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1. Scoffing, degrading, ridiculing, belying and laughter-instigating cheap manners, all of which
levelled at the new converts in general, and the person of Muhammad (Peace be upon him)
in particular, with the aim of dragging the spirit of despair into their morale, and slackening
their ardent zealotry. They used to denounce the Prophet (Peace be upon him) as a man
possessed by a jinn, or an insane person:
And they say: O you [Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] to whom the
Dhikr
(the Qur'an)
has been sent down! Verily, you are a mad man. [15:6]
or a liar practising witchcraft,
And they (Arab pagans) wonder that a warner [Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ]
has come to them from among themselves! And the disbelievers say: This [Prophet
Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] is a sorcerer, a liar. [38:4].
Their eyes would also look at the good man as if they would eat him up ' , or trip him up, or disturb
him from the position of stability or firmness. They used all sorts of terms of abuse madman' or one
possessed by an evil spirit', and so on:
And verily, those who disbelieve would almost make you slip with their eyes through hatreds
when they hear the Reminder (the Qur'an), and they say: Verily, he [Muhammad (Peace be
upon him) ] is a madman! [68:51]
Amongst the early converts, there was a group who had unfortunately no strong clan at their back
to support them. These innocent souls were ridiculed and jeered in season and out of season.
Referring to such people, the highbrow Quraish aristocrats used repeatedly to ask the Prophet
(Peace be upon him), with jest and scorn:
Allah has favoured from amongst us? [6:53]
And Allah said:
Does not Allah know best those who are grateful? [6:53]
The wicked used to laugh at the righteous in many ways:
1. They would inwardly laugh at their Faith, because they felt themselves so superior.
2. In public places, when the righteous passed, they used to insult and wink at them,
3. In their own houses, they would run them down.
4. Whenever and wherever they saw them, they reproached and called them fools who had lost
their way. In the Hereafter, all these tricks and falsehoods will be shown for what they are,
and the tables will be reversed. Allâh had said:
Verily! (During the worldly life) those who committed crimes used to laugh at those
who believed; and whenever they passed by them, used to wink one to another (in
mockery); and when they returned to their own people, they would return jesting;
and when they saw them, they said: Verily! These have indeed gone astry!' But they
(disbelievers, sinners) had not been sent as watchers over them (the believers).
[83:29-33]
2. Distorting Muhammad's teachings, evoking ambiguities, circulating false propaganda;
forging groundless allegations concerning his doctrines, person and character, and going to
excess in such a manner in order to screen off any scope of sound contemplation from the
public. With respect to the Qur'an, they used to allege that it was:
Tales of the ancients, which he [Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] has written
down, and they are dictated to him morning and afternoon. [25:5]
The iniquitous went on ceaselessly inculcating in people's ears that the Qur'an was not a
true Revelation:
This (the Qur'an) is nothing but a lie that he [Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] has
invented, and others have helped him at it. [25:4]
The wicked would also attribute to men of Allâh just such motives and springs of action as they
themselves would be guilty of in such circumstances. The pagans and those who were hostile to the
revelation of Allâh and Islam, could not understand how such wonderful verses could flow from the
tongue of the Prophet (Peace be upon him) without having someone to teach, and claimed:
It is only a human being who teaches him. [16:103]
They also raised another baseless and superficial objection:
Why does this Messenger [Muhammad (Peace be upon him) ] eat food and walk
about in the markets (like ourselves)? [25:7]
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