A warning from atop Mount Safa (2)

“O Banu Qusayy! Save yourselves from Hell. O Banu Abdu Munaf! Save yourselves from Hell, for I am not the master of your gain and loss. O Banu Hashim! Save yourselves from Hell. O Banu Abdul Muttalib! Save yourselves from Hell, for I am not the master of your gain and loss, and cannot save you from Allah. Take from my property as much as you desire, but I have no power to save you from Allah.

 “O Abbas bin Abdul Muttalib! I can be of no help to you in saving you from Allah. O Aunt of the Messenger, Safiyah bint Abdul Muttalib! I can be of no help to you in saving you from Allah. O Fatimah, daughter of the Messenger! Ask for whatever you want from my property, but save yourself from Hell. I cannot be of any help to you, and I will fulfil my obligations accordingly.”

After listening to this warning from the Prophet , the assembly dispersed. There is no record of their immediate support or opposition. However, Abu Lahab is reported to have said, enraged, “May you be cursed! Is it for this you have brought us here?”

Generally, the Prophet’s audience seems to have been somewhat amazed at the Prophet’s outpourings and could not decide just then as to what they should do. Once they returned to their homes, however, their arrogance reasserted itself, and they disdained the Prophet’s warning and exhortation. Thus when the Prophet passed by their elders, they would jeer, “Is this the one who has been appointed a Messenger by Allah? Is this the boy of Abu Kabshah who is addressed from the sky?”

Abu Kabshah was an ancestor of the Prophet on his mother’s side. He had abandoned the paganism of the Quraysh and embraced Christianity. Hence, when the Prophet began proclaiming the monotheistic message of Islam, the Quraysh were quick to link him with another so-called renegade of their society.

Despite the taunts of his tribesmen and their increasing hostility, the Prophet remained firm in his mission and began to invite people to Islam. He would recite verses from the Book of Allah, giving his people the same message that previous prophets had given to their people. He would say, “O my people! Worship Allah without any partners or intermediaries, for none is your god except Allah.”

He also began to pray to Allah in public, offering prayers in the courtyard surrounding the Ka’bah. The Prophet’s preaching gradually gained ground. As more people, one by one, came to Islam, a gap started widening between the believers and nonbelievers even in the same house. Of course, this only increased the resentment and hostility of the Quraysh who found it unforgivable that the new Muslims would chose Islam over amily, tribe, and culture – ties they deemed sacrosanct.