4. The years of persecution

4. The years of persecution: the cards as text

Seerah. Draft written with AI help: awaiting scholar review.

  1. Card 1

    First mockery. Then torture, exile, a boycott, and a year of grief.

  2. Card 2

    The weakest paid most

    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.

  3. Card 3

    Lesson: Islam's first heroes were the enslaved and the poor.

  4. Card 4

    Refuge with a Christian king

    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.

  5. Card 5

    Qur'an 19:16-21

    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.

  6. Card 6

    Lesson: Early Muslims fleeing Makkah found safety with a Christian ruler.

  7. Card 7

    The boycott

    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.

  8. Card 8

    Lesson: The boycott ended when Makkans, moved by their own relatives' suffering, broke it.

  9. Card 9

    The Year of Sorrow

    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.

  10. Card 10

    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.

  11. Card 11

    Lesson: The hardest year ended, Muslims believe, with the Night Journey.

  12. Card 12

    Reflect: Where did early Muslims find refuge from Makkah?

    Answer: Abyssinia, under a Christian king. Abyssinia (Ethiopia). Its Christian king listened to both sides and protected them.

  13. Card 13

    The end of 4. The years of persecution.

Read the full sheet or swipe the cards.