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to hear this and returned to the Quraish saying, “From Muhammad
ﷺ
I have
heard words which did not at all sound like a poem nor witchcraft”! He advised the
Quraish to leave him on his own and added: “Muhammad grew up among you and
has always been most trustworthy and of good character. Now that he has come out
with a message of one God, it is not fair to accuse him of witchcraft or lying. Do not
molest him and let us see what will happen!”
Thus the Prophet of Islam went on preaching the message of one God and
persuaded people to abandon the worship of Idols. On the other hand, the people of
Quraish continued to interfere and oppress him and the new followers of Islam.
They asked everyone to boycott and not to have any dealings with them. They wrote
the following orders on the skin of a sheep and hung it on the door of Ka’aba in
Mecca.
“Do not buy or sell to Muslims.”
“Do not salute the Muslims nor speak to them.”
“Do not give or take daughters in marriage from any Muslim. Do not have any dealing
with them.”
Thus the people of Quraish went on oppressing and torturing the Prophet and his
followers. They would throw dirt on him when he walked on the streets of Mecca.
One day Prophet Muhammad
ﷺ
secretly went out of Taif to convey the message
of Islam to the people there. But the leaders of that place laughed and jeered at the
Prophet. They were always intoxicated by drinking wine made from the grapes. The
Prophet was persuading them to leave this bad habit and was saying that drinking
wine has no benefit, it makes man senseless, it badly affects health and more so, it
draws man far away from God.
That day, the Prophet having conveyed to the people of Taif what he wished to about
Islam, decided to return to Mecca. But on the way the children threw stones and
laughed at him, When he managed to be rid of them, he took shelter and rested
under the shadow of a grape tree. He raised his face toward the sky and said:
“Oh God! I complain to Thee for my inability.”
“Oh God! I pray to Thee to lead these people to the right path.”
“Oh God! You are the Forgiver and Kind”.
Incidentally Atba and his brother Shaiba were in the same garden. On hearing this
prayer of the Prophet, they felt sorry.
They called their servant Adas and gave him a plate full of sweet grapes and asked
him to deliver them to the Prophet so that he may recover from fatigue.
Adas took the plate of grapes and presented it to the Prophet. Before he started
eating the grapes, the Prophet said “Bismillah” (in the name of one God).
Adas was an Iraqi Arab. On hearing this, he began to wonder and
asked what are these words. “I have never heard them
before!”
Prophet Muhammad
ﷺ
asked, “Where are
you from?”