worship and accept Islam.
One day, a group of the Quraysh elders met at the Kaʿbah. Their conversation inevitably touched upon their continuing problem with Muhammad and his message. Some of them said: “Our patience with this man and our tolerance of what he does are unbelievable. He has ridiculed our elders, abused our forefathers and our gods, looked with contempt on our religion and caused disunity to creep into our ranks. We have certainly suffered a great deal from him.”
As they said that, the Prophet (peace be upon him) appeared. He walked to the Kaʿbah and started his ṭawāf. When he passed by them, a nasty taunt was directed at him. His colour changed but he went on with his ṭawāf. When he passed by them the second time, they repeated their taunt and his face changed colour again. They repeated the same taunt again as he went past the third time. At this point, he stopped and addressed them, saying: “Do you hear me, people of Quraysh? By Him who holds my soul in His hand, I am threatening you with throat-cutting.”
They were all taken aback by what he said. Even the hardest of them was quick to pacify him. Conciliatory words came from everywhere: “Go about your business, Abū al-Qāsim. You were never known to lose control of yourself.” He left them and went away.
The following day, they met in the same place. They started to blame one another for their meekness. As they were encouraging one another to show more firmness with him, he appeared. They jumped at him and started to maul him. He stood firm, defiant, resolute. Everyone was asking him whether he maintained his position that their idols were false and he said time and again: “Yes, indeed I say that.”
One of them took him by the collar and others pushed him around. Then Abū Bakr tried to defend him, shouting at them: “Do you kill a man for merely saying God is my Lord?” They then left him, having savagely manhandled him. But that did not weaken his resolve to carry on with his mission.4
More Physical Abuse
Perhaps that was the worst physical assault against the Prophet. Hitherto, the Quraysh had respected, to varying degrees, the protection Abū Ṭālib and the Hāshimite clan afforded him. To the Prophet, however, the worst thing he could face from his people was spending all morning talking to them without a good word from anyone. This was worse than physical abuse, because he was so keen that his people should follow Divine guidance, knowing that it would bring them happiness in both this life and the life to come. But that particular event was rather significant. Apparently, it needed such a collective first assault for the Makkans to realize that they could get away with something worse. Abū Jahl was quick to realize that he could always rely on the support of the Quraysh if he wished to abuse Muhammad (peace be upon him). He therefore looked for a chance to do so.
One day Abū Jahl passed the Prophet near the hill of al-Ṣafā, a short distance from the Kaʿbah. Realizing that the Prophet was alone, Abū Jahl assaulted and abused him. He also ridiculed Islam and talked about the Prophet’s message with contempt. The Prophet did not say a single word in reply. The incident was witnessed, however, by a maid looking through a window of a house in which she worked. When Abū Jahl finished his repugnant exercise, he went to join a group of his folk sitting near the Kaʿbah.
Soon afterwards, Ḥamzah, an uncle of the Prophet who was about the same age as the Prophet or a little older, was returning from a hunting trip. Ḥamzah enjoyed his hunting. It was his habit, whenever he returned from hunting, to go first to the Kaʿbah and do a ṭawāf. He then greeted every group of people who sat there, as was the Makkan habit. He was well respected and everyone enjoyed his company.
This time, the maid stopped him as he passed by her. She related to him what she saw Abū Jahl doing to his nephew, Muhammad, and told him that the Prophet did not return any insult.
Ḥamzah was furious with Abū Jahl. He went straight to the mosque in search of him. When he saw him with his kinsfolk, he went up to him with his bow in his hand. As he stood over Abū Jahl’s head, he struck him with the bow with all his might, causing a long cut in his forehead. He then said: “Do you abuse him when I follow his religion? I say the same as he says. Try to stop me if you can.” As Abū Jahl’s wound started to bleed, his comrades tried to avenge him. He, however, realized that the situation could deteriorate, so he told them, “Leave Abū ʿImārah [Ḥamzah] alone. I have indeed abused his nephew badly.”5
This incident is laden with tribal overtones. Ḥamzah’s fury and retaliation were motivated by tribal loyalties. Similarly, Abū Jahl’s conciliatory remark after he was punished by Ḥamzah aimed to avoid any tribal clash over the matter. Had Ḥamzah been overcome by the sheer number of his opponents, his tribe would have had to avenge his humiliation. Matters could have got out of hand. Ḥamzah’s declaration that he was a follower of Muhammad was made in a moment of great anger, so it might have had no real foundation and he might still be persuaded to forget the matter - or so Abū Jahl might have thought.
On this last point he was totally mistaken. Ḥamzah might have said what he did on the spur of the moment and without realizing its implications; however, he went to his nephew and learnt from him about Islam. As he listened, a feeling of reassurance grew stronger and stronger within him. He had no regrets. His decision gave the Prophet and the Muslims a feeling of strength, because he was one of the most courageous fighters in Arabia. The Quraysh realized that Ḥamzah was a significant recruit to Islam. It was not simply that the number of Muslims increased by one, but that now the community of Muslims had within its ranks a man of immense power who commanded great respect and imparted much confidence to them. To the last day of his life Ḥamzah continued to be one of the main stalwarts of the new call to Islam.
A Hostile Conference
People have continued to come to Makkah for pilgrimage ever since the Prophets Abraham and Ishmael built the Kaʿbah. God has ensured that successive generations have continued to revere ‘the House’ as it was generally called by the Arabs, and to travel to it to offer their devotion to the Creator. It was Abraham who called upon people, in fulfilment of God’s instructions, to visit the Kaʿbah for pilgrimage. At the time when the Prophet Muhammad started preaching the message of Islam in Makkah, pilgrimage was well established in the traditions of the city. People from all over Arabia came to Makkah at a specific time every year to do their pilgrimage rituals. This, of course, enhanced the position of the Quraysh, who resided in Makkah as the leading tribe in Arabia. One should add here, however, that pre-Islamic pilgrimage included many practices which could not be described as ‘religious’, or even ‘moral’. These were introduced over the years by the Quraysh as the overseers of pilgrimage. Thus, a great institution of worship was distorted and forced out of its religious nature. The fact remained, however, that people from the four corners of Arabia travelled to Makkah every year and stayed there for some time before returning home.
The Quraysh enjoyed the advantages it reaped from pilgrimage and tried to protect them against any threat. Now, however, it was waking up to the fact that the pilgrimage might produce some unwelcome results. This recognition manifested itself in various preventive measures taken by the Quraysh. At a meeting attended by a large number of Makkans and chaired, as it were, by al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah, a well-defined strategy was agreed.
In his opening address, al-Walīd said: “Now that the pilgrimage season is approaching, people will start arriving from all over the place. They must have heard about your friend [meaning the Prophet]. So you had better agree what to say when you are asked about him. We must guard against having too many opinions, particularly if they are mutually contradictory.”
When his audience asked his advice as to what they should say, he preferred to listen to their suggestions first. What concerned al-Walīd most was that the opinion they would come out with should take account of the fact that Muhammad was asking people to listen to the Qur’ān, God’s message, expressed in beautiful language
