The Life of the Prophet Muhammad

The Troubles Begin

Three years passed and one day the Archangel Gabriel came to theProphet (pbuh) and ordered him to start preaching openly to everyone. Sothe Prophet (pbuh) told the people of Mecca that he had something veryimportant to tell them. He stood on a hillside in Mecca, called Safa, andthey gathered around to hear what he had to say. He started by askingthem if they would believe him were he to say that an army was about toattack them. They answered that indeed they would because he neverlied. He then told them that he was the Messenger of Allah, sent to showthem the right way, and to warn them of terrible punishments if they didnot follow him in worshipping only Allah and none other. Abu Lahab,one of the Prophet's uncles who was among the listeners, suddenly stoodup and said, 'May you perish! Did you call us here just to tell us this?' Atthis, Allah sent to the Prophet (pbuh) the following Surah: 

In the Name of Allah, The Beneficent, The Merciful 

"The Power of Abu Lahab will perish, and he will perish. His wealthand gains will not save him. He shall roast at a flaming fire, And his wife,the carrier of firewood Will have upon her neck a rope of palm-fiber".(Qur'an 111.1-5) 

Then the crowd dispersed and the Prophet (pbuh) was left alone. Afew days later the Prophet (pbuh) tried again. A feast was prepared in hishouse for all of his uncles. After the meal he spoke to them and said, 'Osons of 'Abd al-Muttalib! I know of no Arab who has come to his peoplewith a better message than mine. I have brought you the best news forthis life and the next. Allah has ordered me to call you to Him. So whichof you will help me?' All the men kept silent. Then 'Ali, his cousin,jumped up and said: 'O Prophet of Allah! I will help you.' Then the menall got up and left, laughing as they went because only one young boy hadagreed to help the Prophet (pbuh). 

 His message ignored by most of the people and his uncles, the Prophet(pbuh) continued to meet his friends secretly in a house near the hill ofSafa. There they prayed together and he taught them about the religion ofIslam. But even though they kept to themselves, they were sometimesabused by those who would not believe. From one such incident,however, an unexpected conversion to Islam took place. One day, whenthe Prophet (pbuh) was returning home, speaking with his followers, hemet Abu Jahl, a leader of Quraysh, who hated the Prophet (pbuh) and histeachings. Abu Jahl started to insult him and to speak spitefully of Islam,but the Prophet (pbuh) made no reply and went on his way. 

Later, Hamzah, one of the Prophet's uncles, who was a strong andbrave warrior of whom people were quite afraid, heard how his nephewhad been insulted. Filled with rage, he ran straight to the Ka'bah whereAbu Jahl was sitting among the people and struck him a violent blow inthe face with his bow. Hamzah then shouted, 'Will you insult him when Ifollow his religion, and I say what he says? Hit me back if you can!'Some people got up to help Abu Jahl but he stopped them saying, 'LeaveHamzah alone, for by Allah, I have insulted his nephew badly. 'From thatmoment on Hamzah followed the teachings of the Prophet (pbuh) andwith his conversion to Islam Quraysh realized that the Prophet (pbuh) hada strong supporter and so for a while they stopped persecuting him. Soon,however, the leaders of Quraysh became angry again, when they saw thatthe Prophet (pbuh) was going ahead with his teaching. A group of themwent to his uncle, Abu Talib, who had promised to protect him. They toldhim to ask the Prophet (pbuh) to stop attacking their gods and their wayof life, and in return, they would let him do as he wished with his religion.

 After a time they saw that there was no change, so they went back toAbu Talib and this time they told him that if he did not stop his nephew,they would fight them both. Abu Talib was very upset by this quarrelamong his people, but he could not break his word to his nephew. He sentfor the Prophet (pbuh) and told him what had happened, saying, 'Spareme and spare yourself; do not put a greater burden on me than I can bear.'The Prophet (pbuh) thought that his uncle might abandon him and that hewould no longer have his support, but nevertheless he answered, '0 myuncle, by Allah, if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in myleft in return for my giving up this cause, I would not give it up untilAllah makes Truth victorious, or I die in His service. Abu Talib wasdeeply moved by this answer. He told the Prophet (pbuh) that he wouldsupport him for as long as he lived and encouraged him to go onspreading Allah's message. From that time on, however hard the leadersof Quraysh tried to convince Abu Talib to stop protecting his nephew, healways refused to listen to them. In order to get rid of the Prophet (pbuh)and his followers, his enemies started persecuting those Muslims whowere poor or weak or had no powerful friends. One such person wasBilal, the slave of Umayyah ibn Khalaf. His master would take him outinto the desert, tie him up, and leave him in the sun with a large stone onhis chest. Fortunately, Abu Bakr was passing by one day and sawUmayyah torturing Bilal, so he bought him from his master for a largesum of money and then set him free. But not all persecuted Muslims wereas fortunate as Bilal. Many suffered, but all of them endured it patiently,knowing that they were doing the right thing and that their reward in thelife to come would be greater' than any happiness they could find onearth.