In the years when the Prophet (peace be upon him) preached his message in Makkah, things were always hard between him and his tribe, the Quraysh. They tried to suppress his message in any way they could, resorting at times to physical abuse, and at times to various types of pressure. They would do anything to get him to stop advocating his message. But he continued with his advocacy of Islam, despite all pressure, trusting to God’s help and to the fact that his was the message of the truth.
As the days passed and week followed week, with no hint of rapprochement between the Prophet and the Quraysh, an atmosphere of polarization infiltrated life in Makkah. This polarization was so real that it occasionally transcended tribal loyalties. This meant that no Muslim, whatever his position or his tribal affiliation, was immune from harassment by the Makkans, should the opportunity for such harassment arise. To torment Muslims and subject them to physical torture or mental pressure became the favorite pastime for the Quraysh hard-liners. Their victims were numerous and of various tribes and positions.
The Prophet himself was not immune to this, despite the protection afforded him by his uncle and his clan. Rather than violate their own tribal standards, the Makkan leaders made their henchmen abuse the Prophet by word, gesture and action. They accused him of being a magician, a poet, and a fortune-teller, and told him to his face that he was mad. All this, however, did not affect the Prophet or weaken his resolve to carry on with his mission, conveying the word of God to his people. He continued to defy the Makkans in matters of faith, stating his case openly and calling on everyone to abandon pagan worship and accept Islam.
One day, a group of the Quraysh elders met at the Kaaba. Their conversation inevitably touched upon their continuing problem with Muhammad and his message. Some of them said: “Our patience with this man and our tolerance of what he does are unbelievable. He has ridiculed our elders, abused our forefathers and our gods, looked with contempt on our religion and caused disunity to creep into our ranks. We have certainly suffered a great deal from him.”
As they said that, the Prophet appeared. He walked to the Kaaba and started his tawaf. When he passed them by, a nasty taunt was directed at him. His color changed but he went on with his tawaf. When he passed them by the second time, they repeated their taunt and his face changed color again. They repeated the same taunt again as he went past the third time. At this point, he stopped and addressed them saying: “Do you hear me, people of Quraysh? By Him who holds my soul in His hand, I am threatening you with throat-cutting.”
They were all taken aback by what he said. Even the hardest of them was quick to pacify him. Conciliatory words came from everywhere: “Go about your business, Abu Al-Qasim. You were never known to lose control of yourself.” He left them and went away.
The following day, they met in the same place. They started to blame one another for their meekness. As they were encouraging one another to show more firmness with him, he appeared. They jumped at him and started to maul him. He stood firm, defiant, and resolute. Everyone was asking him whether he maintained his position that their idols were false and he said time and again: “Yes, indeed I say that.”
One of them took him by the collar and others pushed him around. Then Abu Bakr tried to defend him, shouting at them: “Do you kill a man for merely saying God is my Lord?” They then left him, having savagely manhandled him. But that did not weaken his resolve to carry on with his mission.
Sometimes a group of the unbelievers would be spurred into attacking the Prophet physically. They were not far from killing him on more than one occasion. A report by Asma’ bint Abu Bakr goes as follows: “Some unbelievers were sitting in the Mosque discussing the issue of the Prophet and what he said about their deities. As the discussion went on, the Prophet came along to the Mosque and they all went up to him to stop him. There was great noise and Abu Bakr heard it from a distance. People said to him: ‘You must hurry if you wish to save your friend.’ As he left us, four locks of his hair were clearly visible. He shouted at them: ‘Do you kill a man for nothing other than saying God is my Lord?’ They left the Prophet and turned to him. When Abu Bakr came back to us, he would only touch any of his hair locks for it to fall in his hand. He continued to say: ‘Exalted are You in Your majesty; You are the most benevolent.’”
Here we see how Abu Bakr was always ready to defend the Prophet in the face of adversity. Indeed, he never hesitated to defend the Prophet regardless of the cost to himself or to his family. He was indeed most courageous. One day Ali was addressing the people when he asked them to name the most courageous of people. They said: “You are the one.” He said: “As for me, whenever anyone fought me I managed to prevail. As for the most courageous, that certainly was Abu Bakr. Once we made a covered shelter for the Prophet and asked who should stay with him so that no unbeliever could attack him. None of us drew near except Abu Bakr who drew his sword and stood guarding the Prophet. Whenever an unbeliever tried to come near the Prophet, he would strike him with his sword. He was indeed the most courageous of all people. On a previous occasion, I saw the Prophet in the midst of a group of the Quraysh: One person would abuse him verbally, while another would manhandle him. They were saying to him: ‘Are you the one who claims that there is none but the One God?’ None of us could draw near to defend him except Abu Bakr, who was striking one man, pushing another away, and moving a third aside. He warned them against killing a man for nothing other than declaring his belief in God and His oneness.’ Ali then lifted a garment to his face and was tearful. He then said: ‘I appeal to you: Who is better of the two - this one or the believer in Pharaoh’s household?’ None of those present made any answer. Ali then said: ‘By God! One hour of Abu Bakr is better than the earth’s fill of the believer in Pharaoh’s household. That one concealed the fact that he was a believer, while Abu Bakr publicly declared that he was a believer.’” (Related by al-Bazzar.)
Ali put the issue succinctly clear. Abu Bakr, who never hesitated in his support of the Prophet even at the time when the whole of the Quraysh were in determined opposition to him, was far better than the man described in the Qur’an as a true believer. That one concealed the fact of his belief because he belonged to Pharaoh’s household and feared the consequences if he should be known to be a believer.
