“We repudiate Mudammam,
we loathe his religion,
and we defy his command!”
The Prophet ﷺ was in the mosque when Abu Bakr said, “Messenger of Allah, she is coming, and I fear she may see you.” He replied, “She will not see me,” and he recited Qur’an for protection, reciting, “When you recite the Qur’an, We place between you and those who do not believe in the Hereafter an invisible veil” (Surah al-Israʾ 17:45). She stopped in front of Abu Bakr but did not perceive the Prophet ﷺ. She said, “I have been told that your companion has satirized me.” He answered, “By the Lord of this House, he has not satirized you.” She turned away saying, “Quraysh know full well that I am the daughter of its chief.”
A report with similar wording was transmitted by ʿAlī ibn Muṣhir, from Saʿīd ibn Kathīr, from his father, from Asmāʾ.
Abu al-Zinād related, from al-Aʿraj, from Abu Hurayrah, that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said, “See how Allah diverts from me the insults and curses of Quraysh: they revile Mudammam and curse Mudammam, while I am Muḥammad.” Recorded by al-Bukhārī.
Ibn Isḥāq said: Islam then spread in Mecca, and Allah commanded His Messenger, saying, “So proclaim openly what you have been ordered, and turn away from the polytheists” (Surah al-Ḥijr 15:94), and, “Say, ‘Indeed I am the clear warner’” (Surah al-Ḥijr 15:89). He continued: Whenever the Companions of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ wished to pray, they would go into the mountain passes, hiding their prayer from their people. One day Saʿd ibn Abī Waqqāṣ was with a group in a ravine when some idolaters came upon them while they were praying. The idolaters reproached them, found fault with them, and fought them. Saʿd struck one of them with a camel’s jawbone, splitting his head open—the first bloodshed in Islam. When the Messenger of Allah ﷺ thereafter confronted his people and openly proclaimed Islam, they did not distance themselves from him or reply—so I have been informed—until he spoke disparagingly of their gods. That they could not tolerate: they deemed it outrageous, opposed him, agreed unanimously to resist him and treat him as an enemy, and protective care was then extended to him