Quraysh lost no time in escalating its ruthless campaign of repression. As always, the slaves, the allies and those who lacked influential support among their clans had to bear the brunt of this wicked campaign. The rest of the Muslims were not immune. Even the strongest among them were subjected to great pressure, both physical and mental. In addition, torture of intense severity was inflicted on the weak and the vulnerable.
ʿAbdullāh ibn ʿAbbās, the Prophet’s cousin who achieved high scholarly renown, was once asked: “Did disbelievers in Makkah inflict on the companions of the Prophet torture intense enough to justify the latter’s turning away from Islam?’ He answered:
Yes, indeed. They used to beat their victims very badly, and allow them nothing to eat or drink, until they could not even sit up. They inflicted so much pain that the victim would give or say anything he was asked just to win a short rest. The situation of some of those victims was so bad that they would answer any questions put to them by their tormentors in the way acceptable to them. The disbelievers would ask: “Are al-Lāt and al-ʿUzzā [two major idols worshipped by the pagan Arabs] your gods?” or “Is this cockroach your lord whom you worship?” In their unbearable plight, the believers might answer these questions in the affirmative.15
In fact, God permitted those afflicted people and others who might have found, or may find, themselves in similar situations to give in verbally to their tormentors. They may say what they are asked to say, provided they remain, deep at heart, faithful to their religion. God says in the Qur’ān: “Those who are forced to recant while their hearts remain loyal to the faith shall be absolved; but those who deny God after professing Islam and open their bosoms to unbelief shall incur the wrath of God and be sternly punished.” (16: 106)
The other half of this strategy was adopted in another meeting of the Quraysh elders, but this time the Prophet was not present. A man called al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn ʿAlqamah took the floor. By modern standards, al-Naḍr may be described as an intellectual. He had visited Persia, one of the great empires of the day, where he studied history and learnt a great deal about the lives and times of ancient and recent kings and emperors. Al-Naḍr outlined the Quraysh’s predicament in this way:
People of Quraysh, you are confronted with a problem for which you have not been able to find a solution. When Muhammad was still a young man living among you, he won general admiration because he always spoke the truth and his honesty could not be faulted. When he had grown grey, and started to preach whatever he is preaching to you, you began to allege that he was a sorcerer. By God, he is no sorcerer. We have seen magicians and their tricks in the past. You also accused him of being a fortune-teller. By God, he is not one, for we have seen fortune-tellers and how they repeat their rhyming phrases. You also claimed that he was a poet. Again I say that, by God, he is not a poet, for we have seen poets and listened to all types of poetry. You claimed that he was also a madman, but he is far from being so. We have seen what madness has done to people, and how it causes them to say incoherent things. I say, people of Quraysh, you have to look at this question very carefully, for you have a big problem on your hands.16
That was indeed a very accurate description of what the Quraysh considered to be a disaster that it had to face. It was they who called Muhammad ‘Al-Amīn’ or ‘the trustworthy’ when he was a young man because he was, as al-Naḍr himself said, generally admired. He always spoke the truth and displayed a high standard of honesty. Would such an honest young man start lying when he grows old? And would he choose for his lying and fabrications none other than God Himself? But if one were to ask the Quraysh elders why they were so determined to oppose Muhammad when they knew that he spoke the truth, one only betrays naïvety. The Quraysh did not want to know whether Muhammad was truthful or not; they realized that he was telling the truth, as he always did. They simply wanted to find the best means to oppose him and defeat his message.
This situation was to repeat itself time after time, whenever the call to Islam found itself on a collision course with those who wielded power in the land. In history there are many incidents when special committees were formed and study groups were organized for no reason other than mapping a strategy to silence the message of Islam. Every time, those committees and study groups came out with the same results: the advocates of Islam are the best of people, most patriotic, demonstrating great resolve in resisting temptation and corruption. Every time the line to be followed was that of total liquidation.
On this particular occasion, the Quraysh decided to send two people, al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ, to Yathrib where they would meet the Jewish rabbis and enquire from them about Muhammad and the truthfulness of his message. Without waiting for his visit, al-Naḍr started his own campaign against Islam. He set up for himself a special position in the mosque. Whenever the Prophet addressed a group of people, al-Naḍr would wait until he had left. Then al-Naḍr would say to those people: “I have something better to say to you. Come and listen to a better discourse than his.” He would relate to them some of the history of ancient kings. He would then ask them: “What has Muhammad got to say that is better than what I say?” Indeed, it was al-Naḍr who used to describe the Qur’ān as ‘tales of the ancients’. The Qur’ān refers to him whenever this is mentioned. The reference is also to him in the verse which speaks of a person who claims: “I shall send down something similar to that which God had sent down.”
This attempt by al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith was perhaps the first propaganda campaign against Islam. It was to be followed by numerous, similar campaigns which were to employ better tactics and far-reaching tools as means of communication developed. The message of Islam has always been able to counter such propaganda campaigns with the truth it declares.
When the two-man delegation prepared to set out from Makkah to Yathrib to ask the Jewish rabbis about the Prophet, their terms of reference were outlined to them. The Quraysh elders told al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith and ʿUqbah ibn Abī Muʿayṭ to ask the Jewish rabbis about Muhammad, describing him in detail and reporting truthfully what he said. “The Jews”, said the Quraysh elders, “are the people of early scriptures and they have a wealth of knowledge about prophets which is not available to us.”
In Yathrib the two Quraysh men put their questions to the rabbis and solicited their honest opinion about Muhammad. The rabbis told them to ask Muhammad three questions. “If he gives you satisfactory answers, then he is a Prophet and a messenger of God. If he has no answer to give, then he is fabricating whatever he says. You may do what you like with him. Ask him about a group of young people who had a strange story in ancient times, and let him tell you what happened to them. Ask him also about a man who travelled all over the place and went to the far east and far west. The third question you should ask him is to tell you about the spirit.” One report suggests that the Jewish rabbis told the two Quraysh men that if Muhammad were to give them a detailed answer about the spirit, then they should not believe him. If he refrained from answering this question, then that would confirm that he was a Prophet.
The Quraysh were happy with the results of this mission and wasted no time in putting those three questions to the Prophet. When he heard their questions, the Prophet told them that he would answer them the following day. Apparently he did not qualify this promise by saying: “God willing”, as he should have done and as Muslims should always do. As a result, nothing was revealed to him for 15 days. Some reports suggest that it was only a three-day lull before the Angel Gabriel came down with the revelation of Sūrah 18, entitled The Cave or Al-Kahf. The sūrah opens with a statement of praise to God which confirms that it was He who revealed the Qur’ān to His servant and Messenger Muhammad. In other words, this is an answer to the questions the Quraysh put to the Jews. The opening also outlines the role of the messenger: giving a stern warning against Divine punishment and happy news for those who believe and do good works. It refutes the claims of the Quraysh and other disbelievers who ascribe children to God or describe the angels as daughters of God. It states categorically that all such claims are lies. It then tells the Prophet not to grieve too much for his people if they refuse to listen to him. These opening verses may be rendered in English as follows:
In the name of God, the Merciful, the Beneficent.
All praise is due to God, who has bestowed on His