Part 3 - Adapted into English from Shaykh Dr. Othman Al-Khamees's Arabic Seerah lecture preserving the original meaning while presenting the life of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him)
The public call to Islam (calling to Islam (da'wah)) continued to spread throughout Makkah. Although only a small number of people had embraced the faith, the leaders of Quraysh recognized that the message of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) was gaining attention. Visitors arriving in the city were asking questions, families were discussing his teachings, and individuals were quietly accepting Islam.
Unable to silence the Prophet (peace be upon him), Quraysh adopted a new strategy. Instead of presenting evidence against his message, they launched a coordinated campaign to discredit both him and the revelation he had brought.
One of the first accusations was that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was insane.
The Shaykh points out that the Quran itself records this accusation:
This was never a sincere belief. It was simply another attempt to prevent people from listening to him.
The accusation itself exposed its own weakness. For forty years before receiving revelation, Muhammad (peace be upon him) had lived among his people. They had entrusted him with their wealth, sought his judgment in disputes, and unanimously recognized his honesty and wisdom. Nothing in his life resembled madness.
When the accusation of madness failed, Quraysh described him as a sorcerer and a liar.
The Quran records their words:
"The disbelievers said, 'This is a sorcerer and a liar.'"
The irony is striking.
Earlier, even al-Walid ibn al-Mughirah had admitted that Muhammad (peace be upon him) did not resemble the sorcerers known among the Arabs. Yet the chiefs of Quraysh continued repeating the accusation because they hoped constant repetition would influence public opinion.
The Shaykh reminds his audience that falsehood often depends not on evidence but on persistent repetition.
Quraysh also resorted to ridicule.
Allah described their behavior:
The believers were mocked simply because they had chosen to worship Allah alone.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) was ridiculed, and so were those who followed him. Their faith became a source of amusement for the people of Makkah.
The Shaykh observes that this has always been one of the methods used by those who reject the truth. When they cannot defeat an argument, they often attempt to embarrass those who hold it.
Another accusation was directed toward the Quran itself.
Rather than claiming it came from Allah, Quraysh dismissed it as nothing more than legends and tales passed down from earlier generations.
The Quran records their statement:
Quraysh did not generally deny Allah's existence. In fact, they openly acknowledged Him as the Creator. If asked who created the heavens and the earth, they answered, "Allah." Their problem was different.
They denied that the Quran was Allah's speech and rejected Muhammad's (peace be upon him) claim to prophet-hood. While affirming Allah's existence, they insisted that the revelation was merely the Prophet's own invention.
Thus, their dispute was not over whether Allah existed but over whether Muhammad (peace be upon him) truly spoke on Allah's behalf.
When accusations failed to stop the spread of Islam, Quraysh proposed another solution.
They offered compromise.
According to the Shaykh, they suggested that Muhammad (peace be upon him) worship their idols for one year, after which they would worship Allah alone for one year. In this way, each side would supposedly respect the other's beliefs.
Allah immediately rejected this proposal through the revelation of Surat al-Kafirun (The Disbelievers):
Another verse reinforced the same principle:
The Shaykh explains that Quraysh did not truly seek coexistence.
They wanted the Prophet (peace be upon him) to make even the smallest concession regarding monotheism (tawhid). Once he yielded on that principle, the distinction between truth and falsehood would disappear.
But the message entrusted to the prophets was never open to negotiation.
Truth cannot be divided into acceptable and unacceptable portions according to human preference.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) therefore rejected every proposal that required compromising revelation, no matter how attractive it appeared politically or socially.
The Shaykh pauses here to draw an enduring lesson from this stage of the Prophet's mission.
Throughout history, those who oppose the truth often follow a familiar pattern.
First they ridicule it.
Then they spread accusations.
When those fail, they attempt compromise.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) accepted dialogue, answered questions, and treated people with wisdom and kindness. However, he never negotiated the fundamental principles of Islam.
Belief in Allah alone was not a matter for bargaining.
Revelation was not subject to public opinion.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) demonstrated that kindness should never be confused with compromise in matters of faith.
Having failed to silence the Prophet (peace be upon him) through accusations, mockery, or negotiation, Quraysh turned to a far darker strategy.
Their campaign would soon move beyond words.
Emotional abuse, family pressure, public humiliation, and physical violence would become the new tools used against the Prophet (peace be upon him) and those who believed in his message.
The next stage of the Prophetic biography (Seerah) would reveal not only the cruelty of the persecution but also the extraordinary patience (sabr) and trust in Allah (reliance upon Allah (tawakkul)) displayed by the Prophet (peace be upon him) and his Companions (Sahabah).
When accusations, ridicule, and attempts at compromise failed to stop the spread of Islam, Quraysh adopted a new strategy.
Their opposition became personal.
The Shaykh explains that the persecution took two forms: psychological abuse and physical abuse. Both were intended to pressure the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) into abandoning his mission, or at least to discourage those considering accepting Islam.
One of the earliest forms of psychological abuse targeted the Prophet's own household.
Two sons of Abu Lahab had been married to the Prophet's daughters, Ruqayyah (may Allah be pleased with her) and Umm Kulthum (may Allah be pleased with her).
Abu Lahab ordered both of his sons to divorce their wives solely to cause pain to the Prophet (peace be upon him). They obeyed, ending the marriages not because of any fault in the women, but simply out of hostility toward their father.
The Shaykh describes this as one of the earliest examples of emotional persecution directed against the Prophet (peace be upon him). His enemies understood that hurting his family would hurt him deeply.
Another persistent source of harm was Abu Lahab's wife, Umm Jamil.
When Allah revealed Surat al-Masad (The Palm Fiber), condemning both Abu Lahab and his wife, the chapter described her as "the carrier of firewood."
The Shaykh explains that she regularly placed thorns, branches, and other obstacles in the Prophet's path to injure him as he walked through Makkah.
Allah's description of the rope around her neck was therefore a fitting recompense for the harm she willingly carried and spread against the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated an incident demonstrating Allah's protection.
One day Umm Jamil approached while the Prophet (peace be upon him) was sitting beside Abu Bakr. Although the Prophet was directly before her, Allah prevented her from seeing him.
Holding a stone, she asked Abu Bakr where his companion was, declaring that she had heard he had insulted her and intended to strike him.
After failing to find the Prophet (peace be upon him), she left while reciting words insulting someone she called "Mudhammam" ("the condemned one") rather than Muhammad ("the praised one").
After she departed, Abu Bakr expressed amazement that she had failed to notice the Prophet sitting beside him.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) replied that Allah had concealed him from her sight. He also pointed out another subtle blessing: even in her insults, Allah diverted her tongue so that she never actually mentioned his blessed name.
The persecution soon became physical.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) narrated that while the Prophet (peace be upon him) was praying near the Ka'bah, several leaders of Quraysh were gathered nearby.
One of them suggested bringing the entrails and afterbirth of a recently slaughtered camel and placing them upon the Prophet while he was in prostration.
The task was carried out by Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud watched helplessly. Being from outside Quraysh, he lacked the tribal protection needed to intervene.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) remained in prostration beneath the heavy filth while the chiefs of Quraysh laughed together, delighted by what they believed was a public humiliation.
Eventually, Fatimah (may Allah be pleased with her), the Prophet's youngest daughter, arrived.
She removed the filth from her father's back, allowing him to complete his prayer.
After finishing, the Prophet (peace be upon him) raised his hands and supplicated three times:
"O Allah, deal with Quraysh."
The Shaykh notes that this prayer deeply disturbed them. Despite their public accusations, they knew that Muhammad (peace be upon him) was truthful, and they feared the consequences of his supplication.
The Prophet (peace be upon him) then named several of the principal offenders individually.
Abdullah ibn Mas'ud later testified that every one of those men was killed during the Battle of Badr and thrown into its well, exactly as the Prophet had prayed.
On another occasion, Abu Jahl became enraged that the Prophet (peace be upon him) continued praying publicly beside the Ka'bah.
He swore by his idols that if he saw Muhammad (peace be upon him) prostrating again, he would step on his neck and force his face into the ground.
Confident in his own power and status among Quraysh, Abu Jahl approached while the Prophet (peace be upon him) was in prayer.
But something astonishing happened.
Without touching the Prophet, Abu Jahl suddenly recoiled in terror. He stumbled backward, raising his hands to shield himself from something invisible to everyone else.
When the people asked what had frightened him, he replied that he had seen a trench of fire, terrifying horrors, and wings between himself and Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Prophet (peace be upon him) later explained what Abu Jahl had witnessed.
Had he taken one step closer, the angels would have torn him apart, limb by limb.
The Shaykh pauses here to emphasize an important lesson.
Allah's protection is real.
He reminds his audience of Allah's promise to support His messengers and the believers, citing examples from the lives of Prophet Musa (peace be upon him), Prophet Nuh (peace be upon him), and the believing boy mentioned in the story of the People of the Ditch.
The lesson is not that believers will never face hardship-they certainly will-but that nothing can harm them except what Allah has decreed.
True reliance upon Allah (tawakkul) removes fear of His creation because ultimate control belongs to Him alone.
The Shaykh concludes this stage of the Prophetic biography (Seerah) by observing that Quraysh had exhausted every peaceful means they could imagine to silence the Prophet (peace be upon him).
They had lied about him.
They had mocked him.
They had humiliated him publicly.
They had even attempted to assault him physically.
Yet none of it weakened his resolve.
Instead, the persecution only exposed the moral bankruptcy of those opposing him while revealing the unwavering patience (sabr), trust in Allah (reliance upon Allah (tawakkul)), and dignity of the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him).
The campaign against him, however, was far from over.
Unable to break the Prophet (peace be upon him), Quraysh would now turn their cruelty toward his Companions (Sahabah), many of whom would endure unimaginable suffering for the sake of their faith.
Unable to silence the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Quraysh turned their attention to those who had accepted his message.
The Shaykh points out that harming the Prophet's followers was, in reality, another way of harming the Prophet himself. Every believer who was tortured had embraced Islam because of him, and seeing his Companions (Sahabah) suffer caused him immense pain.
The persecution was no longer directed at one man. It became a campaign against the entire Muslim community.
Among those who suffered most were Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him) and his wife Sumayyah (may Allah be pleased with her), the parents of Ammar ibn Yasir (may Allah be pleased with him).
They were subjected to severe torture because they refused to abandon Islam.
Eventually, Abu Jahl himself murdered Sumayyah, making her the first martyr in the history of Islam.
Yasir also died under the brutality of their persecution.
The Shaykh presents their story as one of the earliest and greatest examples of steadfastness. They gave their lives rather than surrender their faith in Allah.
Bilal (may Allah be pleased with him) endured relentless torture at the hands of his persecutors.
They dragged him across the scorching ground of Makkah and placed a massive stone upon his chest beneath the blazing sun.
Yet despite the agony, Bilal answered every act of cruelty with the same declaration:
"One. One."
His tormentors intended to force him back into polytheism (associating partners with Allah (shirk)), but Bilal's repeated affirmation proclaimed his unwavering belief in the oneness of Allah.
The Shaykh beautifully remarks that Bilal's words caused greater pain to his enemies than their punishment caused to him. Every repetition of "One" was another victory of faith over oppression.
The persecution often came from one's own relatives.
Uthman ibn Affan (may Allah be pleased with him) was wrapped tightly in a reed mat by his uncle, who then lit a fire beneath it so that smoke and heat would suffocate him.
Likewise, Sa'd ibn Abi Waqqas (may Allah be pleased with him) faced emotional pressure from his mother.
She vowed that unless he abandoned the religion of Muhammad (peace be upon him), she would refuse to eat or drink until she died. She hoped that people would blame him for her death and shame him into abandoning Islam.
Sa'd remained respectful but firm.
He told her that even if she possessed one hundred lives, and they departed one after another, he would never leave the religion of Muhammad (peace be upon him).
The Shaykh mentions that the verse,
was reported to have been revealed concerning this incident.
The lesson is profound.
Obedience to parents is among the greatest obligations in Islam, but obedience to Allah always comes first. Even while refusing his mother's demand, Sa'd continued to treat her with kindness and respect.
Mus'ab ibn Umayr (may Allah be pleased with him) had once been known as one of the wealthiest and most refined young men in Makkah.
His clothing, fragrance, and lifestyle were admired throughout the city.
When he accepted Islam, however, his mother deprived him of his wealth and comforts.
He chose faith over luxury.
The Shaykh reminds us that the same young man who had once enjoyed every worldly comfort would later die with so little that the Muslims could scarcely find enough cloth to cover his body for burial.
Worldly privilege had become insignificant compared to preserving his faith.
The persecution reached such intensity that the Prophet (peace be upon him) himself continued to suffer violent attacks.
On one occasion, while he was standing in prayer, Uqbah ibn Abi Mu'ayt approached from behind and wrapped his garment tightly around the Prophet's neck, attempting to strangle him.
Before the attack could continue, Abu Bakr (may Allah be pleased with him) rushed forward and pulled Uqbah away.
Standing between the Prophet and his attacker, Abu Bakr declared:
In that moment, Abu Bakr willingly placed himself in danger to defend the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him)
