I will dishonor you in public.

I will dishonor you in public.” To those men of age (elder ones) who embraced Islam, Abu Jahl said, “Very soon I will finish your trade and business and confiscate your wealth and property.” If a somewhat weaker man embraced Islam, Abu Jahl slapped him, whipped him and gave him every possible trouble.[1] One of such weak and powerless persons was a black slave named Bilal. He had become a Muslim and started to act in accordance with Islamic teachings steadfastly.

Consequently a fellow named Umayyah ibn Khalaf used to drag Bilal out of his house in scorching heat of midday, take him out of the city and force him to lie down on red-hot sand. Then he put a heavy stone on his chest telling him, “This stone will not be removed until either you die or revert to our religion and begin to worship the idols of Lat and Uzza.” But, what faith!

Bilal would cry ‘Ahad’ ‘Ahad’ meaning ‘my God is the Only One God.’ Waraqa ibn Naufal was the uncle of Lady Khadijah and a leading personality of Quraish. Whenever he saw Bilal being tortured in a cruel manner and observed Bilal’s steadfastness, he would also cry out ‘Ahad’ ‘Ahad’. [1] Sirat , Ibn Hisham, Vol. 1, Pg. 212 Among these youths was also a young man named Ammar Yasir. He also bore a lot of torture meted out to him by the Meccan idol-worshippers.

They used to manhandle and chastise him in the worst ways. Some people belonging to Abu Jahl’s tribe Bani Makhzoom used to drag Ammar, his father, Yasir and his honorable mother Sumaiyah out of their homes and take them out of the town to burn their faces with hot sand at noon. Whenever the Holy Prophet (s.a.w.s.) passed by them he would console them saying: O family members of Yasir, be patient. Your abode is Paradise.

Yasir and Sumaiyah were martyred as a result of such torture but Ammar survived. Abu Jahl was the one who stuck his spear in the chest of Yasir’s mother and she became the first female martyr of Islam. One day some people belonging to the tribe of Bani Makhzoom gathered and met their tribal chief, Hisham ibn Walid ibn Mughaira and said, “We intend to punish those youths who have created trouble among us by accepting a new faith.

We want to finish them soon and nip the trouble in the bud before they mislead others and the affair becomes uncontrollable.” Incidentally, Hisham’s brother, Walid was also among the youth who had embraced Islam recently. He said, “Punish my brother also. It is essential to punish him.