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
