بِسۡمِ اللّٰہِ الرَّحۡمٰنِ الرَّحِیۡمِ

The Meccans and the Advent of the Prophet (sas)

The claim of the Holy Prophet (sas) as a divinely inspired Reformer angered the people of Mecca. The Chiefs of Quraish decided to oppose Islam. The idolworshippers would not tolerate the new religion to spread in Arabia. They were determined to crush Islam in the very beginning. They decided to employ all means at their disposal to deal with this menace. The common folk joined the Quraish in their fight against the Muslims. There started a period of severe trials and hardships for the Muslims. Their lives, properties and honour were in constant danger. They were beaten, boycotted and abused. They were denied even the ordinary civic rights that every citizen enjoyed. It was impossible for them to preach their religion or even to praise it openly. To accept Islam, even to praise it openly, at that time meant death. Even the Prophet (sas) was no exception to this. He was insulted and abused. To give but one example of the way in which the Meccans treated him, we reproduce here a tradition by Hazrat ‘A’ishah (ra) — wife of the Prophet (sas). She reports that referring to these days of troubles and miseries the Holy Prophet (sas) once said:

"Abu Lahab and ‘Utbah were my neighbours. I was hemmed in on all sides by their schemes and machinations. To make life difficult for me they would deposit the heaps of night soil at my door steps. I would remove this dirt when I came out and would only say, 'O sons of ‘Abd-e-Munaf, why all this? Is this the way you discharge your neighbourly duties?"1

As is clear from the above Hadith the Quraish spared nothing to prevent people from accepting Islam. They were determined to put an end to the new religion which was gaining converts from among their co-religionists. One can easily feel the intensity with which the inhabitants of Mecca hated the innocent Muslims and their pious leader. This insulting behaviour of the Meccans towards Muslims and the ugly manner in which they treated them, forced the Muslims to leave Mecca and seek refuge somewhere else.