He, therefore, rose and took a promise from them that they...

He, therefore, rose and took a promise from them that they would not say anything about the matter to others, because it was possible that the low and mean elements of 'Saqif' tribe might make it a pretext to harm him and might take undue advantage of his being alone and away from his home town. However, the elders of the tribe did not keep their promise and instigated the loafers and simpletons against him.

Suddenly the Prophet found himself encircled by a group of person who wanted to use all methods to tease him. He saw no alternative but to take refuge in a garden which belonged to two persons named 'Atbah and Shibah. The Prophet entered the garden with great difficulty and then the said persons ceased to pursue him. 'Atbah and Shibah were wealthy Qurayshites who also possessed a garden in Ta'if.

When the Prophet entered the garden sweat was flowing down his head and face and some parts of his sacred body had also been hurt. He sat down involuntarily under the vine which rested on the trellis and began to utter the following supplication: "O Lord! I present my weakness and lack of strength before You. You are the kind Nourisher. You are the helper of the weak. To whom are You abandoning me?

These and many other invocations which we have briefly quoted, strongly impress the hearts, because they are supplications by a person who has spent fifty years of his life with great honour and dignity under the protection of self-sacrificing supporters, but now his circumstances have undergone such change that he has taken refuge in the enemy's garden and is waiting for his fate with an exhausted and wounded body.

The sons of Rabiyyah, though idol-worshippers and enemies of Islam, were very much touched to see the pitiable condition of the Prophet They, therefore, ordered a Christian slave of theirs, named Adas, to take to him a receptacle full of grapes. 'Adas took the grapes to the Prophet and placed the same before him and looked at his face somewhat intently. In the meantime an interesting incident took place.

The Christian slave observed that while eating the grapes the Prophet said: "In the name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful". He was very much surprised to hear this and, breaking the seal of silence, said: "The people of the Peninsula are not acquainted with these words and I have not so far heard anyone of them uttering them. People of this area begin their work with the names of 'Lat' and 'Uzza'.