Expulsion from the Tribes

history of a person spending several years looking for a tribe to take him in—no one was prepared to shoulder this responsibility in the case of the Prophet. When a group from one tribe felt inclined to take pity upon the Prophet, one of their elders rebuked them: “His own tribe has expelled him and you intend to grant him protection. What do you want to do? Wage war upon the whole of the Arab nation?” He knew that to offer refuge to a person who had been disowned by his own tribe was to declare war against that tribe. It was the Quraysh that had expelled him, and the Quraysh were leaders of the entire Arab peninsula. To grant asylum to one expelled by them amounted to declaring war on the whole of Arabia. That was why, when the Ansar were swearing allegiance to the Prophet, Abul Haitham ibn al-Tayhaan warned them: “If you take pity on him, the whole Arab nation will descend upon you with one accord.” (Tabarani) Added to this there was the fact that Arab border tribes had made pacts with neighbouring foreign powers. These tribes were afraid of repercussions if they took pity on a controversial personality like the Prophet. As Ibn Kathir has explained in Al-Bidayah wanNihayah, the Prophet once went into the tent of the Banu Shayban ibn Tha’alaba in Makkah, and talked with their elders. They were impressed by the Prophet’s words but finally decided that their position, on the border of Persia, was too precarious for them to take responsibility for the Prophet. As their spokesman, Hani ibn Qubaisa, put it, they had made pacts with the Persian emperor, and ‘it might be that kings will not take kindly to the message that you preach.’ The Prophet was desperate to find a tribe that would afford him protection, for there was no other way that he could continue his mission. Once he went to see a tribe which went by the name of Banu Abdullah. After the Prophet had, as usual, called them to accept Islam and presented himself to them, in the hope that they would grant him asylum, he said: ‘Banu Abdullah, what a beautiful