Moreover, the Quraysh started an effective smear campaign against the Prophet himself, describing him as a liar, a poet, a madman and a sorcerer. When they realized that using so many descriptions had become counterproductive, they held a conference to agree on what to say to pilgrim delegations. The conference reviewed all these options, realizing that none held much credibility. Ultimately, they agreed to say that he was a “sorcerer who had come up with vague recitations that generated discord between man and wife, and between brothers within the same family.” Most tribes listened to these arguments by the Quraysh and wanted nothing to do with the Prophet. They felt that they had more interests with the Quraysh than with an individual whose claims to receive revelations from on high could not be proven. Although some tribes were willing to listen to him, and were impressed with the superb beauty of the Qur’ān as he recited its passages and with the values it preached, they were unwilling to commit themselves, as they felt that they could be taking on something bigger than they could cope with.
Nevertheless, the Prophet continued to use the pilgrimage season as a platform to address the Arab people. He was certain that his message was a true message from God and it was to ultimately triumph. He was encouraged by the fact that individual converts continued to trickle in. No matter what verbal abuse the Quraysh hurled against him and his message, he continued to preach it undeterred. However, it was extremely painful to him to see the weaker elements among his followers being subjected to torture and physical pressure in attempts to turn them away from Islam. Indeed, some of those who belonged to higher families were imprisoned and tortured by their own families.
This overall situation continued to deteriorate. The hardliners among the Quraysh had been able to wrestle the initiative and impose biting sanctions on the Muslim community, and they wanted to expand this. They managed to carry the entire Quraysh with them in imposing a total economic and social boycott against the Hāshimite clan. They wrote down terms that specified that no one in the Quraysh would have any commercial dealings with any Hāshimite, not even selling them food, and that no marriage with them would be agreed upon until they handed Muhammad to the Quraysh to kill. The Hāshimites would not agree to such humiliation, and both the Muslims and the unbelievers among them endured the boycott with fortitude. Not everybody in the Quraysh were happy with the boycott, but they had to go ahead with it so as not to breach the traditions of their tribal society. Hence, the boycott lasted three years, until five people from different clans of the Quraysh successfully plotted its abrogation.
The ninth year of the Prophet’s mission was approaching its end when the boycott was ended. However, there was no sign that the Quraysh would moderate its stance of opposition to Islam. Abū Ṭālib continued to protect the Prophet, although he decided not to become a Muslim. However, Abū Ṭālib had reached old age, and a few months later he became ill. A number of the chiefs of the clans went to him, requesting him to negotiate some accommodation between them and the Prophet. The Prophet insisted that he could not change God’s message: they had to believe in God’s Oneness and that Muhammad was God’s Messenger. This was the last attempt at any sort of accommodation. Soon afterwards, Abū Ṭālib died, and a few weeks later, Khadījah also died. Thus, the Prophet was deprived of the care and support he received from his uncle in his public life and from his wife at home. The situation was becoming even more difficult for him.
The Prophet thought of taking his message to new areas. He travelled to Taif, a mountainous town approximately forty-five miles away, where the major tribe of Thaqīf lived. He spoke to its chiefs and to the public, but he experienced a very hostile reception. The chiefs of the Thaqīf set their slaves to chase him out of their town, and they hurled stones and other objects against him, so that his feet were bleeding as he finally took refuge in a garden belonging to two brothers, ʿUtbah and Shaybah, who were chiefs of the ʿAbd Shams clan of Quraysh. These brothers were unbelievers, but they were sympathetic to their tribesman, sending him a plate of grapes with a slave of theirs. When the chase was over, the Prophet moved away from Taif, returning to Makkah, but he felt he could not enter the city unprotected. He sent word to some of its chiefs, and al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdiyy, a distant uncle, provided him with protected entry. Before reaching Makkah, the Prophet sat down to reflect on his situation. He appealed most passionately for God’s support:
To You, My Lord, I complain of my weakness, lack of support and the humiliation I am made to receive.
Most Compassionate and Merciful! You are the Lord of the weak, and You are my Lord. To whom do You leave me? To a distant person who receives me with hostility? Or to an enemy to whom You have given power over me?
If You are not displeased with me, I do not care what I face. I would, however, be much happier with Your mercy.
I seek refuge in the light of Your face by which all darkness is dispelled and both this life and the life to come are put on their right courses against incurring Your wrath or being the subject of Your anger. To You I submit, until I earn Your pleasure. Everything is powerless without Your support.2
At that point, the angel Gabriel came to tell him that God had granted his appeal: “Here with me is the angel in charge of mountains to take your instructions.” The angel of the mountains greeted him and said: “I am at your service. If you wish I can close the two mountains over their valley.” The Prophet said: “No. I hope that there will be among their offspring people who worship God alone, associating no partners with Him.” Some years later, the Prophet remarked that this episode of the trip to Taif was the hardest he had ever to face.
Back home in Makkah, the Quraysh felt that Muhammad was now vulnerable to their abuse. They compounded verbal abuse with physical assault by throwing dirt on him while he was engaged in his worship in the Grand Mosque. They challenged him with absurd demands. They stopped at nothing in trying to hurt him.
The year 620 was to witness the beginning of a transformation in the fortunes of Islam and its Prophet. First, he was taken on a night journey, when the angel Gabriel came to him, bringing a heavenly steed that travelled at high speed. Gabriel took the Prophet to Jerusalem, where he met all the earlier Prophets, including Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus. He led a congregational prayer, and they all joined in. This was a symbol of the unity of God’s messages, brought to their fullness by the message of the Qur’ān. From Jerusalem, the angel took him up to heaven, where he was shown some of what those who are destined to hell will suffer and the great rewards for those who will be admitted to heaven. The prayer duty was amended to five prayers each day for all Muslims, throughout the year. The Prophet was then brought back to Makkah. This all happened within a few hours, and he returned at the time of the dawn prayer.
Some Muslim scholars maintain that this was a spiritual journey, and others say that it was all a very vivid dream. There is no need to say that this journey did not actually occur, because God is certainly able to accomplish whatever He wills. If he decides to take the Prophet, or anyone else, on a miraculous journey, He does so. This is just as easy for God as sending rain or wind, or making the earth suitable for human life, or giving a child the faculties of hearing and speech. People may say that these are natural laws, but it is God who has made them and set them in operation. The miraculous only seems so because it is unfamiliar to us. In fact, every aspect of life is a miracle and everything in the universe is miraculous: these things are all easy for God.
The Prophet’s willingness to report his night journey, given his hostile audience, was a mark of his strengthened and well-founded confidence in the truth of his message. He continued to preach with fresh zeal. By the time the next pilgrimage season approached, the Prophet was more determined than ever to carry his message to people outside Makkah, despite the growing difficulties he was facing. The pilgrimage season of 620 brought him a breath of hope and fresh air, as he met six pilgrims from Yathrib (later to be called Madinah). The Arab community in Yathrib was largely a farming community, and they lived side by side with a large Jewish community. The Jews used to boast of their monotheistic religion, telling the Arabs that they anticipated the emergence of a new Prophet who would be
