For thirteen years after receiving his first revelations, the Prophet (peace be upon him) preached his message in hostile environment in Makkah. Unbelievers would have loved to silence him once and for all, but his uncle, Abu Talib, the chief of the Hashimite clan, gave him full support. This meant that if the believers went as far as harming the Prophet physically, they risked a full tribal war within their own city. Therefore, they refrained from doing so, but they tried hard to cause him all sorts of trouble. One aspect of the ill-treatment the Prophet received from the Quraysh was brought about by hostile neighbors. His house was in between those of two avowed enemies of Islam, his uncle, Abu Lahab, and Uqbah ibn Abi Muayt.
All human societies attach high value to good neighborliness. A friendly neighborhood is always sought after because it provides safety, care and friendship. Families become more strongly attached in such a community. On the other hand, people often move to a different location if they have a bad neighbor. To have two hostile neighbors to both sides of one’s home is a terrible situation no one would like to have to deal with. Those neighbors of the Prophet were very bad indeed, while the Prophet was the best of all neighbors. Rabeeah ibn Ibad reports that “on returning home, the Prophet often found animal afterbirths, blood and other dirt thrown at his front door. He would remove that with the edge of his arrow, and say: ‘What a bad turn from close neighbors!’”
It is only natural to be hurt by such an action and to be angry. But it seems that this was not a on-off action. The way the statement is phrased indicates that it was a standard behaviour by those two neighbors, who were most determined in their hostility to Islam. In order to appreciate what such behavior meant we should remember that neither Abu Lahab nor Uqbah would have carried such dirt themselves to throw it at the Prophet’s front door. They belonged to the high echelons of Makkan society. Such acts were done by their slaves and servants. This meant that such servants and slaves were encouraged to do it, while others in their class might be tempted to do the same.
That the Prophet should be upset was natural, but he did not take any retaliatory action. He simply expressed his irritation by pointing out the value such action contravened: “What a bad turn from close neighbors!” This is a complaint that in other circumstances would have brought strong censure by the entire Makkan society. But in the Prophet’s case, it brought only laughter by those hard-line opponents such as Abu Jahl and his cronies.
Abu Lahab’s attitude toward the Prophet was such that no justification can be found for it under any code of law or social tradition. He had two sons named Utaybah and Utbah, and both were married to the Prophet’s daughters, Umm Kulthoom and Ruqayyah respectively. Utbah’s marriage to Ruqayyah was only consummated after the start of the Islamic message. When the Prophet preached his message and Abu Lahab took an increasingly hostile attitude to it, relations within the family became strained. Abu Lahab rebuked the Prophet in public when he addressed the Quraysh calling on them to believe in God alone. The Qur’an censured Abu Lahab in the same words he used in his insults: “Doomed are the hands of Abu Lahab; doomed is he.” (111: 1)
On hearing of this, Abu Lahab said to his two sons: “I will no longer have any bond with you two unless you divorce Muhammad’s daughters.” Their mother, Arwa bint Harb, Abu Sufyan’s sister, endorsed her husband’s demand, saying to her sons: “Divorce them because they have abandoned their faith.” They did, but Utaybah in particular added insult to injury. When he divorced Umm Kulthoom, he went to the Prophet and said to him: “I disbelieve in your religion, and I have parted company with your daughter. You shall not come to me and I will not come to you.” He then assaulted him tearing his shirt.
Such behavior is particularly hurting, and it was natural that the Prophet should feel very hurt. He was only advocating God’s message, seeking to save his community from the absurdity of worshipping idols and statues and give them a divine faith based on God’s oneness. Yet these people tried to hurt him by hurting his daughters. What is more, one of them compounded this with verbal insults and physical injury. This is too much for anyone. Hence, the Prophet’s response was a simple prayer: “I pray to God to set one of His dogs against you.”
When he did this, Utaybah was about to set on a trade trip to Syria. When his caravan encamped for the night at Zarqa in today’s Jordan, a lion came near to them. Utaybah was terrified. He said to his fellow travelers: “This lion will eat me as Muhammad had said. Muhammad will kill me here in Syria while he is in Makkah.” Hisham ibn Urwah reports that after the lion took a round near the group, he went away. Therefore, his companions tried to reassure Utaybah. As they went to sleep, they put him in the middle so that he would feel safe. However, the lion returned as they slept. The lion chose Utaybah from among the group, killing him with one great bite.
That the Prophet should send such a prayer confirms that his was a natural human reaction. What father would not feel hurt when faced with such insults and injury? Rather than physically confront such a fool as Utaybah, the Prophet merely prayed that God should deal with him. We note how Utaybah realized that the lion targeted him personally in confirmation of the Prophet’s prayer. He was certain that the Prophet only said what was true, yet he was very hostile and insulting. He deserved his fate.
It should be added that Uthman ibn Affan married both daughters of the Prophet. He married Ruqayyah first, and when she died the Prophet gave him her sister, Umm Kulthoom. Hence, Uthman was nicknamed Dhul-Noorayn, which meant “the man with two lights.”
