An Advisory Council to Debar Pilgrims from Muhammad’s Call

during those days, quraish had another serious concern; the proclamation of the call had only been a few months old when the season of pilgrimage was soon to come. quraish knew that the arab delegates were coming within a short time. they agreed that it was necessary to contemplate a device that was bound to alienate the arab pilgrims from the new faith preached by muhammad [pbuh] . they went to see al-waleed bin al-mugheerah to deliberate on this issue. al-waleed invited them to agree on a unanimous resolution that could enjoy the approbation of them all. however, they were at variance. some suggested that they describe him as kahin, i.e., soothsayer; but this suggestion was turned down on grounds that his words were not so rhymed. others proposed majnun, i.e., possessed by jinn; this was also rejected because no insinuations peculiar to that state of mind ware detected, they claimed. "why not say he is a poet?" some said. here again they could not reach a common consent, alleging that his words were totally outside the lexicon of poetry. "ok then; let us accuse him of practising witchcraft," was a fourth suggestion. here also al-waleed showed some reluctance saying that the prophet [pbuh] was known to have never involved himself in the practice of blowing on the knots, and admitted that his speech was sweet tasting root and branch. he, however, found that the most plausible charge to be levelled against muhammad [pbuh] was witchcraft. the ungodly company adopted this opinion and agreed to propagate one uniform formula to the effect that he was a magician so powerful and commanding in his art that he would successfully alienate son from father, man from his brother, wife from her husband and man from his clan. [ibn hisham 1/271; fi zilal al-qur'an 29/188]

it is noteworthy in this regard to say that allâh revealed sixteen verses as regards al-waleed and the cunning method he contemplated to manipulate the people expected to arrive in makkah for pilgrimage. allâh says:

"verily, he thought and plotted; so let him be cursed! how he plotted! and once more let him be cursed, how he plotted! then he thought; then he frowned and he looked in a bad tempered way; then he turned back and was proud; then he said: ‘this is nothing but magic from that of old; this is nothing but the word of a human being!’ " [al-qur'an 74:18-25]

the most wicked of them was the sworn enemy of islam and muhammad [pbuh] , abu lahab, who would shadow the prophet’s steps crying aloud, "o men, do not listen to him for he is a liar; he is an apostate." nevertheless, muhammad [pbuh] managed to create a stir in the whole area, and even to convince a few people to accept his call. [at-tirmidhi; masud ahmad, 3/492,4/341]