Understanding the Prophet’s Life and Deeds - Lesson 19

The Isolation Imposed on the Prophet by the Polytheists

By his Eminence Doctor Mohammad Rateb Al Nabulsi

Translated by : Hajj Mohammad

Tripoli, Lebanon

In the Name of Allah, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful.

All praise be to Allah, Lord of the Worlds, and peace and blessings be upon our Prophet Mohammad the truthful in promise and the worthy of all trust.

O Allah, we have no knowledge but that which You have taught us, in truth it is You Who are perfect in knowledge and wisdom.

O Allah, teach us that which is good for us and make us find good in it, and increase us in knowledge. Let us see the truth as indeed the truth and help us follow its path, and let us see falsehood as indeed falsehood and help us to avoid it. Let us be of those who listen to advice and then observe the best of it, and admit us by your mercy in the ranks of your righteous servants; deliver us from the darkness of ignorance into the light of knowledge and science, and from the mire of lust into the Eden of good deeds.

Dear brothers, today we start a new lesson in the series ‘Understanding the Prophet’s Life and Deeds’, and we shall talk about the boycott, and the dwelling of the Moslems in the mountain passes of Abu Talib. But first, you must firmly believe that Man will remain Man whatever the era or area, that the believer will be the believer, that the unbeliever will be the unbeliever, that the enemies of the Truth will always be the enemies of the Truth, and that history repeats itself … Don’t we see today boycott strategies used against Moslems?

Boycott is one of the methods used in the eternal struggle between Good and Evil, and people with the right expectations will not be taken by surprise. I would like every brother believer to accept as absolutely true that the struggle between Good and Evil is an eternal, never ending struggle; this, Allah Almighty ordained, to elevate Moslems to the highest of ranks. Allah be He exalted says:

 ﴾ And if Allah willed He could have punished them (without you) but (thus it is ordained) that He may try some of you by means of others﴿

(Surat Muhammad, 4)

I give you an example:

Consider a man who owns a restaurant that serves alcohol; one day this man turns to Allah in true repentance. As a consequence, his takings are reduced to the tenth. Now isn’t Allah capable of multiplying his earnings after that he repented? The answer is obvious, but the wisdom of Allah Almighty has it that this penitent pay the price of his heroic decision, and this will be an honor to him and will earn him the highest places in Paradise.

This is first a trial: either you choose to please Allah, or you choose to increase your income. But it is also the price of the repentance and the heroic act.

This meaning can be inferred from the words of Allah Almighty:

﴾ O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs approach the Sacred Mosque)   

(Surat Al Tawba, 28)

The pagans were no longer allowed into Allah’s Sacred House, and in economic terms, this prohibition was like a blockade on the Moslems, a prohibition that diminishes revenues. Today though, we opt for tourism rather than to obey Allah. For the sake of tourism we sacrifice, our morals, our honor, our values, our principles … Allah Almighty says:

﴾ O ye who believe! Truly the Pagans are unclean; so let them not, after this year of theirs approach the Sacred Mosque)   

and,

﴾ If ye fear poverty)

(Surat Al Tawba, 28)

from loss of merchandise,

﴾ Allah shall preserve you of His bounty)

 (Surat Al Tawba, 28)

This Ayah seems to imply that the price must be paid in order for Allah to know that the penitent is honest and resolute. And, after he forgoes the high revenues in order to please his Lord, Allah will be bountiful and will compensate his losses:   

﴾ If ye fear poverty),

then, in His own time:

﴾ Allah shall preserve you of His bounty).

If a man takes a heroic stance, a position that pleases Allah, he may pay it dearly, but this is the cost of his heroic decision. When you are prepared to pay this price, then you have earned paradise, where there’s what no eye has seen, nor ear has heard nor crossed a human mind.

Man will be Man, the believer will be the believer, the hypocrite will be the hypocrite, and all unbelievers are one same breed.

So what called for the boycott?

When the Moslems emigrated to Abyssinia, as we explained in the previous lesson, Quraish sent a delegation to the Negus, the ruler of Abyssinia, to convince him to extradite the Moslems to Mecca. But the delegation failed when the Negus refused, and furthermore, offered the Moslems protection and security in his country. What’s more, at that time master Hamza entered Islam, and consequently the pressure on Moslems eased off. Then after that, master Omar entered Islam, and the Moslems were now able to practice worship in Mecca. So, the Moslems were safe in Mecca because Omar and Hamza were prominent Quraishites, and in Abyssinia the Moslems enjoyed peace and security under the protection of the Negus, this situation drove Quraish to turn to the Boycott.

On the other hand, the Bukhari mentioned in his Sahih (book of authentic prophetic traditions) that the prophet, peace be upon him, indicated the Banu Kunana heights as the place where Quraish pledged to fight this religion, to persist in their disbelief and polytheism, and where they united on boycotting Banu Hashem, the family of the Prophet, peace be upon him, when they sympathized with him. Their support to the Prophet, peace be upon him, drove Quraish to boycott them all together.

However, there is no tradition that relates this boycott in detail, nor the dwelling of the Muslims in Abu Talib’s passes, although the boycott itself has been established beyond doubt. The detailed information that reached us in the biographies, all came thru weak unauthenticated transmission chains. This does not mean that these facts did not actually take place, only that they are not authenticated, but the boycott itself is an established historical reality, and so is the place where the boycott decision was taken, as related by Bukhari in his Sahih.

There was also mention of the boycott and the stay of the Moslems in Abu Talib’s passes in the incompletely transmitted traditions of Urwa Ibn Al Zubair and his followers Al Zuhri and Abu Al Aswad.

As for the timing, the boycott was initiated after Quraish failed to apprehend the Moslems who emigrated to Abyssinia. When it saw that the followers of the Prophet, peace be upon him, had grown in numbers, and become stronger with the entering into Islam of Hamza Ibn Abd Al MutTalib and Omar Ibn Al Khattab, that the Moslems who emigrated to Abyssinia had found a country where they could enjoy peace and stability, and that the Negus protected and defended them, and that Islam was spreading among the tribes, Quraish was in rage, and came down hard on the Moslems in Mecca, and finally decided to assassinate the Prophet , peace be upon him.

And I have told you before how Umair Ibn Wahab said to Safwan: ‘Were it not for my debts and the fear of the hardship that would befall my children after I’m gone, I would surely go and rid you of Mohammad’, and what Safwan said in reply: ‘As for your children, they will be my children for as long as they live, and your debts, I will assume them no matter the amount, so go about your design’. So Umair poisoned his blade, got on his mount and headed towards Medina to kill Mohammad, peace be upon him. 

When he reached Medina, Omar saw him and said: ‘This is Allah’s enemy after some evil …’, so he tied him up with the belt of his sword and drove him to the Prophet, peace be upon him. When he came with him all tied up into the presence of the Prophet, peace be upon him, the Prophet said:

 ‘Release him Omar’

Omar said: ‘This is Allah’s enemy seeking some evil!’ He said

‘Release him Omar’

So Omar released him. Then the Prophet, peace be upon him, said to Omar:

‘Move away from him’

The he said:

‘Come closer Umair’

So he did. Then he said:

‘Sit’

So he sat down. He said:

‘Greet us’

So Umair said:

‘A good morning to you, Mohammad’. So he said:

‘Rather say: peace be upon you’.

He said: ‘You are not that far removed from the pre-islamic greeting, this is how we greet ourselves’. The noble Prophet said to him with compassion:

‘O Umair, what brings you to us?’

He said: ‘I seek to liberate my son’. He said:

‘And what about that sword on your shoulder?’

He said: ‘Cursed swords, they were useless at Badr’. He said:

‘O Umair, didn’t you say to Safwan: Were it not for my debts and the fear of the hardship that would befall my children after I’m gone, I would surely go and rid you of Mohammad?’

So Umair stood and said: ‘I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah, for what I said to Safwan was in confidence, and only Allah knows it, and you are Allah’s Messenger’.  And he entered into Islam.

As for Safwan, who was waiting for the good tidings at the outskirts of Mecca, questioning travelers about the death of the Prophet, he was instead told that Umair Ibn Wahab had become a Moslem.

Dear brothers, the Prophet, peace be upon him, had the talent to convert enemies into friends, while some people easily turn there friends into enemies. He had a big heart and a beaming soul, and people felt easy around him, even his enemies.

Dear brothers, what may come as a surprise to you, is that when Quraish was exasperated, increasingly harassing the Moslems, and finally decided to assassinate the Prophet, peace be upon him, and that the Abd Al Muttalib clan decided to take the Prophet, peace be upon him, into their passes for protection, they all moved in, both moslems and pagans, with the exception of Abu Lahab Ibn Abd Al Muttalib who joined forces with the Quraish pagans.

In this connection, it is reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

‘I was oppressed in Allah’s cause like none of you will ever be; and I was terrorized in Allah’s cause like none of you will ever be;  and Bilal and I would stay fifteen consecutive days and nights with nothing that could sustain a living soul, except the little he carried on him’.

(Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad and by Timizi and Ibn Majah, and by Ibn Habban in his Sahih)

You may ask: why the Prophet, peace be upon him, protected as he was, should be made to taste fear, harassment and hunger? The answer is: so he may set the example for us to follow, in prosperity as well as in adversity.

For instance: the Prophet, peace be upon him, knew poverty, and there were times when at home he would ask:

‘Is there any food’, 

And they would reply: ‘none’; and he would say:

‘Then I will be fasting’

(Muslim from Aisha)

The Prophet, peace be upon him, knew prosperity. Following a campaign, a bedouin prince asked him: ‘Who owns this valley of sheep?’ And he answered:

‘You can have it’

He said: ‘Are you mocking me?’ He said:

‘By Allah, no, it is yours’

He said: ‘I bear witness that you are Allah’s Prophet, for you give like a man who does not fear poverty’.

The Prophet, peace be upon him, knew poverty, and he was an example in forbearance, and he knew prosperity, and he was an example in generosity. He also knew the taste of victory, when he conquered Mecca, but he entered Mecca with the tail of his turban almost touching his camel’s neck in modesty. And he knew oppression at Taif and said:

‘O Lord, if you are not angry at me, I do not care, and I seek to please you until you are satisfied’. 

(Biography of the Prophet by Ibn Hisham)

He tasted poverty and he was an example.

He tasted prosperity and he was an example. 

He tasted victory and he was an example.

He tasted oppression and he was an example.

He tasted the loss of a son, tears came to his eyes and he said:

‘The eye weeps, and the heart grieves, but we only say what pleases our Lord; and we sorrow, O Ibrahim, to part with you’.

(Reported by Bukhari from Anas)

He suffered the divorce of two of his daughters, he suffered people calling his wife adulteress, the false accusation (Al Ifk), and he took patience. He was uprooted and suffered expatriation. One day some of his companions described Mecca in spring, tears came to his eyes and he said:

‘Do not stir our feelings, Usail’

He tasted expatriation, the death of a son, the divorce of daughters, poverty, prosperity, victory, defeat, and he was an example to follow in all those situations. This is the reason Allah Almighty says:

﴾ Verily in the messenger of Allah ye have a good example for him who looketh unto Allah and the Last Day, and remembereth Allah much ﴿

(Surat Al Ahzab, 21)

So, Quraish resolved to kill the Prophet, peace be upon him, and the Abd Al Muttalib clan decided to head for their passes for protection. They all moved to the passes, Muslims and pagans, except for Abu Lahab who joined Quraish and teamed with them. Then the Quraish pagans deliberated among themselves and decided no longer to socialize with Banu Hashem and Banu Abd Al Muttalib, or associate with them or buy from them, or to enter their dwellings until they desisted.

When a blockade was imposed on some Islamic countries, the salary of the highest ranking officer in the army plummeted to the price of a carton of eggs. A blockade can be catastrophic, may Allah preserve us, this is why the Prophet, peace be upon him, said:

‘I was oppressed in Allah’s cause like none of you will ever be; and I was terrorized in Allah’s cause like none of you will ever be;  and Bilal and I would stay fifteen consecutive days and nights with nothing that could sustain a living soul, except the little he carried on him’.

(Reported by Ahmad in his Musnad and by Timizi and Ibn Majah, and by Ibn Habban in his Sahih)

So Quraish imposed a boycott on Banu Hashem and Banu Abd Al Muttalib, and ceased to buy from them or sell them or socialize with them, putting pressure on them, so in turn they would force Mohammad to abandon his mission. Their conditions were even crueler: the boycott only ends when Mohammad is surrendered to them so they can kill him. This was the price: the boycott goes on until Banu Hashem and Banu Abd Al Muttalib deliver Mohammad to be killed. And they wrote this in a sheet which they hung inside the Holy Kaabah, in the month of Muharram, of the seventh year of the Mission.

Dear brothers, some of the Prophet’s biographers assert that the boycott lasted three years, in which the Moslems and their partisans of the Banu Hashem and Banu Abd Al Muttalib clans endured hardships, overstrains and hunger. Their only sustenance was smuggled in to them. Some of their providers were Hakim Ibn Khuzam, Hisham Ibn Omar Al Amiry, Zuhair Ibn Abu Umayya, Al Mutem Ibn Udai, Zuma Ibn Al Aswad and Abu Al Buhturi Ibn Hisham, which were related to Banu Hisham and Banu Abd Al Muttalib in several ways.

The blockade was an ordeal, and incidentally, dear brothers, every tribulation is followed by a donation from Allah, and every hardship brings you closer to Allah. And it is the way of Allah Almighty when he tries the faithful, to reward them generously if they prove successful. When the Prophet, peace be upon him, was in Taif, and the people of Taif went to extremes to hurt him, beating him, mocking him, accusing him of lying, he raised his hands to the sky and said:

‘O Lord, I complain to you of my weakness and of my perplexity, and of the little respect people have for me. O Lord of the oppressed, to whom do you abandon me? To a friend who rejects me, or to an enemy of whom I must depend. If you are not angry at me, I do not care, and I seek to please you until you are satisfied, but your clemency would be more generous towards me’.

(Narrated by the Tabarani from Abdallah Ibn Jaafar)

And what happened after Taif? There was the Ascension of the Prophet, peace be upon him, where he reached the Lote tree of the uppermost boundary (Sidrat-al-Muntaha), and where Allah Almighty told him that he was the leader of Adam’s children, and the leader of the prophets and messengers.

Note these words: when Allah Almighty tries the true honest believer with an affliction and he shows constancy, a great gift will follow this trial. And if Allah straitens, and he shows patience, this hardship will draw him nearer to Allah Almighty.

Trials are great gifts:

 ‘Remarkable is the case of the faithful! There is good for him in everything he does, and this is true only for the faithful. If he prospers, he is thankful, and he is rewarded. And if a misfortune befalls him, he endures patiently, and he is rewarded, and this is only for the faithful’.

(Reported by Muslim from Abu Yahya Suhaib Ibn Sannan)

Moreover these hardships that befall the faithful are referred to in the Holy Quran as unseen rewards, Allah be He Exalted says:

﴾ And has made his bounties flow to you in exceeding measure, (both) seen and unseen﴿

(Surat Luqman,20)

Indeed, at the beginning of the third year, after three years of this boycott, men of Quraish started blaming each other for what had happened, and they decided to remove the sheet from the Kaabah, and the Prophet, peace be upon him, had already told them that only the words of polytheism and injustice remained in it. It was the end of the boycott, and the Muslims left the passes in the tenth year of the Mission. It had lasted three years.

In this connection, dear brothers, pious deeds and afflictions expire, but their fruit lives. This here life with its delights and appetites ends too, but its consequences endure. Wickedness ends, but the reward of steadfastness endures. Blessings end, but the consequences of disobedience endure. A king asked his vizir: ‘Explain to me the wisdom in the saying ‘if you are glad be sad, and if you are sad be glad’. He replied: ‘All circumstances must end’.

﴾ And be patient and your patience is not but by (the assistance of) Allah﴿

(Surat Al Nahl, 127)

﴾ Lo! these love fleeting life, and put behind them (the remembrance of) a grievous day﴿

(Surat Al Insan, 27)

﴾ and Verily the Hereafter will be better for Thee than the present﴿

(Surat Al Duha, 4)

﴾ For the end is for those who are Righteous﴿

(Surat Hud, 49)

When Qarun went forth to his people in his finery:

﴾ Those who desire this world's life said: O would that we had the like of what Qaroun is given; most surely he is possessed of mighty good fortune. 

And those who were given the knowledge said: Woe to you! Allah's reward is better for him who believes and does good, and none is made to receive this except the patient﴿

(Surat Al Qasas, 27-28)

Dear brothers, Allah in his wisdom gave man an ever hasty nature. And when he chooses to hold back to the hereafter, till after his death, he is acting against his desires and against his nature, and this is how he ascends in rank.

Dear brothers, in spite of the boycott, and the consequent sufferings that the Moslems went through, the Prophet, peace be upon him, never stopped calling to Allah. In the pilgrimage season, he would go out to meet the pilgrims heading for Mecca, and propose Islam to them, as well as to all the polytheists that came into contact with him. The faithful is unwavering, his goal is firmly established, his conduct is constant. Allah, be He exalted, says:

 ﴾ Of the believers are men who are true to that which they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death (in battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered in the least﴿

(Surat Al Ahzab, 23)

Yet, some men in the battle of the Trenches (Al Khandaq) said: ‘Your comrade promises us the conquest of Caesar and Chosroes, yet the one of us cannot find a safe place to relieve his nature’.

This is why Allah Almighty says:

﴾When they came upon you from above you and from below you, and when eyes grew wild and hearts reached to the throats, and ye were imagining vain thoughts concerning Allah. 

There were the believers sorely tried, and shaken with a mighty shock. 

And when the hypocrites, and those in whose hearts is a disease, were saying: Allah and His messenger promised us naught but delusion﴿

(Surat Al Ahzab, 10-11-12)

Then Allah Almighty says:

﴾ Of the believers are men who are true to that which they covenanted with Allah. Some of them have paid their vow by death (in battle), and some of them still are waiting; and they have not altered in the least﴿

In summary, the boycott was the subject of this lesson, and all unbelievers are one and the same, and the boycott recurs occasionally against Moslems, may Allah preserve us, and help us take patience, anticipating only His reward, and to reconcile ourselves with Him. For when a man turns back to Allah, a herald proclaims in the heavens and on earth: ‘Praise him, for he has reconciled himself with Allah’.

And all praise be to Allah Lord of the worlds.