ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books General Invitation An Example of the Tortures and Persecutions By Quraysh One of the most tragic periods of the life of the Holy Prophet began on the day on which he broke the seal of silence and the elders of Quraysh lost all hope of his accepting their offers in view of his well-known words: "By Allah!

Even if you place the sun in my right hand and the moon in my left hand so that I may abandon my call I will not rest until Allah makes my religion prevail or I lay down my life for its sake". Till that time Quraysh had during all their encounters with him preserved his respect but when they saw that all their conciliation offers had failed they were compelled to change the course of their thinking and to forestall the expansion of Islam at all costs and to utilize all means for this purpose.

Hence the council of Quraysh decided unanimously to practice ridicule torture and intimidation to restrain the Prophet from pursuing his object. It is evident that a reformer who is anxious to guide the people of the whole world must observe patience and fortitude in the face of inconveniences intimidations dastardly attacks and corporal and mental blows so that by and by he should be able to overcome difficulties and this has been the policy of other reformers as well.

We give below an account of some of the persecutions and tortures of Quraysh so that the extent of the Holy Prophet's patience and fortitude may become manifest.

Besides the mental and spiritual factor (faith steadfastness and fortitude) which helped him internally the Prophet also possessed an external factor which ensured safety and support for him and that was the support of Bani Hashim with Abu Talib at their head because when Abu Talib came to know that Quraysh had taken a final and irrevocable decision to persecute his nephew he called all the members of Bani Hashim and asked them to protect Muhammad.

Some of them undertook to support and protect him on account of their faith and others agreed to do so in view of the bond of kinship. Out of them only three (namely Abu Lahab and two others whose names will be mentioned later along with other enemies of the Prophet refrained from endorsing his decision.

However in spite of this these defensive measures could not protect him from some unpleasant incidents and as and when the enemies found him alone they did not desist from doing him all sorts of harm.