Reaction to the Message of Islam

That would spell economic ruin for the people of Makkah; it would also be the end of their hegemony over the Arabs. Hence the verse in the chapter of the Quran entitled, “Al-Waqi’ah” (‘The Event’): Do you make its denial your means of livelihood (56:82). The allusion is to the Quraysh’s notion that, by denying the Prophet Muhammad, and the monotheistic religion he taught, they thought they were saving themselves from financial ruin. Once the Prophet started to preach his message, his person became the subject of general curiosity. According to the historian Abu Ya’ala, people who saw him used to ask one another: ‘Is this the man?’ He might be travelling among a large number of people in a caravan, but he would be singled out for mention. Anyone who came to Makkah would, among other things, take back news of the Prophet. ‘Muhammad, the son of Abdullah, has laid claim to prophethood and the son of Abu Qahafa (Abu Bakr) has become his follower,’ they would say. The Quraysh used to call the Prophet Muzammam, meaning blameworthy, instead of Muhammad, meaning praiseworthy, and accused him of insulting their ancestors. Once, as the Prophet’s biographer Ibn Hisham has related, when the Prophet noticed the litter which his fellow Quraysh had put in the street on which he was passing, he said in dismay: ‘What bad neighbours the Banu Abd Manaf are.’ (Tahzeeb Seerat Ibn Hisham, p. 86) While the Prophet’s uncle, Abu Talib, was alive, his enemies were unable to take any action against him, for, according to tribal custom, aggression against the Prophet would have amounted to aggression against his whole tribe—the Banu Hashim. Before he accepted Islam, Umar ibn Khattab once set off with a sword in hand with the intention of killing Muhammad, on whom be peace. It was only sufficient for someone to say to him, ‘How are you going to live with the Banu Hashim if you kill Muhammad?’ for Umar to change his mind. The same question faced anyone, in fact, who sought to harm the Prophet. Persecution in Makkah was mostly directed against slaves who had become Muslim—people