ভূমিকা

Shiavault - a Vault of Shia Islamic Books History of Islam Chapter Three : the Consequences and Reactions of Opposition To the Qur'an Torturing Muslims With the daily increase in the number of Muslims,[^74] Quraysh who had not reached any conclusion with Abu-talib, who were observing Banu-Hashim’s support for the Holy Prophet and who had earned nothing from threatening his life, started torturing Muslims in the hope of stopping them from following Islam.

The problem for Quraysh was that the newly-converted Muslims did not belong to one tribe so that they could have been discouraged somehow; rather, a few of these new Muslims belonged to different tribes. A look at the immigrants to Abyssinia, who due to the tortures by the infidels had to leave Mecca, reveal that these escapees were from the following tribes: Banu-`Abd Shams, Banu-Asad, Banu-`Abd al-Dar, Banu-Zuhrah, Banu-Makhzum, Banu-Jumah, Banu-`Adi, Banu-Hurayth, Banu-Amir and Banu-Umayyah.

For this reason, the infidels decided to torture Muslims inside their own tribes so that through the interference of other tribes their prejudice might not be excited and not to show any harsh reaction. Most of torture was leveled against the young who had converted to Islam. These young people, as we have already mentioned, were mostly slaves or strangers who had no tribal protection of any sort.

[^75] Yasir and his son `Ammar, Bilal ibn Rabah, Khabbab ibn al-Aratt, Abu-Fukayhah, Amir ibn Fuhayrah, suhayb ibn Sinan, and, among women and female slaves, Sumayyah, Umm-`Ubays, Zinnirah, Labibah (or Lubaynah) and finally Nahdiyyah[^76] were tortured by various means such like keeping them hungry or thirsty, imprisonment, striking and hitting, being forced to lie on the hot sands of the desert of Mecca at noon or to wear iron coats, or being tied up with rope and ridiculed by children.

Emigration to Abyssinia Having been protected by Abu-talib and Banu-Hashim, the Holy Prophet was safe from the aggressions of Quraysh. However, since Muslims were unprotected and vulnerable, the Holy Prophet recommended that they might migrate to Abyssinia and told them, “It is a land of truth and there lives a just king.”[^77] In those days, the only safe place for Muslims was Abyssinia.

Neither Iran nor Rome or the dominated areas by these super-powers, such as Damascus or Yemen, would accept the Muslims.