The year of sorrow

ABU TALIB DIES:

A few months after the boycott ended, Abu Talib fell ill. Abu Talib’s illness worsened,and he died.

Khadeejah(رضی اللہ عنہا )  dies:

 

Two months and three days after the death of Abu Talib, the Prophet’s wife Khadeejah passed away. She was the Prophet’s trusted advisor and loyal companion, and was known by the title “Mother of the believers.”

Sorrow after sorrow:

 

After the deaths of Abu Talib and Khadeejah, the Makkan pagans became bold and would often insult and ridicule the Prophet in public. Now that the Prophet had lost his two greatest supporters, small acts of unkindness stung him more than ever as he grieved over his bereavement.

 Once, a man from the Quraysh threw dust on the Prophet’s head. One of the Prophet’s daughters washed away the dirt, weeping bitterly at her father’s suffering. Trying to console her, the Prophet said, “Dear daughter! Do not cry, for Allah will protect your father.” Later he admitted that it was only after Abu Talib’s death that the insults of the Quraysh began to prick him.

More persecution for the Prophet:

 

One enemy was vanquished. Others remained to plague the Prophet . Uqba bin Abi Mu’ayt, who had placed the camel intestines on the Prophet’s back, once saw the Prophet praying and waited for him to palce his forehead on the ground. He then placed his foot on the Prophet’s neck and pressed down with all his weight until finally the Prophet’s eyes bulged.

The next day the same group of people assembled at the Ka’bah and began talking about the Prophet . A few moments later the Prophet appeared and they all rushed towards him in rabid anger. Pulling on his clothes, they asked, “Are you the one who orders us to stop worshipping the gods of our forefathers?” The Prophet was not intimmidated. “Yes, I am.”

The mob surrounded him on all sides and some began pushing him and shoving him from side to side, while others shouted insults. Uqba bin Abi Mu’ayt caught hold of a cloth hanging from around his neck and began choking the Prophet . Abu Bakr heard the commotion and ran to defend him. He seized Uqba by his shoulders and pulled him off the Prophet . Abu Bakr tore each man away from the Prophet, crying: “Woe to you! Would you kill a man simply because he says that Allah is his Lord?”

Now the mob turned on Abu Bakr and let the Prophet go. Abu Bakr paid a great price for rescuing the Prophet . The mob beat him violently, and his face was so battered that his nose was indistinguishable from his face. The people from Banu Taym wrapped him up and took him to his house. They were sure that he would not live to see the next day.

The Prophet journeys to Ta’if

 

 Soon the Prophet felt that it was time to take the message of Islam to neighbouring tribes. He made his way on foot to Ta’if, about thrity miles east of Makkah, travelling with his former slave, Zayd bin Haritha .

 Along the way to Ta’if, the Prophet invited each tribe he encountered to embrace Islam. Finally, he reached Ta’if and met three brothers, all chieftains of the Thaqif tribe. He invited them to Islam and asked them to help him spread his message, but they responded with hostility.

 The Prophet left the chieftains and looked for others to talk with about Islam. For the next few days he continued his search to find anyone who would open his heart to Allah’s word, but no one was interested. Each cheiftain he met proved arrogant and unfriendly when he explained his mission and requested help. Instead of accepting his call to Islam, they asked him to leave Ta’if and return from whence he came. They even stirred up children, slaves and the whole rabble against him. As the Prophet made his way out of the township, a rag tag band ran after him, abusing him and throwing stones at him until even his feet dripped with blood.

Zayd tried to protect the Prophet from their blows, and in doing so suffered several cuts on his head. The Prophet and Zayd escaped and sought refuge three miles away in an orchard belonging to Utbah and Sheba, the sons of Rabi’a.

There the Prophet sat down in the shade of a wall covered with grapevines and prayed to Allah in a supplication known as Du’aa Al-Mustad’afeen (the Prayer of the Oppressed): 

“O Allah! I complain to You of my weakness and humiliation before the people. You are the Most Merciful, the Lord of the weak and my Lord too. To whom have you entrusted me? To one who does not care for me? Or have you appointed my enemiy as master of my affairs? So long as You are not angry with me, I care not. Your favour is abundant for me. I seek refuge in the light of Your Face, by which all darkness is dispelled and every affair of this world and the next is set right, lest Your anger or Your displeasure descend upon me. I desire Your pleasure and satisfaction. There is no power and no might except in You.” 

The Prophet then recited some verses from the Quran referring to the Prophet Yunus (Jonah). Addas was so impressed that he accepted the Prophet’s call to Islam. The Prophet resumed his journey back to Makkah, and dejection set in. At Qarn Al-Manazil, a cloud bearing the angel Jibreel appeared before the Prophet . With him was another angel. “Allah has sent you the angel of the mountains,” Jibreel said, “He is at your command.” The angel of the mountain said. “O Muhammad , I am here to do as you say. The choice is yours: I can crush the people of Ta’if between the two hills, if that is your wish.” The Prophet , however, was not looking for revenge. “No. I hope Allah will bring forth from their loins people who will worship Allah alone without associating any partners with Him.” Jibreel’s visit lifted the Prophet’s spirits. He no longer felt forsaken, and a heavy weight was removed from his heart. 

The Prophet was praying the Fajr prayer when a band of jinn (spirits, from which the English word “gene” is derived) heard him reciting the Qur’an. They listened with great interest, and when the Prophet finished, they returned to their companions and warned them of a great chastisement for those who disbelieved in the Prophet’s message. Although they did not come into contact with the Prophet directly, the jinn who had listened to the Prophet that morning embraced islam. The Prophet only became aware of what had happened when Allah revealed the story in the Qur’an in two different chapters, Surah Al-Ahqaf and Surah Al-Jinn.

 A few days later the Prophet left Nakhlah and headed toward Makkah. As he drew near Makkah, he began to make preparations, for he did not want to enter Makkah defenseless as he had done in Ta’af. He paused at Hira and sent a man to Akhtas bin Shariq to ask for protection. Akhtas, however, apologised and pointed out that since he was and ally of the Quraysh, he could not protect the Prophet. The Prophet then sent the same message to Suhayl bin Amr.

Even Suhayl refused to extend protection to the Prophet because he belonged to Banu Amir bin Luayy, which had also declared the Prophet an enemy. The Prophet then sent his message to Mut’im bin Adiy. Mut’im’s grandfather, Naufal, was the brother of Hashim bin Abud Manaf, one of the Prophet’s ancestors, and the clan of Abu Manaf was one of the most revered branches of the Quraysh.

Mut’im respecting the ties that bound him to the Prophet , agreed to protect his kinsman. He and his sons armed themselves and then sent for the Prophet . The Prophet went directly to the Ka’bah and circumambulated it, performed a short prayer, and then went home. During the entire time Mut’im bin Adiy and his sons kept watch. Mit’im then announced that he had extended protection to Muhammad .

REFERENCE:

BOOK: WHEN THE MOON SPLIT FINAL.

Compiled by Safiur Rahman Mubarakpuri

Edited and Translated by Tabassum Siraj – Michael Richardson Badr Azimabadi