Seerah
4. The years of persecution
Makkah turns against the Muslims
6 min, Intro
As Islam spreads, Makkah's leaders answer with mockery, then violence. The weakest Muslims are tortured. Some flee to Christian Abyssinia. The Prophet's clan is boycotted. And in one year he loses both his wife and his protector.
Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
The thread
Islam spreads in Makkah, and its leaders answer with mockery, then violence. The pressure grows. Torture for the unprotected. Exile for some. A boycott of the Prophet's whole clan. Then one year takes his wife and his protector. At that low point, Muslims believe, came the Night Journey.
The weakest paid most
As Islam spreads, Makkah's leaders answer with mockery, then violence. But it does not fall on everyone the same way. Muslims from powerful clans are insulted. Those without protection are tortured.
Bilal ibn Rabah is an enslaved Abyssinian. He is laid on burning sand with a rock on his chest, and urged to renounce Islam. He keeps saying "Ahad, Ahad": One, One. Abu Bakr buys his freedom.
Others do not survive. Sumayyah bint Khayyat and her husband Yasir are killed under torture. Sumayyah is remembered as the first martyr of Islam.
Islam's first heroes were the enslaved and the poor.
Refuge with a Christian king
Where do you go when your own town turns on you? Around 615 the Prophet ﷺ advises some of his followers to seek refuge in Abyssinia. Its Christian king, the Negus, was known for justice.
Quraysh send envoys after them, with gifts, to have them returned.
The Negus hears both sides. Ja'far ibn Abi Talib describes how Islam has changed them. Then he recites the opening of surah Maryam, about Mary and Jesus. The king weeps. This, he says, and what Jesus brought come from the same source. And he refuses to hand them over.
وَٱذۡكُرۡ فِي ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ مَرۡيَمَ إِذِ ٱنتَبَذَتۡ مِنۡ أَهۡلِهَا مَكَانࣱا شَرۡقِيࣱّا ١٦ فَٱتَّخَذَتۡ مِن دُونِهِمۡ حِجَابࣱا فَأَرۡسَلۡنَآ إِلَيۡهَا رُوحَنَا فَتَمَثَّلَ لَهَا بَشَرࣱا سَوِيࣱّا ١٧ قَالَتۡ إِنِّيٓ أَعُوذُ بِٱلرَّحۡمَٰنِ مِنكَ إِن كُنتَ تَقِيࣱّا ١٨ قَالَ إِنَّمَآ أَنَا۠ رَسُولُ رَبِّكِ لِأَهَبَ لَكِ غُلَٰمࣱا زَكِيࣱّا ١٩ قَالَتۡ أَنَّىٰ يَكُونُ لِي غُلَٰمࣰ وَلَمۡ يَمۡسَسۡنِي بَشَرࣰ وَلَمۡ أَكُ بَغِيࣱّا ٢٠ قَالَ كَذَٰلِكِ قَالَ رَبُّكِ هُوَ عَلَيَّ هَيِّنࣰۖ وَلِنَجۡعَلَهُۥٓ ءَايَةࣱ لِّلنَّاسِ وَرَحۡمَةࣱ مِّنَّاۚ وَكَانَ أَمۡرࣱا مَّقۡضِيࣱّا ٢١
16 And mention in the Book [the story of] Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east. 17 She screened herself from them, then We sent to her Our Spirit [Gabriel] and he appeared before her in the form of a perfect human being. 18 She said, “I seek refuge in the Most Compassionate from you; [do not approach me] if you fear Allah.” 19 He said, “I am only a messenger from your Lord to grant you a righteous son.” 20 She said, “How can I have a son when no man has touched me, nor have I ever been unchaste?” 21 He said, “Thus it will be; your Lord says, ‘It is easy for Me; We make him a sign for people and a mercy from Us. This matter has already been decreed.’”
Early Muslims fleeing Makkah found safety with a Christian ruler.
The boycott
Back in Makkah, Quraysh's leaders still cannot stop him. So they agree a boycott of the Prophet's clan, Banu Hashim, and its ally, Banu al-Muttalib. No trade. No marriage. The agreement is hung in the Ka'bah.
For around three years the clan lives confined to a ravine near Makkah. At times they are close to starving. In the end it is Makkans who end it. Some, moved by the suffering of their own relatives, finally break the ban.
The boycott ended when Makkans, moved by their own relatives' suffering, broke it.
The Year of Sorrow
Around 619 two deaths come within weeks of each other. Khadijah, his wife, dies. So does his uncle Abu Talib. Reports differ on who died first. In one year he loses his closest companion and his clan's protection. It is remembered as the Year of Sorrow.
He goes to the town of Ta'if to seek support. A crowd drives him out, throwing stones.
Muslims believe that at this low point he was taken by night from Makkah to Jerusalem and raised through the heavens. This is the Isra' and Mi'raj. Muslims believe the five daily prayers were given then.
سُبۡحَٰنَ ٱلَّذِيٓ أَسۡرَىٰ بِعَبۡدِهِۦ لَيۡلࣱا مِّنَ ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡحَرَامِ إِلَى ٱلۡمَسۡجِدِ ٱلۡأَقۡصَا ٱلَّذِي بَٰرَكۡنَا حَوۡلَهُۥ لِنُرِيَهُۥ مِنۡ ءَايَٰتِنَآۚ إِنَّهُۥ هُوَ ٱلسَّمِيعُ ٱلۡبَصِيرُ ١
1 Glory be to the One Who took His slave [Muhammad] by night from the Sacred Mosque [in Makkah] to the Aqsā Mosque [in Jerusalem] whose surroundings We have blessed, so that We may show him some of Our signs. Indeed, He is the All-Hearing, the All-Seeing.
The hardest year ended, Muslims believe, with the Night Journey.