The persecution of Prophet

Muhammad in 4 BH

The Prophet (peace be upon him) was sent when Quraysh used
to worship idols, boast about their ancestry, lineage and
wealth, enslave the common folk, and give full rein to their
lusts and desires. As a result, they naturally tried to stop the
Prophet’s call in any way they could.
The disbelievers were not satisfied with just denying the Islamic
call; they employed many methods to confront and repel it.
These ways included ridiculing and mocking Islam and the
Prophet (peace be upon him), and those who followed him.
One time they claimed that the Prophet (peace be upon him)
was bewitched, another time that he was a lying sorcerer, and
a third time that he was a crazy poet…and they spread other
different charges and contradictory claims, all of which only
proved that they were lying and making up false claims.
Whenever they saw the Prophet (peace be upon him), they
used to look at him with anger and infuriation, as Allah
(Glorified is He) relates, {And the disbelievers would almost trip
you up with their eyes when they hear the Message; and they
say, ‘Surely, he is possessed!’} [Surah Al-Qalam: 51].
They used to also laugh at the Prophet (peace be upon him)
when they saw him, sarcastically saying, as Allah (Glorified is
He) relates, {Is this the one who talks about your gods?} [Surah
Al-Anbiya: 36]. And whenever they saw any weak Companions,
they used to sarcastically and mockingly say, {Is it these who
Allah has favoured from among us?} [Surah Al-Anam: 53].
When their ridicule and mockery which they employed to stop
this religion failed, they resorted to trying to stop people
listening to the Prophet (peace be upon him) and the noble
Quran, as whenever the truth from Allah (Glorified is He)
reaches people, they quickly believe in it. Therefore, they used
to raise their voices whenever they heard the Quran, and make
loud noises whenever they saw the Prophet (peace be upon
him) trying to call someone to Allah (Glorified is He) or trying to
recite Quran to him. The disbelievers used to encourage each
other to do this. Allah (Glorified is He) says, {The disbelievers
say, ‘Listen not to this Quran, but talk at random in the middle
of its [recitation], that you may gain the upper hand!’} [Surah
Fussilat: 26].
But the Prophet (peace be upon him) continued to call people
to Allah (Glorified is He), confronting his enemies, Quraysh and
its leaders, and their efforts to stop the call. They purposefully
raised arguments and spread doubts about the religion,
especially about the resurrection after death. They were
skeptical about it, use to put forward arguments against it, and
claim it was only an ancient myth. Allah (Glorified is He) relates
what they used to say, {What! When we die and become dust
and bones, could we really be raised up again!} [Surah Al-
Mominoon: 82].
Allah (Glorified is He) relates that they used to also say, {Shall
we show you a man who tells you that when you are all
scattered to pieces after total disintegration, you shall [then be
raised] in a new creation?} [Surah Saba: 7].
However, the Quran used to refute their wrong ideas and
views, giving rational replies in more than one ayah, all of
which they could not contest in the least. One such example of
these ayahs is Allah’s saying, {And he makes comparisons for Us
and forgets his own creation. He says, ‘Who can give life
to [dry] bones and decomposed ones [at that]?’ Say, ‘He will
give them Life Who created them the first time! For He fully
knows all creation’} [Surah Yasin: 78, 79].
When this method of trying to stop Islam and the call failed,
Quraysh began to try to physically harm the Prophet (peace be
upon him) and his Companions (may Allah be pleased with
them), believing that by harming the Prophet (peace be upon
him) and torturing his Companions the believers would weaken
and therefore submit to them and obey them. But all of this
was of no avail, as it is impossible to remove faith that had
mixed with the inner structure of the heart from a heart and
mind which has tasted the sweetness of faith!
Below are examples of how the polytheists harmed the
Companions (may Allah be pleased with them):
-One day, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) stood up
to give a sermon in the mosque in Mecca, so the disbelievers
hit him severely. One of those who hit him was Atabah ibn
Rabi’ah, who hit Abu Bakr on his face with two open sandals
until one could not distinguish his nose from his face. Bani
Tameem came to help Abu Bakr, pushing the disbelievers away
from him. They then carried him, wrapped in a cloak, to his
house. They feared that Abu Bakr might die, and took an oath
that if he did die they would kill Atabah ibn Rabi’ah.
-Uthman ibn Affan’s uncle used to wrap Uthman (may Allah be
pleased with him) up in a mat made of palm leaves, and then
put a fire under it. It has been reported that when he entered
Islam, his uncle Al-Hakim ibn Abu Al-Aas ibn Omayyah tied him
up strongly and swore that he would not free him until he left
Islam. Therefore, Uthman swore that he would not leave Islam.
When his uncle saw how determined Uthman was in remaining
a Muslim, he let him free.
-When Musaib ibn Umair’s mother learnt that Musaib (may
Allah be pleased with him) had embraced Islam, she starved
him and then pushed him out of her house. He used to have
very many luxuries in his life before Islam, but after the torture
his skin became as rough as the skin of a snake. The
Companions used to even carry him because he had become so
weak.
- When Abu Dharr Al-Ghafari (may Allah be pleased with him)
heard about the Prophet (peace be upon him), he travelled to
Mecca to ask about the Prophet. The people of Mecca hit him
until he fell unconscious. He nearly died from the beating.
Abbas saved him from his attackers.
-As for Bilal ibn Rabah (may Allah be pleased with him), he was
Umayyah ibn Khalaf Al-Jumahi’s slave. Bilal’s master used to
torture Bilal by throwing him on the sand on his face or back
and then placing a huge stone on his chest. That was when the
sun was at its hottest at the time of mid-day. He would then
say to Bilal, "You will not be released from this until you die or
disbelieve in Muhammed and worship Al-Lat and Al-Uzza." But
Bilal remained patient and just kept repeating, "One; one."
Eventually, Abu Bakr bought him, giving Umayyah a polytheistic
slave he had. After that, Abu Bakr freed Bilal.
Moreover, Ammar and his mother and father Yasser (may Allah
be pleased with them) used to be taken to the wilderness when
the sand there had become very hot, and torture them with the
hot sand. The Prophet (peace be upon him) passed by them
when they were being tortured and said to them, Yasser (may
Allah be pleased with him) died from the torture. As for
Somaya (may Allah be pleased with her), she had talked
roughly to Abu Jahl, so he stabbed her with his weapon in her
private parts and she died as a martyr. She was the first martyr
in Islam.
The enemies of Islam intensified their torture of Ammar (may
Allah be pleased with him), torturing him in many different
ways—one time dragging him on the ground, another time with
a stone on his chest, and a third time immersing him in water
until he nearly drowned, saying to him that they would not
leave him until he reviled the Prophet (peace be upon him) and
spoke well about Al-Uzza and Al-Lat. He said what they asked
him to say, and so they stopped torturing him. But he went at
once to the Prophet (peace be upon him), crying. The Prophet
(peace be upon him) asked him, <‘What has happened?’
Ammar replied, ‘Something very bad, Oh Prophet. Such-and-
such happened.’
The Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ‘What do you feel in
your heart?’ Ammar said, ‘I am convinced of the faith.’ The
Prophet (peace be upon him) said, ‘Oh Ammar, if they put you
to the same torture again, you may utter the same words.’
Then Allah (Glorified is He) revealed the following from Surah
Al-Nahl, {Anyone who, after accepting faith in Allah, utters
disbelief–except under compulsion, his heart remaining firm in
faith–but such as open their breast to disbelief, on them is
wrath from Allah} [Surah Al-Nahl: 106].
-As for Khubbab ibn Al-Arat (may Allah be pleased with him), a
sixth example of those early Muslims that were tortured, the
polytheists tortured him severely; they used to burn his back
with burning coal and stones that had been heated by fire, and
twist his neck.
Amer ibn Faheera (may Allah be pleased with him) embraced
Islam early in the call, before the Prophet (peace be upon him)
established Dar Al-Arqam. He was not of high position in
Mecca, so they tortured him severely, but this did not make
him leave Islam. He used to look after Abu Bakr’s sheep.
Abu Fakeehah (may Allah be pleased with him), whose name
was Abu Yasar, was Safwan ibn Umaiyah ibn Khalaf Al-Jumahi’s
slave. He embraced Islam with Bilal (may Allah be pleased with
him). Umaiyah ibn Khalaf took him and tied a rope around his
legs, and then ordered someone to pull him. Next, he threw
him into some burning coals and let some insects pass by him.
Umaiyah then said to him, "Is this not your Lord?" Abu Yasar
then said, "Allah is my Lord and your Lord, and the Lord of this,
too." Therefore, Umaiyah strangled him strongly. Umaiyah’s
brother, Abu ibn Khalaf, was with Umaiyah at the time. He said,
"Torture him more until Muhammed comes to save him with
his magic." They continued to torture him until he fell
unconscious and they thought he had died. He later regained
his consciousness and Abu Bakr, the truthful one, bought him
and freed him.
With regards to the believing women, Zeinab, Um Ubais,
Labeeba and An-Nahadiya, they were similarly tortured very
severely by their masters, but they did not leave their religion,
may Allah be pleased with them [adapted from the Blessed
Garden].