Yazid b. Ziyad from Muhammad b. Ka'b al-Qurayzi told me that he was told that 'Utba b. Rabi'a, who was a chief, said one day while he was sitting in the Quraysh assembly and the apostle was sitting in the mosque by himself, 'Why should I not go to Muhammad and make some proposals to him which if he accepts in part, we will give him whatever he wants, and he will leave us in peace?' This happened when Hamza had accepted Islam and they saw that the prophet's followers were increasing and multiplying. They thought it was a good idea, and 'Utba went and sat by the prophet and said, 'O my nephew, you are one of us as you know, of the noblest of the tribe and hold a worthy position in ancestry. You have come to your people with an important matter, dividing their community thereby and ridiculing their customs, and you have insulted their gods and their religion, and declared that their forefathers were unbelievers, so listen to me and I will make some suggestions, and perhaps you will be able to accept one of them.' The apostle agreed, and he went on, 'If what you want is money, we will gather for you of our property so that you may be the richest of us; if you want honour, we will make you our chief so that no one can decide anything apart from you; if you want sovereignty, we will make you king, and if this ghost which comes to you, which you see, is such that you cannot get rid of him, we will find a physician for you, and exhaust our means in getting you cured, for often a familiar spirit gets possession of a man until he can be cured of it,' or words to that effect. The apostle listened patiently, and then said: 'Now listen to me, "In the name of God, the compassionate and merciful, Ha Mim, a revelation from the compassionate, the merciful, a book whose verses are expounded as an Arabic Quran for a people who understand, as an announcement and warning, though most of them turn aside not listening and say, 'Our hearts are veiled from that to which you invite us.' 41:1-37
Then the apostle contimues to recite it to him. When 'Utba heard it from him, he listened attentively, putting his hands behind his back and leaning on them as he listened. Then the prophet ended at the prostation and prostrated himself, and said, 'You have heard what you have heard, Abu'l-Walid; the rest remains with you.' When 'Utba returned to his companions they noticed that his expression had completely altered, and they asked him what had happened. He said that he had heard words such as he had never heard before, which were neither poetry, spells, nor witchcraft. 'Take my advice and do as I do, leave this man entirely alone for, by God, the words which I have heard will be blazed abroad. If (other) Arabs kill him, others will have rid you of him; if he gets the better of the Arabs, his sovereignty will be your sovereignty, his power your power, and you will be prosperous through him.' They said, 'He has bewitched you with his tongue.' To which he answered, 'You have your opinion, you must do what you think fit.'
Negotiations between the apostle and the leaders of Quraysh and an explaination of the sura of the cave
Islam began to spread in Mecca among men and women of the tribes of Quraysh, though Quraysh were imprisoning and seducing as many of the Muslims as they could. A traditionist told me from Sa'id b. Jubayr and from 'Ikrima, freedman of 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas, that the leading men of every clan of Quraysh- 'Utba b. Rabi'ah, and Shayba his brother, and Abu Sufyan b. Harb, and al-Nadr b. al-Harith, brother of the Banu Abdu'l-Dar, and Abu'l-Bakhtari b. Hisham, and al-Aswad b. al-Muttalib b. Asad and Zama'a b. al-Aswad, and al-Walid b. al-Mughira, and Abu Jahl b. Hisham, and 'Abdullah b. Abu Umayya, and al-'As b. Wa'il and Nubayh and Munabbih, the sons of al-Hajjaj, both of Sahm, and Umayya b. Khalaf and possibly others- gathered together after sunset outside the Ka'ba. They decided to send for Muhammad and to negotiate and argue with him so that they could not be held to blame on his account in the future. When they sent for him the apostle came quickly because he thought that what he had said to them had made an impression, for he was most zealous for their welfare, and their wicked way of life pained him. When he came and sat down with them, they explained that they had sent for him in order that they could talk together.
No Arab had ever treated his tribe as Muhammad had treated them, and they repeated the charges which have been mentioned on several occasions. If it was money he wanted, they would make him the richest of them all; it it was honour, he should be their prince; if it was sovereignty, they would make him king; if it was a spirit which had got possession of him, then they would exhaust their means in finding medicine to cure him. The apostle replied he had no such intention. He sought not money, nor honour, nor sovereignty, but God had sent him as an apostle, and revealed a book to him, and commanded him to become an announcer and a warner. He had brought them the messages of his Lord, and given them good advice. If they took it then they would have a portion in this world and the next; if they rejected it, he could only patiently await this issue until God decided between them, or words to that effect. 'Well, Muhammad,' they said, 'if you won't accept any of our propositions, you know that no people are more short of land and water, and live a harder life than we, so ask your Lord, who has sent you, to remove for us these mountains which shut us in, and to straighten out our contry for us, and to open up in it rivers like those of Syria and Iraq, and to resurrect for us our forefathers, and let there be among those that are resurrected for us Qusayy b. Kilab, for he was a true shaikh, so that we may ask them whether what you say is true or false. If they say you are speaking the truth, and you do what we have asked you, we will believe in you, and we shall know what your position with God is, and that He has actually sent you as an apostle as you say.'
He replied that he had not been sent to them with such an object. He had conveyed to them God's message, and they could either accept it with advantage, or reject it and await God's judgement. They said that if he would not do that for them, let him do something for himself. Ask God to send an angel with him to confirm what he said and to contradict them; to make him gardens and castles, and treasures of gold and silver to satisfy his obvious wants. He stood in the streets as they did, and he sought a livelihood as they did. If he could do this, they would recognize his merit and position with God, if he were an apostle as he claimed to be. He replied that he would not do so, and he repeated what he had said before. They said, 'Then let the heavens be dropped on us in pieces, as you assert that your Lord could do if He wished, for we will not believe you unless you do so.' The apostle replied that this was a matter for God; if He wanted to do it with them, He would do it. They said, 'Did not your Lord know that we would sit with you, and ask you these questions, so that He might come to you and instruct you how to answer us, and tell you what He was going to do with us, if we did not receive your message? Information has reached us that you are taught by this fellow in al-Yamama, called al-Rahman, and by God we will never believe in the Rahman. Our conscience is clear. By God, we will not leave you and our treatment of you, until either we destroy you or you destroy us.' Some said, 'We worship the angles, who are the daughters of Allah.' Others said, 'We will not believe in you until you come to us with God and the angels as a surety.' 17-92
When they said this the apostle got up and left them. 'Abdullah b. Abu Umayya b. al-Mughira got up with him and said to him, 'O Muhammad, your people have made you certain propositions, which you have rejected; first they asked you things for themselves that they might know that your position with God is what you say it is so that they might believe in you and follow you, and you did nothing; then they asked you to take something for yourself, by which they might know your superiority over them and your standing with God, and you would not do it; then they asked you to hasten some of the punishment with which you were frightening them, and you did not do it', or words to that effect,' and by God, I will never believe in you until you get a ladder to the sky, and mount up it until you come to it, while I am looking on, and until four angels shall come with you, testifying that you are speaking the truth, and by God, even if you did that I do not think I should believe in you.' Then he went away, and the apostle went to his family, sad and grieving, because his hope that they had called him to accept his preaching was vain, and because of their estrangement from him. When the apostle had gone Abu Jahl spoke, making the usual charges against him, and saying, 'I call God to witness that I will wait for him tomorrow with a stone which I can hardly lift,' or words to that effect, 'and when he prostrates himself in prayer I will split his skull with it. Betray me or defend me, let the B. 'Abdul Manaf do what they like after that.' They said that they would never betray him on any account, and he could carry on with his project. When morning came Abu Jahl took a stone and sat in wait for the apostle, who behaved as usual that morning. While he was in Mecca he faced Syria in prayer, and when he prayed, he prayed between the southern corner and the black stone, putting the Ka'ba between himself and Syria. The apostle rose to pray while Quraysh sat in their meeting, waiting for what Abu Jahl was to do. When the apostle prostrated himself, Abu Jahl took up the stone and went towards him, until when he got near him, he turned back in flight, pale with terror, and his hand had withered upon the stone, so that he cast the stone from his hand. The Quraysh asked him what had happened, and he replied that when he got near him a camel's stallion got in his way. 'By God', he said, 'I have never seen anything like his head, shoulders, and teeth on any stallion before, and he made as though he would eat me.'
I was told that the apostle said, 'That was Gabriel. If he had come near, he would have seized him.'
When Abu Jahl said that to them, al-Nadr b. al-Harith got up and said: 'O Quraysh, a situation has arisen which you cannot deal with. Muhammad was a young man most liked among you, most truthful in speech, and most trustworthy, until, when you saw grey hairs on his temple, and he brought you his message, you said he was a sorcerer, but he is not, for we have seen such people and their spitting and their knots; you said, a diviner, but we have seen such people and their behaviour, and we have heard their rhymes; and you said a poet, but he is not a poet, for we have heard all kinds of poetry; you said he was possessed, but he is not, for we have seen the possessed, and he shows no signs of their gasping and whispering and delirium. Ye men of Quraysh, look to your affairs, for by God, a serious thing has befallen you.' Now al-Nadr b. al-Harith was one of the satans of Quraysh; he used to insult the apostle and show him emnity. He had been to al-Hira and learnt there the tales of the kings of Persia, the tales of Rustum and Isbandiyar. When the apostle had held a meeting in which he reminded them of God, and warned his people of what had happened to bygone generations as a result of God's vengeance, al-Nadr got up when he sat down, and said, 'I can tell a better story than he, come to me.' Then he began to tell them about the kings of Persia, Rustum and Isbandiyar, and then he would say, 'In what respect is Muhammad a better story-teller than I?
Ibn 'Abbas, according to my information, used to say eight verses of the Quran came down in reference to him, 'When our verses are read to him, he says fairy tales of the ancients'; (68:15) and all those passages in the Quran which 'fairy tales' are mentioned.
When al-Nadr said that to them, they sent him and 'Utba b. Abu Mu'ayt to the Jewish rabbis in Medina and said to them, 'Ask them about Muhammad; describe him to them and tell them what he says, for they are the first people of the scriptures and have knowledge which we do not possess about the prophets.' They carried out their instructions, and said to the rabbis, ' You are the people of the Taurat, and we have come to you so that you can tell us how to deal with this tribesman of ours.' The rabbis said, 'Ask him about three things of which we will instruct you; if he gives you the right answer then he is an authentic prophet, but if he does not, then the man is a rogue, so form your own opinion about him. Ask him what happened to the young men who disappeared in ancient days, for they have a marvellous story. Ask him about the mighty traveller who reached the confines of both East and West. Ask him what the spirit is. If he can give you the answer, then follow him, for he is a prophet. If he cannot, then he is a forger and treat him as you will.' The two men returned to Quraysh at Mecca and told them that they had a decisive way of dealing with Muhammad, and they told them about the three questions.
They came to the apostle and called upon him to answer these questions. He said to them, 'I will give you your answer tomorrow,' but he did not say, 'If God will.' So they went away; and the apostle, so they say, waited for fifteen days without a revelation from God on the matter, nor did Gabriel come to him, so that the people of Mecca began to spread evil reports, saying, 'Muhammad promised us an answer on the tomorrow, and todayis the fifteenth day we have remained without an answer.' This delay caused the apostle great sorrow, until Gabriel brought him the Chapter of the Cave, in which he reproaches him for his sadness, and told him the answers of their questions, the youths, the mighty traveller, and the spirit.
I was told that the apostle said to Gabriel when he came, 'You have shut yourself off from me, Gabriel, so that I became apprehensive.' He answered, 'We descend only by God's command, whose is what lies before us, behind us, and what lies between, and thy Lord does not forget.' (19:64)
He began the Sura with His own praise, and mentioning (Muhammad's) prophethood and apostolate and their denial thereof, and He said, 'Glory belongs to God, who has revealed the book to His servant,' meaning Muhammad.
'Verily thou art an apostle from Me,' i.e. confirming what they ask about thy prophethood. 'He hath not made therein crookedness, it is straight,' i.e. it is level, without any difference. 'To warn of a severe punishment from Him,' that is, His immediate judgement in this world. 'And a painful judgement in the next,' that is, from thy Lord, who has sent thee as an apostle. 'To give those who believe, who do good works, the good news that they will have a glorious reward, enjoying it everlastingly,' i.e. the eternal abode. 'They shall not die therein,' i.e. those who have accepted your message as true, though others have denied it, and have done the works that you have ordered them to do. 'And warn those who say God has taken a son.' He means the Quraysh when they say, 'We worship the angels who are the daughters of Allah.' 'They have no knowledge about it, nor had their forefathers', who take hardly your leaving them and shamming their religion. 'Dreadful is the word that proceedeth from their mouth' when they say the angels are God's daughters. 'They say nothing but a lie, and it may be that thou wilt destroy thyself,' O Muhammad. 'In grief over their course if they believe not this saying,' i.e. because of his sorrow when he was disappointed of his hope of them; i.e. thou shalt not do it. 'Verily We have made that which is upon the earth an ornament to it to try them which of them will behave the best,' i.e. which of them will follow My commandment and act in obedience to Me. 'And verily we will make that which is upon it a barren mound,' i.e. the earth and what is upon it will perish and pass away, for all must return to Me that I may reward them according to their deeds, so do not despair nor let what you hear and see therein grieve you.
Then comes the story of what they asked him about the young men, and God said: 'Have you considered that the dwellers in the Cave and al-Raqim were wonders from our signs?' i.e. there were still more wonderful signs in the proofs I have given to men. Then God said: 'When the young men took refuge in the Cave they said, O Lord, show us kindness and give us guidance by Your command, so We sealed up their hearing in the Cave for many years. Then We brought them to life again that We might know which of the two parties would best calculate the time that they had been there.' Then He said: 'We will tell you the true account of them; they were young men who believed in their Lord, and We gave them further guidance, and We strengthened their hearts. Then they stood and said, Our Lord is the Lord of heaven and earth. We will pray to no other god but Him. If we were to say otherwise we should speak blasphemy,' i.e. they did not associate anyone with Me as you have associated with Me what you know nothing about. 'These people of ours have chosen gods in addition to Him, though they bring no plain authority for them,' i.e. a clear proof. 'Who is more wicked than he who invents a lie against God? When you withdraw from them and what they worship instead of God, then take refuge in the Cave; your Lord will spread for you by His mercy and prepare a pillow for you in your plight. You might see the sun when it rises move away from their Cave towards the right, and when it sets it would go past them to the left, while they were in a cleft of the Cave'. 'That was one of the signs of God', i.e. for a proof against those of the people of the scriptures who knew their story and who ordered those men to ask you about them concerning the truth of your prophecy in giving a true account of them. 'Whom God guides is rightly guided, and for him whom He leads astray you will find no friend to direct. And you would think they were awake while they were sleeping, and we would turn them over to the right and the left, while their dog was lying with its forepaws on the threshold'. 'If you observed them closely you would turn your backs on them fleeing, and be afraid of them' up to the words 'those who gained their point said, ' i.e. the people of power and dominion among them. 'Let us build a mosque above them; they will say,' i.e. the Jewish rabbis who ordered them to ask these questions. 'Three, their dog being the fourth of them, and some say five, their sixth being the dog, guessing in the dark,' i.e. they know nothing about it, 'and they say seven and their dog the eighth. Say: My Lord knows best about their number; none knows them save a few, so do not contend with them except with an open contention,' i.e. do not be proud with them. 'And do not ask anyone information about them,' for they know nothing about it. 'And do not say of anything I will do it tomorrow unless you say, If God will. And mention your Lord if you have forgotten and say, Perhaps my Lord will guide me to a nearer way of truth than this,' i.e. do not say about anything which they ask you what you said about this, viz. I will tell you tomorrow, and make God's will the condition, and remember Him when you have forgotten to do so and say, Perhaps my Lord will guide me to what is ,better than what they ask of me in guidance, for you do not know what I am doing about it. 'And they remained in their cave three hundred years and they added nine, ' i.e. they will say this. 'Say: Your Lord knows best how long they stayed there. The secrets of heaven and earth are with Him. How wonderfully He sees and hears. They have no friend but Him, and He allows none in His dominion as a partner,' i.e. nothing of what they ask you is hidden from Him.
And He said about what they asked him in regard to the mighty traveller, 'And they will ask you about Dhu'l-Qarnayn; say, I will recite to you a remembrance of him. Verily We gave him power in the earth, and We gave to him every road and he followed it'; so far as the end of his story.
God said concerning what they asked him about the spirt, 'They will ask you about the Spirit, say, the Spirit is a matter for my Lord, and you have only a little knowledge about it.' (17:85)
I was told on the authority of Ibn 'Abbas that he said, When the apostle came to Medina, the Jewish rabbis said, 'When you said, "And you have only a little knowledge about it," did you mean us or your own people?' He said, 'Both of you.' They said, 'Yet you will read in what you brought that we were given the Taurat in which is an exposition of everything.' He replied that in reference to God's knowledge that was little, but in it there was enough for them if they carried it out. God revealed concerning what they asked him about that 'If all the trees in the world were pens and the ocean were ink, though the seven seas reinforced it, the words of God would not be exhausted. Verily God is mighty and wise (31:27) i.e. The Taurat comparedd with God's knowledge is little. And God revealed to him converning what his people asked him for themselves, namely, removing the mountains, and cutting the earth, and raising their forefathers from the dead, 'If there were a Quran by which mountains could be moved, or the earth split, or the dead spoken to , but to God belongs the disposition of all things,' i.e. I will not do anything of the kind unless I choose. And he revealed to him concerning their saying, ' Take for yourself', meaning that He should make for him gardens, and castles, and treasures, and should send an angel with him to confirm what he said, and to defend him. 'And they said, "What is this apostle doing, eating food, and walking in the markets? Unless an angel were sent to him to be a warner with him, or he were given a treasure or a garden from which he might eat [we would not believe]"; and the evildoers say, "You follow only a man bewitched". See how they have coined the proverbs of thee, and have gone astray and cannot find the way. Blessed is He who if He willed, could make for thee something better than that,' i.e. than that you should walk in the marketplaces, seeking a livelihood. 'Gardens beneath which run rivers, and make for thee castles.' (25:7-8)
And He revealed to him converning their saying, 'When We sent messengers before thee they did eat and walk in the markets, and we made some of you a test for others, whether you would be steadfast, and your Lord is looking on,' (25:20) i.e. I made some of you a test for others that you might be steadfast. Had I wanted to make the world side with my apostles, so that they would not oppose them, I would have done so.
And he revealed to him concerning what 'Abdullah b. Umayya said, 'And they said, "We will not believe in thee until fountains burst forth for us from the earth, or you have a garden of dates and grapes and make the rivers within it burst fort copiously, or make the heavens fall upon us in fragments as you assert, or bring God and the angels as a surety, or you get a house of gold, or mount up to heaven, we will not believe in thy ascent until you bring down to us a book which we can read." Say: exalted be my Lord, am I aught but a mortal messenger' 17:93
He revealed to him with reference to their saying ' We have heard that a man in al-Yamama called al-Rahman teaches you. We will never believe in him'. 'Thus did We send you to a people before whom other peoples had passed away that you might read to them that which We have revealed to thee, while they disbelieved in the Rahman. Say, He is my Lord, there is no other God but He. In Him I trust and unto Him is the return.' 13:30
And He revealed to him concerning what Abu Jahl said and intended: 'Have you seen him who prohibited a servant when he prayed, have you seen if he was rightly guided or gave orders in the fear of God, have you seen if he lied and turned his back; does he not know that Allah sees everything? If he does not cease we will drag him by the forelock, the lying sinful forelock; let him call his gang, we will call the guards of hell. Thou shalt certainly not obey him, prostrate thyself and draw near to God'.
And God revealed concerning what they proposed to him in regard to their money, 'Say, I ask no reward of you, it is yours; my reward is God's concern alone and He witnesses everything.' 34:47
When the apostle brought to them what they knew was the truth so that they recognized his truthfulness and his position as a prophet in bringing them tidings of the unseen when they asked him about it, envy prevented them from admitting his truth, and they became insolent against God and openly forsook his commandments and took refuge in their polytheism. One of them said, 'Do not listen to this Quran; treat it as nonsense and probably you will get the better of it', i.e. treat it as nonsense and false; and treat him as a mere raver- you will probably get the better of him, whereas if you argue or debate with him any time he will get the better of you.
Abu Jahl, when he was mocking the apostle and his message one day, said: 'Muhammad pretends that God's troops who will punish you in hell and imprison you there, are nineteen only, while you have a large population. Can it be that every hundred of you is unequal to one man of them?' In reference to that God revealed, 'We have made the guardians of hell angels, and We have made the number of them a trial to those who disbelieve', to the end of the passage. (74:30) Whereupon when the apostle recited the Quran loudly as he was praying, they began to disperse and refused to listen to him. If anyone of them wanted to hear what he was reciting as he prayed, he had to listen stealthily for fear of Quraysh; and if he saw that they knew that he was listening to it, he went away for fear of punishment and listened no more. If the apostle lowered his voice, then the man who was listening thought that they would not listen to any part of the reading, while he himself heard something which they could not hear, by giving all his attention to the words.
Da'ud b. al-Husayn of 'Amr b.'Uthman told me that 'Ikrima freedman of Ibn 'Abbas has told them that 'Abdullah b. 'Abbas had told them that the verse, 'Don't speak loudly in thy prayer and don't be silent; adopt a middle course,' (17:110) was revealed because of those people. He said, 'Don't speak loudly in thy prayer' so that they may go away from you, and 'Don't be silent' so that he who wants to hear, of those who listen stealthily, cannot hear; perhaps he will give heed to some of it and profit thereby.
No comments:
Post a Comment