ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books Khadijatul Kubra Chapter 11: The Siege of Bani Hashim The year 6 of the Proclamation was drawing to a close. The pagans of Makka had already spent three years campaigning against Islam. They had succeeded in generating much bitterness and hostility against the Muslims, but they had nothing to show for it. Against the Muslims, they had used every weapon in their arsenal ranging from attempts to dissuade to seduce to tempt to insult and to ridicule.

They had threatened to use force and they had actually used force to blot out Islam, or, at least, to contain it, but all their efforts had failed. The Muslims had withstood all their attacks. The strength of the faith of the Muslims had baffled their persecutors. These repeated failures compelled the Quraysh, particularly the members of its Umayyad clan, to reassess the situation vis-a-vis Muhammad and Islam, and some of them tried to see their problem from a new angle.

In their search for a solution to the vexatious problem, it slowly began to dawn upon them that their enemy was not the group of poverty-stricken Muslims in Makka. Their real enemy - the enemy of the idolaters and the polytheists - they realized, was Abu Talib! After all it was Abu Talib who was protecting Muhammad and Islam so consistently and tenaciously. The Muslims on the other hand, had no power to protect Muhammad. In fact, they were themselves in desperate need of protection.

The long and bitter experience of the Quraysh left no doubt in their minds that the author of their frustrations in their war on Islam, was Abu Talib and no one else. Therefore, they concluded that they would never break the impasse facing them, by hunting or persecuting the group of indigent Muslims in Makka while their real enemy - Abu Talib - was free to swagger in their midst, scoffing, as if, at them. The Quraysh had at last succeeded in identifying their real enemy.

This success in "enemy identification" had the impact of revelation upon the leaders of the Quraysh, and they decided to map out a new strategy in their war against Muhammad and Islam. 'Abd-al-Rahman 'Azzam "Finally, the Makkan oligarchy decided in desperation to take steps against Abu Talib. In their opinion, he was the real protector of the blasphemy, although still a revered upholder of Makkan institutions and unconverted to Muhammad's faith (sic).