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from the same source." Turning to the crest-fallen envoys of Quraish, he said, "I am afraid, I cannot
give you back these refugees. They are free to live and worship in my realm as they please."
On the morrow, the two envoys again went to the king and said that Muhammad (Peace be upon
him) and his followers blasphemed Jesus Christ. Again the Muslims were summoned and asked what
they thought of Jesus. Ja'far again stood up and replied: "We speak about Jesus as we have been
taught by our Prophet (Peace be upon him) , that is, he is the servant of Allâh, His Messenger, His
spirit and His Word breathed into Virgin Mary." The king at once remarked, "Even so do we believe.
Blessed be you, and blessed be your master." Then turning to the frowning envoys and to his
bishops who got angry, he said: "You may fret and fume as you like but Jesus is nothing more than
what Ja'far has said about him." He then assured the Muslims of full protection. He returned to the
envoys of Quraish, the gifts they had brought with them and sent them away. The Muslims lived in
Abyssinia (Ethiopia) unmolested for a number of years till they returned to Madinah.
In this way Quraish's malicious intentions recoiled on them and their machination met with utter
failure. They came to fully realize that the g rudge they nursed against he Muslims would not operate
but within their realm of Makkah. They consequently began to entertain a horrible idea of silencing
the advocate of the new Call once and for all, through various channels of brutality, or else killing
him. An obstinate difficulty, however, used to curtail any move in this direction embodied by the
Prophet's uncle Abu Talib and the powerful social standing he used to enjoy as well as the full
protection and support he used to lend to his nephew. The pagans of Makkah therefore decided to
approach Abu Talib for the second time and insisted that he put a stop to his nephew's activities,
which if allowed unchecked, they said, would involve him into severe hostility. Abu Talib was deeply
distressed at this open threat and the breach with his people and their enmity, but he could not
afford to desert the Messenger too. He sent for his nephew and told him what the people had said,
"Spare me and yourself and put not burden on me that I can't bear." Upon this the Prophet (Peace
be upon him) thought that his uncle would let him down and would no longer support him, so he
replied:
"O my uncle! by Allâh if they put the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left on
condition that I abandon this course, until Allâh h as made me victorious, or I perish therein,
I would not abandon it." The Prophet (Peace be upon him) got up, and as he turned away,
his uncle called him and said, "Come back, my nephew," and when he came back, he said,
"Go and preach what you please, for by Allâh I will never forsake you."
He then recited two lines of verse pregnant with meanings of full support to the Prophet (Peace be
upon him) and absolute gratification by the course that his nephew had chalked out in Arabia.
ONECE MORE QURAISH APPROACHES ABU TALIB:
Quraish, seeing that the Messenger of Allâh
(Peace be upon him) was still intent on his Call, realized that Abu Talib would never forsake his
nephew even if this incurred their enmity. Some of them then went to see him once more taking
with them a youth called 'Amarah bin Al-Waleed bin Al-Mugheerah, and said, "O Abu Talib! we have
brought you a smart boy still in the bloom of his youth, to make use of his mind and strength and
take him as your son in exchange for your nephew, who has run counter to your religion, brought
about social discord, found fault with your way of life, so that we kill him and rid you of his endless
troubles; just man for man." Abu Talib's reply was, "It is really an unfair bargain. You give me your
son to bring him up and I give you my son to kill him! By Allâh, it is something incredible!!" Al-
Mut'im bin 'Adi, a member of the delegation, interrupted saying that Quraish had been fair in that
bargain because "they meant only to rid you of that source of hateful trouble, b ut as I see you are
determined to refuse their favours." Abu Talib, of course, turned down all their offers and challenged
them to do whatever they pleased. Historical resources do not give the exact date of these two
meetings with Abu Talib. They, however, seem more likely to have taken place in the sixth year of
Prophethood with a brief lapse of time in between.
THE TYRANTS' DECISION TO KILL THE PROPHET:
Now that all the schemes and conspiracof
Quraish had failed, they resorted to their old practices of persecution and inflicting tortures on the
Muslims in a more serious and brutal manner than ever before. They also began to nurse the idea of
killing the Prophet (Peace be upon him). In fact, contrary to their expectations, this new method and
this very idea served indirectly to consolidate the Call to Islam and support it with the conversion of
two staunch and mighty heroes of Makkah, i.e. Hamzah bin 'Abdul-Muttalib and 'Umar bin Al-
Khattab (May Allah be pleased with him).
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