Total boycott

The Polytheists would not be outsmarted. They held a meeting at Haneef Banu Kinana to decide best how to counter Abu Talib’s successful maneuver. Eventually they came up with the idea of a total boycott. Thenceforth the members of Banu Hashim and Banu Al-Muttalib were to be treated as outcasts. The other clans from the Quraysh could not marry their daughters, transact business with them, keep company with them, nor would they accept any peace overtures from these two clans until they handed over the Prophet .

Once all the people present had agreed with the points mentioned above, Baghid bin Amit bin Hashim put this pact in writing and the parchment was hung in the Ka’bah. When the deed was done, Baghid’s hand, or at least some of his fingers were paralyzed.

The boycott proved devastating. The Muslims as well as all the members of Banu Hashim and Banu Al-Muttalib (Muslims as well as non-Muslims), with the exception of Abu Lahab, were forced to withdraw from Makkah and live in She’eb Abi Talib. Unable to buy food from the Makkans, they found themselves reduced to eating leaves and roots. The situation became so horrific, that the cries of the children echoed over the valley. Few sympathisers dared smuggle any food for fear of punishment.

Hakim bin Hazam, however, managed now and then, to send some flour to his aunt, Khadeejah.

Many caravans carrying food and other goods passed by where the Muslims and the exiled clans lived. The refugees however, could only come out to meet the caravan to buy food during the forbidden months, those months where fighting was prohibited. The Makkans, however, used to offer much higher prices to the caravan merchants for their goods so that the refugees could not compete with them.

Despite such grim circumstances, the Prophet never ceased inviting non-Muslims to Islam. He was particulally active during the time of Hajj. It was at this time that he would speak to tribes that had travelled to Makkah from all over Arabia.