Persecution of the Prophet (4)

Abu Jahl and his followers burst into laughter, but the Prophet remained in prostration and did not raise his head.

Someone informed the Prophet’s daughter Fatimah, who then came runnig to the Ka’bah. She removed the foul-smelling intestines from her father’s back, and he raised his head and prayed to Allah: “O Allah! Seize the Quraysh!” When Abu Jahl and his comrades heard Muhammad’s prayer, felt a very heavy weight on their hearts, because they believed that in Makkah, all prayers were granted.

The Prophet continued to pray aloud in front of his enemies, mentioning each one by name and asking Allah to avenge him.

The Quraysh were right about their misgivings regarding the Prophet’s prayer for retribution, for Allah soon answered it. In the Battle of Badr, which was the first battle the Musims faught against the Makkan pagans, each person the Prophet mentioned in his prayer fell on the battlefield.

It seemed as if the enemies of Islam far outnumbered the followers of the Prophet . All the notables, with the exception of a discerning, fortunate few like Abu Bakr and Uthman , used their wealth and power to persecute the Prophet . Besides Abu Jahl, the five prominent persons who used to ridicule the Prophet were Waleed bin Mugheera Makhzoomi, Aswad bin Abd Yaghuth Zuhri, Abu Zam’a Aswad bin Abdul Muttalib Asadi, Harith bin Qays Khuzai, and As bin Wa’il Sahmi. The Prophet did not take revenge even once during the many years he lived hin Makkah after he began his mission. He was content with Allah’s promise that He Himself would deal with his opponents and detractors. In the end, Muhammad’s harshest enemies met with agonizing deaths.

Waleed bin Mugheera was merely scratched by an arrow, and he thought nothing of it. The angel Jibreel, however, pointed towards the scratch and it became inflamed. The wound plagued Waleed for many years until he finally died.

Likewise, Jibreel pointed towards the head of Aswad bin Abd Yaghuth and he developed boils that caused his death. Another source states that these boils resulted from sunstroke that Jibreel had inflicted on him. According to yet another narration, Jibreel pointed towards Aswad’s belly and he developed dropsy that caused his belly to swell so much that he died.