The process of advocating Islam among the Arabian tribes during the pilgrimage season must have taken years, with the Prophet (peace be upon him) visiting tribe after tribe, explaining to them that he has a message from God to deliver to all mankind. The idea behind it did not occur to the Prophet in a flash.
The reports that we have suggest that the Quraysh felt in the early years that they must take counter measures to ensure that no tribe gave the Prophet the response he was looking for. They also suggest that the Prophet approached the same tribe more than once, which indicates that these approaches must have been made in different pilgrimage seasons. It is unlikely that the Prophet would approach the same people again in the same season after they have given him a negative, if not hostile, reply.
One person who did much to ensure that the Prophet did not receive any good response was his uncle Abu Lahab. However, his other uncles were much more helpful: Hamzah embraced Islam at an early stage and was one of its bravest soldiers, Abu Talib gave the Prophet all the protection he needed to ensure his own safety as he continued to advocate his message, while Al-Abbas was always sympathetic.
Al-Abbas reports that during one pilgrimage season, the Prophet said to him: “I do not see that you and your brother can give me the protection I need. Would you accompany me tomorrow so as to meet Arabian tribes at their places of encampment?
“When we went the next day, I said to him: ‘Here is the tribe of Kindah and those associated with them. This is the best tribe that comes for pilgrimage from Yemen. On this side, you have the encampment of the tribe known as Bakr ibn Wail, and here are the Amir ibn Sa’sa’ah. Choose which to approach.’” He said that he would start with the Kindah, and went up to them.
“He asked them where they came from, and they said: ‘We are from the Yemen.’ He asked: ‘From where in Yemen?’ They answered: ‘From the Kindah.’ Again he asked: ‘From which branch of Kindah?’ They replied: ‘From the clan of Amr ibn Mu’awiyah.’ He said: ‘Would you like to have something of much benefit?’ They asked him what was that, and he answered: ‘That you believe that there is no deity other than God, attend to prayers and believe in what God has revealed.’”
One report mentions that the Kindah delegation asked the Prophet: “If you are victorious, would you ensure that we will be the kings after you?” The Prophet said: “Kingdom belongs to God, and He gives it to whom He wills.” They said: “Then we have no need for what you are preaching.”
A different report mentioned by Al-Kalbi suggests that they gave him a rude reply, saying: “Have you come to us so as to turn us away from our gods, and that we stand in opposition to the rest of the Arabs? Go back to your people for we have no need for you.”
After the Prophet had left them, he went to the tribe of Bakr ibn Wail, and asked them about their affiliation, and they said that they belonged to the branch known as Qays ibn Thaalabah. He asked them about their numbers, and they said that they were numerous, “like sand.” He asked them how they felt about their strength, and they said: “We do not have real power, as we are close to the Persians. Hence, we are unable to defend ourselves against them, and we cannot extend protection against them.” The Prophet said to them: “Would you, then, make a pledge to God, if He would help you to survive until you occupy their land, marry their women, and enslave their children that you would glorify God 33 times, praise him 33 times and extol His glory 34 times.” They asked him who was he and he said: “I am God’s Messenger.”
When he had left them, his uncle Abu Lahab came over to them. He was keen to dissuade people from following the Prophet. They asked Abu Lahab whether he knew Muhammad, and he said that he did, and that Muhammad belonged to the noblest family in the Quraysh. He asked them what they wanted to know about him. They told him what the Prophet said to them. Abu Lahab said: “Pay no attention to what he says, because he is mad and does not know the meaning of his own words.” They said: “We could see that when he spoke about the Persians as he did.”
Thus we see the role Abu Lahab played in trying to foil the Prophet’s efforts to find support outside Makkah. We also see how this tribe could not imagine that the Persian Empire could come to an end, in the same way that many of us cannot imagine that today’s superpower could lose its mighty position. Yet it is not long ago that the other superpower of our times collapsed and lost its lofty position. But people will continue to be shortsighted, except for those who trust that all power belongs to God and He gives it to whom He wills.
This pattern of the Prophet speaking to one group of people after another, and his uncle Abu Lahab trying hard to undermine his efforts was repeated many times. Rabee’ah ibn Abbad reports:
“I was a young man accompanying my father in Mina, when the Prophet stopped at the places of different tribes. When he spoke to people, he would say: ‘I am God’s Messenger to you. I enjoin you to worship God alone, associating no partners with Him, and to abandon all these false deities you now worship. I call on you to believe in me and protect me until I have delivered the message God has assigned to me.’ Behind him was a man with a bright face and two bunches of hair over his forehead, wearing an Adani robe.
When the Prophet finished speaking, this man would come forward and say: ‘Do not listen to this person, for he is only calling you to abandon Al-Lat and Al-Uzza, and your friends among the jinn so that you follow his deviant inventions.
Pay no heed to him.’ I asked my father who was the man following the Prophet, and he told me that he was his uncle, Abd Al-Uzza ibn Abd Al-Muttalib, better known as Abu Lahab.”
