Seerah
Makkah turns against the Muslims
First mockery. Then torture, exile, a boycott, and a year of grief.
6 min, Intro, Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review
Part 1 of 4
In Makkah, Muslims with no tribe to protect them suffer most. Bilal, an enslaved Abyssinian, is laid under a boulder in the heat. He keeps repeating "One, One." Sumayyah becomes the first person killed for her faith.
Lesson
Islam's first heroes were the enslaved and the poor.
Part 2 of 4
Around 615 a group of Muslims flees Makkah for Abyssinia. Makkan envoys demand them back. Ja'far explains Islam and recites surah Maryam. The Christian king, the Negus, weeps. He protects them.
Qur'an 19:16
وَٱذۡكُرۡ فِي ٱلۡكِتَٰبِ مَرۡيَمَ إِذِ ٱنتَبَذَتۡ مِنۡ أَهۡلِهَا مَكَانࣱا شَرۡقِيࣱّا ١٦
16 And mention in the Book [the story of] Mary when she withdrew from her family to a place towards the east.
The passage continues in Read.
Lesson
Early Muslims fleeing Makkah found safety with a Christian ruler.
Part 3 of 4
Unable to stop the Prophet, Quraysh ban all trade and marriage with his clan, Banu Hashim. For about three years the clan lives in a narrow valley, at times eating leaves. Then the ban collapses.
Lesson
The boycott ended when Makkans, moved by their own relatives' suffering, broke it.
Part 4 of 4
Around 619 Khadijah and Abu Talib, the Prophet's protector, die within weeks of each other. He seeks support in the town of Ta'if. He is driven out with stones. Then, Muslims believe, came the Night Journey.
Qur'an 17:1
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.
Lesson
The hardest year ended, Muslims believe, with the Night Journey.
Reflect, just for you
Seen by lamplight. It gives more each time.
First mockery. Then torture, exile, a boycott, and a year of grief.