When morning came, Abū Jahl took up a stone and sat in wait. The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, arrived and began to pray between the Black Corner and the Yemeni Corner of the Kaʿbah, facing toward Syria, while the Quraysh remained seated in their gatherings watching him. As soon as the Messenger of Allah prostrated, Abū Jahl hoisted the stone and advanced toward him; but when he drew near, he recoiled in terror, his face drained of color, his hands locked around the stone until he finally hurled it away. Men of Quraysh hurried to him and asked, “What is the matter with you, Abū al-Ḥakam?”
He answered, “I stood up to do what I told you I would do. Yet when I approached him, a stallion camel appeared before him. By Allah, I have never seen a camel’s head, neck, or tusks like that before—it was about to devour me!”
Ibn Isḥāq said: I was told that the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, remarked, “That was Gabriel—had he come any closer, he would have seized him.”
Al-Muḥāribī and others relate—from Dāwūd ibn Abī Hind, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās—that Abū Jahl once passed by the Prophet while he was praying and said, “Did I not forbid you to pray, O Muḥammad? You know that no one here has a larger following than I.” The Prophet rebuked him, whereupon Gabriel recited: “So let him summon his council; We shall summon the wardens” (Surah al-ʿAlaq 96:17–18). Ibn ʿAbbās added, “By Allah, had he called his council, the wardens of punishment would have carried him off.”
Al-Bayhaqī said: al-Ḥākim informed us; Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī al-Ṣanʿānī in Makkah narrated to us; Isḥāq ibn Ibrāhīm reported; ʿAbd al-Razzāq related from Maʿmar, from Ayyūb, from ʿIkrimah, from Ibn ʿAbbās that al-Walīd ibn al-Mughīrah came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, and the Prophet recited the Qur’an to him, which seemed to move him. News of this reached Abū Jahl, who went to him and said, “Uncle, your people intend to collect money for you.” He asked, “Why?” He replied, “So that they may give it to you, for you have gone to Muḥammad to listen to what he says.” Al-Walīd answered, “I already know…”