Ṭālib rejoined: “They certainly have not been fair to me. I see that you have joined them in letting me down.” The discussion became more heated before the Quraysh delegation left, with everyone feeling extremely angry.11
If the proposal the Quraysh put to Abū Ṭālib sounds preposterous today, the Quraysh delegation saw in it an honest attempt to achieve a solution to the satisfaction of all concerned. In the society of Arabia, where tribal ties transcended all other ties and where a man’s position was determined by the number of children he had and the support he could muster, Abū Ṭālib would not be sacrificing much if he exchanged his nephew for an able and intelligent young man. It is noteworthy that the proposal was described as fair by a man like al-Muṭʿim, who would show over the years a friendly and compassionate attitude towards the Prophet and the Muslims in general. Furthermore, he was a distant cousin of Abū Ṭālib. ʿAbd Manāf was the great-grandfather of both men; hence he was expected to look at the affair from a standpoint closer to that of Abū Ṭālib. Indeed, Abū Ṭālib’s remark about al-Muṭʿim’s letting him down acquires a stronger sense when it is considered in this light.
The negotiations thus ended in total failure. This was only to be expected since the issue touched on basic principles. So, the Quraysh felt it had no option but to widen its campaign of persecution to all Muslims. Each clan took vengeance against any of its sons who adopted Islam. Now even free and young noble men were at the receiving end of the Quraysh’s campaign. Maltreatment was much more widespread.
Maltreatment of the Honourable
Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr belonged to a rich family. His mother provided him with everything he wanted. He was perhaps the most handsome, elegant and smartest young man in Makkah. Yet when he became a Muslim, he was imprisoned by his people and his mother turned against him.
ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, who belonged to the Umayyad clan, was of a noble family. Nevertheless, his uncle al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ tied him to a post and swore that he would never release him until he renounced Islam. ʿUthmān replied that he would never do that no matter what the pressure brought to bear on him was like. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, a very dutiful son, was pressurized by his mother, who thought that she would be able to use his love to turn him away from Islam. She made some threatening noises which availed her nothing. Finally, Saʿd told her point blank: “Mother, if you had one hundred souls and they came out one after the other, I would not turn away from Islam to spare you.”
Not even Abū Bakr was safe. One day he addressed the people, calling on them to believe in God and His Messenger. Some of them abused him. Soon there was some confusion and Abū Bakr was bound up by several people including ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, who used his shoes to beat Abū Bakr’s face. When he was rescued by his own tribesmen, they thought that he was dead. Towards the evening, he came round. The first thing he did was to enquire how God’s Messenger was. He would not rest until he had been taken to the Prophet. They took him after nightfall, and he walked, supported by his mother and a Muslim woman, until he arrived at the Prophet’s home. The Prophet felt very sorry about what had happened to Abū Bakr. He spoke to his mother and she embraced Islam which made Abū Bakr rejoice.
Abū Ṭālib was keeping a close watch on developments in Makkah. He was increasingly worried about his nephew Muhammad (peace be upon him), and so he called upon his clan to give him their firm pledges of support in protecting Muhammad against any maltreatment to which he might be subjected. They responded favourably to his call, with only one exception – Abū Lahab. Although he was the Prophet’s own uncle, he continued his fierce opposition to Islam, joining the rest of the Quraysh in their campaign of persecution. Abū Ṭālib, however, was extremely pleased by this support. He expressed his feelings in a long, powerful poem in which he praised his clan and reminded the people of the Quraysh of their noble history. Thus, the Prophet was able to preach his message enjoying full protection.
NOTES
1. Ibn Hishām, al-Sīrah al-Nabawiyyah, Dār al-Qalam, Beirut, Vol. 1, p. 342. Also, Amīn Duwaydār, Ṣuwar Min Ḥayāt al-Rasūl, Dār al-Maʿārif, 4th edition, Cairo, p. 156.
2. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 339-340. Also, Amīn Duwaydār, op.cit., p. 153.
3. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 340. Also, Amīn Duwaydār, op.cit., p. 154.
4. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 340. Also, Amīn Duwaydār, op.cit., p. 155.
5. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., p. 341. Also, Amīn Duwaydār, op.cit., p. 155.
6. Amīn Duwaydār, op.cit., p. 155.
7. Ibid., p. 154.
8. Ibid.
9. Ibid., p. 153.
10. Ibid., p. 156.
11. Ibn Hishām, op.cit., pp. 285-286.
WHEN THE PROPHET carried out God’s commandment to declare His message in public, he moved into a new stage in the history of the Islamic message concluding the first period of secrecy. The message itself was now preached publicly, but the identity of its followers, its numerical strength and its organization were not fully known to the people of Makkah who remained hostile to Islam. There are no accurate records of the numbers of those who adopted the faith of Islam at any particular time, especially in the early period. One can only guess that at the end of the first three years when the stage of secrecy was over, there were barely more than 60 Muslims. By the time of the first emigration to Abyssinia, in the fifth year of the beginning of Islamic revelations, there were more than twice this number of Muslims in Makkah. Right from the early days, the Prophet was keen to mould his companions into a closely-knit community in which everyone was ready to help others. The unifying bond of that community was faith. Hence it was very important that every single Muslim should realize that the adoption of the new faith meant a radical transformation in his life. It is in this light that we find Abū Bakr buying those slaves whom he saw being tortured and setting them free. Abū Bakr could simply have bought them and allowed them to live with him in safety, providing them with full protection against any of the persecutors. However, he did not stop at that. He immediately set them free to demonstrate that the bond of faith superseded all values and considerations which were thought to be of great importance in the Arabian society of Makkah. Abū Bakr’s actions were an early indication of a basic characteristic of the Muslim community which was united by the bond of brotherhood in faith.
One of the very important features of this new community was prayer. That was the act of worship which provided the new Muslims with a sense of their link with God as they offered their worship. Prayer was made a duty binding on Muslims from the very early days of Islam. The Prophet passed on to his followers the instructions he received through the Angel Gabriel to have ablution before prayer and to offer two prayers a day, one in the morning and one before sunset. Each prayer was two rakʿahs in the same form as the Muslims have always adopted. The new Muslims were keen to offer their prayers either individually or in small groups. They went out of the built-up area of Makkah to pray where they could not be seen. Sometimes they were discovered by non-Muslims, as indeed happened one day with the Prophet who was offering his prayers with his young cousin ʿAlī. Abū Ṭālib was passing by and it was the first time he saw Islamic prayer. He asked his nephew, the Prophet, about his prayer and asked ʿAlī why he was joining him. ʿAlī told him that he had accepted the faith of Islam and that he believed in Muhammad as a Prophet and
