Walid turned to Quraysh and said...

Walid turned to Quraysh and said: "The Haj season is near and during these days people come to this city in large numbers to perform various obligations and ceremonies attached to Haj. Muhammad will make use of the opportunity afforded by the freedom available during these days and will propagate his religion. It will be better if Quraysh express their final view about him and his new religion.

Hence, all should communicate only one opinion to the Arabs, because diversity of opinions will make their words ineffective". Having said this the sage of Arabia thought over the matter and said: "What should we say?" One of them suggested: "We should say that he is a soothsayer". Walid did not like this suggestion and said: "What Muhammad says is not like the words of the soothsayers". Another person proposed that they should call him insane.

This proposal was also rejected by Walid, who said: "No signs of insanity are found in him". After much discussion they decided unanimously thus: "We should say that he is a magician, because his way of saying things is magical and the proof of this is that by means of his Qur'an he has created dissension amongst the Makkans, whose harmonious relations were proverbial, and has destroyed their unity.[^1] While commenting on Surah al-Muddaththir the exegetes have given another version of this matter.

Thev say: "When Walid heard some verses of Surah al-Fussilat from the Holy Prophet, he was spell bound and it made his hair stand on end. He left for his house and did not come out again. Quraysh began ridiculing him and said that Walid had become a follower of the religion of Muhammad. They went to his house collectively and enquired from him about the reality of Muhammad's Qur'an. Whenever anyone of those present made a suggestion on the above lines he rejected it.

Eventually he expressed the view that they should call the Holy Prophet a magician, on account of the discord which he had created between them, and should say that he has a magical way of saying things!