number of Muslims who began to gather around the Prophet in the house of al-Arqam. ʿAmmār soon persuaded his parents to embrace Islam.
Their happy family life was soon disrupted by Abū Jahl, who gathered an effective force of youths and slaves to help him in his efforts of terrorization. He wanted to make Yāsir and his family an example for anyone who might be thinking of responding to the new message of Islam. He supervised a progressive type of torture of parents and son to make them renounce Islam. As the volume of torture increased, the three afflicted victims showed a growing determination to stick to their faith.
The Prophet passed by one day while they were being tortured. He could not do anything to release them. However, he gave them the most encouraging words when he said to them: “Yāsir and family, persevere. Heaven is our meeting-place.”
After weeks of varied types of torture, Sumayyah gave her tormentor a piece of her mind, telling him what she thought of him and his methods. Infuriated, Abū Jahl stabbed her in her private parts with a spear he was carrying. Then he turned to her husband, who was laid on the burning sand. He kicked him in his chest until he died. Thus Sumayyah and Yāsir were the first two martyrs in the history of Islam.
Pressure Too Strong to Bear
After the death of both of his parents, ʿAmmār was released, but only for a while. Time and again they would come to him with increased venom. After inflicting untold torture on him, they would say: “We will never release you until you abuse Muhammad and praise al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā.” One day he was in such a state that he could bear the torture no longer. He did what he was told. They let him alone and went away. When he managed to pull himself together, he went to the Prophet with tears in his eyes. The Prophet asked him what was troubling him. He answered: “It is bad news, Messenger of God.” He told him what had happened. The Prophet asked him how he felt deep in his heart. ʿAmmār answered that his faith was as firm as ever. The Prophet said to him that if the unbelievers did the same to him again, he could tell them the words they wanted to hear, provided that deep in his heart he was absolutely certain of his faith.9
When the pressure increased so much and the torture became unbearable, some of those victims complained to the Prophet. Khabbāb reports:
We complained to God’s Messenger (peace be upon him) when he was reclining in the shade of the Kaʿbah saying, “Will you not pray God to help us?” He said, “Among believers who lived before you there were many who were placed in a hole dug in the ground and were sawn in halves, from head to foot; and there were some whose flesh was torn with combs of iron which also broke their bones. They did not turn away from their faith. By God, your Lord will certainly accomplish His purpose until an individual traveller can travel from Ṣanʿā’ to Haḍramout fearing no one but God and guarding against the wolf getting away with one of his sheep. You are only precipitating events.”10
What could the Prophet do for those companions of his who were weak, vulnerable and subjected to brutal torture. He himself was subjected to ridicule and physical abuse from the unbelievers who would throw dirt over his head as he prayed in the Ḥaram. They also threw impurities in front of his house. He had made it clear to his companions that they were not seeking any immediate gain. All that he promised them was a hard struggle for which God would reward them with heaven. It was enough for them that he had shown them the way and given them Divine guidance. Their life was transformed; they were given noble preoccupations to replace the low pleasures which were still sought after by the unbelievers. He could only reassure them as to the truthfulness of their message, and that their way was the right way. They were seeking God’s pleasure, and that was the only way to earn it.
The Prophet continued to make a determined stand, despite the Quraysh’s campaign of terror. He called on people to renounce the worship of idols and turn back to God, the Creator, who has honoured man and placed him in charge of the earth. Realizing that the persecution of a few helpless individuals was not deterring anyone from accepting the new faith, the Quraysh chiefs thought of making another attempt at negotiating a settlement.
Offer Too Absurd
A new delegation went to Abū Ṭālib, the Prophet’s uncle and protector. All those who had tried earlier to persuade Abū Ṭālib to stop his nephew went along this time, taking with them a few more notables and a young man called ʿImārah ibn al-Walīd, whose father was a well-known figure in Makkah. They made this proposal to Abū Ṭālib: “We have brought with us ʿImārah, the smartest and most vigorous young man in the Quraysh, to offer him to you as a son. He will benefit you, with his courage and sound mind. In exchange, you give us your nephew who has rebelled against the religion you and your forefathers have followed, and has sown the seeds of discord among your people and ridiculed their practices. We would take him and kill him while you would take a man for a man.
Abū Ṭālib replied: “What a raw deal you are offering me! You want to give me your son to feed while I give you my son to kill! This will never be.” Al-Muṭʿim ibn ʿAdiy, who was among the delegation, said to Abū Ṭālib: “Your people have offered you a fair deal indeed. They are doing their best to appease you, but you seem unwilling to accept any offer they make.”
Abū Ṭālib rejoined: “They certainly have not been fair to me. I see that you have joined them in letting me down.” The discussion became more heated before the Quraysh delegation left, with everyone feeling extremely angry.11
If the proposal the Quraysh put to Abū Ṭālib sounds preposterous today, the Quraysh delegation saw in it an honest attempt to achieve a solution to the satisfaction of all concerned. In the society of Arabia, where tribal ties transcended all other ties and where a man’s position was determined by the number of children he had and the support he could muster, Abū Ṭālib would not be sacrificing much if he exchanged his nephew for an able and intelligent young man. It is noteworthy that the proposal was described as fair by a man like al-Muṭʿim, who would show over the years a friendly and compassionate attitude towards the Prophet and the Muslims in general. Furthermore, he was a distant cousin of Abū Ṭālib. ʿAbd Manāf was the great-grandfather of both men; hence he was expected to look at the affair from a standpoint closer to that of Abū Ṭālib. Indeed, Abū Ṭālib’s remark about al-Muṭʿim’s letting him down acquires a stronger sense when it is considered in this light.
The negotiations thus ended in total failure. This was only to be expected since the issue touched on basic principles. So, the Quraysh felt it had no option but to widen its campaign of persecution to all Muslims. Each clan took vengeance against any of its sons who adopted Islam. Now even free and young noble men were at the receiving end of the Quraysh’s campaign. Maltreatment was much more widespread.
Maltreatment of the Honourable
Muṣʿab ibn ʿUmayr belonged to a rich family. His mother provided him with everything he wanted. He was perhaps the most handsome, elegant and smartest young man in Makkah. Yet when he became a Muslim, he was imprisoned by his people and his mother turned against him.
ʿUthmān ibn ʿAffān, who belonged to the Umayyad clan, was of a noble family. Nevertheless, his uncle al-Ḥakam ibn Abī al-ʿĀṣ tied him to a post and swore that he would never release him until he renounced Islam. ʿUthmān replied that he would never do that no matter what the pressure brought to bear on him was like. Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ, a very dutiful son, was pressurized by his mother, who thought that she would be able to use his love to turn him away from Islam. She made some threatening noises which availed her nothing. Finally, Saʿd told her point blank: “Mother, if you had one hundred souls and they came out one after the other, I would not turn away from Islam to spare you.”
Not even Abū Bakr was safe. One day he addressed the people, calling on them to believe in God and His Messenger. Some of them abused him. Soon there was some confusion and Abū Bakr was bound up by several people including ʿUtbah ibn Rabīʿah, who used his shoes to beat Abū Bakr’s face. When he was rescued by his own tribesmen, they thought that he was dead. Towards the evening, he came round. The first thing he did was to enquire how God’s Messenger was. He would not rest until he had been taken to the Prophet. They took him after nightfall, and he walked, supported by his mother