu Talib! we have brought you a smart boy still in the bloom of his youth, to make use of his mind and strength and take him as your son in exchange for your nephew, who has run counter to your religion, brought about social conflict, found fault with

your way

of life, so that we kill him and rid you of his endless troubles; just man for man.” Hazrat Abu Talib’s reply was. “It is really an unfair bargain. You give me your son to bring him up and I give you my son to kill him! By Allâh, it is something incredible!!” Al-Mut’im bin ‘Adi, a member of the delegation, interrupted saying that Quraish had been fair in that bargain because “they meant only to rid you of that source of hateful trouble, but as I see, you are determined to refuse their favors.”Hazrat Abu Talib, of course, turned down all their offers and challenged them to do whatever they pleased.

Atrocities against Allâh’s Messenger ﷺ

Abu Lahab himself took the initiative in the new series of persecutions, and started to share out countless aspects of harmful deeds, hatred and nastiness against Hazrat Muhammad ﷺ Starting with throwing stones at him, forcing his two sons to divorce their wives Ruqaiyah and Umm Kulthumb the Prophet’s daughters,” showing delight on his second son’s death and calling him the man cut off with offspring’. shadowing his steps during the pilgrimage and forums seasons as we mentioned earlier, to belie him and persuade the bedouins against him and his Call. Tariq bin ‘Abdullah Al-Muharabi narrated that he would not stop at merely rebuking the Prophet ﷺ rather he would throw stones at him until his ankles bled. His wife, Umm Jamil bint Harb, the sister of Abu Sufyan had also her share in this merciless campaign. She proved that she was not less than her husband in the enmity and hatred she had for the Prophetﷺ . In order to cause him bodily injury, she used to tie bundles of thorns with ropes of twisted palm-leaf fiber and scatter them in the paths which the Prophet ﷺthis was expected to take She was really an ill-mannered and bad-tempered woman with abusive language, highlyskilled in the art of hatching intrigues. and enkindling the fire of enmity and hatred. She was deservedly stained as ‘the carrier of firewood’ in the Noble Qur’ân. On receiving this news, she directly proceeded to the Ka’bah with a handful of pebbles to throw at the Prophet ﷺAllâh the Great took away her sight and she saw only Abu Bakr who was sitting immediately next to the Prophetﷺ

She then addressed Abu Bakr centres in the most daringly manner, threatening to break his Companion’s mouth with her handful of pebbles, and recited a line of verse having words full of disrespect and disobedience:

“We have disobeyed the dispraised one, rejected his Call,

and alienated ourselves from his religion.” When she left, Abu Bakr is turned to the Prophet ﷺand inquired about the matter. The Prophet ﷺsaid:

“She did not see me. Allâh prevented her from being able to

see me, Abu Bakr Al-Bazzar also recorded this story, but in his version when she stopped at Abu Bakr she said, “O Abu Bakr! We ridicule

your companion.” Abu Bakr replied, “No by the Lord of this structure! He has not articulated nor uttered poetry.” She replied: “You have said the truth.” Abu Lahab and his household used to inflict those shameful examples of torture and harassment in spite of the blood relation that tied them, for he was the Prophet’s uncle and lived next door to him. Similarly other neighbors of the Prophetﷺ would cause harm to him in his own house as well. Ibn Ishaq said, “The group of those who used to harm Allâh’s Messenger than in his house included Abu Lahab, Al-Hakam bin Abul-‘As bin Umaiyah, ‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait, ‘Adi bin Hamra’ AthThaqafi and Ibn Al-Asda’ Al-Hudhali. These were his neighbors and he was not safe from any of them except for Al-Hakam bin Abul-‘As. One of them would throw the womb of a sheep on him while he was praying, another would throw it in his prepared pot lof food). Then Allâh’s Messengerﷺ would use a rock to screen him from them when he prayed. When they would throw these harmful things on him, he would remove them with a piece of wood and put it by the door then say:

“O Bani ‘Abd Manafı What kind of neighborly treatment is well.

this?”

Then he would throw it in the street. Al-Bukhari, on the authority of Ibn Mas’ud citiesnarrated: “Once the Prophetﷺ was offering prayers near the Ka’bah. Abu Jahl was sitting with some of his companions. Some of them said to the others, ‘Who among you will bring the guts of a camel of Bani so and-so and put it on the back of Muhammad ﷺ when he prostrates The most wretched of them (‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait) got up and brought it. He waited till the Prophetﷺ prostrated and then placed it on his back between his shoulders. I was watching but could not do anything. I wished I had some people with me to hold out against them. They started laughing and falling on one another. Allâh’s Messengerﷺ was in prostration and he did not lift his head up till Fatimah AlaihisSalam (the Prophet’s daughter) came and removed it from his back.

The Prophet said:

‘O Allah! Destroy Abu Jahl, ‘Utbah bin Rabi’ah, Shaibah bin Rabi’ah, Al-Walid bin ‘Utbah, Umaiyah bin Khalaf, and

‘Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait.,,’. By Allâh in Whose Hand my life is, I saw the dead bodies of those persons who were counted by Allâh’s Messenger ﷺthan in the Qalib (one of the wells) of Badr. The seventh person was ‘Umarah bin

Al-Walid. Umaiyah bin Khalaf would slander and talk bad about Allâh’s Messenger ﷺwhenever he saw him. It was about him that Allah revealed:

“Woe to every slanderer and backbiter.” (104:1] Ibn Hisham said, “Al-Humazah is the one who publicly mocks a person…and Al-Lumazah is the one who secretly declares the defects of people and defames them. “Uqbah bin Abi Mu’ait, Umaiyah’s brother, once attended an audience of the Prophetﷺ are and listened to him preaching Islam. A close friend of his, Ubai bin Khalaf, heard of this. He could not tolerate any act of this sort, so he strongly condemned ‘Uqbah and ordered him to spit in the face of Allâh’s Messenger ﷺ, and he shamelessly did it. Ubai did not spare any thinkable way to harm the Prophet ﷺ; he even ground old decomposed bones and blew the powder on him.Al-Akhnas bin Shuraiq Ath-Thaqafi used to speak ill about the character of the Prophet . The Noble Qur’ân, in direct reference to this man’s shameful deeds, attached to him nine repulsive characteristics: o

o “And obey not everyone who swears much, and is calumnies, hinderer of the good, transgressor, sinful, cruel

after all that base-born (of illegitimate birth).” [68:10-13] Sometimes Abu Jahl would come to listen to Allâh’s Messenger ﷺ

recite the Qur’ân, then he would leave without believing in it, nor taking heed to its warnings. He would harm Allâh’s Messengerﷺ in speech, he would take every opportunity to obstruct the Message of Allâh, and then he would go around arrogantly boasting about what he did. Allâh revealed about him:

<< < “So he (the disbeliever) neither believed (in this Qur’ân, in

the Message of Muhammadﷺ ) nor prayed!” (75:31] He, moreover, wanted to debar the Prophet ﷺfrom praying in the Noble Sanctuary. It happened once that the Prophet Hebron was praying within the area of the Sacred House, when Abu Jahl proceeded threateningly and uttering abusive language. The Prophet admonished him severely to which Abu Jahl answered back rudely claiming that he was the mightiest in Makkah; Allâh then revealed:

“Then, let him call upon his council (of helpers).” [96:17] In another version of the same incident, the Prophet took Abu Jahl by his neck, moved him back and forth severely saying:

“Woe to you (O man) And then (again) woe to you! Again, woe to you (O man) And then (again) woe to you!” (75:34,

Notwithstanding this reproach, Abu Jahl would never wake up to himself nor did he realize his foolish practices. On the contrary, he was determined to go to extremes, and swore he would dust the Messenger’s face and step on his neck. No sooner had he proceeded to fulfill his wicked intention than he was seen turning back shielding himself with his hands (as if

something horrible was in his pursuit). His companions asked him what the matter was. He said: “I perceived a ditch of burning fire and some wings flying.” Later on, the Messengerﷺ the commented saying:

” *If he had proceeded further, the angels would have

plucked off his limbs one after another.”Such was the disgraceful treatment meted out to the Prophet and the Muslims at the hands of the evil pagans who claimed that they were Allâh’s people, living in His Sanctuary.

The House of Al-Arqam

In the light of these inhuman harassments, the Prophet ﷺdeemed it wise to advise his followers to conceal their conversion, in both word and deed. He took the decision to meet them secretly lest the Quraish should get to know of his designs, and plot to foil his goals. He also wanted to avoid any sort of open confrontation with the polytheists because such a thing at this early stage would not be in the interest of the newly-born Call, still weak and not fully fledged. Once, in the fourth year of Prophethood, the Muslims were on their way to the hillocks of Makkah to hold a secret meeting with the Prophet ﷺ when a group of polytheists observed their suspicious movement and began to abuse and fight them. Sa’d bin Abi Waqqas little beat a polytheist and shed his blood and thus recorded the first instance of bloodshed in the history of Islam. [2] The Prophet ﷺ, on the other hand, used to proclaim the Islamic faith and preach it openly with deep devotion and studious pursuit, but for the general welfare of the new converts and in consideration of the strategic Interest of Islam, he took Dar AlArqam, the estate of Al-Argam bin Abul-Arqam Al-Makhzumi on

As-Safa, as a temporary center to meet his followers secretly and instruct them in the Qur’ân and in the Islamic wisdom.

The First Migration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

The series of persecutions started late in the fourth year of Prophethood, slowly at first, but steadily accelerated and worsened day by day and month by month. By the middle of the fifth year, the situation got so grave and no longer tolerable that the Muslims began to seriously think of feasible ways to avert the painful tortures meted out to them. It was at that depressing and desperate period that Allâh informed them that His earth was not too restricted for them, alluding to migration. He revealed Surat Az-Zumar (Chapter 39 – The Groups) saying in it:

“Good is for those who do good in this world, and Allâh’s earth is spacious. Only those who are patient shall receive

their rewards in full, without reckoning.” 139:10). The Prophet ﷺ knew that Ashamah, who held the title of Negus, king of Abyssinia (Ethiopia), was a fair ruler who would not wrong any of his subordinates, so he permitted some of his followers to seek asylum there in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). In Rajab of the fifth year of Prophethood, a group of twelve men and four women left for Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Among the emigrants were ‘Uthman bin ‘Affan action and his wife Ruqaiyah (the daughter of the Prophet). With respect to these two emigrants, the Prophet said:

even “They are the first people to migrate in the cause of Allâh after Abraham and Lot.”

They slipped out of Makkah under the heavy curtain of a dark night and headed for the sea where two boats happened to be sailing for Abyssinia (Ethiopia). their destination. News of their intended departure reached the ears of the Quraish, so some men were sent after them, but the believers had already left Port of Shu`aibah towards their place of protection where they were received warmly and accorded due hospitality.’)

In Ramadan of the same year, the Prophet ﷺwent into the Holy Sanctuary where there was a large host of Quraish polytheists, including some notables and elders. Suddenly he began reciting Surat An-Najm (Chapter 41 – The Star). The awe-inspiring Words of Allâh descended unexpectedly upon them and they were immediately stunned by them. It was the first time for them to be shocked by the truthful Revelation. It had formerly been the favorite trick of those people who wished to dishonor Revelation, not only not to listen to it themselves but also to talk loudly and rudely when it was being read, so that even the true listeners may not be able to hear. They used to think that they were drowning out Allâh’s Speech; they would say:

u “Listen not to this Qur’ân, and make noise in the midst of

its (recitation) that you may overcome.” [41:26). When the unspeakably fascinating Words of Allâh came into direct contact with their hearts, they were spellbound and got unaware of the materialistic world around them and were caught in a state of full attentiveness to the Divine Words to such an extent that when the Prophet ﷺ reached the stormy heart beating ending:

“So fall you down in prostration to Allâh and worship Him

(Alone).” [53:62] The idolaters, unconsciously and with full compliance, prostrated

themselves in their truly helpless state. It was in fact the wonderful moment of the Truth that cleaved through the shameless souls of the arr-gants and the attitude of the scoffers.” They stood stunned when they perceived that Allâh’s Words had conquered their hearts and done the same thing that they had been trying hard to eradicate and exterminate. Their co polytheists who had not been present on the scene accused and blamed them severely: consequently they began to fabricate lies and blaming the Prophet ﷺalleging that he had attached to their idols great respect and ascribed to them the power of desirable intercession. All of these were desperate attempts made to . establish an excusable justification for prostrating themselves with the Prophetﷺ contains on that day. Of course, this foolish and wicked slanderous behavior was in line with their already common practice of telling lies and plot hatching. News of this incident was misreported to the Muslim emigrants in Abyssinia (Ethiopia). They were informed that the whole of Quraish had embraced Islam so they made their way back home. They arrived in Makkah in Shawwal of the same year. When they were only an hour’s travel from Makkah, the reality of the situation was discovered. Some of them returned to Abyssinia (Ethiopia), others entered secretly into the city or went in publicly but under the protection of a local notable.

The Second Migration to Abyssinia (Ethiopia)

However, due to the news the Makkans heard about the good hospitality and warm welcome that the Muslims were accorded in Abyssinia (Ethiopia), the polytheists got terribly annoyed and started to mete out severer and more horrible ill-treatment and tortures to the Muslims.

Thereupon Allah’s Messengers ﷺ deemed it imperative to permit the helpless creatures to seek asylum in Abyssinia (Ethiopia) for a second time. Migration this time was not as easy as it was the previous time, for the Quraish were on the alert to the least suspicious moves of the Muslims. In due course, however, the Muslims managed their affairs too

fast for the Quraishites to spoil their attempt of escape. The group of emigrants this time comprised eighty-three men and nineteen or, in some versions, eighteen women. Whether or not ‘Ammar was included is still a matter of doubt.