nor tie knots.’
They asked, ‘So what do you say, Abū ʿAbd Shams?’ He replied, ‘By Allah, his speech has an undeniable sweetness; its root is luxuriant and its branches bear ripe fruit. Whatever you may say about it, people will know it is false. The closest charge we can bring is to say that he is a sorcerer who sets a man against his son, a man against his brother, and a man against his kinsfolk.’
They dispersed holding to that view, and during the pilgrimage season they stationed themselves along the roads: no one passed by them without their warning him about Muhammad.
Concerning al-Walid, Allah revealed: ‘Leave Me with the one I created alone … I shall cast him into Saqar’ (Surah al-Muddaththir 74:11–26). And regarding those who sided with him He revealed: ‘Those who have made the Quran into fragments’ (Surah al-Ḥijr 15:91)—meaning, into separate parts— and, ‘So, by your Lord, We will surely question them all’ (15:92).
Ibn Bukayr related—from Ibn Isḥāq—from a man—from ʿIkrimah—from Ibn ʿAbbās—that al-Naḍr ibn al-Ḥārith ibn Kalda al-ʿAbdarī stood up and said, ‘People of Quraysh, by Allah, a matter has come upon you the like of which you have never faced. Muhammad lived among you as a youth— the most pleasing among you, the most truthful in speech, the most trustworthy. When you saw grey hairs appear at his temples and he came to you with what he has brought, you said, “Sorcerer.” No, by Allah, he is neither a sorcerer, nor a soothsayer, nor a poet; we have seen such men and heard their speech. So look to your own course.’ Al-Naḍr was one of the devils of Quraysh who harmed the Messenger of Allah ﷺ and took up enmity against him.
Muḥammad ibn Faḍīl reported: al-Ajlaḥ told us, from al-Dhiyāl ibn Ḥarmalah, from Jābir ibn ʿAbd Allāh, who said: Abū Jahl and the nobles of Quraysh said, ‘Muhammad’s affair has spread everywhere. If only you could find a man versed in sorcery, soothsaying, and poetry, speak to him, and then come back to us with a clear account of his case.’ ʿUtbah said, ‘I have listened to the words of sorcerers, soothsayers, and poets, and I know their sciences well; nothing of that would be hidden from me if his discourse were of that kind.’ So he went to him. When he came before him he said, ‘O Muhammad, are you better, or Hāshim? Are you…’